AANC Legislative Update - 4/26/19
LEGISLATIVE REPORT - April 26, 2019
INTRODUCTION
This week has felt like the calm before the storm or maybe the eye of a hurricane! The House and Senate were both out on “spring break” for the first part of the week and then the House came in on Thursday and started releasing their budget proposal. The House Appropriation subcommittees are meeting this week and the House is expected to debate and amend the budget in the House Appropriations Committee and the full House next week and send over to the Senate. The Senate has been working behind the scenes on their budget proposal so we expect their version to roll out soon.
The other big news and deadline approaching is the May 9th cross-over deadline and committee meetings are already being noticed for next week as work moves into high gear to get legislation approved in one chamber or the other. This is a scary time of year for lobbyists as legislation that is not correct or has not been thoroughly vetted gets moved so that “the bill can get to the other side” with a promise to “fix it later.” We will be on high alert as legislation will move very quickly over the next two weeks.
The Governor vetoed his first piece of legislation for this session, Senate Bill 359, which would provide criminal charges for health care providers who do not provide care for any abortion when there are any signs of movement or life in the fetus. Democrats claimed that this does not happen and that the bill is not needed and Republicans are passionate that this is a moral issue that needs to be addressed. It will be the first test of the strength of the new Democrats to see if the veto can be sustained or if the Republicans can find the votes to over-ride the veto.
This report includes the bills filed the week of April 15 through April 19. We will include a short budget summary and the bills from this week in the next legislative report. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
This Legislative Report is a publication of Kochanek Law Group and is a member benefit of AANC. Any use or reproduction of this report is limited to AANC and its members.