Committee adopts substitutes and issues due‑pass recommendations for multiple bills in executive session

During an executive session at the close of the Feb. 13 meeting, the Senate Business, Financial Services and Trade Committee took formal action on several bills. Committee staff briefed members on the bills before votes and the committee adopted substitutes or amendments and sent bills on to the next committees or to the Rules Committee with "due pass" recommendations.

Key outcomes recorded in the session:

- Senate Bill 5610 (equine industry funding): Committee adopted the proposed substitute and the committee moved a due‑pass recommendation sending the measure to the Ways & Means Committee. Staff described the substitute as removing a proposed tax credit and narrowing funding sources; the substitute also capped a state transfer to a new federal regulatory account at no more than $1,500,000 beginning in a later biennium.

- Senate Bill 5207 (electronic media subscriptions and refunds): The committee adopted amendment B1, rolled it into a proposed substitute, voted a due‑pass recommendation and sent the bill to the Ways & Means Committee. Staff briefed members that the amendment narrowed the bill’s scope to annual subscriptions and adjusted timing and pro rata refund calculations; the fiscal note available to the committee showed an estimated cost to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division for oversight activities.

- Senate Bill 5262 (Office of the Insurance Commissioner statutes): The committee adopted amendment C1, rolled it into a proposed substitute and voted to send the bill to the Rules Committee with a due‑pass recommendation. The amendment removed certain repeals and preserved existing coverage and rate provisions, per the chair’s amendment.

- Senate Bill 5419 (fire‑loss reporting by insurers): The committee adopted proposed substitute D and voted to send the bill to the Rules Committee. The substitute extended the reporting window for insurers from 30 days to 90 days for non‑de minimis claims, specified report fields, and added local fire marshals as eligible recipients of fire‑loss information.

- Senate Bill 5563 (horse racing): The committee considered amendment E1 and, after debate, the amendment failed on a recorded voice vote. The committee then voted to roll amendments into the bill and moved SB 5563 to the Rules Committee with a due‑pass recommendation. In committee briefing, staff described the bill as amending requirements for horse‑racing licensees and the commission and noted that striking certain sections would restore current law limits on commission spending (for example, returning a $500,000 proposed cap to the current $300,000 cap for specified commission expenditures).

Committee announcements recorded the votes as voice votes without roll call tallies in the hearing transcript. Staff indicated fiscal notes had been requested for several of the bills; the transcript records that some fiscal notes were pending and others had preliminary figures (for example, staff provided a fiscal estimate tied to the Attorney General’s office for SB 5207). The committee’s actions were recorded as "due pass" recommendations and, where specified in committee procedure, the bills will proceed to Ways & Means or Rules for further consideration.

These motions and recommendations were taken by voice votes during executive session and the transcript records the committee chair calling for "ayes" and "nays" as the method of decision. No roll‑call vote totals were included in the public transcript excerpts.