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Rules committee advances conference report on vehicle-color reporting; restores Jan. 1, 2026 effective date
Summary
The House Rules Committee moved to make the conference committee report for Senate Bill 331 eligible for consideration. The bill would require vehicle owners to report color changes to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and restores the bill's effective date to Jan. 1, 2026, after a House amendment had inadvertently set July 1.
The House Rules Committee voted to suspend House rules so the conference committee report for Senate Bill 331 could be considered after April 15, 2025. Representative Olthoff presented the report, saying the measure would require vehicle owners to notify the Bureau of Motor Vehicles if they change a car's color and that the conference committee report restores an intended effective date of Jan. 1, 2026.
Representative Olthoff said the Senate version of the measure made altering the color of a vehicle used in a crime a Class C misdemeanor, while the House's version updated the language so that a person who changes a car's color and fails to notify the BMV would receive a 30-day warning if pulled over rather than a Class C infraction. He told the committee, "we're directing the BMV to add a field to their yearly renewal forms asking about the color of the car," and that an amendment had "inadvertently changed the effective date to July 1" before the conference committee fixed it back to Jan. 1, 2026 so the BMV would have time to update forms and notices.
Representative Slager moved to suspend House Rule 153.1 and amend House Rule 155.1 so the conference committee report could be distributed and held for four hours; the motion was seconded. The roll call recorded the following votes: Chairman Smolz (Yes), Representative Slager (Yes), Representative Baird (Aye), Representative Caracoff (Aye), Representative Manning (Yes), Representative Olthoff (Yes), Representative Zimmerman (Aye), Representative Johnson (Excused), Representative Dvorak (No), and Representative Pierce (Yes). The motion passed 8 to 1.
The committee's action makes the conference committee report eligible for further consideration under the House rules suspension the committee approved.
