Rules committee advances a slate of conference reports and bills, mostly unanimous

The Rules and Legislative Procedure committee advanced a package of conference reports and bills on its agenda, moving most items by unanimous or near-unanimous votes.

Senate Bill 144 was presented by Senator Alexander; he said the conference report "basically was brought back to the way that we passed it out of the Senate" and noted it passed the Senate unanimously. He described a provision prohibiting certain advertising within 1,000 feet of school property. The committee moved SB 144 and recorded the vote as 'eleven-zero.'

Senator Cook presented Senate Bill 271 and said its purpose was "to suppress demand for stolen telecommunications equipment." He said the conference committee narrowed the definition of affected items to wire and cable used in the telecommunications industry, limited which categories of sellers scrap purchasers may buy from and established documentation requirements for scrap purchasers. After clarifying questions — including whether towers are affected — the committee moved SB 271, which passed 12-0.

Senator Bridal presented House Bill 1200, which he said moves several provisions that had been associated with Senate Bill 179 into 1200, deletes an evidence-of-financial-responsibility provision and amends revocation language relating to non-domicile commercial driver's licenses; the committee advanced HB 1200 12-0.

House Bill 1277 was presented as relocating language from Senate Bill 275 across about 16 provisions; the sponsor told the committee he did not believe the language was new to the legislature. The committee moved HB 1277 and recorded the vote as 12-0.

Senate Bill 179 was described as having many provisions moved into HB1200; the report included clean-up language about mask requirements tied to distribution from the local road and bridge matching grant fund for consolidated cities like Indianapolis. The committee advanced SB 179 by voice vote, recorded as 12-0.

Senator Baldwin presented the conference report on House Bill 1210, describing changes across property tax, local income tax, public notice, municipal advisors, steel mill language and sales-tax treatment for data centers. The committee advanced HB 1210 on a 12-0 vote.

Most bills were advanced with little extended debate; the committee recessed with an indication that one more rules round was expected later the same day.

Votes at a glance: SB 144 (passed, 11-0); SB 271 (passed, 12-0); HB 1200 (passed, 12-0); HB 1277 (passed, 12-0); SB 179 (passed, 12-0); HB 1210 (passed, 12-0).