Judiciary Committee advances seven bills to the House floor; key outcomes and votes

The House Judiciary Committee considered multiple bills on Monday and reported seven bills favorably to the House floor. The committee recorded several amendment votes and a handful of roll‑call or hand‑vote tallies during the session.

Votes and notable actions taken in committee:

- HB25‑93 (contingent‑fee contracts): Committee adopted a Vaughn amendment allowing political subdivisions to appeal an AG refusal to district court (de novo review). A second Vaughn amendment that would have applied similar transparency requirements to the Attorney General failed by hand count (reported 6–9). The committee then passed HB25‑93 favorably as amended to the House floor; several members asked their votes be recorded in the minutes.

- HB26‑09 (Supported Decision Making Agreements Act): Committee adopted a technical citation correction and passed the bill favorably.

- House substitute for HB23‑57 (court sealing and eviction records): Representative Beauhai’s amendment removed the consumer protection/penalty provision so the substitute could be passed; the committee passed the substitute favorably to the House floor.

- HB26‑51 (acknowledgment of paternity): Representative Vaughn’s amendment narrowed admissible genetic evidence to tests with verifiable chain‑of‑custody, required courts to determine whether such evidence warrants a finding of material mistake of fact, added 'as soon as practicable' for filing after discovery, and clarified that past child‑support payments shall not be recoverable; the amendment passed by hand vote (8–7) and the committee passed the bill favorably as amended.

- HB26‑52 (appellate docket transparency): The bill directs the clerk of the appellate courts to publish a monthly list of cases with no decision or unresolved petitions after six months. The committee debated judicial quality concerns but passed the bill favorably.

- HB27‑62 (school position‑of‑authority clarification for unlawful relations): Passed favorably with minimal debate.

- HB26‑88 (non‑disclosure agreements and child sexual abuse/human trafficking): Representative Lewis offered an amendment clarifying retroactivity and broadening protected witnesses; the amendment and the bill passed out of committee favorably as amended.

Several bills heard in full (for example HB26‑96, the biometric notary bill) were not worked Wednesday and remain under consideration; the chair urged continued stakeholder work. Committee adjourned at 5:30 p.m.