Boy, I had sure thought that HB982, the alternate strip club fee bill by Rep. Senfronia Thompson had passed the Senate, but apparently the vote to pass it was reconsidered and was never taken up again, so as a result, it’s dead.
That means the current version of the fee – which was approved in 2007 – will stay in place. But it’s been tangled in litigation for the last two years over constitutional questions. Without a legislative solution, it will be up to the courts to decide whether the fee stays in place.
It’s usually the case that a bill you’d swear was dead makes some kind of miraculous last-minute comeback. This session, you couldn’t say for certain that something has passed until it actually hit the Governor’s desk. You just never knew.