Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice Data topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House approves bill to improve restitution reporting; petition clause debate fails
Summary
House Bill 10‑81, which requires improved reporting on restitution payments, passed after committee adjustments to reduce fiscal impact; an attempt to add a petition clause failed on the floor.
The House approved House Bill 10‑81, a measure to improve reporting and statistics on restitution payments, after committee changes intended to reduce the bill’s fiscal note.
Representative Martinez, floor sponsor, said the bill will collect better data to identify who pays restitution and clarify reporting. He said district attorneys, victims’ rights advocates and criminal justice reform groups supported the bill. "We were looking at this bill, and seeing what we could do to be able to get that data, to be able to really determine what was going on," Martinez said.
On the floor Representative Soper offered amendment L004 to convert a safety clause to a petition clause; supporters of the petition clause argued the measure was not an emergency and the public should retain referendum rights. Representative Martinez and others defended the safety clause as appropriate in committee, and the amendment to add a petition clause failed on a recorded voice vote in committee and later again in floor consideration; the transcript shows the committee amendment similarly failed and the bill ultimately passed by voice vote.
Floor speakers stressed better data to inform policy and reduce fiscal burdens; Representative Caldwell and Representative DeGraff urged the petition clause as a check on overuse of safety clauses. The bill passed on the floor as described in the transcript.
