Colorado LegiSource

An informational and educational resource for the Colorado General Assembly by the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

Author: olls

  • Legislative Ethics – Conflict of Interest

    “A member who has a personal or private interest in any measure or bill proposed or pending before the general assembly, shall disclose the fact to the house of which he is a member, and shall not vote thereon.” Article V, section 43 of the Colorado Constitution, effective August 1, 1876.

    Legislative ethics principles have been included in the state’s constitution and been an integral part of legislative proceedings from the earliest days of statehood. The legislature expanded on these ethical principles and codified the standard of conduct expected for all persons involved with government in House Bill 88-1209. The ethical principles specific to the General Assembly listed in the bill and now codified as section 24-18-107, C.R.S., provide guidance to legislators when determining whether a conflict of interest exists and instructions on disclosing such an interest according to the applicable chamber’s rules.  It also states that a failure to disclose does not constitute a breach of the public trust of legislative office.

    According to Joint Rule 42, a legislator is considered to have a personal, private, or financial interest in a pending bill, measure, or question if the passage or failure of the legislation will result in the legislator deriving a direct financial or pecuniary benefit that is greater than any benefit derived by or shared by other persons in the legislator’s profession, occupation, industry, or region. Joint Rule 42, like section 24-18-107, C.R.S., provides that a legislator is not considered to have such an interest in legislation if the interest arises from legislation affecting the entire membership of a class to which the legislator belongs. House Rule 21(c), and Senate Rules 17(c) and 41 discuss voting, disclosing, and excusing oneself from a vote.

    Seems easy enough. Here are some hypothetical situations for your consideration:

    Situation #1. The General Assembly is considering a bill that would provide comprehensive state assistance to promote biotechnological research within the state as well as related commercial applications. The assistance includes tax benefits, the establishment of a special state fund, and a new grant program. You are a member of the General Assembly and your spouse is a well-known and well-recognized research scientist who heads a special institute for biotechnological research at one of our state’s leading research universities. The bill would direct state financial assistance to a variety of public and private entities, but significant resources would be particularly directed to the institute headed by your spouse. It is likely the benefits from the bill would increase the institute’s budget and your spouse’s national profile and income.

    May you vote on the legislation?  

    1. Since the legislation only benefits your spouse, there is no problem voting on the legislation.
    2. With sluggish economic growth, the legislation is vital for creating jobs and members need to put aside their private qualms about ethics and enact good programs.
    3. The legislation would appear to distribute benefits to many private and public entities across the state. You can vote on the legislation because all persons with an interest in the legislation amount to one big class of persons.
    4. By virtue of your spouse’s position, you have a personal, private, or financial interest in the legislation necessitating your abstention from voting on the bill.

    The correct answer is 4. Under Joint Rule 42, the relevant inquiry is whether you, as a member, will benefit from or be disadvantaged by the legislation more than any other member of your profession, occupation, industry, or region. Because of the special position your spouse holds and the extra benefits that the bill directs to the institute generally and to your spouse more specifically, there is a reasonable likelihood that your immediate household will benefit from the legislation more than others in your profession, occupation, industry, or region. This gives you a personal, private, or financial interest in the legislation necessitating your abstention from voting on the bill.

    Situation #2. You are the owner of several apartment buildings and other rental properties in your community. A bill has been introduced that would lengthen the period of time available to a tenant to pay past-due rent.

    May you vote on the legislation?

    1. YES. But only if you vote “for” the bill. Since the bill favors tenants and you are a property owner, no one would think it improper for you to support the bill.
    2. YES. Because the governing legal requirements specify that a conflict of interest situation does not arise from legislation affecting the entire membership of a class. Here, the relevant class is the entire group of rental property owners across the state. Because you are a member of this class, you do not have an improper conflict-of-interest situation and, accordingly, may vote on the legislation.
    3. NO. Because landlords are so distrusted in the community, it would be better to abstain than to call public attention to your outside real estate interests.
    4. NO. Existing law already affords tenants sufficient time within which to cure any default.

    The correct answer is 2. Section 24-18-107 (3), C.R.S., and Joint Rule 42 explicitly state that a conflict-of-interest situation does not arise from legislation that affects the entire membership of a class. Under this same principle, teachers who are members of the General Assembly may vote on education bills and attorneys who are members of the General Assembly may vote on bills affecting tort liability and evidentiary matters. Here, the relevant class is the entire group of rental property owners across the state. Assuming you will not benefit from, or be disadvantaged by, the legislation any more than any other owner of these properties statewide, an improper conflict-of-interest situation is not present. You would be permitted to vote on the legislation.

