Legislative Report: April 24, 2023

It is day 63. All bills need to be out of their respective committees today. The Senate should make the deadline, but I am not sure about the House.

There have been many discussions since House Bill 1082 passed. There is concern that the federal government may consider adopting a federal central bank digital currency or CBDC. To address those concerns, Representative Weisz introduced a resolution telling Congress, the President, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of the Treasury and our own delegation that our state is not supportive of adopting a Central Bank Digital Currency. This resolution has passed both chambers. We also passed SB 2392, which says we as a state will not recognize a Central Bank Digital Currency. That bill also passed nearly unanimously.

There have also been discussions about school lunches. Currently, a family of four earning less than $36,075 qualifies for free meals at school, and a family of 4 making less than $51,338 qualifies for reduced lunches. Those numbers will change next year to $39,000 for free lunches and $55,500 for reduced lunches. I am told many families would qualify but choose not to. That is a parent's decision. We also passed HB 1494, which directs all schools to provide every child with the same lunch whether the parents have paid or not. That passed the Senate 47-0.

On another note, there has been a fair bit of what I would call confusion of the facts. The Legislature voted to increase meal reimbursement for all state employees traveling about the state doing their various jobs. The legislature does not get any meal reimbursement during the session, and some articles have suggested we do. Just wanted to clear up that issue.

Thanks to all for your messages.

Until next time.