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Rules committee deadlocks on fast-track to delay broadband installer training; calendar adopted unchanged
Summary
The House Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration declined to add Senate File 908 — which would delay a broadband installer training deadline for metro areas — to the House calendar after an 8-8 roll call. The committee approved the proposed calendar for the day as originally presented and adopted minutes from May 1.
The House Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration on Tuesday considered a motion to add Senate File 908 to the House calendar but the effort failed on an 8-8 roll call, leaving the calendar unchanged and the training deadline unresolved.
Representative Schultz, the bill's author in the House, asked the committee to add House File 47 / Senate File 908 to the calendar for Wednesday, May 7. “This is a bill that I'm the chief author of, and it is on the general register, and it's it's ready,” Schultz said. He said the measure would delay the installer training requirement for workers who do broadband work in metro communities “to January first of next year rather than the current July 4 or July 1 deadline for this year.” Schultz said without that change, metro installation work could “cease to see their broadband installations happen this very summer,” because workers would be taken off sites to meet the earlier training deadline.
Co-chair Long urged members to withhold support for scheduling the bill, saying the training delay is also traveling in the jobs budget bill and that leaders expect to address budget bills later in the week. Long said he would ask his members to vote no and requested a roll call.
Representative Schultz moved to add the measure to the calendar. The roll call produced eight votes in favor and eight opposed, so the motion did not prevail. The committee then proceeded to adopt the originally proposed calendar for the day and set the prefiling deadline required by Rule 3.33.
Earlier in the meeting Representative Cagle moved to adopt the minutes from May 1; the minutes were approved by voice vote.
Votes at a glance - Motion to add House File 47 / Senate File 908 to the calendar (mover: Representative Schultz): Roll call — 8 ayes, 8 noes; motion failed. - Motion to adopt minutes from May 1 (mover: Representative Cagle): voice vote; adopted. - Motion to adopt the calendar for the day as proposed (mover: Mr. Chair): voice vote; adopted. Under Rule 3.33 the committee established a prefiling deadline for amendments to calendared bills.
Why it matters: Committee scheduling determines whether a bill reaches the House floor for consideration. Proponents of the training-delay measure argued that without an immediate scheduling change, installations in metro areas could be disrupted this summer; opponents cited an ongoing path for the provision through the jobs budget bill and urged wait-and-see. The committee’s tied roll call leaves the scheduling decision for this provision unresolved.
The meeting concluded after the calendar was adopted. The committee did not take final action on Senate File 908.
