Judiciary committee gives favorable reports to a package of bills on judges, immigration MOUs, cloning, inmate releases and genome privacy

The Judiciary Committee on Monday gave favorable reports to a group of bills covering judicial retirement ages, local-federal immigration MOUs, limits on temporary releases for people convicted of murder, a cloning guardrails bill and a measure creating penalties for unauthorized use of genetic information.

The package was handled as a series of separate motions; committee members discussed amendments and clarifying language on several bills before each measure was reported out as amended.

Representative Underwood presented House Bill 450, a constitutional amendment to change the age at which a person may be sworn into judicial office. “Currently, any judge serving after reaching age 70 is required to retire and I'm proposing to move that number to 75,” Underwood said. Committee members questioned scope and whether probate judges were covered; Underwood said the text refers broadly to judges and that he would provide clarifying language if needed. The committee voted to give HB450 a favorable report.

Representative Yarbrough described House Bill 7, titled in the hearing transcript as the “Lake and Raleigh Act,” saying the bill “would allow state and local law enforcement to enter into an MOU with the federal government in order to enforce existing immigration laws.” Yarbrough and others emphasized the measure does not…