Committee staff briefs senators; committee to hear 11 bills next week

Committee policy analysts Jennifer Rudy and Daniella Cortez Areola presented the committee brief and oriented members to materials posted in NELIS.

Rudy told the committee the brief lists staff assignments, the prefiled bills and session deadlines and includes reports from the research division and audits from the executive and legislative branches. She reviewed 2023 committee statistics: 38 bills were referred to the committee, 30 were voted out of committee, 20 ultimately were adopted or signed into law, and two bills were vetoed. She told members the Senate standing rules were adopted on the first day of session.

Daniella Cortez Areola noted how bills are typically referred to committees: except for prefiled bills, bills are assigned by a vote of the Senate according to jurisdiction guidelines, and the brief includes those referral rules. Rudy and Cortez Areola told members the electronic committee brief in NELIS contains hyperlinks to relevant reports and publications.

At the close of the meeting, Chair Cruz Crawford said the committee currently has 11 bills it will be hearing ("We have 11 bills so far, that we'll be hearing") and noted that the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11; she also said the meeting on Thursday was canceled. The chair reiterated the legislative sine die date of June 2.

The presentation was informational; no bill hearings or votes on substantive measures took place during this first meeting.