LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Tomorrow begins the final three days of the 2024 Legislative Session.  Any bill that fails to pass by 5:00pm on Thursday, May 9 will have to start over during the 2025 session.  On Thursday of last week, late in the session the Do No Harm bill passed the Senate!  The vote was 27-8, which means the outcome was never in doubt.  We just had to overcome attempts to amend the bill and other delaying tactics that would have run out the legislative clock. 

Now the bill returns to the House. If the House concurs with the Senate version (the bill was amended in the Senate Subcommittee) the bill will go on to the Governor to be signed into law.  If the House doesn’t concur, it will go to a conference committee.  The conference committee route is difficult, meaning the bill could still fail to pass.  The best path is for the House to concur. 

Please contact your House member this week.  Thank them for passing the original bill and ask them to concur so Do No Harm can become law.  The Compassionate Care Act (medical marijuana) is currently in the House 3M Committee.  We are praying that bill, which is a red-carpet invitation for recreational marijuana, will remain in committee past the Thursday deadline. 

There are three bills in the Senate that several senators are working to prevent from coming to a vote before Thursday.  Hate crimes, parimutuel betting on horse racing, and a bill that would allow Sunday alcohol sales and home delivery still might come up for a vote.  If you contact your Senator, please thank them for voting to pass the Do No Harm bill.  Respectfully ask them to vote against hate crimes, parimutuel betting, and the alcohol bill.  The hate crimes bill would codify sexual orientation and gender identity into law.  This means those categories could be inserted in other areas of the law opening the possibility of attacks on religious liberty. 

You can find your state senator and house member here:  www.statehouse.gov.

I will send out an update next week with a wrap up of the session. 

He must increase, I must decrease,

Tony Beam

Policy Consultant, SCBC