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 create new criminal offenses but authorizes voluntary memoranda of understanding. An amendment from Representative Robbins changed some mandatory reporting provisions to permissive language (changing “shall” to “may”) and removed a requirement that the attorney general issue a press release; that amendment was adopted and HB7 was reported favorably as amended.

Representative Rigsby introduced House Bill 380, which he described as a bill to place limits on human cloning and said the intent is to “put some guardrails around the science that's quickly advancing, so that we do continue to value life and not allow a bunch of little Phillips running around here.” An amendment was adopted to clarify the bill would not apply to in vitro fertilization or routine fertility treatments unless those procedures were performed with the specific intent to produce a genetically identical human being. HB380 was given a favorable report as amended.

Representative Treadaway presented House Bill 423, which would bar people convicted of murder from eligibility for temporary release programs such as work release. Treadaway cited a specific case in his district to explain why he brought the bill and said corrections officials had not previously provided a clear explanation for how such releases were being authorized. The committee moved and seconded a favorable report for HB423.

Representative Robbins presented a bill creating a criminal prohibition on accessing and using a person’s genetic profile without permission; the transcript identifies this bill in the hearing as being taken up under the file number 449. Robbins said the measure creates a crime of “gene theft” for unauthorized access to another person’s genome and that medical providers covered by HIPAA would be excluded by amendment. The committee adopted technical clarifications and the HIPAA carve-out, and the bill was reported favorably as amended.

Several other bills with narrower or mostly technical changes were also handled and reported out favorably or with adopted amendments during the session.

Votes at a glance

- HB450 (Representative Underwood): constitutional amendment to change the maximum age to be sworn into judicial office from 70 to 75. Motion: favorable report as introduced. Outcome: favorable report (reported out). Representative Underwood: presenter.

- HB7 (Representative Yarbrough) — “Lake and Raleigh Act”: allows state/local law enforcement, voluntarily, to enter MOUs with federal immigration authorities to assist enforcement of existing immigration laws. Amendments: Robbins amendment changed certain mandatory reporting items to permissive language and removed a required attorney general press release. Outcome: reported favorably as amended.

- HB380 (Representative Rigsby): restricts cloning and places guardrails on cloning-related procedures; amendment clarifies the bill does not apply to IVF or routine fertility treatments unless performed with intent to create a genetically identical human being. Outcome: reported favorably as amended.

- HB423 (Representative Treadaway): prohibits people convicted of murder from eligibility for temporary-release programs such as work release. Outcome: reported favorably.

- HB449 (as taken up in the hearing; Representative Robbins): creates criminal penalties for unauthorized access/use of another person’s genetic data (“gene theft”); amendment clarified evidentiary and law-enforcement exceptions and added a HIPAA carve-out. Outcome: reported favorably as amended.

What happened next

Committee members asked staff to provide clarifying language on coverage (for example, whether probate judges are included in HB450) and requested additional details from corrections officials about release policies cited during the HB423 discussion. Several presenters said they would provide follow-up materials or technical fixes requested during discussion.

The committee used voice votes on the motions recorded in the transcript; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the hearing record provided.