Ways and Means committee forwards House Bill 3,843 to the floor, unanimous committee vote to codify long-standing provisos

The House Ways and Means Committee on an uncontested voice and roll-call vote Wednesday approved a subcommittee amendment and sent House Bill 3,843 to the floor by a 22-0 vote.

House Bill 3,843, introduced to the committee for consideration during the committee's session, would move longstanding budget provisos into permanent code. Representative Moss, who explained the bill to the committee, said the measure “codifies provisos that have been in the budget for at least 16 years” and described the bill as an effort to transition temporary provisos into the code because, in his words, “none of these are controversial.”

The committee adopted a subcommittee amendment that removes a Department of Health and Human Services proviso that the agency requested be struck; the amendment was adopted by voice vote before the roll call. Representative Moss moved adoption of the amendment and then moved the bill. The committee then took a roll-call vote; members recorded on the transcript as casting affirmative votes included Representative Ballantyne, Representative Bannister, Representative Clyburn, Representative Crawford, Representative Collins, Representative Hardy, Representative Hayes, Representative Hewitt, Representative Hosey, Representative Howard, Representative Long, Representative Lowe, Representative Moss, Representative Murphy, Representative Newton, Representative Rutherford, Representative Stavrinakis, Representative Taylor, Representative Weeks, Representative Whitmire, Representative Willis and Representative Yao. The committee reported the bill favorably to the full House by a vote of 22 to nothing.

The chair noted that the bill previously passed the House unanimously in the prior session but did not receive a Senate hearing. Committee members did not raise substantive debate on the merits of the codifications during the hearing; questions and discussion were limited and the bill moved forward after the subcommittee amendment.

The committee record shows the bill as amended and reported favorably; committee staff will transmit the committee report and amended text to the House floor for further consideration. The transcript indicates the committee will address remaining individual provisos after lunch and will take up money-related provisos tomorrow.