Our 7th year, week 8
After two weeks of heightened activity, we expected this week to be rather quiet, but it did not happen. A significant number of the bills we are tracking saw action, both in committees and in full chambers. Some of those bills deserve additional attention. These are some of them:
- HB2331 – electric service providers; energy reliability This bill was severely weakened by the adoption of a strike everything amendment. However, it remains a desirable bill because it retains its main provision, that energy be reliable. Solar and wind, by their nature are inherently not reliable. It passed the house 32-23. All NO votes came from Democrats.
- HB4103 – school districts; property; bonding authority A major problem that has been developing in some school districts is that governing boards call for bond elections to increase space even when enrollment is substantially below capacity. This bill attempts to remedy that by prohibiting governing boards from calling for a bond election if the enrollment ratio falls below 50%. It passed the house 32-24, along party line.
- HCR2005 – legislative session; adjournment 100-day legislative sessions have become a rarity. Lately, many sessions have gone deeply into June. This bill would force adjournment by April 30. It passed the house 42-14. It is one of the very few bills that passed with bi-partisan support.
- SB1745 – local excise taxes; rate limit Caps at 2.5 percent, for cities and towns with a population of 550,000 persons or more, the transaction privilege tax (TPT) or excise tax rate that may be imposed on each TPT classification. This bill failed in the senate with a vote of 15-15. It is not surprising that all Democrats voted against this modest limit on taxation. What is surprising is that two Republicans, Hildy Angius and Vince Leach, joined the Democrats in their NO vote. which caused the bill to fail.
A peek at next week’s agenda indicates that we will again have a very busy week.
Links to some significant bill lists
Bills target of strike everything amendments: are found here.
Bills sent to the governor are found here.
Bills vetoed by the governor: are found here.
Full list of what happened this week with the bills we are tracking
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