80th Legislature: A Bevy Of Bills

Yet more bils for your consideration.

HB 1160 by Gallego. Prohibits use of pancuronium bromide in executions.

HB 1128 by Coleman. Would define anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as serious mental illnesses under certain group health benefit plans, thus making it more difficult for insurance companies to deny coverage.

HB 1143 by Turner. This has to be one of my favorites so far this session. It modifies the Code of Criminal Procedure concerning jury instructions in criminal cases as follows:

JURY INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN LOST OR DESTROYED EVIDENCE. If evidence is unavailable in a criminal case because the evidence was lost or destroyed while in the possession of the state, the court shall instruct the jury to presume that the evidence would have been favorable to the defendant and unfavorable to the state.

I am sure there will be massive opposition to this one, but it sure would curtail the problems with “lost” and “missing” evidence, would it not?

HB 1146 by Bonnen would allow cities with less than 250 in population to adopt ordinances allowing elections to be conducted by mail.

HJR 58 by Ritter would provide for a constitutional amendment to allow the legalized casino gambling.