     See also “Reducing Conflicts Over Conflicts (of Interest)”, posted April 27, 2017.

    Click here for other LegiSource articles regarding ethics.

  • One Thing’s for Certain – Things are Uncertain

    by Patti Dahlberg

    The Executive Committee of the Legislative Council sent out a joint release on December 21, 2020, announcing the plan to delay the 2021 legislative session due to safety concerns. The state is still under a declared statewide public health disaster emergency order, and the December COVID infection numbers are expected to remain high into January. According to the release, the plan is for the 73rd General Assembly to convene on Wednesday, January 13, as required by the Colorado Constitution and take care of any necessary business, including the swearing in of newly elected legislators. The General Assembly will then temporarily adjourn until, tentatively, mid-February when, hopefully, COVID infection rates will be lower and legislative work can continue in a more normal manner.

    What does this mean for legislators?

    No one really knows for sure. Last session, the General Assembly temporarily adjourned for six weeks only to reconvene long enough to take care of the state’s budget and other miscellaneous bills that were considered necessary. Many bills introduced as part of the normal legislative session or that had substantial fiscal impacts were “Postponed Indefinitely” or “Deemed Lost” by the end of the 2020 session. The General Assembly had to drastically shift gears upon reconvening to prioritize the passage of the budget-balancing bills needed to adjust for the revised forecasts of significant revenue loss and balance the state’s budget.

    This year is a little different in that the legislative session has not yet started, and legislators should have a better idea of the budget they will be working with for the 2021-22 fiscal year, hopefully eliminating unpleasant budget issues halfway through session. In addition, the General Assembly convened for a special legislative session in early December to pass legislation deemed necessary to help the state and its citizens weather the economic hardships of the pandemic. Having provided some relief with these bills, legislators may now have the opportunity to consider other needed legislation.

    Also, this year the temporary adjournment will be at the beginning of session. This allows the Executive Committee to adjust deadlines and clarify expectations for the bulk of the legislative session.

    Although the December bill request deadlines are behind us, there is still time for legislators who have not yet requested their last two bills to submit those requests by the Tuesday, January 19 bill request deadline. Because of the delayed start, all of the filing dates for bills have been delayed until later in the year. The Executive Committee of the Legislative Council issued a joint letter on Wednesday, December 23, 2020, explaining the new filing and introduction deadlines. The new filing deadlines are:

    Although the deadlines have been delayed, legislators still need to designate the order in which they would like their bills introduced. To be able to introduce all of the five bills allowed by rule, a legislator needs to choose one bill to be the first bill introduced, two bills to designate as early bills, and two bills to designate as regular bills. The bills, as designated, need to meet the applicable filing dates.

    This session, the plan is to have all the prefile (or first) bills and the early bills filed before the session reconvenes and ready to be introduced (read across the desk) on the first day back in session (tentatively February 16). The bills will be assigned to committees as they are being read across the desk and, with the potential for 300 bills to be introduced within a couple of days, committee work will truly begin in earnest.

    These changes to the filing deadlines mean that legislators will have more time than usual to draft and prioritize all five of their bill requests before those requests must be filed with the House and Senate. Because of the delay in the session, legislators can take a little more time to work with drafters and stakeholders to get their bills crafted early enough to enable fiscal analysts to draft fiscal notes even before the bills are filed for introduction.

    The Executive Committee is still determining how to adjust the remaining session deadlines – i.e., first house committee passage and final passage, second house committee passage and final passage, introduction and passage of the Long Bill, and many others – to keep session work moving along. Once that information is determined it will be announced.

    What we know for sure is that things are uncertain during a pandemic. Many bills were left on the side of the road last year due to extreme time constraints, budget reductions, and a shortened legislative session. And of course, until the declared disaster is lifted, everything is subject to change.

    For more information regarding bill order, see “Got Bill Requests? Next Step is the Bill Order”. But please disregard any deadlines included in the article.

  • Happy New Year

    Happy New Year!

    We wish you a happy and healthy 2021.

