The bill status report for February 22, 2019, does not list all of
the bills which have been identified for tracking. Instead, it lists
only those bills which have had “activity” during the period from
February 18 through March 1.
Both the Bill Status Report for February 22 and the Calendar Report for the week of February 25 have been uploaded to the TFA's website. We are testing to see if posting them online rather than as attachments will work better for the recipients of these reports. There are a few bills to note:
SB446/HB187
is the Second Amendment Civil Rights Act of 2019. This is a bill that
TFA strongly supports. It would prohibit local governments and state
agencies from discriminating against individuals or entities because
they are engaged in activities or events which promote or relate to
firearms, hunting, etc. The bill would prohibit local governments from
refusing to rent facilities to gun shows, hunting shows, and similar
promotions. The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate and in the
House next week. We need calls of support on this bill.
SB594/HB712
would change the state definition of a firearm (there are many and they
are inconsistent) to match the federal definition including the
“antiques” exception. The bill is set to be heard in the Senate
Judiciary on February 26.
SB705/HB1264 creates a concealed
handgun permit and changes the name of the existing permits to “enhanced
handgun permit”. The bill is suspicious and TFA expects that the
original bill was not the actual intended objective. It was amended
twice in the House this week and is set for House Judiciary on February
27.
The bill amendments ARE NOT available on the state website (this is a chronic problem that leadership has refused to address). TFA doe NOT support this bill as originally written.
SB1275/HB409
is the bill to require law enforcement to investigate claims of
self-defense before making arrests and also strengthens the civil
immunity provisions in instances involving a justifiable self-defense.
TFA supports this bill. The bill is for hearing in the House’
Constitutional Protections and Sentencing Subcommittee on February 27.
It
is important that you review these reports and contact committee
members and your individual legislators with your opinions, particularly
your support or opposition.
