The Legislative Lawyer a Publication of the Legal Services Staff Section (LSSS)
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The Legislative Lawyer A publication of the Legal Services Staff Section (LSSS) November 2014 State News Colorado | Delaware | Florida | Indiana | Kentucky | Maryland | Michigan | Minnesota | Missouri | Ohio | Pennsylvania Texas | Virginia | West Virginia panels underneath are being repainted to match the original Colorado | Debbie Haskins stenciling. The trim colors in the chambers are also being repainted to the original colors. Eventually, they hope to take out the dropped ceilings in the chambers and restore Every bill that is introduced in the Colorado General the atrium windows that are underneath the current ceilings. Assembly must be written, edited, revised and approved Colorado built a new judicial building a few years for form by the Office of Legislative Legal Services prior ago and relocated the attorney general’s office into the to introduction. One of the steps that the office follows is new judicial building, freeing up office space in a building that a senior level attorney revises every bill draft after it is across from the State Capitol. This has led to some relo- edited by a legislative editor. Revisors look for legal issues cation of legislative staff offices and some legislators will with bill drafts, such as whether the bill conflicts with a be moving their offices to the newly vacated space. OLLS state constitutional provision or complies with any number did not move, but the State Auditor’s Office moved and of statutory provisions affecting legislation. An internal parts of the Legislative Council moved to the state audi- committee of attorneys and legislative editors met last tor’s vacated space. Musical chairs! Some larger commit- year to see if we could create better standards for revising tee room spaces in the State Capitol are being created out changes. This effort has led to a revisor work group, which of former spaces that were used as offices for legislators. is creating a two-page checklist with electronic links to key provisions in the OLLS Drafting Manual, statutory require- ments and state constitutional provisions. The checklist will DELAWARE | Rich Dillard be used by revisors to remind them of all of the various rules and requirements that bills need to conform to in Colorado. We hope that this will improve the quality of our overall The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office was rocked by a revising and our bill drafting. series of allegations of nonfeasance, malfeasance and a The office is also working on modernizing the standard couple of other feasances. The Chief Medical Examiner language used for concurrent resolutions to amend the state himself was accused of spending much of his time doing constitution and for statutory referendums for referred bills. side-work in other states, and it was discovered by happen- An ad hoc committee studied the standard language and has stance in a courtroom cross examination that drug evidence made recommendations to reduce unnecessary language, had been tampered with. The full extent of the “tampering” provide the actual date of the election, eliminate passive and the full impact upon past convictions and upcoming voice and eliminate archaic phrases, such as “the said,” “to prosecutions is yet to be determined. The general assembly wit,” and “as provided by law.” responded by dissolving the Chief Medical Examiner’s We are excited that the Capitol dome restoration Office and creating a Division of Forensic Science under project has been completed and that the observation deck the Department of Safety and Homeland Security even will reopen to the public on Oct. 2. This view allows for a though there was some opposition to bringing the folks 360-degree view of the city. The project repaired the copper responsible for drug testing for potential criminal prosecu- drum underneath the gold dome and regilded the gold on tions within the same department as the State Police [SB 241 the gold dome. The next renovation project is ongoing in w/ SA 2 and SA 3]. the House and Senate chambers. The acoustical tile that Tanning for Prom will have to come from a can was placed on the chamber walls has been removed and the instead of a booth as of 2015 due to the passage of a ban The Legislative Lawyer November 2014 on the use of tanning booths by anyone under 18 [SB 94]. essentially parallel the existing standing committee For those 18 and older, they will get to see large signs in structure by subject matter. The Legislative Council the tanning facility listing all of the reasons as to why they reduced the number of permissible meetings, removed the shouldn’t be there. discretion of a committee chair to entertain topics other The governor’s proposed additional 10¢ a gallon than topics assigned by law or the Legislative Council and gas tax mentioned in the