House Judiciary Committee advances multiple bills to the floor; one bill held for sponsor consultation

The House Judiciary Committee met Feb. 14 and voted to move several bills to the House floor, approved a block of withdrawn bills as unfavorable, and held one bill for further consultation with its sponsor.

The committee took voting list No. 2 — bills that sponsors had withdrawn earlier this year — as a consent calendar and voted to record them as unfavorable withdrawn. After that procedural vote the panel considered individual bills scheduled for favorable reports to the full House.

Several bills received favorable motions and were approved to proceed to the floor. House Bill 22 (sponsor: Delegate Valentine) received a favorable report and will be carried to the floor by Delegate Valentine. House Bill 27 (sponsor: Delegate Carden) also received a favorable report. The committee approved an amendment to House Bill 39 that names the measure the "Carlton R Smith Act" and then adopted the bill as amended. House Bill 241 (sponsor: Delegate Simpson) was described in committee as an enabling measure that would allow a spouse who is a crime victim to introduce texts and similar communications as admissible evidence; committee discussion characterized the bill as permissive rather than mandatory. Several other bills — including House Bill 243, House Bill 323, House Bill 380, and House Bill 388 — received favorable motions and were advanced to the floor. The committee paused consideration of House Bill 109 to allow the chair to consult with Delegate Conway before acting on that item.

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