David Ige - Intergovernmental Affairs Committee 2005-6

For those of you less familiar with the Legislative process, here are some notes to better explain what we are currently going through here at the Capitol.

As of February 17th, we have passed "First Lateral". This is when all Senate bills must move to the Senate final committee for hearing. This is an internal deadline that affects only those bills that are referred to more than one committee. Bills must be reported to the last referred committee by this date. This deadline is established to give the last referral committee adequate time to review and hear a bill before First Decking.

For example: (IGA/TGO, WAM)
IGA and TGO are the primary referral standing committees that must hear the bills BEFORE First Lateral. WAM is a secondary referral standing committee who must hear the bill AFTER First Lateral. Committee reports and amended bill drafts (if applicable), drafted by the last primary referral standing committee, must be filed with the Clerk's Office by the deadline to keep bills alive for further considerations.

Every session, the mandatory recess runs for five consecutive days and is intended to encourage the public to review all the bills introduced during the session. It provides legislators an opportunity to schedule public meetings in their respective districts to inform their constituents on the major issues and hot topics facing the Legislature.

However, during this recess, many things are still happening at the Capitol. Aside from public meetings in the community and office visits by lobbyists and constituents alike, bill hearings are still scheduled.

This is the deadline for all committees to file committee reports with the Clerk's Office in order to comply with the mandatory 48-hour waiting period before a bill may be voted on in order for passage to the House (First Crossover). This term "decking" is said to mean "placing the bills on deck" or "clearing the decks" and making bills available to Senate members for review for a full 48-hours before a full Senate vote is taken during Session. Any bill not submitted in its final form by the decking deadline no longer can be considered for passage during the session.

As this is the second year of the biennium, bills introduced in 2005 that failed to meet their deadline can still be considered during this 2006 session year.

First Crossover is the final step before our Senate bills move (or "crossover") to the House. This is the last day for a final vote to be taken in the originating body before passing over. Also note that bills can crossover anytime before this deadline.

This is often-times a long day for Senators and staff (and likewise for the House members) as each bill is open for comment and debate. It is also an exciting time for those of us keeping track of our bills moving through the Legislative Process. If a bill passes through this stage, it is a quarter of the way to becoming law!

Like First Decking, Second Decking is the time when all the bills sent to the Senate from the House are decked at the Clerk's Office to prep for the Senate Third Reading (and vice versa for the House).

Following Second Decking is a One-Day Recess/Third Reading Caucus. This is the first working day after Second Decking where Senate members can discuss the bills which will be heard during Session on April 11, 2006.

However, this isn't the end of the process! We still have Conferencing to go!

Second Crossover marks the beginning of what we call Conferencing here at the State Legislature.

On the 50th day of session, the Senate President and House Speaker create a list of "conferees" who will be appointed to specific bills. A conference committee is comprised of members of both the House and Senate whose sole purpose is to work out differences between the respective bill drafts.

To assist the standing committees and Senate conferees, Senate Majority Research (SMA) creates comparison sheets of the Senate bills that set out the differences between the House and Senate drafts in conference.

At this point, the Senate and House standing committees (i.e. Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs) are pretty much dissolved. Public testimony is no longer accepted, although letters and calls are still encouraged.

Adjournment Sine Die is the 60th and final day of 2006 session. All bills that have passed through the Legislature are now sent to the Governor for approval. The Governor has 45 days (excluding weekends and holidays) to consider bills presented less than 10 days before adjournment. If the Governor does not give the Legislature ten days' notice of plans to return bills with objections on the 45tth day, those bills become law without the Governor's signature.

However, this does not mean the Governor's say is final. The Legislature may convene at or before noon on the 45th day in "special session" to amend a returned bill to meet the Governor's objections. Any such bill will require only one reading in each house and must be signed by the Governor within 10 days to become law.

The Legislature may override a veto by a two-thirds vote of all members to which each house is entitled.

Congratulations! We have survived the 2006 Legislative Session! We will see you again next session!

The following is Governor Linda Lingle's Potential Veto List for 2006. This was presented on the 35th Day After Adjournment. Any vetoes by the governor must ahere to this list. Any bill not vetoed nor signed by the 45th Day After Adjournment will become law by default.

Explanations as to why these bills are on the potential veto list are presented by Laura Figueira from the Governor's Office.