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This week’s report is particularly difficult. There are major pieces of legislation that have only recently been introduced and have very complex elements. They all deal with the McCleary decision and meeting the directives of the Supreme Court.
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Session number one has ended, some would say, with a whimper. And now we must wait.
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There are over 500 pages in a proposed budget, and there are always details and provisos hidden within the budgets that may not be where they are expected. One such detail is the proviso about funding a consolidation of health care coverage. In addition, numerous proposed bills may or may not be ‘dead’. So all this means that tracking bills and updating status is like trying to describe a moving target, especially when the speed increases as the Legislature nears the April 15 deadline for moving bills out of their respective chambers. Then, hang on. The sprint begins to finish by April 26, the ‘last’ day of the session.
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First, a caveat - numerous bills still remain alive and are included in either the Senate or the House budget proposals. Because of this, these bills are deemed “necessary to implement the budget” (NTIB) so remain ‘alive’ until the eventual end of session (whenever that will occur). In addition, any bills still in House Appropriations or Senate Ways and Means have until the April 7 deadline to advance.
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The deadline is fast approaching for bills to be heard and then voted out of committee. They are then passed to their respective Rules Committee for placement on their chamber’s floor calendar for a possible vote. Some bills are being heard and voted out of committees, others are not yet scheduled for a hearing, and others are being held as potential bargaining chips for use near the end of the session (April 26). As the end nears, the question becomes, “What are the critical, ‘must have’ bills that each House insists on having?“
