Latest news with #HouseBill31
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DeSantis calls for easing of current Florida gun laws
PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida legislature is considering several bills that could ease current gun restrictions statewide. During a stop at SeaPort Manatee, the governor discussed his push to loosen current gun laws. 'I would say I'm vindicating people's constitutional 2nd Amendment rights,' DeSantis said. Florida's famous orange groves may soon disappear The governor backs House Bill 759 which could lower the age from 21 to 18 to buy a long-gun or rifle. The bill is currently in the committee stage before it reaches the floor. 'You have some 20-year-old marine be out there carrying a firearm in Fallujah, back where I served back in the day, and they come here, and they can't purchase a rifle to go hunting or something like that. It's not something that is consistent with due process,' DeSantis said. It was a law put in place following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, before the governor was in office. Republicans just advanced the bill in the house criminal justice subcommittee this week. Luis Valdes with Gun Owners of America spoke to the committee in favor of them moving the bill forward. 'The parkland situation was an abject failure of government, not gun control. Gun control doesn't solve anything,' Valdes said. Fiona Shannon with the League of Women Voters opposes the bill. 'Science and common sense tell us the human brain is not fully developed at 18. Young adults are more impulsive, more prone to risky behavior. And in some cases, more susceptible to radicalization,' Shannon said. Democrats on the committee opposed the bill but it still advanced. The governor also supports House Bill 31 which could allow open carry. 'If you take your jacket off and put your jacket on and you have a firearm in your holster, somehow you can be prosecuted for that because it's 'open carry' and it doesn't make sense,' DeSantis said. There have been proposed changes to ease restrictions before. Oftentimes, they have stalled or failed because state senators were not on board. Republican State Senate President Ben Albritton, who represents a portion of Polk and Hardee counties, has previously opposed an open carry law and is still coming up with a decision on whether to support reducing the age to purchase a long gun. This is not the first time the governor has publicly advocated for easing restrictions. In 2023, the governor signed a bill into law allowing some Floridians to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. The governor was in Manatee County on Friday to announce $2 million in state grant funding for SeaPort Manatee. It's to help with paving roads and stormwater projects while the port works to expand. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC Republicans make a welcome commitment to increase access to voting
Republicans in the state legislature have introduced their fair share of election-related bills that are cause for concern. But there's one proposal that none of us should have any trouble getting on board with. A group of House Republicans proposed a bill last month that would make Election Day a holiday in North Carolina. House Bill 31 now has more than 50 co-sponsors from both parties — including two dozen additional Republicans — a welcome display of bipartisanship at a time when it feels like no one can agree on much of anything. The effect of the bill would be a simple one. It would make Election Day a paid holiday for state employees — meaning they would get time off to vote without sacrificing their pay, hours or vacation time. That would make it a holiday for tens of thousands of people employed by the state. A majority of states either have Election Day as a public holiday or require employers to provide paid time off for voting. North Carolina is one of 19 states that does not do either. The hope is that making Election Day a holiday might increase voter turnout, primarily by removing work and school demands that might preclude people from making it to the polls. There's not a lot of evidence to suggest that making Election Day a holiday can meaningfully increase voter turnout on its own, but it is one of many policies that, when combined, can result in higher voter participation. Still, giving state employees built-in time to cast their ballot is a worthy goal. Treating Election Day as a holiday sends the message that democracy is valuable and voting is important. Encouraging people to vote is one thing, but giving them the time to do it is quite another. It could even allow more people to volunteer as poll workers and open up more government buildings to serve as polling places, which could make voting more efficient for everyone. The fact that House Bill 31 is a Republican sponsored bill, with significant bipartisan support, is a welcome sign of progress. Just two years ago, a similar bill filed in the House did not have a single Republican sponsor. Similar legislation has been filed in the Senate various times in past years but did not garner Republican support. This new bill puts North Carolina Republicans ahead of those in Washington, where proposals to make Election Day a federal holiday have consistently languished without GOP support. So far, House Bill 31 has been referred to the House Committee on Election Law. That means that it has already progressed further than any of its predecessors — a good sign that it actually has a chance of passing in the House. But this bill exists while some Republicans are simultaneously trying to make voting less accessible. Another bill, House Bill 66, would substantially slash the early voting period from three weeks to just six days, and completely eliminate Sunday voting. Since early voting is overwhelmingly the most popular form of voting in North Carolina, those reductions could significantly suppress turnout. There's also a proposal that would effectively ban third-party voter registration drives, which organizations of all political stripes use to help people register to vote during election season. Both of these bills have support from some Republicans who also support the effort to make Election Day a holiday. That's disappointing. Of course, making Election Day a holiday is not the only reform needed to make voting fairer and more accessible, and it's unlikely to substantially increase voter turnout on its own. Lawmakers should consider measures including automatic voter registration and nonpartisan redistricting commissions, and they should refrain from passing measures that achieve the opposite effect. But we should still embrace any bill that encourages voter participation — no matter how small.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Letter: Pennsylvania needs measure to finally end gerrymandering
In his farewell address, President Ronald Reagan called gerrymandering the 'greatest single blot on the integrity of our nation's electoral system, and it's high time we did something about it.' House Bill 31 and Senate Bill 131 will soon be introduced in Pennsylvania's General Assembly to address Reagan's call to action by creating an independent commission to handle redistricting. Unless these bills are passed in this legislative session and the next, we'll be stuck with the current bad redistricting process for another decade, giving politicians of both parties the tools they need to create extreme gerrymanders. Gerrymandering has consequences, including a dysfunctional legislature that cannot pass bills that large majorities of citizens want. From property tax reform and lead poisoning to gift bans for elected officials and redistricting reform itself, bills are blocked by legislative leaders who can ignore voters because these lawmakers control the redistricting process and put party over people. As area education advocate Myra Forrest writes: 'Gerrymandering is a slick and sneaky political tactic that has been used by politicians since 1812. A ploy used by state legislatures' controlling a political party to stack the deck in its favor by manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts.' Learn more at and write your state legislators to support these bills. Mary Ann Mack Phoenixville
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Judiciary approves two public safety bills over the weekend
Police in Albuquerque in mid-September, 2021. (Photo by Marisa Demarco / Source NM) On Saturday, the New Mexico House Judiciary Committee passed two public safety bills forward in advance of additional proposals in the queue for later this week. House Bill 31 would more severely punish the crime of threatening to shoot people by increasing the attached penalty from a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum possible jail sentence between six months and one year, to a fourth-degree felony, which comes with 18 months in prison. Three years ago, Senate Bill 34 similarly called for this crime to be punished as a fourth-degree felony, but it was amended down to a misdemeanor and included in the omnibus crime package signed into law. House Bill 50 would group together the sentences for four different crimes related to stealing motor vehicles. State law already requires longer prison terms if someone commits one of these crimes on multiple occasions, but HB50 would make subsequent convictions carry greater sentences for having violated any of the four statutes. 'In other words, a first time violator of the one statute would be considered a repeat offender of the larger statutory scheme if they have a prior conviction for a different Article 16D offense,' the Law Offices of the Public Defender explained in its analysis of the bill. 'This may lead to further litigation since an accused person may challenge the legality of an enhanced punishment for 'repeating' conduct they have not actually repeated.' The committee has heard two other bills that lawmakers intend to include in the crime package. The committee is expected to vote on the package on Wednesday. House Bill 4 would give prosecutors more options to involuntarily commit people into a locked psychiatric facility if they are found to be dangerous and unable to stand trial. House Bill 38 would ban devices that can convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones. The committee is scheduled to hold hearings on House Bill 16, which would increase sentences for trafficking fentanyl, and House Bill 86, which would remove the statute of limitations for prosecuting a human trafficking offense. House Bill 12 is headed to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. It would create an alternative process for police officers to ask a judge for an Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order, if a reporting party isn't available or doesn't want to be involved.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pared-down gun seizure bill clears second committee
Speakers, including members of Moms Demand Action, line up in favor of House Bill 12 during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday. The bill amends an existing law allowing a judge to order the seizure of a person's guns if they pose a risk to themselves or others. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) A bill that would make it easier and faster for police to seize guns belonging to a person deemed a risk to themselves or others passed a judiciary committee test Wednesday afternoon on a party-line vote. A more-expansive version of the bill was among Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's legislative priorities last legislative session, but it died without escaping the House of Representatives. The governor applauded its passage Wednesday in a news release: 'This revision to existing law closes a dangerous gap that puts lives at risk,' she said. 'I commend the House Judiciary Committee for their swift action on this legislation, and I strongly urge both chambers to act with the same sense of urgency this issue demands.' House Bill 12 amends a 2020 law that created a civil procedure enabling a judge to approve a temporary seizure of a person's guns based on requests to law enforcement from family members, employers, school officials and others. The 2020 law says gun owners may have up to 48 hours to surrender their weapons after a judge approves an officer's petition. In a news release, House Democrats shared a few other public safety bills that have passed their first committee and are slated to be heard in House Judiciary in the coming days; House Bill 31: Fourth-Degree Felony for Shooting Threat House Bill 38: Possession of Weapon Conversion Device House Bill 39: Juvenile Record in Firearm Background Checks House Bill 50: Penalties for Vehicle Thefts House Bill 4: Criminal Competency and Treatment House Bill 86: Human Trafficking Changes House Bill 73: Childhood Sexual Abuse Statute Of Limitations The amended version, sponsored by Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) and Joy Garratt (D-Albuquerque), seeks to clarify that if an officer deems a person a risk in the course of their official duties, the officer doesn't need a request from a third party before seeking a judge's approval to order a weapons seizure. The bill also eliminates the 48-hour window and requires a gun owner served with an order to surrender firearms 'immediately' to police. In 2024, according to state court data, judges in 15 counties reviewed 94 petitions to grant year-long seizure orders and approved 74 of them. Eighteen were denied or dismissed, and judges extended two others. Garratt said the denied petitions demonstrate that judges aren't rubber-stamping police requests to receive weapons. 'They go before a judge,' Garratt said. 'They're not automatically granted.' The bill passed by a vote of 7-4, along party lines, and now heads to the House Floor. Republican lawmakers said they were concerned the bill didn't actually do much, was overly broad or created permanent records of a brief moment of crisis. The bill sponsors countered that the bill simply clarified that officers can bring these petitions themselves, which has caused judges in different judicial districts some confusion. Opponents in the audience said the bill was too punitive for people who had not been convicted of crimes, but supporters, including members of Moms Demand Action, said acting quickly to remove firearms from volatile situations can save lives. The 2024 version would have allowed health care professionals to request that a judge consider a temporary gun seizure. It would have also permitted district courts to issue 24/7 search warrants over the phone if a person refused to surrender their guns.
