House Appropriations Committee approves packages of bills and refers them to the House floor

Chairman Harris convened the House Appropriations Committee, confirmed a quorum and asked the committee executive director to summarize the day's bills. The executive director outlined seven House bills and their principal provisions before the committee voted on two packages of measures.

The committee executive director told members that "House bill 12 62 ... requires campaign finance reports submitted to the Department of State to be filed electronically," and that House bill 20 49 would amend workers' compensation to increase payroll-expense benefits payable upon an employee's death and provide for annual cost-of-living adjustments. The executive director also described House bill 22 52 as expanding the offense of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image and including an enhancement when the child depicted is a descendant of the defendant; House bill 23 37 would clarify that local ordinances regarding ATVs and dirt bikes are not preempted by state law; HB 24 27 would add utilization-management provisions for stage 4 advanced metastatic cancer drugs to the Insurance Company Law of 1921; HB 24 29 would require electric distribution companies to develop distribution system hosting capacity maps; and HB 25 50 would establish a small-business health-care premiums contribution tax credit.

Chairman Harris then called the first package—House bills 20 49, 22 52, 23 37, 24 27 and 25 50—"as a package of bills." He stated, "On this package of bills, all Republicans will be voting in the affirmative. All the Democrats will also vote in the affirmative," and the committee passed the package unanimously and referred it to the floor of the House.

He then called the second package—House bill 12 62 and House bill 24 29—and said, "On these 2 bills, all Republicans will be voting in the negative. All of the Democrats will vote in the affirmative. Therefore, the ayes have it." The chair declared the two bills passed the committee and referred them to the House floor. The transcript does not record individual roll-call tallies or the names of members who recorded votes.

With no further business, Chairman Harris adjourned the meeting.

The committee did not engage in extended debate on any single bill during the recorded proceedings; staff provided the bill summaries and the committee disposed of the measures by packaged motions and chair announcements of the vote outcomes. The committee referred the passed packages to the full House for consideration.