Welcome to Week 15 of the 2013 Legislative Session!
SINE DIE is this Sunday, April 28th!! Over the past 15 weeks, 384 House bills that were introduced passed the House, 294 Senate bills passed the Senate, and as of today, 307 bills have passed both the House and Senate and are on their way (or have already made it) to the Governor. All bills that reach the Governor after the 23rd are 20-day bills – that is, the Governor has 20 days from the last day of session to be acted upon. The House and Senate continue to resolve differences between bills that were amended by the opposite house and have until they adjourn to bring them to the floor for the final passage vote.
There has not been an announcement yet about a special session, but it is inevitable. While the House passed a $900+ million revenue package on the 24th, there is no agreement between the House, Senate, and Governor on the budget. We will know soon if the Governor will call the legislature back shortly after they adjourn on Sunday, after a number of weeks, or not until they have reached agreement on a budget. It is likely that most legislators will be back in their districts while the budget negotiations are underway and, while in district, will inevitably hear from constituents about proposed cuts, revenue options, bills, etc.!
Please note: Bills considered NTIB will be addressed during the special session. It is also possible that other bills will be included on the special session list – if there is agreement that they be considered. Typically, the goal is to keep the special session list of bills fairly short; however, at this point, that remains to be seen!
Unless otherwise identified, bills signed into law will go into effect on July 28th.
This will be the last regularly scheduled update; however, updates will be sent during the special session, and after the Governor is done taking action on bills. While, for the most part, this update will include information on bills as they passed (final passage), there may be some that are still being resolved and will be reported on in a subsequent update.
Thank you for your interest and participation in the 2013 Legislative session!!
