This was the eleventh week of the 2019 Legislative Session. Because it is late in the session, much of the week was spent deciding whether to concur with any changes made to House bills by the Senate or to invite conference on those bills. In conference, representatives and senators work together to finalize the details of each bill before they are sent to the governor. Included in the bills being sent to conference are most of the revenue and appropriations bills from both the House and Senate, which will decide the state’s budget. On Thursday, Governor Phil Bryant signed Senate Bill 2116 into law. “The Heartbeat Bill,” as some have called it, makes it illegal for someone to have an abortio
This was the tenth week of the 2019 Legislative Session. Wednesday of this week was the deadline for the House to discuss general Senate bills. Any Senate bills that did not make it off the calendar died. The deadline to discuss Senate appropriations and other revenue bills will occur Tuesday, March 19. Many Senate general bills were discussed and debated, including the following: Senate Bill 2770 would give teachers and assistant teachers a pay raise for the first time since the last raises were authorized over a two year period beginning in 2014. Initially, the bill stated that salaries would increase $1,000 to be phased in over two years. During Tuesday’s floor action, the House Education
This was the ninth week of the 2019 Legislative Session. The deadline for House committees to report Senate bills occurred Tuesday at 8 p.m. Any Senate bills that did not make it out of committees died. Throughout the rest of the week, the House met to discuss bills that survived this deadline. Representatives passed a number of Senate bills, including the following: Senate Bill 2161 would amend current law by revising definitions and clarifying qualifications for the office of the State Medical Examiner and its deputies. A lengthy discussion ensued when opponents of the bill argued that the bill would not do enough to speed up the already lengthy autopsy process in the state. Proponents sai
The end of this week marked the deadline for House appropriations and revenue bills to be introduced and passed. The House Appropriations Committee finished passing bills regarding budgets for state agencies last week, so most legislation came from the House Ways and Means Committee. House Bill 822 from the Ways and Means Committee would impose an annual professional privilege tax of $400 on attorneys who practice law in the state, but who are not domiciled in the state and do not maintain a regular place of business in the state. The bill passed 90-15 and has been sent to the Senate for consideration. The Ways and Means Committee also introduced several bond bills on the House floor. Examp
