 The last week of February marked the week past the halfway point of the Session. Since last week, the House has added 79 more bills to the hopper. tHEIR total is up to 539 bills. The Senate added 19 new bills for a total of 180 bills.
The Governor has signed six bills.
To quote Jeff Goldblum's character as his father toodles down the highway into Washington in "Independence Day".
MUST. GO. FASTER.
The halfway point of the sixty day 2010 session of the General Assembly passed on Friday, February 18th. Up to this point, the House members filed 460 bills. Senators filed 161 bills. Of the 461 bills, the House has passed 130. The Senate passed 45. That’s a 28% passage average in each House. Of course, passing one House is no guarantee that a bill will become law. In the first thirty five days of the Session, six bills have passed both Houses and been signed into law by the Governor.
House Bills 14 and 75 have to do with veterans. HB 14 allows disabled vets to stay up to three days at state parks for free. HB 75 gives vets preference points in hiring to state government. House Bill 302 authorizes the Department of Military Affairs to construct a hangar at Bluegrass Station. The feds will reimburse the state for construction costs. House Bill 176 is an education measure to address persistently low achieving schools. The state will take a more active role in addressing the problems to help schools meet the guidelines under No Child Left Behind. The latest bill signed by the Governor is HB 240, an energy bill.
The halfway point of the sixty day 2010 session of the General Assembly passed on Friday, February 18th. Up to this point, the House members filed 460 bills. Senators filed 161 bills. Of the 461 bills, the House has passed 130. The Senate passed 45. That’s a 28% passage average in each House.
Of course, passing one House is no guarantee that a bill will become law. In the first thirty days of the Session, only four bills have passed both Houses and been signed into law by the Governor.
House Bills 14 and 75 have to do with veterans. HB 14 allows disabled vets to stay up to three days at state parks for free. HB 75 gives vets preference points in hiring to state government.
House Bill 302 authorizes the Department of Military Affairs to construct a hangar at Bluegrass Station. The feds will reimburse the state for construction costs.
House Bill 176 is an education measure to address persistently low achieving schools. The state will take a more active role in addressing the problems to help schools meet the guidelines under No Child Left Behind.
The Governor signed House Bill 240 that relates to energy savings, including taxpayer credits.
There is still time for sponsors to introduce new bills. The deadline for the House is March 2nd. Senators have until March 4th. It is a sure bet there will be new bills and bills already introduced as placeholders will be converted to substantive legislation.
If past is prologue, the great majority of the hundreds of bills introduced will wind up on the cutting room floor. Getting a hearing in committee and then getting to the floor of both Houses in the last frantic days is always a challenge.
The rush of legislation that always come in the last days are one reason that the term "legislative coherence" is an oxymoron. |
