Last week was a busy week at the Capitol. There were many committee meetings being held along with longer floor sessions. Many issues were taken up both on the Senate and House floors and in committees. Some of these topics included the death penalty bill, the mourning dove hunting season bill, the 4/16th constitutional amendment, and the marriage constitutional amendment. On Wednesday, March 24, the Senate Crime Prevention Committee took up the issue of the death penalty. This bill was a constitutional amendment to authorize the dearth penalty for first-degree murder. Language of the bill explained that the death penalty would be imposed if there was at least one aggravating circumstances in the case. These aggravating circumstances include if the defendant committed more than one murder, the victim was a police officer, the murder was particularly heinous, or the murder in- volved first-degree criminal sexual conduct. After discussion and some debate, the bill failed on a 2-8 committee vote. The 4/16th Amendment was taken up with the Environment, Agriculture and Economic Dev- elopment Committee this week. This bill would be a constitutional amendment to dedicate sales and use tax receipts to natural resource purposes. It also creates funding for a heritage enhancement fund and council, parks, trails and clean water funds. This bill passed committee on Thursday, March 25, and was re-referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate Environment and Natural Resources policy committee took up the mourning dove hunting season bill on Wednesday, March 24. The committee voted to keep the hunting season in the Omnibus Game and Fish bill on a vote of 4-5. It is now waiting to be heard in the finance division of the Senate. The House took up SF 2715, the constitutional amendment to recognize marriage as a union between one man and one woman, on the House floor Wednesday, March 24. After some discussion the bill passed on an 88-42 vote. On the Senate side, the Judiciary committee took up the bill Friday, March 26, where the bill failed to pass. As always, I welcome your comments and concerns. My contact information is printed above.
