Judiciary committee gives joint favorable report to Senate Bill 1497 on agriculture programming

The Judiciary Committee reconvened on Tuesday, May 27, 2017, and voted to give Senate Bill No. 1497, "an act concerning programming at the Department of Agriculture," a joint favorable report to the floor.

The committee chair opened consideration and said, "I will entertain a motion to j f that bill." Senator Derek Winfield moved the motion and Representative Fazino seconded. Committee members then discussed the committee's limited role on the measure and whether an outstanding amendment needed further review.

Senator Marilyn Gibson asked, "Did we ever figure out why this bill is before us this morning?" Chair and other members described the bill's path through multiple committees. One member noted to the committee that an uncalled amendment remained, and that it appeared to include language related to a fee or fine; the comment described that language as "a little bit... murky." Representative Fishbein said he hoped that if the amendment were later adopted by the Senate, the bill would return to the committee for additional consideration.

After brief discussion the committee proceeded to a roll-call vote on the motion to give the bill a joint favorable report. The chair instructed the clerk to call the roll and then said votes would be held open "till the start of session, which I believe will be 11:00." Following the roll call, the chair recessed the committee until the start of session. Later in the reconvened proceeding multiple members provided affirmative votes when contacted, but the final official tally was not provided in the meeting transcript included here.

No statutory citations, fiscal notes, or detailed program provisions were discussed on the record in this transcript. The committee spent only limited time on the bill in this session and did not adopt any amendments on the floor during the portion of the record provided.

The committee's action advances SB 1497 to the next stage of the legislative process; members indicated they expect any significant changes tied to the outstanding amendment would prompt further committee review if adopted by the Senate.