Representative Bartels presents conference report for House Bill 12-68; committee approves 1-hour distribution hold

Representative Bartels presented the conference committee report on House Bill 12-68 to the rules committee, saying the conference reverted the measure to the original House bill in several respects, left one task-force member to be appointed by the Senate pro tem and one by the speaker, and codified that the adjutant general serve as a nonvoting member.

“We did actually add some language, referenced a drone testing site, which, was originally in Senate Bill 4,” Representative Bartels said, describing a narrow insertion from another bill.

A committee member asked whether appointing only a single member per caucus would exclude minority representation. Bartels said minority members could be added and noted Senator Spencer will pursue legislation next year to expand appointments. He also told members there was no funding attached to the current conference package, so any votes would not obligate additional spending at this stage.

A motion to amend House Rule 155.3 so the conference committee report for House Bill 12-68 (conference committee report 1) could be provided for member distribution and held for one hour was made and seconded. The clerk called the roll; those recorded voting yes included Chairman Smalls, Representative Slager, Representative Karakoff, Representative Oltoff, Representative Zimmerman, Representative Johnson, Representative Dvorak and Representative Pierce. Representative Baird and Representative Manning were excused. The motion passed, as announced by the chair.

The committee’s action allowed members to receive the report for review and placed the item on a one-hour hold before further floor action. No final floor vote on the bill was taken at the rules meeting.