Senate committee approves technical fixes to bill on pooling public monies with banks

The Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee on March 18 voted to pass House Bill 2,152 as amended, a measure that clarifies language governing how public funds may be pooled with certain depository institutions.

The amendment the committee adopted was technical in nature, correcting terminology and cross‑references in the bill’s title and definitions. Eileen, a committee staff member, told the committee the changes were drafting fixes identified during bill review: "I identified just a few technical issues that needed to be corrected," including replacing outdated title language, harmonizing references to the "public monies pooled method," and substituting consistent institution designations such as "banks, savings and loan associations and savings bank." She also said the draft replaces references to "qualified trustee" with "administrator" where appropriate and changes the defined term "governmental entity" to the bill’s defined term "governmental unit."

Senator Francisco moved the technical amendment; Senator Rose seconded. The committee approved the amendment by voice vote. Senator Augerbright then moved that the bill, as amended, be reported favorably out of committee; Senator Haley seconded. The committee passed House Bill 2,152 as amended by a voice vote.

The action was procedural and limited to clarifying statutory language; no policy changes or substantive new duties were added during the committee action. The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript for the final passage; the chair announced the bill "passes as amended."