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Committee hears revised draft to form Office for New Americans study panel
Summary
Senators reviewed S.56, a bill to establish a study committee to design an Office for New Americans. The draft on March 12 narrowed membership and meeting requirements, directed the committee to define "new Americans," and allowed it to form subcommittees; sponsors sought input on membership and report recipients.
The Senate Committee on Government Operations on Wednesday, March 12 reviewed a revised draft of S.56, which would create a study committee tasked with designing an Office for New Americans and reporting recommendations to the legislature.
Tim Devlin, counsel for the bill sponsor, presented the revised draft and said it pares back an earlier version by reducing the study committees membership and the number of required meetings, and by deferring a statutory definition of "new Americans" to the committee itself. Devlin described other edits: empowering the study group to form subcommittees as needed, clarifying the committees duties to assess structure, funding and staffing needs for a prospective office, and adjusting membership expectations.
The draft specifies a smaller membership roster (committee discussion suggested 10 members rather than the prior 14) and reduced the planned number of meetings from 20 to 10, though final numbers were left to committee deliberation. The bill would charge the study committee with consulting community-based organizations that serve new Americans, relevant state agencies, municipalities, educational institutions, labor and business stakeholders, and others in formulating recommended structure, duties and funding for the proposed office.
Senators sought clarity on appointments and on where the study committees final report would be filed. One senator asked whether the Senate Committee on Economic Development should receive the report; committee members did not finalize recipients during the session. Committee participants also discussed membership detail, with senators noting potential duplications in appointing organizations and asking staff to tidy appointment language.
Devlin said he would incorporate the committees suggested edits (including reducing the member count and allowing flexible subcommittee formation) and circulate the redline to committee members by email. No formal committee vote was recorded on S.56 on March 12; senators signaled willingness to move a revised draft forward once membership, consultative language and reporting destinations are clarified.
Ending: Sponsor and counsel will circulate an updated draft reflecting the membership and meeting changes and will follow up with committee staff to finalize the committees charge and report recipients before the next markup.
