REPRESENTATIVE Joseph Flores on Tuesday said the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee is “sitting” on House Bill 22-3, which he prefiled on Jan. 26, 2021.
The bill would require motor vehicle liability insurance to be consistent with the vehicle registration expiration.
During the miscellaneous portion of the House session, Flores, an Independent who caucuses with the nine Republicans of the 20-seat House, expressed concern about the JGO committee’s lack of action on the measure.
He asked the committee chair, Democrat Rep. Celina Babauta, to “move on” with the bill and send it to the full House for action. “If it fails, it fails,” he said, adding that the chair should not “wait until Christmas.”
H.B. 22-3 states that by mirroring the expiration dates of two necessary requirements to operate the vehicle, “all motorists will be protected and covered from any unforeseeable circumstances that may cause serious financial and/or physical strains.”
Flores said his bill will make it easy for everybody to comply with necessary vehicle requirements.
In response, Babauta told him her committee is “proceeding cautiously” with the measure and is “waiting for comments.”
Of the committee’s seven members only one is a Republican, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao.
Babauta said she has already met with officials of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, “and they are not in support of the bill.”
The Office of the Attorney General, she added, has said that there is nothing broken in the current system so there is nothing to fix.
Babauta asked Flores if he can do more research to support the intent of H.B. 22-3.
“We are prioritizing certain bills,” she added. “Even my own bills [referred to] the committee have not been acted on, so it is not like we are taking sides or picking on bills to endorse.”
Every week, she added, the JGO committee convenes to discuss bills.
She reiterated that the stakeholders most affected by H.B. 22-3 do not support it.
During a House session on May 28, 2021, Republican members Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero and John Paul Sablan complained that the leadership was “sitting on” the minority bloc’s bills.
Rep. Joseph Flores speaks during the miscellaneous part of the House session on Tuesday.
