Having passed the baton of Minority Leader to Don Bratton I found myself with the opportunity to work on few pieces of legislation and see them through the process.  Leadership responsibilities can and do eat up most of one’s day and night during the session.  The upside is the great learning experience during my time at the helm of the Republicans.

I introduced 18 pieces of legislation of which 5 were signed into law and 3 were melded into other legislation that also was signed.  That is a very good success rate and the following is a tally of those successes:

HB 7 better known as the JTIP (job training incentive program) provides training dollars for growing    companies to train employees.  If those jobs don’t hang around, there is a claw back provision for the state.  This bill became part of HB 2 the State Budget bill.

HB 45 is the enabling legislation for the constitutional amendment that separates the Superintendent of Insurance away from the PRC.

HB 46 is the enabling legislation for the constitutional amendment that moves Corporations from the PRC to the Secretary of State.

HB194 is the Motor Carrier Act which regulates services such as taxis, shuttles, towing, buses, moving, shipping, and ambulances. Changes proposed by the bill include extensive alterations of definitions, the open entry of many types of services, and the restructure of protest processes. This bill does not change the nominal fee amounts charged by the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) but it does redefine what activities are subject to specific fees.

HB 299 Developed to improve the taxpayer “friendliness” of the TAA, the bill provides clarifications and extensions of statutory time periods to offer increasingly favorable compliance requirements for taxpayers.

SB 312 I co-sponsored this Senate bill with Senator Carroll Leavell.  It amends the insurance code to require life insurers to make good faith efforts to locate beneficiaries at least twice a year, and provide claim materials, with unclaimed life insurance policies escheating to the state. Additionally, the bill requires that certificates of liability insurance be completed accurately on forms filed with and approved by the superintendent of insurance.

Other legislation of mine that was amended into or influenced other bills was HB 563 the Health Exchange Act and HB 47 the enabling legislation for the constitutional amendment requiring qualifications to run for the PRC.