The Senate Judiciary committee met Tuesday evening and advanced three bills regarding human smuggling, political elections, and the Department of Administration.
House Bill 4433 would make human smuggling and human trafficking a felony and add a definition for the term “illegal alien”.
Human Smuggling is defined in the bill as the act of knowingly transporting, transferring, receiving, isolating, enticing, or harboring an undocumented individual to avoid law enforcement. This does not include an immediate family member of the undocumented individual.
An illegal alien is defined in the bill as an individual who has entered the United States without authorization, has violated the terms of their admission, or is without a legal status and is subject to removal if apprehended. Further definitions from the bill can be found in code §61-14-1.
Senator Joey Gracia (D – Marion, 13) proposed an amendment to add the language “for financial or material benefit” in the bill when regrading harboring an illegal alien. He raised concerns about people being charged, such as non-profit organizations or church groups, whose intentions were to help an individual in need.
Senator Patricia Rucker (R – Jefferson, 16) opposed the Senator’s amendment, stating that an individual could be smuggling or trafficking an individual for other illegal purposes that do not involve financial or material benefit, arguing the amendment encourages behavior the bill is attempting to prevent.
Following a discussion, the amendment was rejected.
The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.
Senate Bill 640 would prohibit the release of personal information of contributors to political elections.
This bill would prohibit the release of political contributor’s addresses, major business affiliations, employers, or business information.
Political contributors who fall victim could recover a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 from the agency responsible for each report on which the information was publicly disclosed.
Any state or local officer or employee who knowingly discloses this information would be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction would be fined no more than $1,000 or confined in jail for no more than one year.
Senator Ryan W. Weld (R – Brooke, 01) proposed an amendment to add “street number and street name” in place of the word “address” being used in the bill with the intent to provide consistency throughout the bill.
The amendment was adopted.
The bill, as amended, was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.
Senate Bill 251 would authorize the Department of Administration to promulgate a legislative rule relating to the One-Stop Shop Permitting Program.
The bill contains five rules which regard the One-Stop Shop Permitting Program, cyber reporting, mine subsidence insurance, public entities insurance program, and preferred medical liability and high-risk medical liability program.
The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.
