Highlights from the Legislature on Tuesday:
— The GOP-led House approved a recommendation for budget-writers to ratchet back their spending plans for next fiscal year (House Joint Resolution 1007). Democrats complained the plan is symbolic; the resolution stands long odds in the Democratic Senate.
— A Senate committee had to delay the confirmation hearing of Reeves Brown, tapped to lead the Department of Local Affairs. Brown had an illness in the family, and the hearing will be rescheduled.
— A Senate committee passed on a bill to tweak rules for video screens in cars (Senate Bill 14).
— The House gave tentative approval to a measure (House Bill 1023) that would continue the state’s mortgage foreclosure program through 2016. The foreclosure deferment provides up to a 90-day delay on the sale of foreclosed property. The measure faces a third reading in the House before it goes to the Senate.
New bills
— Revises the tax-break on agricultural land to clarify that land on which a house is located should be included (House Bill 146).
— Expands the “Make My Day” law to allow business owners to use deadly force to protect life or property (House Bill 77).
