Editor’s note: This article was originally written by Julie Pelegrin and posted on April 18, 2019. This version has been updated where appropriate.

On May 9, legislators, legislative staff, lobbyists, and capitol reporters can all hit the snooze button and roll over for another hour of sleep. But between now and then, there are several amendments to read, bills to consider, and differences to resolve. To help ensure that both houses can complete their work by midnight on May 8, the legislative rules automatically speed up or suspend certain procedural requirements in the last few days of the session.

Last 10 days of Session:

• House Rule 25 (j)(3); Senate Rule 22 (f): Each House committee chairperson must submit committee reports to the House front desk as soon as possible after the committee acts on a bill. No more waiting for two or three days to turn in the report. And during these last 10 days, at the request of the Senate Majority Leader or President, the chairman must submit the committee report immediately. If that doesn’t happen within 24 hours after the request, the committee staff person is required to submit the report to the Senate front desk on the chairman’s behalf.
• House Rule 33 (b.5): Usually, the House rules only allow technical amendments on third reading; offering a substantial amendment on third reading may result in the bill being referred back to second reading. During the last 10 days of session, however, a Representative may offer a substantial amendment to a bill on third reading.
• House Rule 35 (a): Throughout most of the session, a representative may give notice of the intention to move to reconsider a question. In this case, the representative has until noon on the next day of actual session to move to reconsider. However, during the last 10 days of session, a member need not give notice of intention to reconsider.
• House Rule 35 (b) and (e): A motion to reconsider usually requires a 2/3 vote to pass. In the last 10 days of session, however, a motion to reconsider—whether in a House committee or in the full House—requires only a majority vote.
• House Rule 36 (d):  The House can consider the amendments made in the Senate without waiting for the members of the House to receive a copy of the rerevised bill and for the notice of consideration to be printed in the calendar.
• House Rule 36 (d): Legislators can vote on a conference committee report once the report is turned in to the front desk—even if the report has not been distributed to the members and has not been calendared for consideration. The usual practice, however, is to try to distribute copies of conference committee reports to legislators before the vote.

Last 5 Days of Session:

• Joint Rule 7: One day after a bill is assigned to a conference committee, a majority of either house may demand a conference committee report, and the committee must deliver the report before the close of the legislative day during which the demand is made. If a bill has been assigned to a conference committee at any time during the session and the committee hasn’t turned in a report, the committee must report the bill out within the last five days of session.

Last 3 Days of Session:

• Senate Rule 26 (a): The Senate can consider the amendments made in the House without waiting for the members of the Senate to receive a copy of the rerevised bill and for the notice of consideration to be printed in the calendar.
• Senate Rule 26 (b): Legislators can vote on a conference committee report once the report is turned in to the front desk—even if the report has not been distributed to the members and has not been calendared for consideration. The usual practice, however, is to try to distribute copies of conference committee reports to legislators before the vote.
• Senate Rule 18 (d): Throughout most of the session, a Senator may give notice of reconsideration, and the Secretary of the Senate will hold the bill for which the notice was given for up to two days of actual session. During the last three days of session, however, this rule is suspended, and a Senator cannot hold up a bill by giving notice to reconsider.

Before the 118th legislative day, the President of the Senate may announce that the Senate is in the last three days of the legislative session. This does not mean that the Senate will adjourn sine die before the 120th legislative day, but it does trigger the rule changes that apply in the last three days of session. By contrast, it’s unlikely that the Speaker of the House will announce that the House is in the last 10 days of the legislative session before the 111^th day. It’s more likely that on April 29^th—the 111^th legislative day—she will announce that the House is in the last 10 days of the legislative session. This announcement will remind the members of the House of the end-of-session procedural rule changes they approved earlier in the session by the adoption of House Resolution 24-1004.

Digest of Bills

With these expedited procedures, bills will likely be moving quickly. If you find yourself wondering which bills passed and what they do, you’ll want to check the Digest of Bills. The Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) annually publishes the Digest, which contains a summary, organized by subject matter, of each bill enacted during the legislative session. The OLLS will publish a preliminary Digest before the end of session that will include all of the bills that have passed and been signed by the Governor or allowed to become law by that time. The OLLS will publish the final Digest once the 30-day period for Governor action is passed. Copies of the preliminary and final Digest will be available in Room 091 in the Capitol basement and posted on the OLLS website.