Senate committee adopts amendments to commission appointment and rule-making language, passes bill out of committee

The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources voted Wednesday to adopt several amendments to Senate Bill 211 and then voted to pass the bill out of committee favorably as amended.

The committee first adopted an amendment from Senator Francisco that would allow members of the commission to submit “potential rules and regulations” to the commission and would permit the commission, by majority vote, to direct the secretary to make a report on those potential rules and regulations. Francisco said the language was intended to let a single commissioner suggest ideas that are not already in the formal rulemaking pipeline. "Members may submit to the commission potential rules and regulations," Francisco said, and the commission "may, by a majority vote, direct the secretary to make a report on any potential rule and regulation." The committee later approved a substitute phrasing to make clear the commission could direct the secretary to "make a report and/or develop any proposed rule and regulation."

Committee members raised procedural concerns about the amendment. Senator Shane cautioned the change could deviate "from the bill's original intent" if it allowed the commission itself to direct development of draft regulations rather than merely request study; Senator Alley said she feared a report could end the conversation without further action. Revisor Lawrence told the committee she was not aware of a statutory definition for the phrase "potential rule and regulation." After discussion, the committee adopted the Francisco–Shane amendment by voice vote.

The committee also approved an amendment to the bill that reconfigured commission representation from five districts to four, and added limits on at-large appointments. As explained by the sponsor, that amendment would set the composition so the governor appoints members from four regions on four-year terms, and the attorney general, speaker of the House and Senate president serve as at-large appointing authorities with two-year terms; the amendment also included transition language with a target date of July 1, 2026, for staggering terms. Another amendment placed a limit that "no more than two members shall be from the same region" among at-large appointees; the sponsor said the change was meant to prevent all at-large appointees coming from the same region.

After further brief discussion, Senator Shane moved that the committee pass Senate Bill 211 favorably as amended; the motion was seconded by Senator Fagg. The committee approved the motion by voice vote. The chair instructed the reviser to reconcile the bill text to incorporate the committee's multiple amendments.

The committee recorded the decisions by voice votes; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

The committee then opened a hearing on House Bill 2,255 (weights and measures), shifting its agenda to that item.