House Leaders Comment on Committee Passage of Bill to Examine Local Government Center, Creation of House Committee to Review Secretary of State’s Report
CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien and Deputy Speaker Pamela Tucker today commented on House Ways and Means Committee’s passage of House Bill 655, legislation to create a study committee to review the Secretary of State’s report of the Local Government Center (LGC), by a bipartisan 15-0 vote. Additionally, Speaker O’Brien today announced that while the bill makes its way through the legislative process, he will appoint a committee of five House members to begin the process of reviewing the report, and this committee would be folded into the study committee, when HB 655 becomes law.
Speaker William O’Brien
“The issues that the Secretary of State raised in the LGC Report certainly warrant prompt legislative review, and the Ways and Means Committee’s unanimous vote sends a clear message the House takes this responsibility seriously. However, while this is an important first step, we should not simply wait for what could be a long legislative process to begin looking into this issue now. Our state property taxpayers deserve to have confidence that their money is being spent wisely, and that’s just what the House is committed to doing.”
Deputy Speaker Pamela Tucker, prime sponsor of HB 655
“The unanimous, bipartisan vote to favorably move this bill out of committee with real power to compel witnesses to testify is as strong a statement as we can send that this is a top priority for the House. The public should get answers about how their tax dollars are spent, and this bill will give them that opportunity. Furthermore, the Speaker’s plan to jumpstart the review process with the House committee will give us the time to make sure that we can take action next year if we find that we need to change our laws for pooled risk groups, like the LGC.”