  • A Holiday Message

    Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

    Pictured: The 2018 Capitol Tree

  • Barney Ford: From Slavery to Successful Businessman

    by Ashley Athey

    If you take a drive up I-70 and visit Breckenridge, just off the main street you’ll see a little yellow Victorian house surrounded by modern restaurants and art museums. Step inside and you’ll be transported back in time to when Barney Ford was alive. But who was he? And why was he so important to our state’s history?

    Barney Ford was born into slavery in Virginia in 1822. His mother, Phoebe, prayed for her son to escape, and at the age of 17 Barney escaped his enslavement via the Underground Railroad and made it to Chicago.

    It was in Chicago that Barney met and married Julia Lyon (or Lyoni), who helped him pick out his middle and last names—as an enslaved person, he didn’t have them—and he chose Lancelot Ford. He worked as a barber and helped support the Underground Railroad and abolitionist efforts. But he dreamed of going west to California, and in 1851 the Fords set out together, traveling via ship from New York because traveling across the country as a former enslaved man was unsafe. When their ship stopped in Nicaragua, Barney and Julia went ashore and they fell in love with the area. Together they built a successful hotel and restaurant and stayed there for many years until a local civil war destroyed their businesses. The Fords left Nicaragua and, in 1860, moved to Colorado.

    Barney Ford was one of the first people to find and put a claim on the gold deposits in the land above Breckenridge, but Colorado law forbade a Black man from owning mining claims or homesteads. After being chased away and threatened in the middle of the night, Ford opened up a barbershop on Blake Street in Denver. Barney Ford was a savvy and intelligent businessman, and he ran many other successful businesses in Denver, including the People’s Restaurant and the Inter-Ocean Hotel. He even opened a second Inter-Ocean Hotel in Wyoming.

    In 1880, Ford returned to Breckenridge and opened Ford’s Chop House, making him the first Black business owner in the town. He built a five-room house in Breckenridge for his family, and he built it without a key room – a kitchen! Instead, his family ate food from the restaurant.

    In Denver, Ford was active in politics and fighting for the rights of Black men and women. He fought for their right to vote, their right to receive an education, and their civil rights. He helped other formerly enslaved individuals receive an education. And, in 1864, he was part of a contingent of Black pioneers who fought against statehood for Colorado because the amendment for statehood excluded voting rights for Black men. Ford taught evening classes to the community about the principles of democracy, and along with Henry O. Wagoner, his brother-in-law and a well-known Black abolitionist and journalist from Chicago, opened up a school for African American children.

    Barney Lancelot Ford died in 1902 in Denver at the age of 80. Ford was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame and the Colorado Black Hall of Fame, and he was honored with a stained glass portrait in the House Chamber of the Colorado State Capitol building. While many of the buildings he once owned have been torn down, both the original site of the People’s Restaurant at 1514 Blake Street in Denver and his Victorian cottage on Washington Street in Breckenridge still stand. The little yellow Victorian cottage is now the Barney Ford Museum, which visitors can tour daily.

     

    For more information on Barney Ford and his contributions to Colorado’s history, visit:

    https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/digital-colorado/colorado-histories/beginnings/barney-ford-from-slavery-to-success/

    https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/barney-ford

    https://www.historycolorado.org/story/collections-library/2017/02/08/barney-ford-african-american-pioneer

  • Colorado Court of Appeals Clarifies Executive Session Notice Requirements

    by Jason Gelender

    The Colorado Open Meetings Law (OML), sections 24-6-401 to 402, C.R.S., declares that it is “a matter of statewide concern and the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.” The OML also declares that “[a]ll meetings of two or more members of any state public body” or of “a quorum or three or more members of any local public body, whichever is fewer, at which any public business is discussed or at which any formal action may be taken are … public meetings open to the public at all times.”

    However, the OML includes an exception to the general open meetings requirement, allowing state and local public bodies to consider specified types of matters in a closed “executive session” if certain requirements are met. The OML has substantially similar notice of executive session requirements for both state and local public bodies. It requires a state or local public body to identify the particular matters to be discussed in an executive session “in as much detail as possible without compromising the purpose for which the executive session is authorized.”

    During four public meetings held in 2016, the Basalt town council went into executive sessions to discuss matters related to four topics for which the OML allows executive session discussion: property interests, receipt of legal advice on specific legal questions, determination of negotiating positions, and addressing of personnel matters. In its required public notices of the executive sessions (notices), the town council simply cited the appropriate statutory authority and generic purposes (e.g., receiving legal advice) for the executive sessions without providing any information about what property interests, legal advice, negotiations, or personnel matters would be discussed.

