Montana rules committee reviews changes to joint rules in Senate Joint Resolution 1

Senator McGillivray, the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 1 (SJ 1), presented proposed changes to the Legislature’s joint rules, focusing on procedural and timing amendments and inviting committee discussion.

The resolution would allow a bill sponsor to request a revised legal note if an amendment resolves an issue previously flagged in a legal note; shorten the deadline for a chief sponsor to return a picked-up bill to two legislative days; permit a House sponsor to add or remove a cosponsor before that bill returns from first committee but prevent the Senate from removing a cosponsor; require that the sponsor of a bill be appointed to any conference committee on that bill; make only the rules committees able to designate a bill as identical to another; change several transmittal deadlines (general bills from 45 to 40 days, general/joint resolutions to the 67th day, and appropriation bills to the 69th day); and clarify that a veto message is officially received when the clerk or secretary time-stamps and dates the bill on receipt.

Why it matters: The amendments affect how quickly bills move, who can alter sponsorship, which body determines whether bills are…