Committee advances measure adopting state code books; members note related bill to remove State House

The State Government Committee voted to advance legislation to adopt the state code books and related technical corrections and amendments.

Senator Gavain, speaking to the committee, said the bill is an annual measure the legislative council chairs bring forward and that a companion measure concerning demolition of the State House is traveling alongside the code-book bill. "This is the bill that the chairs of the legislative council bring each year," Senator Gavain said. He added that both corresponding bills had been filed and were "traveling along," and offered to answer questions about mistakes the bill corrects.

The committee clerk called the roll at the start of the meeting; the committee chair confirmed a quorum. A committee member noted the status of the companion Senate bill to tear down the State House and asked whether it had passed the Senate. Senator Gavain replied he did not know the status. Another member said the Senate version had been on the calendar but "disappeared" after last week’s calendar changes.

A committee member stated that the House version of the code-book bill had already been passed out of committee. The committee then voted to advance the measure; the chair called for the ayes and the motion carried.

The discussion did not include a detailed readout of the specific code changes contained in the bill during the recorded remarks, and no statutory citations were read into the record during this portion of the meeting.

The committee moved on to other agenda items after the vote.