Appropriations committee advances several bills to consent calendar and adopts technical fixes; DORA, victim-notification and PERA items cleared

The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved several bills with limited debate and placed several items on the consent calendar during a single session.

Senate Bill 6: Senator Kirkmeyer moved Senate Bill 6, explaining that the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) added 0.2 FTE and that the cost is under $20,000 and can be accommodated within current resources. The committee adopted the bill and recorded aye votes.

Senate Bill 78: Senator Kirkmeyer moved SB78; the committee adopted the measure and the vice chair suggested placing it on the consent calendar, which occurred by unanimous consent.

Senate Bill 124: Sponsor Senator Wallace explained a strike-below amendment that converted SB124 into a technical change to how the automated victim notification system collects a particular data element; sponsors said the change should not require a new appropriation although local workload may change. The committee adopted SB124 unanimously.

Senate Bill 151: Senator Gonzales moved SB151 (policy affecting PERA); members had no substantive objections and the item was placed on the consent calendar.

Votes: Several of these bills were adopted unanimously in committee; SB6 and SB78 were put on the consent calendar after adoption.