Appropriations panel unanimously approves package of five bills, sends measures to the House floor

The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a five-bill package on the agenda and referred the measures to the House floor.

The package includes House Bills 348, 1129, 1304, 1525 and Senate Bill 327. The committee’s executive director summarized the measures for members, saying, “House bill 3 4 8 requires nursing facilities operators to provide notice of legal representation to nursing facilities residents that are applying to the medical assistance program,” and briefly outlining the other bills’ purposes.

Committee members offered no sustained debate on the group of bills. When the chair called for discussion on the package, one member stated, “On this package of bills, mister chairman, we will be voting in the affirmative,” and the chair recorded both Republican and Democratic members as voting in the affirmative. The chair then announced the package would be referred to the floor.

Because the committee handled these measures together, members did not debate each bill individually in committee; the executive director provided a short description of each measure’s intent during the committee’s overview. The committee did not identify any amendments or instructions to staff for these bills during the session.

The committee moved next to separate consideration of other bills on its agenda.