Del. Kathleen Murphy

Commending Mission BBQ.

Commending the Washington Nationals.

Constitution of the United States; Equal RightsAmendment. Ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitutionof the United States that was proposed by Congress in 1972. The jointresolution advocates the position that the 1972 Equal Rights Amendmentremains viable and may be ratified notwithstanding the expirationof the 10-year ratification period set out in the resolving clause,as amended, in the proposal adopted by Congress.

Absentee voting; no excuse required. Permits any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot in any election in which he is qualified to vote. The bill removes the current list of statutory reasons under which a person may be entitled to vote by absentee ballot and removes references to those reasons from other sections of the Code. This bill was incorporated into HB 1.

Elections; absentee voting by persons age 65 or older. Entitles persons who will be age 65 or older on the date of an election for which an absentee ballot is requested to vote absentee. This bill was incorporated into HB 1.

Protective orders; possession of firearms; surrender or transfer of firearms; penalty. Provides that a court shall order a person subject to a permanent protective order (i.e., a protective order with a maximum duration of two years) to (i) within 24 hours, surrender any firearm possessed by such person to a designated local law-enforcement agency or sell or transfer any firearm possessed by such person to a dealer or to any person who is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing such firearm and (ii) certify in writing that such person does not possess any firearms or that all firearms possessed by such person have been surrendered, sold, or transferred and file such certification with the clerk of the court that entered the protective order within 48 hours after being served with a protective order. The bill provides that any person who fails to certify in writing in accordance with this section that all firearms possessed by such person have been surrendered, sold, or transferred or that such person does not possess any firearms is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill provides procedures for designating a local law-enforcement agency to receive and store firearms, as well as a process to retrieve such surrendered firearms. The bill also makes it a Class 4 felony for any person to sell, barter, give, or furnish any firearm to any person he knows is prohibited from possessing or transporting a firearm who is the subject to a permanent protective order. This bill was incorporated in HB 1004.

Alcoholic beverage control; transfer of wine.Allows retail off-premises or on-and-off-premises wine and beer licensees to transfer wine from one licensed place of business toanother licensed place of business, subject to certain requirementsset forth in the bill. Under current law, only retail on-premiseswine and beer licensees and retail on-premises beer licensees arepermitted to make transfers.

Motor vehicle title loans, payday loans, consumerfinance loans, and open-end credit plans; interest rate. Capsthe rate of interest that may be charged on motor vehicle title loans,payday loans, and open-end credit plans at 36 percent per year. Thebill prohibits a lender from charging a membership fee, participationfee, or transaction fee in connection with any such extension ofcredit. The bill also caps the maximum rate of interest that a licensedconsumer finance company may charge on any loan at 36 percent annuallyand eliminates the existing provision that permits such licenseesto charge any agreed-upon amount of interest on consumer financeloans over $2,500.

Celebrating the life of Dorothy Leah Gerber.

Commending the Washington Nationals.