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Senate adopts temporary rule allowing short-form education bills through May 1, 2025
Summary
The Senate adopted a temporary internal rule permitting senators to file short-form bills on education to ease drafting workload for legislative counsel; the rule is voluntary and expires May 1, 2025.
The Senate on Friday adopted a temporary rule allowing senators to file short-form bills limited to education policy until May 1, 2025.
Senator from Chipman said the measure was proposed after discussions with the House and staff about the workload for legislative counsel in a session focused on education finance and policy reform. "The House has long used short form bills as a way to, among other things, save the bandwidth of [legislative] counsel," she said, adding the temporary rule would be available only for education-related measures and would not force any senator to use the short form.
Under the adopted rule, a senator who chooses to use the short form may direct legislative counsel to prepare a bill in short form containing a title and a statement of purpose; the bill would then be placed on the committee wall and could be taken up by a committee chair if the committee decides to proceed. The senator explained the rule is intended only to reduce drafting burden this session and expires on May 1, 2025.
The resolution was adopted by voice vote; the clerk recorded the ayes as prevailing. The rule change applies only to the internal practice of the Senate and does not itself change statute or policy outside the Senate's internal rules.
The Senate returned to other business after adoption. The presiding officer called for further announcements and later adjourned the Senate until 11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 24.
