TFA Bill Status and Calendar Reports – February 22, 2019

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.

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.

Committee compositions, calendars and members are found on the State Website

You can look up your individual legislators on the State’s “Find my Legislator” page.

The bill status report and calendar reports are available for download: