House Human Services committee approves final draft of S.239; Representative Cole to report bill to the floor
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Summary
The House Human Services committee voted to approve draft 3.1 of S.239 and will send the bill to the House floor; Representative Cole will report the bill, with a second reading set for Friday and third reading for Tuesday. The chair noted scheduling logistics and a possible one-day delay request.
The House Human Services committee reviewed the final version of S.239 and approved draft 3.1 in a roll-call vote during a brief session, the chair said.
The chair told members the bill "appears to represent the work of our committee," praised changes made by members and said the bill now includes "access to the most recent findings" up front to clarify the working group's tasks. The motion to approve draft 3.1 was recorded as moved by Representative McGill.
The committee conducted a roll-call. The transcript records nine members saying "Yes" after their names were called (Representatives Bishop, Cole, Eastes, Garfano, McGuire, McGill, Noyes, Steady and Wood). Two members named in the roll call (Representatives Donahue and Nielsen) did not have a recorded verbal response in the provided transcript. A numeric notation in the transcript, "9902," was recorded immediately after the roll call but its meaning is not explicit in the transcript record.
The chair said Representative Cole will report the bill on the House floor. She told members the bill will be "on notice tomorrow," with second reading scheduled for Friday and third reading on Tuesday, subject to clerk's-office timing. The chair also asked staff to check whether delaying transmission to the clerk's office by one day is permitted to shift readings and cover a personal scheduling conflict.
The chair emphasized the committee sought to incorporate lived experience into the bill, thanking participants "for their willingness to ... put out their life experience" to inform deliberations. Committee members discussed procedural options briefly with staff about whether to delay sending the bill to the clerk so the chair's availability would not affect floor scheduling.
The committee noted other agenda items — including a childhood bill, forensic facilities and an expected tobacco bill from Commerce — and scheduled a later bill review at 11:15 for a House Commerce bill that had just been voted out of that committee. The committee concluded its business after the vote and procedural discussion; the clerk and staff will confirm next steps with the clerk's office.
The committee did not discuss the substantive text of S.239 in detail in the provided transcript beyond the chair's statement that the bill includes access to recent findings for the working group. No amendments or roll-call dissent were recorded in the supplied segment beyond the ambiguous tally notation.
