Panel adopts 5-year statute-of-limitations amendment for misdemeanor recording offense in HB 130

The House Judiciary Committee voted to adopt an amendment to House Bill 130 that extends the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions under the cited misdemeanor provision to five years. The committee recorded the vote on the amendment as 11 in favor and 7 opposed; the amendment was adopted.

Delegate Grammer moved the amendment to limit the change to a five-year statute of limitations. During discussion, Delegate Moon and other members described the amendment as a compromise intended to make the bill more acceptable to the Senate and to give individuals additional time to bring claims in limited circumstances. Moon said the extension would allow more time for someone to develop evidence that material admitted in court had been fabricated.

Claire (counsel) advised a technical drafting change, noting that the amendment's original language referred to both "a criminal prosecution or suit for a civil penalty for an offense under 10,402," while there is no civil-penalty provision under that section. Counsel recommended revising the language to read that a criminal prosecution under 10,402 must be instituted within five years after the offense.

The committee recorded the amendment vote as 11–7 in favor and the Chair announced the amendment adopted. The transcript shows the committee then proceeded with the bill as amended and continued other business; the transcript does not provide a full, unambiguous roll-call tally for the final passage of the underlying bill in this session (the amendment vote count was explicit).