Senate panel adopts 11 interim study proposals; hears Act 800 report showing zero abstractor complaints

The Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved 11 interim study proposals (ISPs), allowing legislators to pursue studies during the interim but not creating law. Chair opened the meeting by calling for a motion to approve the May 2023 minutes and then asked for adoption of the ISPs; no members objected and the proposals were adopted by consent.

The committee then heard a statutorily mandated annual report tied to Act 800 from the State Board of Appraisers, Abstractors, and Home Inspectors. Diana Pioski, director of the consolidated board, and Miles Morgan, an attorney with the Department of Labor and Licensing, told the committee the report for the abstractor division showed zero complaints filed. Pioski explained that while board staff and administration were consolidated under a single agency, the statutes regulating appraisers, abstractors and home inspectors remain separate, and Act 800’s reporting requirement was placed in the abstractor statutes.

Committee members pressed for clarity on whether the merged administrative structure should prompt statutory cleanup; several suggested the language could be clarified during the next regular session to avoid confusion about which division must file the annual report. Pioski said she would be willing to provide consolidated or division-specific reports if the committee specifies what it wants.

No formal votes were recorded beyond the voice approvals, and the committee moved on to its next agenda item: prison conditions and inmate treatment.