Lawmaker to circulate civil recovery bill; House sponsor offered

A lawmaker on the Retail Crimes Task Force said Thursday they will circulate a draft "civil recovery" bill and asked task-force members to consider joining as sponsors. "I'm hoping everybody I remember can get on that bill. I need a house sponsor," the lawmaker said.

The speaker said they had shared a copy for limited feedback with a colleague previously and planned to have staff circulate the draft to the task force for additional input. "I will get Christie to circulate it today, only to the task force to see if they wanna come on it before we circulate it," the lawmaker added.

Representative Ray told the group he believed Representative Gray had volunteered to serve as the bill's House sponsor. Another lawmaker present directly offered to serve as the house sponsor, saying, "I'll be the house sponsor with you, and I'm looking forward to working with you on that."

Speakers said the intent was to craft bipartisan legislation; no text of the draft was read into the record at the meeting. Task-force members did not take a formal vote on sponsoring legislation; Representative Ray reiterated that the task force as a body would not formally endorse or oppose specific bills. The lawmaker who proposed the civil recovery draft said they would circulate the proposal to members for comment before wider distribution.