    Plaintiff Theodore Guy applied to the district court for an order declaring that the notices failed to adequately identify the particular matters to be discussed as required by the OML and requiring disclosure of the records of the executive sessions. The district court granted plaintiff the requested relief with respect to the matters relating to property interests and negotiations but concluded that the notices were not required to include any specific information about the legal and personnel matters because of the nature of the attorney-client privilege and the subject employee’s privacy interests. Guy appealed.

    In Guy v. Whitsitt, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the district court and held that the notices had not provided adequate notice of the legal and personnel matters. With respect to the legal matters, the court of appeals concluded that it was possible, without compromising the purpose of the executive session, and therefore legally required, for the notices to have identified at least the subject matter of the legal matters to be discussed because the attorney-client privilege does not ordinarily prevent mere identification of the subject matter of an attorney-client communication. With respect to the personnel matters, the court of appeals concluded that the notices were required to at least identify the subject employee because: (1) a public employee has a narrower expectation of privacy than other citizens; and (2) the town’s argument that disclosure could violate the terms of its employment contract with the employee was not relevant because a town may not, by contract, evade its statutory obligations.

    The upshot of this decision is that it is now clear that when a public body (e.g. a legislative committee) gives notice that it intends to consider a matter in an executive session, the OML requires that it do more than simply cite the applicable statutory authority and generically state an authorized purpose such as “receiving legal advice” or “addressing a personnel matter.” The public body must instead at least identify the person who is the subject of a personnel matter or the “subject matter” about which it is receiving legal advice.

    For more general information about the OML and executive sessions, please see the Legisource article “The 411 on Executive Session under the Colorado Open Meetings Law.“

  • Colorado’s $tate Budget Process

    by Carolyn Kampman, Kate Watkins, and Patti Dahlberg

    Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on March 23, 2018, and has been edited as appropriate.

    Most people associate the state budget process with a couple of long weeks during the legislative session. True, the annual General Appropriations Bill or “Long Bill” must be introduced and passed between the 76th and 94th days of session per the legislative rules, but that is only part of the state’s annual budget story. The annual passage of the Long Bill marks the completion of an extensive and collaborative effort on the part of legislators, legislative staff, executive and judicial branch departments, and the governor’s office to pass a balanced budget for the citizens of Colorado.

    Each year, Colorado’s budget process begins long before the legislative session convenes. In the summer, most executive branch departments submit budget proposals to the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB). The OSPB reviews the proposals and makes adjustments based on the governor’s priorities and the anticipated amount of money available.

    These executive departments then submit the approved budget requests to the General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC) by November 1. The eight judicial agencies and the executive branch departments that are overseen by an elected official (the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, and the Secretary of State) also submit their budget requests to the JBC by November 1. The JBC staff review these requests and prepare written briefings that they present to the JBC in November and December. The JBC conducts formal public hearings with each department a week or two after the JBC staff briefing to discuss department budget priorities, operations, effectiveness, and future planning.

    All JBC budget briefings, hearings, and other meetings are open to the public, broadcast over the internet, and recorded and archived. [Please note that due to the current public health emergency, JBC meetings are open to the public through audio broadcast only.] The JBC does not accept public testimony during budget hearings, but they may allow public testimony in other hearings. The JBC encourages other legislators to participate in briefings and hearings. In addition, the JBC meets with each committee of reference during the first month of the legislative session to discuss department budget requests.

    From December through mid-February, the Capital Development Committee (CDC) and the Joint Technology Committee (JTC) review capital construction and information technology project requests and priorities from OSPB and hold hearings with departments on their requests. The CDC and JTC prioritize requests, finalize recommendations, and notify the JBC. The JBC ultimately reviews these recommendations and incorporates them into the proposed Long Bill.

    From January through March, JBC analysts present department budget requests at JBC meetings and make recommendations regarding budget amounts, funding sources, and possible legislation needed to implement certain budget actions. The JBC votes on each department’s budget request and then invites departments to submit “comeback” requests to ask the JBC to reconsider specific budget decisions. Throughout the first half of the legislative session, the JBC meets almost daily to review, adjust, and reset line item appropriations to each department. Economic forecasts and other reports, department budget requests, and budget recommendations from the governor’s office help the JBC and its staff develop a “balanced budget” proposal, which includes the Long Bill and legislation included with the Long Bill, as well as bills introduced by other legislators. To do this, the JBC picks a budget forecast in March, either the Legislative Council staff’s or the OSPB’s, to budget to.

