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Legislative counsel: amendment to Senate Bill 2150 unnecessary; committee reconsiders and advances bill unamended
Summary
Legislative counsel told the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee that an amendment to Senate Bill 2150 changing “may not” to “must not” would improperly create a duty; the committee reconsidered prior actions, removed the amendment and gave the bill a do-pass recommendation unamended.
The Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee reconsidered actions on Senate Bill 2150 after Casey Bridal, an attorney with Legislative Counsel, told the panel that an amendment changing “may not” to “must not” was unnecessary and would alter legal effect.
Bridal told the committee that under Legislative Council’s drafting manual the phrase “may not” removes a privilege and is sufficient to prohibit an action, while “must not” would impose an affirmative negative duty that drafting practice avoids. “So the language as existing in Century Code is correct, per Legislative Counsel’s drafting manual,” Bridal said.
Committee members moved to bring SB 2150 back for reconsideration, voted to kill the bill as amended and then voted to pass SB 2150 unamended. The clerk recorded roll-call responses indicating Senators Marsolais, Weston, Weber, Chairman Lewick, Vice Chair Mehrdal and others voting in favor when the committee gave the bill a do-pass recommendation unamended. The committee also identified a carrier for the bill on the floor: Senator Myrtle.
Why it matters: The amendment would have changed the limiting language that applies to an authorized Livestock Farm Corporation from “may not have more than 10 shareholders” to language that Bridal warned would read as a duty. Committee members said they wanted the statutory language to match drafting conventions and not inadvertently impose a duty.
Procedural steps taken by the committee were described aloud and executed by roll-call votes: a motion to bring SB 2150 back for reconsideration, a vote on the amendment as amended (to fail it), and a subsequent do-pass vote on SB 2150 without the amendment. The committee’s actions replace the amended recommendation with a do-pass recommendation on the unamended bill.
No further legal text changes were enacted at the committee level beyond returning the bill to its unamended form; Legislative Counsel’s opinion that the original Century Code phrasing was correct was the basis for removing the amendment.
The committee adjourned to continue other business; the bill will next appear on the Senate floor with Senator Myrtle listed as the carrier.
