Filing is finally over. The damage is 877 in the House, 352 in the Senate.
THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 247 made it out of committee 7-1 with a few technical amendments and awaits floor action. HB 311 passed the House 69-35 and will be heard in the Senate Retirement Committee. HB 386 passed out of committee 8-0 with a few clerical amendments and awaits floor action. SB 7 made it out of committee with slight amendments and awaits floor action. SB 53 passed out of committee and awaits final passage. SB 82 made it out of committee and awaits passage. SB 323 made it out of committee and awaits floor action.
THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 162 and HB 163 were involuntarily deferred by the House Insurance Committee. HB 560 made it out of committee 11-0 and passed the House 101-2, and now has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. SB 190 passed out of committee with some minor amendments and awaits floor action.
MONDAY: HB 183, HB 690, and HB 763 are scheduled to be heard in the House Commerce Committee; HB 436, HB 437, HB 502, HB 608, and HB 810 are scheduled to be heard by the House Ways and Means Committee; HB 219 and HB 676 are scheduled to be heard by the House Transportation, Highways, and Public Works Committee; SB 228 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee; SB 1 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee; HB 311 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Committee on Retirement.
TUESDAY: HB 52 is scheduled to be heard by the House Committee of Civil Law and Procedure.
FILING BILLS THAT ARE THE GOOD: HB 834 by John LaBruzzo allows parents to take tax credits for expenses of private, including home-schooled, education. This is a necessary measure to create additional incentives for improvement of public schools by reducing the double-charging (local taxes and state taxes for schools and tuition and/or expenses) that goes on for parents not allowing their children to attend public schools. Pretty good too is Rob Marrioneaux’s SB 352 which exempts employers from paying unemployment compensation contributions on wages earned by part time workers who are full time students at postsecondary institutions, a commonsensical measure since by law these kinds of employees are ineligible to draw unemployment anyway.
AND THE BAD: HB 828 by Alex Heaton provides more corporate welfare for the music recording industry; HB 847 by Charlie DeWitt raises taxes on crude oil by 35 cents a barrel; HB 849 by Cheryl Gray essentially raises taxes by 19.6 cents a subscriber telecommunications line to fund an emergency response network while HB 863 by Austin Badon only attacks wireless contracts; SB 341 by Ann Duplessis creates corporate welfare for digital media production.
But the worst are the pair from Derrick Shepherd, HB 874 and HB 875 which makes tobacco dealers pay extra fees and for rolling paper sold, too, respectively. These bills don’t pretend to shuttle money to a fund for some laudable purpose, it just grabs more money for the state (so does DeWitt’s bill but at least he only has one).
SCORECARD:
Total House introductions: 877; Total Senate introductions: 352
Total House good bills: 41; Total Senate good bills: 22
Total House bad bills: 48; Total Senate bad bills: 19
Total House good bills heard in committee: 12; Total Senate good bills heard in committee: 8
Total House bad bills heard in committee: 12; Total Senate bad bills heard in committee: 4
Total House good bills passing committee: 3; Total Senate good bills passing committee: 3
Total House bad bills passing committee: 2; Total Senate bad bills passing committee: 1
Total House good bills passing House: 1; Total Senate good bills passing Senate: 0
Total House bad bills passing House: 1; Total Senate bad bills passing Senate: 0
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