House Appropriations Committee opens HB 2 hearings, confirms quorum

The House Appropriations Committee opened its session by confirming a quorum and announcing it was entering the House Bill 2 (HB 2) hearing process, with order "e" scheduled for today and order "A" for tomorrow, according to opening remarks recorded at the start of the meeting.

The announcement came after the clerk conducted roll call. Committee members either replied "Here" or were recorded as "Excused" during the roll call; the committee then confirmed it had a quorum and proceeded with brief announcements about the HB 2 schedule.

Committee members were urged during opening remarks to keep testimony concise. One recorded line said the committee may work as late as needed tomorrow to finish its business and asked members and presenters to "be concise, be clear, be quick."

Roll-call responses recorded in the transcript show the following attendance notations during the clerk’s roll: Vice Chair Beatty (present); Vice Chair Mercer (excused); Vice Chair Cafaro (excused); Representative Otis (excused); Representative Keogh (present); Representative Matthews (noted as excused initially and later recorded as having just walked in); Representative Muskevich (present); Representative Castro (present); Representative Nave (present); Representative Powers (present); Representative Rosenzweig (present); Representative Schillinger (present); Representative Tuss (excused); Representative Vinton (present); Representative Walsh (excused). The committee stated it had a quorum before moving on to the HB 2 process.

A committee member asked Chairman Jones to open on his bill at the conclusion of the opening remarks, after the schedule and attendance were recorded.

No formal motions or votes on legislation were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt; the discussion captured was limited to roll call, a quorum confirmation, scheduling the HB 2 hearing order, and procedural reminders about brevity.