Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legislative Process Fiscal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee sends House File 7 to Ways and Means after rejecting referral to Judiciary
Summary
House File 7, previously amended in Judiciary, returned to Public Safety with a fiscal note. The committee rejected a motion to re-refer it to Judiciary and instead voted to send the measure to the Committee on Ways and Means. Members raised concerns about the fiscal note and committee budget impacts.
The committee discussed House File 7, a bill previously amended in the Judiciary Committee to restrict law-enforcement use of public tracking devices on stolen vehicles. Judiciary returned the bill to Public Safety after preparing a fiscal note.
Chair Moller moved to re-refer the bill back to the Judiciary Committee so that body could review fiscal impacts; Representative Lee Muller explained the revised fiscal note showed costs to the courts and the Public Defense Board and supported re-referral. The committee took a roll-call vote on the re-referral motion; the motion failed on the first roll call (9 yes, 10 no).
After the failed motion, the committee then voted on a motion to re-refer House File 7 as amended to the Committee on Ways and Means. The roll-call vote for that motion passed 10-9 and the bill was re-referred to Ways and Means.
Representative Pinto raised concerns after the vote about the fiscal implications, noting committee budget exposure. Pinto said he initially thought the fiscal note had just been received and emphasized the significance of shifting funds, saying the revised note indicated a larger fiscal impact (he initially cited $4.2 million and later corrected to $8.4 million from the committee budget).
Committee leadership said Ways and Means will address the budgetary impacts and members said they expected vigorous discussion in that committee.
