Legislative Report: April 3, 2023

It’s day 52. The Senate still has 180 House bills to hear on the floor, while the House has 137 Senate bills remaining to be heard. Conference committees (three members from each chamber) should begin work by the end of the week. The goal, at least in the Senate, is to finish no later than day 77. This allows the Legislative Branch to call itself back without the Governor’s approval. The most likely reason would be to override the Governor’s veto should he do that right after we leave town. We are working hard to get anything that we believe is controversial to his desk well ahead of that, but you just don’t know.

There are some spending issues that both chambers have been agreeing to like state employee wages increases, but there are also some major issues that we are a ways apart on. The retirement program and tax reductions for the citizens will take a little while yet to get agreement from both chambers. This is also the time of the session when many amendments are being proposed. Both to reach a compromise but also to change the entire intention of the bill that we had read and thought we had understood. This can sometimes be troubling as one either hasn’t heard about it or completely understands the unintended consequences.

Lastly, the appropriations committees still need to balance the budget, and some tough decisions will need to be made in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.