In the Loop- December 27, 2024
On the Marble
When a bill in the long session has been included in the first tranche of legislation filed on the opening day, there’s a good chance you’ll see legislation considered to be a “caucus priority” bill.
The Senate Democratic caucus is known as being the most frequent utilizer of Senate Bills 1-10 as priority legislation that will be voted on during the session. The bills all differ in subject matter and to date are anticipated to be a variety of topics, including artificial intelligence regulation, housing reform, and prescription drug cost control measures. The House Democrats have more recently used the first bills, which for their caucus is 5001-5005 on topics pertaining to relief for senior citizens, climate change legislation, and investment in expanding behavioral health. Both Republican caucuses during the session also incorporate their priority legislation in certain bills and primarily revolve around tax reform ideas. It is common that Democrats use the long session to negotiate with Republicans that are eager to have their ideas included as part of the budget. It’s a process that occurs after the public hearings conclude in March and can end up in a budget package adopted in May.
If you are a client of S&L, you’ll be notified next Tuesday night (January 7th) that an overall “statement of purpose” topic includes an issue area of direct interest. These bills will only be one-two pages to start but it’s more of an invitation to reach out to the appropriate legislators that can assist with framing how the legislation may or may not impact your industry. While some find it frustrating to be included as a chief topic of legislation, it does present a firm opportunity to “be in the tent” earlier rather than advocate against the bill’s proponent. Our office is constantly reminded of another famous adage: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
This process is very different than the short session where caucus priority bills are forced to intersect with the budget on the first day and be presented with an entirely different set of challenges. The Governor’s budget in a long session is released in early-mid February which is dependent on how controversial the budget cycle is for the year. Less controversial budgets are released on the first Wednesday following the first Monday and controversial budgets are given a grace period of a week or two after this deadline to account for a lack of, in most cases, revenue. This budget in particular is hard to gauge when the release date will be but at this point the strong stance by Governor Lamont on fiscal guardrails has created a tone of very limited increased spending especially with Federal spending programs created during the pandemic expiring.
We look forward to presenting some initial news and information in 2025 – Happy New Year!