The House Judiciary Committee advanced five bills and decided not to take up one bill.
The first bill the committee reviewed is House Bill 2005, which is the Broadband Expansion Act for 2019. This bill is another step in aiding the deployment of reliable small wireless facilities and other next-generation wireless and broadband network. The bill was passed unanimously by the committee and reported to the House.
House Bill 2459 regards exercising authority to exempt individuals domiciled within the state from certain restrictions contained in federal law. This law was originally passed in 1996 and has remained ever since. It was accepted in Guam, Mississippi and South Carolina. Statistics show in 2016, this law would have been able to impact 2000 applicants that were denied, there were 1,300 that were denied in 2018.
The committee advanced the bill and reported it to the House.
House Bill 2462 relates to the authority for correctional employees and parole officers to carry and use firearms. This was originally a right of corrections officers but the section of code that allowed this right was at some point lost during legislation. The committee after only a few questions quickly voted on the bill to pass and be reported to the House.
House Bill 2412 relates to criminal acts concerning government procurement of commodities and services. This bill was not discussed in detail and after a few questions of counsel and speakers, the committee advanced the bill and reported it to the House.
Finally, the committee reviewed House Bill 2435, which authorizes attorneys general to prosecute violations of state criminal law recommended by the Commission on Special Investigations. This bill was heavily discussed amongst the committee and many questions were asked of counsel and speakers from the commission and a prosecutor. After the committee was done with questions voting on the bill was presented and the bill was passed with 14 for the bill and 11 against.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 10 a.m. Monday.
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