Substance Abuse Priority for Judiciary Chairs

On The Legislature Today, hundreds of pieces of legislation get introduced each legislative session and the House and Senate Judiciary Chairs see most of them. Sen. Charles Trump and Del. John Shott discuss some of those bills, including the ones they call their top priority– those that deal with substance abuse.

Del. Shott says the House has taken the lead on those bills, which include some to increase penalties for those bringing drugs into the state as well as those selling them.

Sen. Trump says its an issue that plagues the entire state and lawmakers are doing their best to tackle the issue from all sides. 

Lawmakers on both side of the rotunda are unsure if a proposal to repeal the state’s personal income tax will make it through the legislative process, but until it does, two legislators are taking a shot at an income tax credit they say will help working families.

Since the start of this legislative session, members of both the House and Senate Finance committees have been digging into the budget line items that tell each state agency how much money they have to spend. Just as it does each year, that process begins with agency presentations to those committees.

But in the Senate, members are handling the budget process a little bit differently this year, which was evident Thursday in the budget presentation of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.