last missive never even made it reduced the number of lay members serving on interim to the starting gate—it never even got introduced. It was study committees. replaced by a 50-percent increase in the weekend tolls to As the interim winds down, the Office of Bill Drafting get to the Delaware beaches. and Research (OBDAR) is already preparing for the first Also a nonstarter was the governor’s proposed regular session of the 119th general assembly. The prepara- household clean-water fee to be collected through county tions are moving forward under new leadership following property taxes. the retirement of John Rowings from his post as Director On a less somber [sober] note, you can now (openly) of OBDAR, a position in which he had served since 1997. enjoy an adult beverage while in your local movie theater John worked in numerous capacities at the Indiana Legislative [HB 299 w/ HA 1] if the theater pays a $750 a year license Services Agency (LSA) in a career that spanned more than fee, limits consumption to two drinks per person per thirty years. He was so well regarded by the Legislative movie and [wait for it] watches the audience via video Council and other legislators that he was asked to serve cameras. Bottom’s up! for a session as the acting executive director of the LSA in 2006–2007. The attorneys in OBDAR will miss John’s steady demeanor and unique sense of humor. FLORIDA | Edith Elizabeth Pollitz Ross Hooten was named director of OBDAR in September. Ross had served as a deputy director of OBDAR since the fall of 2012. He begins his tenure as director with The Florida Legislature held a special session in August 18 years of experience at OBDAR. as the result of court action throwing out redistricting of a couple of congressional districts as violative of the 2010 “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment (legislators cannot KENTUCKY | Josh W. Nacey draw the districts to favor incumbents or a specific political party) and ordering the legislature to convene to fix them. Senate Bill 2A made adjustments to the offending districts Kentucky’s Constitution requires the Kentucky General by making minor changes in a few adjacent districts, effec- Assembly to convene for not more than 60 legislative days tive after the 2014 elections, and the court approved the in even-numbered years and for not more than 30 legisla- redrawn material. An appeal is apparently in the works. tive days in odd-numbered years. During the 2014 regular session, the legislature met for 59 days. During this session, a total of 820 bills were introduced. There were 240 INDIANA | Ross Hooten Senate bills (SB) and 580 bills originated in the House of Representatives. Of those, 51 Senate bills and 88 House bills were signed by Governor Steve Beshear. The interim between the second regular session of the Legislative sessions held in even-numbered years are 118th general assembly and first regular session of the primarily focused on the passage of a two-year state bud- 119th general assembly is winding down with a Nov. 1 get and this year was no exception. The 2014 budget bill, deadline to complete interim study committee business. House Bill (HB) 235, provided for $20.3 billion in spend- This interim marked the debut of a new interim study ing for the biennium. The bill was another in a long line of committee approach that has rendered study commit- tight budgets that required many state agencies to endure a tee activity subject to greater control by the Legislative five-percent spending cut. Not all agencies and programs Council. The new approach began with the enactment were cut, however. Medicaid was not affected by the reduc- of SEA 80-2014. The act repealed a number of statutory tions and K-12 per pupil funding was increased. While interim study committees and replaced them with seven- spending for post-secondary education institutions de- teen new interim study committees. The new committees creased by 1.5 percent, bond-funded capital construction 2 State News programs proceeded for many campuses. Further, state employees and teachers will receive salary increases. MARYLAND | Elizabeth Mehl Budgets for the legislative and judicial branches and the state road plan were enacted this year. HB 237 autho- rized $5.2 billion for road and bridge projects for the next The Maryland General Assembly will experience sig- two fiscal years. nificant changes in the 2014 general election. Out of a Among the other bills signed into law: membership of 188, 10 senators and 52 delegates have announced their retirement, are running for other office or SB 98: Establishes an adult abuse registry to assist were defeated in the June 1 primary election. The entire adult care professionals in determining if a prospec- general assembly is up for re-election every four years. tive employee has a history of substantiated abuse, The November election will also decide a consti- neglect or exploitation of adults.