Now that the House and Senate money committees have each
passed a budget, what happens? The budgets are actually bills that will go
through the regular bill process. There are two bills in each body: a caboose
budget bill that finishes up our current fiscal year (FY20) that runs through
June 30, and the biennial budget bill for fiscal years 21 and 22. In the House
these bills are HB29 (Caboose budget) and HB30 (Biennial budget). In the Senate
they are SB29 and SB30. Since the budget bills have already been reported from
their committees, they will go to the floor later this week. Until then, the
staff for each committee (House Appropriations and Senate Finance) will hold
briefings on the budget bills for members of each body ahead of any voting on
the floor. The bills will then go to the floor where there will be a debate of
the bills and, ultimately a vote to pass the bills and cross them over to the
other body.
The budget bills are the only bills that can be debated and
acted upon in the body of origin after cross over. Each budget bill will,
however, crossover to the other body for consideration and debate. The House
will reject the Senate budget bills, and the Senate will reject the House
budget bills, and that will “force” a conference. Conference is used for any
bills that are similar and the same Code section, but there are differences in
the version adopted by the House and Senate. Many bills go to conference each
session, but the budget conference is what all folks will be watching.
Ultimately there will be 6 budget conferees named in the House and 6 in the
Senate and these 12 very powerful legislators will decide the final budget that
will go to the Governor for his signature. Sunday’s budget reveals are only
part of the story. Many groups will be contacting the budget conferees to
express the priorities they would like to see funded in the final budget. The
VEA is among these groups. Until the budget conferees are named, we will be
contacting the leaders of the money committees to express our opinions on the
bills. Be on the lookout for information on how to get involved.
The other, non-budget, thing that is happening is final
action on bills. Tuesday, we were working three different bills, two of which
will likely go to conference. All three are in different postures (where they
are in relation to passage), are very different content and Code section, and
each has a different set of partners with whom we are working. One of the bills
is a VEA bill that hit a glitch in subcommittee Monday, but all is good after
lots of work Tuesday. These final days of bill work are exhausting and
challenging. Literally your brain turns on and off in the bill numbers,
content, and conversation minute to minute. Today was the kind of day where I
was texting on one bill, taking a call with a partner on another, and meeting
with different partners on another, all the while responding to patrons
tracking you down to see where we are on the bill. Fatigue is always a factor
the last weeks of session, but those of us in this work know that until the
gavel goes down Sine Die, you need to be ready for anything.
