Legislative Update

Key deadlines have passed, and all action now moves to committee hearings as opposite house bills are discussed and acted upon. Overlaying all of these will be the upcoming proposed budgets whose hearings are scheduled for the upcoming week. The status of bills continues to change constantly as committees often re-work bills. The summaries below are just as they were when this report was written. Some bills have shown no movement since the last report, but they are related to the budget. Often called ‘trailer bills’ because the budget pulls them toward passage. In addition, bills can be ruled as ‘necessary to implement the budget’. They can then be revived under that justification which can be arbitrary at times.

The Legislature continues its forward progress as they passed the halfway point of this year’s legislative session this week. A second cut-off date was reached when bills had to pass out of fiscal committees by Monday. My bill tracking list got even smaller, but you never know what might happen in the remaining weeks. Language from bills that didn’t pass out of committees could still be used as budget provisos so we have to keep paying attention to all of the details.

Debates and floor action continue as both chambers rush to pass house of origin legislation by the end of February 13. The work of all committees will then resume, again, dealing with bills that have passed the opposite house. Some committees are already hard at work. The status of bills changes constantly, so the summaries below are just as they were when this report was written. A reminder that regardless of deadlines, bills can be ruled as ‘necessary to implement the budget’ so can be revived under that justification which can be arbitrary at times.

The first cut-off of the Session has come and gone. Policy bills not out of committees are ‘dead’, unless revived at legislative whim. Meanwhile, the action now moves to floor debate on bills. The fiscal committees still meet in order to move fiscal bills. Their deadline is February 5th, the next cut-off. A caveat: Any bill that has dollars connected to it, can be deemed ‘necessary to implement the budget’ and be acted upon at any time regardless of timelines.

We cleared the first big hurdle of this year’s legislative session this week when bills had to pass out of their policy committees. Bills with fiscal implications must pass out of House Appropriations or Senate Ways and Means by February 5. The next step after that is for bills to be passed off the floor of the House or the Senate and the deadline for that is February 13. After that, the bills move to the other side and the process repeats.