Wednesday, March 7, 2018

2018 Session - Week 7

All my days I prayed and prayed and now I see the finish line
Oh I'm gonna finish mine
All my days I prayed and prayed and now I see the finish line
Gonna finish mine


~Chance The Rapper, "Finish Line/Drown"


The 2018 Session is nearly at and end, but things have only slightly slowed down. We're wrapping up committee meetings to get through the last of the bills to go to the floor for votes. Conference committees are meeting to work out the kinks in bills. So, while this week's update is relatively short, I'll have a longer one next week once more things have been finalized.

On the House floor, I once again spoke against a bill that would prohibit localities from requiring a wage floor when entering contracts. A version of this bill has been vetoed for the past two years and I suspect it is headed for the same fate this year.

I also did a speech in honor of my mentor and predecessor, former Delegate Jim Scott. One of the nice things that we can do in the House is adjourn in the honor and memory of someone - I took this opportunity to honor Jim last week as he touched many lives over the years, including many of those still elected to the General Assembly.

Legislative Update

For the first time, I have three bills in conference:

HB 911 | Requires companies offering a recurring contract or automatic renewal to clearly state the terms and conditions of the contract. The bill is in conference so that we can add a line about those companies that try in good faith to comply.

HB 690 | Removes the residency requirement for registrars in localities with a population less than 15,000. There is a Senate version of this bill that has a higher population threshold, which will most likely be what the compromise version looks like.

HB 287 | Creates a Special License Plate for "Stop Gun Violence. Because the House and Senate versions of this bill are different, we need to find the happy medium between the two.

The Budget

Conferees are still hard at work to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the budget. Unfortunately, it may be a long path to consensus since the Senate version did not include Medicaid expansion. There are also rumors that a compromise won't be reached before the last day of Session and what we'll have to have to come back to vote on a final version some time later in March or even April.