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Rules committee advances agenda, selects three bills for immediate consideration and hears brief presentations on pensions, courts, drones and bingo
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Summary
The Rules Standing Committee approved a committee substitute on a standing item, voted to send a bill to a standing committee, and selected SB143, SB369 and SB452 for immediate consideration while hearing short presentations on bills affecting firefighter rehiring, magistrate court thresholds, insurer use of aerial imagery, and bingo regulation.
The Rules Standing Committee met and, after approving a committee substitute on a standing item, selected three bills for immediate consideration and heard short presentations on several measures ranging from retirement benefits to insurance notice requirements.
The committee began by adopting a committee substitute for a standing item (transcript reference: SR744); the chair announced the substitute passed "by committee sub." The committee then gavels into its Rules Calendar agenda and held an invocation led by Senator Dixon.
Senator Albers presented SB143, describing it as "a great bill for the firefighter pension fund, which has no state tax dollars in it whatsoever." He said the bill "allows... [firefighters] to be able to retire and then come back to work," noting returning retirees would not continue to vest in the retirement system but would help fill critical staffing needs with experienced personnel.
The committee heard a quick series of short presentations on other bills. Senator Kirkpatrick described SB395 as intended to "improve communication between the Department of Public Health and the Composite State Medical Board on our medical cannabis program." Senator Harvey covered SB409 (the sponsor was absent) and summarized a consumer-notice requirement: insurers using aerial or satellite imagery would need to provide homeowners at least 60 days' notice if cancellation is based on that imagery and must send the image, its resolution, and the date/time of capture with an opportunity for the homeowner to respond.
A sponsor explained SP405 would raise the magistrate court jurisdictional threshold from $15,000 to $50,000 so constituents can seek redress in magistrate court without hiring attorneys; a committee member asked whether magistrate judges support the change, and the sponsor said judges had not collectively expressed an opinion to the sponsor.
Senator Hatchett introduced SB452, a governor-supported measure to increase the state's match into certain retirement accounts for state law enforcement officers "up to 15%;" committee members asked whether the change would apply to all post-certified peace officers employed by the state and Hatchett said she would confirm the bill's exact coverage (her statement: the bill "specifically references state law enforcement officer").
Senator Dolezal said SB471 would remove the sunset on the 2022 student mask law so the opt-out limitation remains in place. The chair summarized HB455 (the bingo bill), saying it would allow bingo held at one location on a property to move to another building on the same property without repeating the whole permitting process and would adjust payout/operation limits.
Toward the end of the meeting the committee voted to select three bills for near-term consideration—Senate Bills 143, 369 and 452. Senator Albers moved the selection and the motion was seconded; the chair announced the motion "carries unanimous." The chair also said Senator Steele would have the next pick in the rotation.
The meeting closed with light remarks and the chair adjourned the committee.
What happened next: no final floor votes on the discussed bills were recorded in this transcript; the committee's immediate action was selecting three bills for follow-up and recording the committee substitute approval earlier in the session.
