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Judiciary committee advances five bills in executive session; several others set for public hearing
Summary
In an executive session the Missouri House Judiciary Committee voted to advance five bills related to injunctions, post-conviction relief, commercial activity and prison terms; public hearings followed on deposition rules, LLC deadlock remedies, judgeship additions and workers' compensation fixes.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced five bills in executive session and then held public hearings on several additional proposals.
In executive session Chair Cameron Parker moved that House Bill 3,144 (relating to injunctions) be voted "do pass"; the committee recorded a vote of 8 ayes and 4 nos and the measure was advanced. The committee then voted to advance House Bill 3,160 (preliminary injunctions and judicial proceedings), with a tally reported as 9 ayes and 4 nos. Members adopted a technical amendment and a committee substitute for House Bill 2,254 (post-conviction relief); the substitute was later reported "do pass" by a vote of 8 ayes and 5 nos. House Bill 2,206 (commercial activities) was advanced on a 12–1 vote, and House Bill 2,256 (minimum prison terms) passed committee 9–4.
After the executive session the committee moved to public hearings. Sponsors and witnesses presented and took questions on HB 1711 (Uniform Interstate Deposition Discovery Act), HB 1713 (LLC deadlock remedies), HB 2427 and HB 3086 (adding judgeships in St. Charles and Miller counties, respectively), HB 3072 (workerscompensation fee arrangements), and a statutory cleanup bill (HB 2968) addressing circuit descriptions and an enabling date for a recently added judgeship.
Representative Veidt (sponsor) told the committee HB 1711 "speeds up the process and cuts out legal fees" by allowing an out-of-state deposition to be initiated through local clerk procedures rather than parallel litigation; Greg Goodwin of the Missouri Attorney General's Office said the bill "really does decrease the time" and gave examples of difficulties the office has encountered in obtaining out-of-state records. On judicial staffing, Representative Ben Keithley said HB 2427 would add one circuit and two associate positions in St. Charles County to address crowding, while Representative Don Mayhew and a local attorney testified HB 3086 is intended to add an associate judge in Miller County because current caseloads are disproportionately high.
The committee did not record opposition witnesses for several of the hearings and left some items for further coordination among sponsors and the Senate before final committee action.
Votes at a glance
• HB 3,144 (injunctions) — voted do pass: 8 ayes, 4 nos. • HB 3,160 (preliminary injunctions) — voted do pass: 9 ayes, 4 nos. • HB 2,254 (post-conviction relief; substitute adopted) — voted do pass: 8 ayes, 5 nos. • HB 2,206 (commercial activities) — voted do pass: 12 ayes, 1 no. • HB 2,256 (minimum prison terms) — voted do pass: 9 ayes, 4 nos.
The committee adjourned the executive session and continued the agenda with public testimony and Q&A; no final committee votes on the public-hearing bills were recorded in the transcript.
Ending
The committee advanced multiple measures and collected testimony and data on several others. Sponsors indicated they would meet with Senate counterparts or bring technical amendments back to the committee where needed; next procedural steps were not recorded in the transcript.
