Legislature entering final days

Dan Hegeman

We are now in the final days of the 2016 session, which will end Friday.

The legislative process is moving very fast. House and Senate bills are now moving back and forth between the two chambers, as we attempt to finalize legislation before the constitutional deadline. Floor debates have also become more intense as last minute amendments are added, and we deal with provisions attached to Senate bills.

Conference committees are constantly meeting in these final days to resolve legislative differences.

There is an urgency to these meetings, as this is the last shot at passage for many of these measures. The final days can reveal the fate of various bills, as some measures continue moving forward toward the governor’s desk, while others fail advance.

But, as we say in the Legislature, no bill is truly dead until the gavel falls at 6 p.m. on the last day of session.

Many measures that were seemingly deadlocked can be resurrected in the final hours and be approved. For other proposals, the clock simply runs out before we can take the appropriate actions to finalize the bill.

The days are long, and we often find ourselves debating late into the night during the final week.

Despite the intense work, and the increased pace, it is critical we keep our eyes open for poison pills that will kill a bill, or bad amendments that go beyond the scope of the legislation.

Both are ways to diminish the chances of a bill going to the governor. It is incumbent upon us to carefully scrutinize each and every measure as we move forward.

However, the increased use of the amendment process also allows some very important provisions another opportunity to cross the legislative finish line.

As always, during these final, hectic days, I will continue to do my best to represent the needs and the will of the people of the 12th Senatorial District.