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Committee advances bill to bar contracts with adversarial countries; amendment pending
Summary
A bill to prohibit certain foreign adversarial countries from receiving state contracts advanced out of committee after debate; the bill’s sponsor said stakeholders expect an amendment and promised to circulate it to members.
The committee approved advancement of a bill that would bar companies from adversarial countries from receiving state contracts, but the bill’s sponsor said a substantive amendment was expected and had not yet been provided to members.
Representative Sneed requested to be the first presenter on the bill identified in the record as Senate Bill 997. During discussion, the presenter said the bill’s title was "off" and that stakeholders had prepared an amendment that had not yet been circulated. The presenter told members, "I've talked to several stakeholders and... they're gonna get it to me today and then I'll get it over to you guys." He moved adoption of the bill and yielded to questions.
Representative Pope Miller asked whether the chairman should lay the bill over until the amendment was available; the presenter and the chair indicated they would proceed. Several members sought assurance that any late amendment would be shared; the presenter committed to e-mailing the amendment to committee members when he received it.
The roll call recorded Pogue Miller voting "nay," and the clerk announced a committee tally of six "aye" and two "nay." The chair declared the bill passed out of committee on that vote. The transcript records no text of the pending amendment; the sponsor said the amendment would clarify the definition used to exclude "adversarial countries" from bidding for state contracts.
No formal reference to a statute or implementation timeline for the procurement change was made in the committee discussion recorded in the transcript.
