Legislative regular session through Jun. 5, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 556 passed Senate committee; HB 1143 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; HB 1171 with minor amendments passed the House; HB 1292 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; HB 1370 passed Senate committee; HB 1488 passed the House; HB 1490 passed the House; SB 9 passed the House; SB 391 with minor amendments passed the Senate; SB 392 with minor amendments passed the Senate; SB 471 with minor amendments passed the Senate; SB 534 passed House committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 1322 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; SB 1 with minor amendments passed Senate; SB 2 with minor amendments passed the Senate.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1493; total number of bills, Senate: 807.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 56; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 20.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 22; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 15

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Total House good bills passed by House committee: 28; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 12

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Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 7; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House good bills approved by House: 18; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 9.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 4; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 7.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 10; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 4.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 3; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 3.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 5; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 3.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 2.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 1.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Committee action, Jun. 2: HB 68, SB 762

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 68 by Rep. Henry Burns would allow trained individuals with advance notice to bring firearms into houses of worship. He emphasized the choice to allow them into churches is with them and many states already allow this. However, churches on college campuses would not be subject to this. Senate Judiciary C Committee Chairman Danny Martiny asked whether Burns had changed his mind about supporting Rep. Ernest Wooton’s past efforts to allow concealed weapons on campuses; Burns said perhaps with restrictions.

Sen. Lydia Jackson began bringing up a number of technical scenarios, such as whether the bill would authorize a church that rents a facility from another church to have weapons even if the actual owner was against it. This prompted Burns to defer temporarily the bill to work on the language.

DID YOU KNOW?

SB 762 by Sen. Sharon Weston Broome would make as a violation discrimination in land use and permitting decisions against people who want affordable housing built (defined as affordable to people between 60 and 80 percent of median family income for the area). Having run into many questions previously, Broome announced she was going to turn the bill into a study resolution, and the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee complied by voluntarily deferring it.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

We’ll have an open mic after the meeting, just like Congress.

Martiny, to Wooton as he testified on a bill after Burns’, after he jokingly suggested Burns had made derogatory remarks about his bills and wanted to respond.

Legislative regular session through May 29, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 200 was substituted for by HB 1490; HB 556 was passed by Senate committee; HB 996 was substituted for by HB 1492; HB 1171 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 1247 with major amendments passed Senate committee; HB 1407 had rules suspended to report it favorably to Senate; HB 1408 had rules suspended to report it favorably with amendments to Senate; HB 1490 was passed by House committee; HB 1492 was passed by House committee; SB 9 with minor amendments passed House committee; SB 13 with minor amendments was passed by Senate, passed House committee; SB 348 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; SB 471 with major amendments passed Senate committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 251 passed Senate committee; HB 1284 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; SB 432 was reported without action; SB 490 passed House committee; SB 492 with minor amendments passed House committee.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1492; total number of bills, Senate: 806.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 56; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 20.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 22; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 15.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 26; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 12.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 7; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House good bills approved by House: 15; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 3; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 3.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 2.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 2.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 2.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Committee action, May 24: SB 762, HB 1284

DID YOU KNOW?

SB 762 by Sen. Sharon Weston Broome would make as a violation discrimination in land use and permitting decisions against people who want affordable housing built (defined as affordable to people between 60 and 80 percent of median family income for the area). She said not enough affordable housing was being built for people, so therefore some kind of effort had to be made to encourage the building of these kinds of units.

Rep. John LaBruzzo wanted to know how the bill would allow those who wanted to buy housing do that. He wanted to know whether that would mandate such housing and who would block such housing. Apparently the bill would not mandate and local governments would permit. LaBruzzo then asked why developers would not do this on their own. He was concerned whether this would create a mandate.

Rep. John Schroder wondered whether this was enforceable. He didn’t understand that if it was directed at local government, what would happen if violated. Broome said with developers going to local governments for permitting, it would provide an opportunity for additional reminding, and other statutes addressed penalties. She also had an amendment to clarify targets, which actually had the effect of rewriting the bill.

Rep. Nancy Landry thought the bill was protecting an additional class – working people – and she didn’t think there was a compelling interest or past history of discrimination against them to justify the bill. She also noted that the bill as amended no longer would not declare as an automatic violation the desire not to concentrate a lot of such housing, and could not support the bill.

House Civil Law and Procedure Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Burns said because of the newness of the amendments and given the press of time, it might be best to voluntarily defer the bill. Broome said she could live with that and get with some committee members in the meantime. Burns motioned for this and it was approved by acclamation.

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 1284 by Rep. Girod Jackson would set targets for disadvantaged business enterprises for public entities in the state who bid for any contracts with federal funds. He told the House Appropriations Committee. He said the state did not have to follow any guidelines of the federal government in this regard, and thought it would be a negative in the eyes of the federal government if an audit was done.

Rep. Simone Champagne said in her local government experience federal regulations are being abided by. He said local governments with numerical goals were blaming it on the state for not having to follow them. She said then the Legislative Auditor, not legislation, was the answer.

Rep. James Armes wondered how this would work with matching funds from the state. Jackson said it wouldn’t make a difference since it was goals, not mandates, being worked with. Chairman Rep. Jim Fannin observed he thought a lot of this was being done in following federal law. Jackson insisted the pass-through aspect masked this, which didn’t seem to convince Fannin. Rep. Charmaine Stiaes said that sometimes the procedures aren’t followed, so the state telling it had to be done increased chances of compliance instead of having to go back and clean up. But Fannin saw no enforcement difference with the bill that what currently existed, and suggested adding enforcement would make it different.

Stiaes moved to pass but Champagne offered a substitute to defer. On the motion to defer, it passed 11-3 with only Reps. Patricia Smith, Stiaes, and Patrick Williams voting nay.

Legislative regular session through May 22, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 401 failed to pass the House; HB 490 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; HB 532 was substituted for by HB 1488; HB 962 with minor amendments passed the House; HB 1143 passed the House; HB 1488 passed House committee; SB 13 had rules suspended to report it favorably; minor amendments were adopted; SB 345 passed Senate committee; SB 391 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; SB 392 passed Senate committee; SB 534 with minor amendments passed committee; SB 606 had rules suspended to report it favorably.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 292 with minor amendments passed the Senate; HB 529 with minor amendment failed to pass the House; SB 1 with minor amendments passed committee; SB 2 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; SB 505 passed the Senate; SB 796 with minor amendments passed the Senate.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1489; total number of bills, Senate: 803.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 54; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 17.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 21; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 14.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 24; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 7; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 6.

Total House good bills approved by House: 15; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 2.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 4.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 1; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.