The Mood at the Capitol

SJR 74 (Coleman) has passed the House and is now heading back to the Senate. This is due to the amendments that were added in the House as any changes necessitate the bill returning to its original chamber for debate. The Senate now has to make a decision: accept the changes and pass the bill, or reject the changes and send the bill to a joint conference committee. In either case, the bill must be debated on the Senate floor where the Democrats have made their position clear. All of the ballot candy must once again be removed from the bill or they will filibuster until the end of session. The only way the bill passes as is is if the majority party uses the motion of moving the Previous Question (PQ). They would need eighteen votes in order to forcibly end debate and as of writing this report the majority party does not have the votes. We are expecting a long couple of weeks with a few overnights but ultimately we believe the bill will have all of the ballot candy removed and placed on the ballot in November.

The House floor debate on SJR 74 was quite long and very intense at certain moments. The final vote count in the House was 102-49 with 11 absent. It was a straight party line vote save for the one Republican to vote against it: Majority Floor Leader and next Speaker of the House Jon Patterson. We were a little surprised that the debate went as long as it did (nearly 2 hours on the House floor is unheard of). In most cases, after maybe 20 minutes or so, the majority floor leader would move the previous question and end the debate. We believe because of the importance of this legislation it was given enough time for a lengthy debate. The Democrats in the House did a fantastic job fighting to protect one person-one vote and we thank them for all of their efforts. We also want to give a little extra appreciation to the ones who got up to speak against the bill including Eric Woods, David Tyson Smith, Deb Lavender, Jamie Johnson, Joe Adams, Kevin Windham, Lakeysha Bosley, Peter Merideth, Barbara Phifer, Maggie Nurrenbern and the leadership of the House Democrats who helped organize the fight including Minority Leader Crystal Quade and Minority Whip Ashley Aune. Please be sure to reach out to these Representatives and thank them for everything they have done and continue to do to protect our rights.

The bill now sits on the Senate Calendar: Senate Bills with House Amendments and will remain there until it is brought up again for debate.

There are a number of omnibus crime bills that are still in a good position to be sent to the Governor if the log jam breaks. These include provisions such as good time credit and limits on phone fees. The bill numbers we are carefully tracking include: HB2064, HB1659, HB2700, HB1886, and HB1777. They are likely to be combined into 1 or 2 comprehensive bills sometime this week.

Please bear with us as we come to the end of this legislative session. Things move quickly and predictions are only good for the 5 minutes it takes to give them. This is also an election year so the political motivations are extremely high. We will notify everyone immediately should anything pass. Otherwise, just keep an eye out for these updates and we will send them when we can.

• Crime Bill Comparison: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IPmHrOzKsTAyZJHI-jme37WmSku1cagN/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104630237112565542110&rtpof=true&sd=true 
  

https://govwatch.net/report/M6q8o0GrzR

*This list is continually updated and improved. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Geuea Jones at sharon@jonesadvocacy.com.