Committee advances two dozen House bills to Local & Uncontested Calendar

The Senate Committee on Business & Commerce met May 25 in Austin and moved roughly two dozen House bills forward to the Local & Uncontested Calendar, largely by unanimous votes. Chair Charles Schwertner called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m., and Senator Phil King conducted a series of motions recommending bills for passage and calendar placement.

Senator King repeatedly moved that bills including HB 705, HB 1094, HB 2037, HB 2488, HB 3005, HB 3112, HB 3388, HB 3516, HB 3923, HB 4134, HB 4214, HB 4233, HB 4350, HB 4559, HB 4748, HB 4765, HB 5093, HB 5129, HB 5196 and others be "reported favorably to the Senate with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed." Many of those motions "carried with a record vote of 11 ayes, 0 nays," and, where noted, were recommended for placement on the Local & Uncontested Calendar without objection. Senator King conducted the votes and moved calendar placement; he was the mover for the majority of recorded actions.

Several members asked to change recorded positions for calendar reporting. Senator Lois Kolkhorst requested unanimous consent to change her recorded nay to an aye on HB 2488 and to be recorded as a nay on the Local & Uncontested Calendar; the committee granted the request. Senator Judith Zaffirini made similar requests to alter her calendar votes for CSHB 4211 and HB 4233; the committee granted those requests as well.

The committee recessed at 3:59 p.m. after completing the session of motions and recorded votes. The committee’s minutes list each motion and the recorded vote for the bills noted above.