    Introduction of the Long Bill alternates between the House of Representatives, in even years, and the Senate, in odd years. The bill is typically 300+ pages and often the JBC introduces several additional bills as part of a “long bill budget package.” This is necessary because, under the state constitution (Article V, Section 32), the Long Bill can only include appropriations; it cannot include substantive changes to the statutes. So, if the JBC makes budgeting decisions that require a change to a statute, they have to introduce a separate bill to accomplish that change. For example, if the JBC decides to appropriate a certain amount for a program, but wants to improve the efficiency with which the money is distributed, the committee will introduce a bill to change the statutory distribution method.

    Once the Long Bill and any associated bills are introduced, all work in that chamber revolves around passing those bills. Committee of reference meetings and other floor work is minimized so that the legislators can meet in their party caucuses to listen to JBC presentations on the Long Bill, ask questions, and discuss amendments to the bill. It usually takes about one week for the Long Bill and its associated bills to pass each chamber. Because the second chamber almost always amends the Long Bill, a third week is required for a conference committee, which is traditionally composed of the JBC members, to meet and recommend a report that resolves the differences between the two chambers. Each chamber must then adopt the report and readopt the final version of the bill.

    After the Long Bill passes both chambers it goes to the governor to sign into law. The governor can exercise the line-item veto to veto an entire appropriation; the governor cannot use the line-item veto to increase or decrease an amount. If there are vetoes, the bill returns to the General Assembly to consider the vetoes and possibly override one or more of them.

    Once the Long Bill passes both chambers, the funding for existing programs and services is finalized and the General Assembly knows how much money is available for bills to create new programs or offer additional services. The House and Senate appropriations committees start meeting in earnest to pass or postpone indefinitely (PI) bills, many of which have been languishing in those committees awaiting passage of the Long Bill. The General Assembly tries to ensure that the total amount appropriated through the Long Bill and all enacted bills that fund new programs or services does not exceed the amount of revenue that the state is expecting to have available in the coming fiscal year.

    A more comprehensive explanation of Colorado’s budget process is available on the Joint Budget Committee Staff homepage through the budget process and budget documents links.

    Last Spring, Legislative Council staff, in conjunction with JBC staff, launched a new webpage dedicated to the state budget and the state budget process, “Explore the Colorado State Budget“. In addition to explaining the budget process and timelines, this new webpage also illustrates the state’s operating budget, budget sources, major funding requirements, state revenue sources, TABOR’s interaction with the state budget, and other budget resources and considerations. This new webpage is updated, as needed, with pertinent budget details.

    For more background on the Joint Budget Committee and Colorado’s budget process, please see “Joint Budget Committee to Write State’s Budget for the 58th Time”, posted October 26, 2017.

  • A Thanksgiving Message

    Happy Thanksgiving from the Office of Legislative Legal Services

     

  • What’s so Special about a Special Session?

    by Julie Pelegrin

    Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on May 10, 2012, and has been updated with information pertaining to the upcoming special session commencing November 30, 2020.

    The Governor recently issued an executive order calling the General Assembly into a legislative special session. At this point, many legislators and other people may be wondering what, exactly, is a special session and how does it work?

    The most obvious things that are different about a special legislative session are: 1) The General Assembly is in session even though the regular, 120-day legislative session has ended, and they can remain in session as long as they choose to do so; and 2) The General Assembly is limited to addressing only certain subjects while meeting in special session.

    Governor’s Authority: Article IV, section 9 of the Colorado constitution authorizes the Governor to convene the General Assembly “on extraordinary occasions” by a proclamation, known as “the call,” that specifies the purposes for which the General Assembly is to convene. The only business the General Assembly may transact during the special session is the business the Governor specifically identifies in the call. The Governor decides what is an extraordinary occasion and sets the agenda of issues that the General Assembly may consider. The Governor’s call also sets the date and time at which the special session must begin.

