House Appropriations Committee reports multiple bills to the floor, including ban on extra paper-billing fees

The House Appropriations Committee voted to report a package of six bills and several individual measures to the full House, the committee chair announced after roll calls and brief staff summaries.

An executive director for the committee summarized the bill slate for members before votes, saying, "We have House Bill 81, [which] prohibits charging customers consumers additional fees to receive paper billing statements or to pay by mail," and describing the other measures under consideration.

Why it matters: The measures touch on consumer billing, unemployment eligibility for some school employees, sentencing provisions related to corruption of minors, child custody rules, expanding CPACE-eligible projects to include electric vehicle charging infrastructure, workplace violence prevention in health care settings, a veteran-owned business logo, river pilot fee changes, and terminology updates for substance use disorder in state planning. Several items have potential budget implications that drew partisan attention during the meeting.

Most immediate action: The committee called up a six-bill package (House Bills 355, 3708, 7809, 993, 10507 and 1117 as identified on the agenda) as a package and, after members stated there was no fiscal impact from those bills, the chair announced they would be reported to the floor unanimously. A short time later House Bill 81 was called up for an individual roll call; the chair said the ayes prevailed and the bill will be rereported from the committee. During the HB81 roll call one member recorded a "no" vote (Kutz); multiple members recorded "yes."

Partisan split on three bills: The committee then took up House Bills 265, 820 and 926. A Republican member expressed concern about fiscal impacts on state funds and said Republicans would vote "no" on those three bills; Democrats were recorded voting in favor. Despite the division, the chair announced that the ayes had it and those three bills were rereported to the House floor.

What was not decided here: The committee votes reported the bills to the full House for further consideration. No final enactments, amendments adopted in committee, or implementation details were disclosed in the meeting record.

Votes at a glance

- Package reported unanimously: House Bills described on the agenda as 355; 3708; 7809; 993; 10507; and 1117 — reported to the House floor as a package (committee chair announcement). No fiscal impact stated by committee staff; Republicans indicated they would vote in the affirmative on that package.

- House Bill 81 — reported to the House floor after roll call. Committee chair announced the ayes prevailed; one recorded "no" vote (Representative Kutz). The committee summary described HB81 as prohibiting additional fees to consumers for paper billing statements or payment by mail.

- House Bills 265, 820, 926 — referred to the House floor after roll call. Committee record shows Democrats voting to refer and Republican members expressing negative votes due to fiscal concerns; chair announced the ayes had it and the bills were rereported.

What speakers said

- Executive Director (committee staff): read summaries of each bill and noted which statutes or code sections would be affected when applicable (transcript summary to committee).

- A Republican representative (unnamed on the record): "we do not see any fiscal impact from these bills, so Republicans will be voting in the affirmative" (referring to the six-bill package).

- A Republican representative (unnamed on the record): "we do have some concerns with the fiscal impacts of these bills, on the state funds, so we will be voting in the negative on these 3 bills" (referring to HB265, HB820, HB926).

Next steps: The bills now go to the full House for consideration; the committee record does not specify floor scheduling or amendment instructions.