Senate committee advances package of committee substitutes, including measures on homeless youth birth certificates, VFD raffles and cosmetology licensure

The Senate Committee on Government Organization on Thursday voted to report multiple committee substitutes to the full Senate with recommendations that they pass.

Key items reported: Counsel explained the committee substitute for SB 947, which would require the state registrar to furnish free certified birth certificates to individuals under 18 who are homeless, incorporating homelessness definitions from Chapter 18 of the code. "This bill amends a single section of code to require that the state registrar or furnish free of charge a certified copy of the birth certificate of an individual who's under the age of 18 and who is homeless," committee counsel said.

The committee also approved a comm-sub for SB 970 to exempt volunteer fire departments from being treated as unlicensed motor-vehicle dealers or automobile brokers so long as they raffle no more than four vehicles per month; counsel said the change avoids misdemeanor exposure for VFDs that partner with dealerships to raffle donated vehicles. Counsel noted vehicle and equipment replacement costs can be significant ("about more than 900,000 for a new one" and turnout gear costs "about 4 or $5,000"), explaining the policy rationale.

Other comm-subs reported included SB 486 (barbers/cosmetologists law changes creating a master esthetician classification and a private salon training pathway), SB 852 (Secretary of State fee adjustments and expanded fee exemptions for veteran/active-duty-owned businesses), SB 1011 (allowing secure electronic submission of VFD audit documents to the legislative auditor conditional on encryption controls; fiscal note ≈$60,500) and SB 1033 (clarifying the Commissioner of Agriculture's authority to transfer land to another public body subject to Article 5, Chapter 1 and Board of Public Works approval). The committee likewise reported SB 981, which in comm-sub form recommends (rather than mandates) a one-year moratorium on utility rate increases and directs the Public Service Commission to conduct a thorough study and report by 02/01/2027.

What this means: Each committee substitute was agreed to in committee and reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. Votes were recorded by voice; the transcript records "the ayes do have it" for each item.

Next steps: Reported measures will proceed to the full Senate for scheduling, floor consideration, potential amendments and final votes.