AWSP Blog

We are halfway to the end of this year’s legislative session, and we are fast approaching the next legislative cutoff date when bills must pass out of their house of origin. We need SB 5085 and SB 5175 to get pulled to the Senate floor by Wednesday, March 8th for a vote, or their journey this legislative session ends. I’ve heard this week that SB 5175 may get a vote but SB 5085 may not. There is a potential concern with the salary piece in SB 5085, so I told Senator Wellman to remove that section if that is what is needed to keep the bill moving.

As today comes to a close, so does another cutoff date. All bills with a price tag must be passed out of a fiscal committee (either House Appropriations or Senate Ways and Means) by Friday, February 24. This means the list of bills moving through the Legislature is getting smaller.

The first cutoff of this year’s legislative session is today, February 17, where policy bills must pass out of their committee of origin. The deadline for bills to move out of fiscal committees (House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means) is next Friday, February 24. My bill tracking list will thankfully get shorter tomorrow, and we’ll be able to focus on the significant bills that remain in play.

This was essentially the last week that new policy bills were heard in committees as the cutoff for bills to pass out of committees of their house of origin is next Friday, February 17. Next week’s committee hearings will focus more on executive session when bills may be amended and then formally passed out of committee or not. After next week, my bill tracking list will definitely be smaller as some bills won’t make it.

As the calendar flipped to February this week and I realized it was the 25th day of this year’s legislative session, I felt a little relief. January was a blur as hundreds of education bills were introduced, and keeping track of those and all of the associated conversations about them takes a lot of mental energy. The first cut-off date of the year is fast approaching. February 17 is when bills must be passed out of their policy committees. The fast pace of keeping up with committee hearings continues for just two more weeks.