House General & Housing schedules testimony on omnibus labor bill, hears plans to redraft housing immigration provision

The House General & Housing committee met April 23 and set a schedule to take testimony beginning at 9:30 a.m. on “S 1 25,” an omnibus Senate bill the chair described as addressing collective-bargaining rights and related labor issues. Committee leaders said nine witnesses are scheduled for the morning and that testimony could continue into the afternoon if necessary.

Committee Chair said, “What what we're gonna do starting at 09:30 is we're gonna take testimony from on s 1 25, which is the senate bill. It's kind of an omnibus bill on, collective bargaining rights, etcetera.” The chair opened the meeting with logistics for witness testimony and said the panel would try to finish the scheduled witnesses in the morning.

The committee also discussed S.169, described in the meeting as “the act relating to prohibitions in housing and public accommodations relating to, nationality and the status, immigration status.” The chair said legislative counsel Cameron has substantially redrafted S.169 and is scheduled to walk the committee through the new draft tomorrow morning. “We've asked Cameron, our legislative counsel, to redraft the bill substantially, and the bill will come back to us tomorrow morning,” the chair said.

On the housing vehicle, the chair said the Senate’s companion to the committee’s housing bill is Senate Bill 127 and that the committee expects additional testimony on the so-called community index. The chair noted Donna Farnham will testify on that topic and that Michael Dawn had already provided testimony. The chair said they plan to attempt to consolidate Senate changes into a single vehicle so the legislation can move more smoothly through subsequent committees.

Committee members and staff discussed timing for votes. The chair said she had not scheduled an immediate vote on S.169 after seeing the new draft, and that members might want time to review language before voting. A committee member noted leadership requested a vote next Thursday, May 1, and the chair said she would confirm scheduling with leadership; she also noted the floor schedule is unpredictable and that committee time after the House floor could be used for additional testimony or committee discussion.

The committee discussed an unrelated item — reuse of school buildings — and the chair recommended packaging what the committee learns about reuse into a memo for the Education and Appropriations committees to advise that school-construction funding discussions include money for reuse. “When you think about school construction funding, you've got to think about reuse, money for reuse as part of it,” the chair said.

The committee adjourned with plans to reconvene at 9:30 a.m. (members asked to arrive by about 9:25 a.m.) and to proceed with the scheduled witnesses and scheduled walk-throughs of redrafted language.

Votes at a glance: No formal motions or recorded votes were taken during this meeting; scheduling and drafting steps were discussed but not voted on.