Legislative Update #9

Hello, Courtney!

The first week of late-night debate was fairly painless for at least the lobby and those being represented. Tuesday evening, they skipped dinner and went 'til about 7:15 on a social issue, and Wednesday and Thursday they went 'til 8:00 or so on legitimate bills that allowed most of us to get work done with upcoming battles. And they are coming Monday!

Next week we will be looking at changes to teacher retirement, elimination of the inheritance tax, banning all hemp-related products from store shelves, and looking to adopt the Foreign Adversary and Terrorist Agent Registration Act… and this is just Monday!!

The budget is scheduled to hit the floor on Tuesday, and it’s been fairly quiet about what was done on some big expenditures; but it was voted out of committee on an 8-1 vote, so we’ll see, I guess. It’s being touted as balanced, but the Economic Forecasting Board is meeting today to decide what our revenues might look like for the next 20 months and all things point to lower than previously expected. They are predicting to pull any further shortfalls from the cash reserve if possible.  Senators are scheduled to take up the budget on the debate floor on May 6th.

I spent most of this past week pacing and almost running around the rotunda collecting tabs on various vote cards and working bills up for and coming up for debate. I plan to spend much of this weekend in some sort of horizontal position with comfy shoes on.

Have a great weekend!

~Kent