Senate Judiciary Committee Concurrs in Two House Amendments to S.B. 353; Second Amendment Creates Two‑Year Fee Study Task Force

The Judiciary Committee — Senate voted to concur in two House amendments to S.B. 353 during a committee meeting. Unidentified Speaker 2 moved to concur in amendment 1, describing it as "just adding a cosponsor," and Unidentified Speaker 1 seconded; the committee approved the motion by voice and the chair announced the concurrence.

Unidentified Speaker 2 later described amendment 2 as a broader change creating a task force "to study the fees and the impact of fees on individuals," including how fees are collected and whether they burden people reentering society. "It creates a task force to study the fees ... over the next 2 years," the speaker said when outlining the amendment’s intent. The speaker also noted the task-force membership and setup are spelled out in the amendment text (page 3).

Unidentified Speaker 2 moved to concur in amendment 2 and said if the bill sponsor did not want the change, the sponsor could decline to run it on the floor; Unidentified Speaker 1 seconded. The motion was approved by voice vote and the chair announced that concurrence in both amendment 1 and amendment 2 to S.B. 353 was complete.

The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; votes were taken by voice and are recorded in the transcript only as vocal assent and the chair’s announcement that the motion carried. The committee moved on to other business after recording the concurrences.

The committee’s next procedural step is to leave the amended bill available to be taken to the floor; the transcript records no further committee direction or conditions attached to the concurrences.