Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Tuesday, February 4, 2014



I was back in the House Judiciary Committee this morning for the final action on H. 88. The committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the House floor.  There was one amendment to the bill that would require joinder of actions if a divorce, for example, was filed. You can read draft 2.1 which is the draft that was voted on here:
This afternoon, the committee will return to the minor guardianship bill, H. 581, with hopes of completing its work on that bill also. I’m not that certain it’s ready yet but it’s certainly close to being done. Then, tomorrow, S. 119 is up for “mark up” in the afternoon. Given the weather forecast, at least right now, anything can happen to schedules this week.
Wednesday morning brings a change in focus for the committee as they look at three bills for the first time. They will look at H. 731, a bill that would permit a party to request that a judicial officer other than an assistant judge preside in a small claims action and that would require the rules of evidence apply when such a request is made. The second bill, H. 545, would increase the jurisdictional limit in small claims to $10,000. Finally, the committee will hear about collateral consequences of conviction in H. 413. I think this is the first time the House is considering this issue. I recall that the Senate Judiciary Committee in the past has heard testimony on it but never took action.

These are all interesting  issues that the committee will be focusing on as they enter the second month of this year’s session. I’ll report on these and other happenings as I can. Thanks for reading. 

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