Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
As of the end of last week, there were still about oh, 245 bills which survived. The senate
bills, we sent all of our bills over to the house for their consideration, the house has
now sent all their bills over to the senate for consideration so the process begins all
over again. I just came from a committee, the judiciary
committee, where we considered a number of what might be considered minor bills but important
bills. For example a bill that would allow veterans who have been deployed overseas to
receive an expeditious hearing on matters involving child custody or parent visitation
rights, make it a little easier for them to wade through those issues while theyre going
through the difficult situation of being deployed overseas.
The house sent over the issue on the non-smoking ban and of course the question there, from
my perspective, is how comprehensive will that ban be? The bill as it comes over has
a number of exceptions for casinos, bars, tobacco shops, private clubs; those type of
things and I think we’ll have to take a look at, “is it good to allow thos exceptions
in the bill or do we want to really have a total and completely comprehensive non-smoking
ban?” The debate will go on about that. On the house side, my bill, Senate Bill 273
which deals with regulating the outdoor stages throughout the state to prevent hopefully
another catastrophe from occurring such as the State Fairgrounds is now over in the house.
I’ve spoken with the house sponsors of the bill and hope to get a hearing on that and
move it forward. A related bill which we’ll consider in the
senate is the idea that on a one time basis, increasing the amount of money that might
be available to compensate the victims of the State Fairgrounds catastrophe from the
State’s point of view. That bill will hopefully receive a hearing and I think the important
thing with that bill is to make sure the people who truly need assistance are given assistance
for the terrible injuries they have sustained or also the people who unfortunately lost
their lives, that the survivors are properly compensated.
So we have a number of important issues yet to go, as always I look forward to your comments
so feel free to contact me at anytime.