Highlights from the Legislature on Tuesday.
— The House approved on a 46-18 vote and sent to the Senate a proposal (House Bill 1325) to help farmers hire temporary workers from Mexico. Farmers facing worker shortages and fearful of immigration crackdowns are asking the state to help them negotiate the cumbersome application process for a federal guest worker program.
— The Senate gave final approval to eliminating the “flyaway” sales tax charged on airplane purchases by residents from out-of-state (House Bill 1277). Those buyers usually also have to pay a separate registration fee in their home states.
— The Senate gave initial approval to a measure (House Bill 1164) which would allow the Public Utilities Commission to consider the future costs of greenhouse emissions when evaluating plans to build new power plants.
— The Senate Local Government Committee backed a proposal (Senate Joint Resolution 25) to convene a committee over the summer to study wildfire issues in communities close to forest land.
New bills:
— Prohibit the reproduction of sexually exploitative material in a criminal case (Senate Bill 238).
— Increase the penalty for leaving the scene of a deadly accident (Senate Bill 239).
— Require lenders to give homeowners at least 30 days notice of any change in interest rate or any other factor affecting their payment amount (House Bill 1402).
— Require counties to report information about social workers and allows state to cut funding for those who don’t participate (House Bill 1404).
— Make masturbation in public an act of public indecency (Senate Bill 235).
