State and Local Government Committee advances multiple bills, sends TDOC budget to finance

The Senate State and Local Government Committee on March 1 advanced a slate of bills and approved the Department of Corrections’ budget, sending the measures on for further consideration.

The committee acted on more than a half dozen bills during a session chaired by Chairman Briggs and moved each to the calendar or to the finance committee as appropriate. The votes recorded at the meeting were mostly unanimous; several items were referred to calendar and the Department of Corrections budget was referred to finance.

Why it matters: The votes change statutory thresholds and administrative requirements affecting liquor licensing for sports facilities, eligibility for ABLE savings accounts, local government audit enforcement, reporting on local government debt, and ethics/campaign finance oversight. The Department of Corrections budget vote advances spending and contract changes that the department said are intended to reduce staff vacancies and address rising medical costs.

Key votes and actions

- Senate Bill 320 (Massey): Lowers the county population threshold from “in excess of 500,000” to “in excess of 350,000” so a sports authority facility can qualify for a liquor-by-the-drink license. Motion moved by the chair; Senator Hatcher seconded. Tally: yes 9; outcome: referred to calendar.

- Senate Bill 452 (Massey): Amends state law governing ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts to align with federal law and to expand the disability-onset age from 26 to 46 for eligibility. Motion moved and seconded; Tally: yes 9; outcome: passed and referred to finance.

- Senate Bill 115 (Powers): Comptroller bill to withhold a percentage of state-shared sales tax revenue from municipalities with two or more past-due audits, until all outstanding audits are completed. Motion moved; Tally: yes 9; outcome: passed and will move to calendar.

- Senate Bill 114 (Harshbarger): Changes local government debt reporting to require all local governments to report defaults and covenant violations (including those with publicly traded debt), removing a gap that forced the comptroller to manually check the MSRB site. Motion moved; Tally: 8 yes, 1 pass; outcome: passed and moved to calendar.

- Senate Bill 111 (Lowe): Cleans up ABC (alcohol beverage control) law to allow single deeded properties that produce multiple types of alcohol (for example wine and distilled spirits) to operate a joint tasting room rather than duplicate facilities. Motion moved and seconded; Tally: yes 9; outcome: referred to calendar.

- Senate Bill 15 (Wally): Requires the state to assume costs for autopsy and burial transport for state prisoners who die in state-operated or state-contracted facilities (the bill does not change county responsibility for state inmates held in county jails). Motion moved and seconded; Tally: yes 9; outcome: passed and referred to finance.

- Senate Bill 380 (Wally, amended): Adds a reinstatement process and reduces continuing education hours from 12 to 6 for utility district commissioners who fall out of compliance with training requirements. An amendment reducing hours from 12 to 6 was adopted before the final vote. Tally after amendment: yes 9; outcome: moved to calendar.

- Senate Bill 229 (Briggs/Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance sponsor): A broad set of changes to campaign finance and ethics statutes including (a) a new registration fee for political campaign committees (commonly called PACs in ordinary language), (b) clarification on how parties and party caucuses may coordinate with candidates, (c) public access to sworn complaints in most circumstances, (d) expanded training requirements for senior governor’s staff, and (e) a proposal to allocate 80% of the annual professional privilege tax paid by registered lobbyists to the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance for IT upgrades. The bill passed committee (8 ayes, 1 no) and was referred to finance. The measure drew extended explanation and a number of questions from members.

- Senate Bill 306 (Briggs): Grants the Secretary of State limited authority to dissolve business entities formed or controlled by persons or governments designated as foreign adversaries by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (countries listed in testimony included China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela). The bill passed committee with 8 ayes, 1 pass and will be referred to the calendar.

- Senate Bill 214 (Gordon H.): Prohibits naming public facilities after an elected official during the official’s term or within two years after the official leaves office, with exceptions for deceased officials and certain veterans; passed committee with 9 ayes and will move to the calendar.

- Senate Bill 244 (Gardenhire): Minor wording change to a housing-related bill from the prior year (shortens a required period referenced in law from perpetuity to 30 years); passed committee with an 8–0 tally recorded in committee and will be referred to the calendar.

Votes at a glance: counts reported by the clerk matched the oral roll calls at the meeting; most roll calls were unanimous (9 ayes). A small number of measures recorded an abstention or pass; when the transcript recorded a “pass” that was reflected in the committee’s announced tally.

What the committee record does not show: In several roll calls the clerk and individual members used slightly different spellings of member names in the transcript; this summary uses committee role and sponsor attributions exactly as recorded in the hearing, and tallies are the counts announced by the clerk.

Ending: The committee adjourned after finishing its calendar and will reconvene at the same time and place next week.