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Rules subcommittee pushes earlier drafting deadlines, new enrollment timing to ease session backlog
Summary
The Legislative Council rules subcommittee reviewed a package of joint, Senate and House rule changes that would move drafting deadlines earlier, shift introduction/transmittal timing and impose enrollment/signature deadlines to prevent codification delays after veto overrides.
The Legislative Council rules subcommittee met to review a sweeping set of rule changes aimed at moving bill drafting and introduction earlier in the session and reducing last‑minute drafting pressure. Mr. Evertz, who presented the proposals and a cross‑reference table in PD 60, said the changes would ‘‘front‑end load the bill drafting process’’ so staff can spread the workload over more days rather than facing a late‑session surge.
The proposals include asking state agencies to deliver approved bill draft language to drafters by Nov. 1 instead of Nov. 15, maintaining a December 15 exception for core appropriation bills, and extending the individual legislator pre‑introduction deadline to 5 p.m. on Dec. 30. Evertz said the aim is not to reduce the total number of bills but to ‘‘spread out the load, whatever the load is, earlier’’ so legislative services can process drafts in a less compressed timeframe.
A separate proposal would change the lead time between the last day to introduce general bills and the transmittal deadline from 6 days to 8 days. Evertz told the panel the eight‑day window should give committees, floors and the public more time to process bills and ‘‘help the floor and the committees and the public have a longer time to process the bills through legislative hearings and floor action over those 8 days.’’ He also noted the proposal assumes leadership will allow staff additional weekend drafting time to meet the earlier expectations.
Members questioned how the rules would treat high‑priority appropriation or "feed" bills that historically must be drafted even if agency materials arrive late. Evertz acknowledged the appropriation bills (house bills 1–15) have operational differences and said staff historically have drafted those once they arrived; members urged explicit exceptions to avoid disrupting the state budget process.
The package also includes an enrollment and signature timeline intended to reduce codification delays when bills are passed near sine die, or when vetoes and subsequent overrides occur after an express effective date in a bill. Under the proposed approach, no later than eight working days after an enrolled bill is received by the originating presiding officer, the enrolled bill would be delivered to the governor; sub‑deadlines split that eight‑day window into two four‑day steps so the originating and non‑originating presiding officers each certify and forward enrolled bills promptly. Carolyn, a clerk present during discussion, said the change responds to recent sessions where the chief clerks learned of governor action in the media and the codification office received enacted laws long after the session had ended.
Other non‑substantive updates recommended by OLIS and staff included clearer video recording references in the minutes, updated cosponsor procedures to match current practice, and a placeholder for a legislative fiscal‑note study. The director emphasized several items are operational and will be refined in subsequent meetings, and staff will prepare tabled summaries of member proposals for the next rules subcommittee.
The committee did not take final votes in the session captured by this transcript; members agreed to meet again before the Legislative Council meeting to prioritize which changes to forward to the full council.
