Update on HB1329 – The good news during Conference Committee (4/25/17) is that the bill is funded and is reported to be in the State budget. What we need to do now is find out where in the budget it resides and what is the associated language that accompanies the budget.
Since the appropriation is now in the State budget, the bill essentially dies here. We are not sure at this stage what department got the appropriation. Once we find it there should be some language that states how the money should be spent. Hopefully it will follow the language in the bill.
Update (5/1): At the end of the session it became clear that HB1329 did not come out of conference committee and did not get funded. It in fact was deferred. We will reconsider introducing the bill in the 2018 Legislative session.