SB509

The introduced and Senate committee texts simply required notice as soon as practicable. Birdwell’s adopted Senate amendment added electronic notice, a designated address, remote participation, invalidity for noncompliance and a two-hour wait that the attorney general could waive. The engrossed and House committee texts reflected those changes. Introduced text; Complete Senate amendment.

The adopted Bucy–Schofield House amendment replaced the two-hour/waiver provisions with a requirement to give the attorney general a reasonable opportunity to participate and optionally intervene before injunctive relief. The Senate refused concurrence. The conference agreement restored a fixed waiting period and waiver, but reduced the wait to one hour. It did not retain the House amendment’s express optional-intervention sentence. Both chambers adopted the conference report May 30; its full operative text matches the enrolled law. Complete House amendment; Full conference agreement; All versions; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

The attorney general receives notice and an opportunity for remote participation before this form of emergency election hearing. Courts and parties must account for the one-hour minimum unless it is waived, and noncompliance can defeat the resulting order’s enforceability. The law does not require the attorney general to attend every hearing or grant the attorney general authority under this section to decide the merits. Procedural effect and limits.

All five indexed fiscal postings, including the May 29 conference note duplicated in the final posting, anticipate no significant state or local fiscal impact and assume costs can be absorbed using existing resources. They do not measure delays in particular emergency cases or quantify litigation outcomes. Conference fiscal note.