Monday April 30, 2012

The only update I have from Saturday's session is that the Senate concurred in the House proposals of amendment to H. 403, the foreclosure re-write bill. It's off to the governor for signature.
So what's left. H. 600, the update to the foreclosure mediation process remains on the Senate calendar. Let's hope for action later today when the Senate convenes at 2 PM. They've made some changes so the bill will have to return to the House for final approval. S. 116 remains in a committee of conference. Conference committees on the budget and the pay act will be meeting starting today to resolve those issues. If all goes as planned we should see the state's last furlough day in June!
More as things happen. Thanks for reading.

Friday April 27, 2012

The Senate concurred in the House proposals of amendment to S. 203, the child support enforcement bill. The fianl version is, at this time, only available in the Senate Journal of Thursday on pages 16-26.

Wednesday April 25, 2012

Here’s a quick update for bills that we’ve been following this session.

These have been signed into law and are already in effect:

H. 21, mutual benefit enterprises (formerly limited cooperative associations).

H. 565, licensed lender.

S. 179, amending perpetual conservation easements. This bill passed the Senate in a stripped down version from its introduction. Property Law Section members should pay attention to what it contains and what a study committee is being charged with doing.

The following passed the Senate on Tuesday. Given that the Senate made no changes to the House passed version, the bills will now go to the governor:

H. 272, private roads

H. 327, uniform principal and income act.

The following are still on the Senate Action Calendar:

S. 203, child support. I expect the Senate will concur in the House proposals of amendment.

H. 403, foreclosure rewrite. Again I expect the Senate will accept a minor amendment added in the House.

H. 600, foreclosure mediation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has made some changes that need to pass the Senate and then the bill must return to the House for action.

S. 116, probate proceedings and power of attorney. This bill is in a committee of conference to work out differences between the two chambers.

A couple of bills may be dead for this year. For example, S. 28, the permit reform measure that would create an “on the record” appeal for Act 250 proceedings in district environmental commissions 1, 4, and 5 may not get out of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. Also, H, 763, the tax department collection of the education tax is bottled up in House Appropriations. The provision that would allow attorneys and others access to net tax figures has been added to H. 782, the miscellaneous tax bill. That should be out of the Senate Finance Committee today. Finally, S. 143, the building energy disclosure bill is being held in the Senate Rules Committee.

The FY 13 budget bill and the pay act are up for action in the Senate probably later today. Together those bills should end furlough days in our courts and restore pay cuts that most state employees took over three years ago. No doubt both will end up in committees of conference.

Of course this is only a snapshot in time; anything can happen in the final days of any session. If you are interested in something I didn’t mention, let me know and I’ll try to update it for you. as always, thanks for reading.

Tuesday April 10, 2012

So here’s a quick update since I last wrote. As you may know all bills must be read three times. The first reading is the day of introduction; second reading is the report of the committee of jurisdiction. Third reading happens the next legislative day. Today a number of bills passed second reading. In the House S. 116, the probate proceedings bill advanced. In the Senate, H. 403, foreclosure and H. 565, licensed lender advanced to third reading tomorrow.

I realized this morning that H. 327, the uniform principal and income act, was nowhere to be found. It was approved by the senate judiciary committee last week but didn’t appear on the calendar. Well I reminded the committee about it and I hope it shows up on the Notice calendar tomorrow.

Because of extended action on the floor of both the House and Senate neither judiciary committee had time to get to H. 600, foreclosure mediation (in the Senate) or S. 203, child support (in the House). We’re back tomorrow hoping for movement on both bills then.

H. 763, the tax department collection of the education tax bill seems stalled in house appropriations while S. 143, the energy disclosure bill is stalled in senate appropriations.

The permit reform bill, S. 28, ran into some problems this morning on the senate floor and, after a recess, consideration was delayed “to the next legislative day”. Senator Mark MacDonald raised his objections to the bill as the full senate sat in silence listening. That caused a delay in consideration amid many still unanswered questions about the scope of the pilot project and its effect on citizen participation. Quite a day in the senate. Thanks for reading. More tomorrow.