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Committee rejects amendment to strip felony component from enrollment-fraud statute
Summary
An amendment to remove the felony component and make the offense solely a misdemeanor failed in committee after debate about unintended consequences for other statutes that reference the felony language.
Senator Simmons proposed an amendment to eliminate the felony component in the relevant code section and make the contemplated offense a misdemeanor across the statute. He said the change would "show empathy to those parents" while making the law enforceable at a lower level.
Opponents, including Senator Hill and Senator Sparks, warned that striking the felony language could unintentionally reduce penalties for other, unrelated offenses that the same code section covers. Senator Hill said the section applies broadly to willfully falsifying records for any state or local department or agency, and cautioned that the amendment could sweep too broadly. The committee voted on the amendment and the nays prevailed ("The nays have it").
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