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House concurs on S.310, advancing natural-disaster response and resiliency fund despite removal of survivor benefit
Summary
The House suspended rules, took up Senate Bill 310, and concurred in the Senate's amendment by voice vote. Lawmakers praised the bill’s urban search-and-rescue codification and a community disaster resilience fund but several members expressed disappointment that a proposed survivor benefit expansion was removed by the Senate.
The House took up Senate Bill 310 relating to natural-disaster government response, recovery and resiliency and, after debate, concurred in the Senate proposal of amendment by voice vote. The session included floor explanations of the bill’s core elements, expressions of disappointment from several members about a removed survivor-benefits provision, and a motion to message the House’s action to the Senate forthwith.
Speaker 4, a representative, summarized the change the Senate made when S.310 returned to the House, saying the Senate removed a floor amendment that would have expanded qualifying entities for survivor benefits. The presenter reported that the House committee supported accepting the Senate’s change and asked for the body’s support.
Several members voiced frustration about the removal of the survivor-benefit language. Speaker 5 said they were “one of the five that voted not to concur with the Senate proposal of amendment,” calling the removal a disappointment after committee work. Speaker 6, referencing a local case of a fallen young officer, said they were “greatly disappointed” and asked for clarification on why the provision was dropped. Speaker 8, speaking from a first-responder perspective, also expressed deep disappointment but said they supported the parent bill and hoped the issue could be addressed in the next session.
Supporters urged concurrence on the ground that S.310 would strengthen future emergency response. Speaker 3 noted the bill codifies urban search-and-rescue teams that rescued more than 200 people during last summer’s floods and creates a community disaster resilience mitigation fund intended to channel federal and state funds to local mitigation projects. Speaker 7 highlighted practical provisions including E-911 and 2-1-1 improvements and a fund to elevate and remediate flood-damaged homes.
The presiding officer put the question on concurrence; members voted by voice and the chair announced the ayes had it. After concurrence, the House suspended rules to message its action on S.310 to the Senate forthwith, the motion carried by voice vote, and the House recessed until 2:30 p.m.
The record reflects voice votes at each step; no roll-call tallies were provided on the floor transcript.
