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Committee advances bill removing firearms-storage mandate for foster parents
Summary
The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to send Senate Bill 10 34, which moves foster-care rules into statute and removes a requirement that foster parents store firearms and ammunition under separate locks, to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation.
The House Health and Welfare Committee on a voice vote sent Senate Bill 10 34 as amended to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.
Representative Judy Boyle, R-District 9, told the committee the bill moves foster-care requirements from administrative rule into statute and deletes a requirement that foster parents store firearms and ammunition separately under lock and key. "If you live in a rural area like I do, law enforcement is at least 20 to 30 minutes away," Boyle said, arguing the rule "basically disarms the people who are foster parents" and discourages foster parenting. She said the Department of Health and Welfare will produce videos on firearm safety and storage for foster parents instead.
Committee members asked about how exemptions would be handled. Representative Dan McCann asked, "Who gets to make that decision and based on what information are they exempted from the training?" Boyle said the department would determine exemptions. "I don't know for sure," she added when pressed about specific exemption criteria, while noting long experience with firearms might make separate training unnecessary.
Representative Lucas Kaler spoke in support of the bill on constitutional grounds, saying he "approves of this motion and this bill" and that protections for Second Amendment rights earned his support.
Representative Healey offered the motion to send the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the chair called for voice votes, a committee member said "Aye," the chair recorded his aye and announced the motion passed.
The committee record shows the item moved forward without a roll-call tally. The bill will be carried on the House floor by Representative Boyle.
The committee's exchange distinguished three items: (1) the formal action to move the rule into statute and remove the separate-lock firearms-storage requirement, (2) staff implementation details (the department will create training videos), and (3) outstanding clarification about the department's exemption standards, which Boyle said the department would determine.
No statute citations were discussed in committee during this item.
