Senate committee advances four bills in executive session; three to rules/ways-and-means

The Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee on Jan. 24 voted in executive session to advance four bills, sending two to the Ways and Means Committee and two to Rules.

Danielle Kreech, staff to the committee, summarized the bills before the vote. On Senate Bill 5176, “the bill before you requires the state or municipality to make payments on public works projects within 30 days of receiving a properly completed invoice,” Kreech said, noting the measure also imposes a 1% interest charge on late payments and adjusts withholding and change-order requirements.

Senate Bill 5011, Kreech said, would require ballot drop boxes to carry prominent language stating the box is county property and that tampering may violate state and federal law. Senate Bill 5034 would remove the sunset date for the interagency, multijurisdictional System Improvement (SYNC) team and require a biannual report to the Legislature. Senate Bill 5077 would give the governor, in consultation with the secretary of state, permissive authority to expand automatic voter registration to additional agencies and to authorize an interface…