Conference committee concurs to add fallen-firefighters memorial language to fireworks bill

The Commerce Conference Committee agreed to concur with Senate Bill 199 — a measure governing permanent and seasonal fireworks retailers — and to incorporate language from House Bill 2372 relating to state memorials for fallen firefighters, committee members said.

The committee chair said the committee would “concur on Senate Bill 199,” and members confirmed that the House changes and the additional memorial provisions would be combined into the conference report.

The House Committee’s change to Senate Bill 199 was limited to the bill’s effective date. A committee member said, “The House Committee changed Senate Bill 199 simply by, amending the effective date to the register.”

During the discussion, another member proposed folding the memorial language into the fireworks bill. That member described House Bill 2372 as “an act concerning state memorials relating to fallen firefighters,” and noted the House had passed it (the transcript references a House passage as “100-19-0”). A separate committee member replied, “We have no objection to adding that to this bill.”

Following that agreement, the chair confirmed the committee’s concurrence with the offer described as “the contents of Senate Bill 199 as amended by House Committee, but then also adding the provisions found in House Bill 2,372 as amended by House Committee.” The committee then moved on to the next agenda item.

Action recorded: the conference committee concurred with the Senate offer on Senate Bill 199 and agreed to incorporate the provisions of House Bill 2372 as amended by the House committee. No formal roll-call vote tally was recorded in the transcript.

Background: Senate Bill 199 addresses permanent and seasonal retailers’ fireworks sales. The House amendment cited in the meeting changed the bill’s effective date to the register.

Ending: Committee members indicated no objection to the addition and proceeded to the next bill on the agenda.