    The Governor’s recent call directs the General Assembly to convene in special session at 10:00 a.m. on November 30, 2020. The Governor has identified several issues that the General Assembly may consider, all related to addressing the effects of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic:

    • Emergency tax relief to small businesses;
    • Housing and rental assistance to persons impacted by the pandemic;
    • Support for child care providers impacted by the pandemic;
    • Expanding broadband and wi-fi access for educational purposes;
    • Support for the food pantry assistance grant program;
    • Help for individuals who are unable to pay their utility bills due to financial hardship caused by the pandemic; and
    • Funding for public health expenses.

    Agenda Items: The Governor sets the agenda items, but the Colorado Supreme Court has held that he cannot prescribe the specific form of legislation; he cannot describe the agenda items so narrowly that the General Assembly is forced, in the words of the Court, “to do the bidding of the governor, or not act at all.” The General Assembly decides whether to enact legislation to address the agenda items and, if enacted, how the legislation will address the agenda items.

    It is the advice of the Office of Legislative Legal Services that the question of whether a bill or resolution fits within the agenda items is a substantive, not a procedural, question and cannot be decided by a ruling of the chair of a committee or by a ruling of the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Similar to deciding whether a bill is constitutional, the Senate and the House of Representatives decide whether a bill fits within the agenda items when they vote on the bill or resolution.

    Timing: While the General Assembly must convene on the date and time specified in the call, the General Assembly need not pass, nor even consider, any legislation while in special session, and the General Assembly decides how long the session will last. The Governor may not set a date by which the General Assembly must adjourn.

    General Assembly’s Authority: During a special session, the General Assembly retains its full plenary authority, other than being limited to considering only the agenda items. The General Assembly may convene and, after establishing the presence of a quorum, immediately adjourn. The General Assembly may consider but refuse to pass any legislation during a special session, or it may pass one or more bills that address one or more of the agenda items on the Governor’s call. The Governor has no authority to either force the General Assembly to stay in session or force the General Assembly to adjourn.

    Rules and Procedure: Although the agenda is limited, a special session operates under the same constitutional requirements and legislative rules, other than the deadline schedule, that apply during a regular session. Each bill must have a single subject; each introduced bill must be assigned to a committee and receive consideration and a vote on the merits; and the vote on second reading and the vote on third reading must occur on different calendar days, so it still takes at least three days to pass a bill. All of the legislative rules with regard to committees and the operations of the Senate and the House that apply in a regular legislative session also apply in a special legislation session.

    If you have additional questions about how the General Assembly operates during a special session, please consult the special session FAQ memo available on the Office of Legislative Legal Services website.

  • Covid or No Covid – Bill Request Deadlines Are Quickly Approaching!

    by Patti Dahlberg

    The 2020 election is finally in the rear view mirror and the first bill request deadlines are just ahead! One might think that returning and newly elected legislators would have a little time to take a breath and relax a bit before gearing up for the 2021 legislative session. Unfortunately, the constitution, legislative rules, and a looming 120-day legislative session don’t allow for much relaxation, and they don’t care about Covid.

    And what a year of Covid it has been and continues to be. The state has been under a declared statewide public health disaster emergency since last March, and the 2020 legislative session recessed for two months then reconvened in late May. A huge number of bills were left on the side of the road in order to streamline the legislative process and balance the state’s budget before the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year. The General Assembly did tie up its business in 84 days but didn’t adjourn until June 15, making 2020 the longest, shortest, and strangest session in recent memory. These events also made the 2020 legislative interim one of the shortest in recent history. In any case it’s all behind us now, and it’s time to look forward, where the upcoming bill deadlines require legislators to complete the bulk of their bill drafting in December before the first day of the legislative session.

    Returning legislators have until Tuesday, December 1, 2020, to submit their first three bill requests to the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS).* A legislator is considered “returning” if the legislator served in the 72nd General Assembly, even if the legislator previously served as a representative and will be serving as a senator in the 73rd General Assembly.

