Committee clears several technical and county-clerk bills; amendments to two bills pulled for further work

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a set of comparatively noncontroversial measures and also paused further action on two bills that need additional drafting.

Representative Zach Gramlich explained House Bill 14 93 and House Bill 14 94, describing both as code cleanups for county clerks that do not increase fees; Margaret Dardard, Faulkner County Clerk, joined Gramlich to clarify that HB1493 corrects a fee listing and HB1494 consolidates marriage-license fees in one code section. Both bills were moved and passed in committee.

Representative Tucker presented a technical corrections bill (HB1455/technical corrections to Title 17) addressing agency and naming updates; the committee passed that bill.

Separately, amendments to SB311 and SB312 were considered. Senator Clark introduced amendments to SB311 addressing child-support look-back periods; the committee adopted the amendment but the sponsor asked to pull the bill to work further with the Judicial Council. Similarly, amendments to SB312 were adopted and then rescinded at the sponsor’s request; both bills were withdrawn from the active list and will return for consideration on Wednesday.

Committee members discussed procedural concerns about adopting amendments before final engrossment; Senator Tucker urged sponsors to place amended bills on the member’s own calendar and bring engrossed versions back to committee when practical.

The bills passed today that required a vote were approved and will move forward on the legislative calendar.