Hello everyone,
Five and a half weeks down and about 11 weeks to go! This week was supplementals week in the Senate. The Senate followed the same schedule for supplementals as the House did the prior week – Appropriations on Tuesday, second reading on Wednesday, and third reading on Thursday. HB 1180 (the Department of Public Safety supplemental bill) passed the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously, passed second reading with no discussion and passed third reading on a vote of 29 to 5. HB 1180 is now on its way to the Governor for his consideration and includes increased funding for comm officer salaries and for Executive Security Unit overtime.
Also this week, HB 1150 that would eliminate the defendant’s signature requirement on certain citations started to move. Passage of HB 1150 is necessary for the Patrol to move to electronic citations. On Tuesday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee referred HB 1150 to the House floor on a vote of 10 to 1. On Friday, the full House passed the bill on second reading with little debate. The CSPA supports HB 1150. I anticipate HB 1150 will pass the House on third reading on Tuesday (both the House and Senate are taking Monday off for Presidents’ Day). After passing third reading, it will move on to the Senate.
As of Friday, there have been 391 bills introduced – 253 in the House and 138 in the Senate. Only 80 days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist