Bill Summary for Bill Number SB09-113

Date: 03/04/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for SB09-113

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, & NATURAL RESOURCES

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-113 to the Committee	PASS

01:45 PM -- Senate Bill 09-113

Representative Sonnenberg, prime sponsor, presented Senate Bill 09-113 concerning the continuation of the authority of the Department of Agriculture to regulate measurement standards. The bill continues the Measurement Standards Act until July 2018. Changes to the regulation of the issuance of licenses and certificates related to measurement standards by the Department of Agriculture include: specifying that tuning forks used to determine the accuracy of radar guns are not subject to annual testing; allowing a buyer and seller of commodities to use any licensed scale if neither the buyer nor the sellers owns a scale; authorizing the Commissioner of Agriculture to set license fees by rule; allowing the commissioner to make rules to clarify the circumstances under which inaccurate devices should be marked for repair or removed from use; and conforming regulations to federal law.

01:47 PM -- Julie Zimmerman, Department of Agriculture, provided a summary of the bill (Attachment B) and amendments made to the bill in the Senate.

01:55 PM -- Saul Larsen, Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), answered questions from the committee about provisions in the bill that address testing radar guns and tuning forks.

01:57 PM

In response to questions from the committee, Ms. Zimmerman explained some of the amendments that were added in the Senate that lengthened the bill extensively.

01:58 PM

The committee discussed whether or not times the Department of Agriculture can conduct inspections should be specified in the bill. Steve Bormann, Department of Agriculture, indicated that inspection times are already specified in the statute.

02:01 PM

The committee discussed how civil penalties are assessed. David Joeris, State Attorney General's Office, explained the language currently in statute.

02:04 PM -- Mary Lou Chapman, Rocky Mountain Food Industry, testified in favor of the bill. She discussed how the act was outdated and explained why it needed to be updated.


BILL:	SB09-113
TIME:	02:08:42 PM
MOVED:	Sonnenberg
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-113 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 12-0 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Fischer
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	Excused
	Labuda	Yes
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Fischer	Yes
	Curry	Yes

Final YES: 12 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS