From the Director: First Deadline – February 3

One of the Legislature’s first acts at the beginning of each session is to adopt a set of internal deadlines for bill action.

All legislation, except bills necessary to implement the budget, must meet these deadlines, or they are considered "dead" for the year. The first deadline is Friday, February 3, when bills must have been approved by the original policy committee. Bills are then advanced to a fiscal committee (legislation with fiscal impacts) or the House or Senate Rules Committee. The next deadline is February 7, by which bills must be approved by the appropriate fiscal committee.

Also, the fate of additional key bills was still in doubt when this Bulletin went to press. Please check the AWC website, www.awcnet.org, for updates on these bills and to find if we are asking you to contact your legislators. A link to these updates will be available on the home page early next week.

By Tuesday, February 14 – a week after the fiscal committee deadline of February 7 – bills must by approved by the house of origin. In other words, Senate bills must be approved by the Senate, and House bills must be approved by the House. Less than five weeks remain in this short session, and deadlines will come quickly. Please respond to requests for help as quickly as you can.

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