Committee rejects amendment and advances bill clarifying "partisan" draft requests (HB142 passes 8-6)

The Legislative Administration committee took executive action on House Bill 142 and a related amendment on the definition of "partisan." An amendment (HB0142.001.001) that would have redefined "partisan" to mean "a vote in which members from only one party vote to request a bill" failed on a tie vote; the underlying bill then passed on an 8-6 roll-call.

A sponsor of the amendment argued the term should align with ordinary dictionary usage and not automatically equate to the majority party. The amendment sponsor said the change would not alter the bill's increase from four to five bill-draft requests that can be requested on a partisan basis, but would instead clarify the word "partisan." Representative Schubert called the amendment "unfriendly," contending the original language is central to the bill's intent; Representative Marler countered that redefining the statutory term would be confusing because a minority cannot, in practice, pass a partisan bill through committee.

Floor debate included a concern raised by an unnamed member that in some prior cases legislative staff interpreted the law to allow drafts to advance on losing votes in interim committees; proponents of HB142 said the purpose of the bill is to clarify that a losing minority cannot advance partisan draft requests and that being in the majority should have consequence.

Roll-call on the amendment recorded 7 ayes and 7 nays; the amendment failed. The subsequent roll-call vote on the bill unamended recorded 8 ayes and 6 nays and the committee reported HB142 as passed.

Recorded roll-call votes (as read into the record) are included in the committee actions for transparency; the committee will report the bill according to normal legislative procedures.