    Newly elected legislators have a little extra time — but not much — to get their session legs. They must submit their first three bill requests to the OLLS by Tuesday, December 15, 2020.*

    What all legislators need to know about requesting bills [Joint Rule 24(b)(1)(A)]:

    • The Joint Rules allow each legislator five bill requests each session. These five bill requests are in addition to any appropriation, committee-approved, or sunset bill requests that a legislator may choose to carry.*
    • To reach the five-bill-request limit within the bill request deadlines, legislators must submit at least three bill requests to the OLLS by the December deadlines. Legislators must submit the last two requests by January 19, 2021 (but see below).
    • If a legislator submits fewer than three requests on or before the December deadline, he or she forfeits the other one or two requests that are due by that date.*

    The first bill request deadline is still about 10 days away, so some may feel there is still plenty of time. But if a legislator waits until December to submit the first three bill requests, the legislator will almost immediately need to provide sufficient drafting information so that the drafters can draft all three of the bills quickly. The legislator will also have to very quickly decide which of these requests will become his or her “prefile bill”, which needs to be filed for introduction before the beginning of session. And for newly elected members – although the legislative rules allow them more time to request their first three bills than a returning legislator – these rules do not actually allow a new legislator additional time to have his or her bills drafted. Newly elected members have less time for drafting bills if they wait until the December 15 bill request deadline to submit their requests.

    If possible, every legislator — even the new ones — should try to submit at least one bill request ASAP. This bill request may address any subject matter and does not need to be completely conceptualized. The bill drafter will help you figure out how to word your bill, and the bill drafting process allows for potential issues or problems to rise to the surface, making it easier for the legislator to decide whether the idea is “workable.” If it becomes apparent that a request isn’t needed or is unworkable, the legislator can withdraw and replace it with a new request, as long as he or she makes that decision on or before the December 1 deadline for returning members or the December 15 deadline for new members. By submitting bill requests and draft information as soon as possible, legislators give drafters more time to work on their drafts. It will make it easier to determine duplicate bill requests and work out any drafting kinks before the first day of session — Wednesday, January 13, 2021.

    Legislators should also consider submitting more than three requests by the December deadlines. By doing so, a legislator preserves the flexibility to withdraw and replace at least one of his or her requests after the December deadline without losing a request. If a legislator submits only the three-request minimum by the December deadline and later withdraws one of those requests, the legislator forfeits the withdrawn bill request because the rules allow a legislator to submit only two bill requests after the December deadline and before the January deadline.* On the other hand, if a legislator submits four bill requests by the December deadline and later withdraws one of those requests, the legislator is left with three bill requests that meet the early request deadline plus the legislator can submit the two requests that are allowed after the early bill request deadline — for a total of five bill requests.

    Upcoming deadlines: Too many to remember and too important to forget.  Bill request and bill introduction deadlines are listed below. Deadlines applying only to House bills are in green, deadlines applying only to Senate bills are in red, and deadlines applying to both the House and Senate are in blue.  Click here for a link to House and Senate bill drafting, finalization, and introduction deadlines. The listed OLLS internal deadlines are designed to help move bill requests through the drafting process in a timely manner and to allow sufficient time for editing and review in order to provide a higher-quality work product and assure the timely introduction of bills. Paper copies of these tables are available in the OLLS Front Office, Room 091 of the Capitol.

    It is important to note for the upcoming session that the deadlines that arise after January 13, 2020, may be delayed. Normally, when the General Assembly convenes, that first day and every calendar day thereafter counts against the constitutional 120-day limit on the length of the regular legislative session. But so long as the statewide public health disaster emergency declaration remains in place, only those days on which at least one of the houses convenes will count as a legislative day. All of the deadlines during the legislative session are based on the numbered legislative days, so days on which neither house convenes—such as a Saturday or Sunday—won’t count. And if, like last session, the houses temporarily adjourn, any deadlines that have not yet passed at the time of adjournment will be delayed until the houses reconvene and the legislative days start counting again.

    December deadlines:*

    December 1. The last day for returning legislators to request their first three (or early) bill requests. After December 1 these legislators will only be allowed two additional bill requests (and only if they are under the five-bill limit). December 15. The last day for newly elected legislators to request their first three (or early) bill requests. After December 15 these legislators will only be allowed two additional bill requests (and only if they are under the five-bill limit).

    Upcoming filing and introduction deadlines (assuming a 120 calendar day session):*

    January 8. Deadline to file prefile bills with House and Senate front desks.
    January 15. Deadline to file Senate early bills with the Senate front desk.
    January 19. Deadline to request last two bills (regular bills) if a legislator is under the five-bill limit.
    January 19. Deadline to file House early bills with the House front desk.
    January 29. Deadline to file Senate regular bills with the Senate front desk.
    February 3. Deadline to file House regular bills with the House front desk.

    * A legislator may ask permission from the House or Senate Committee on Delayed Bills, whichever is appropriate, to submit additional bill requests or to waive a bill request deadline.