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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ind. Law - What about the new budget agreement? What will be in it?

Reports this morning are that a budget agreement may have been reached and that the House and Senate will vote on it later today. If agreement is reached, it will be sent to the Governor, who would be expected to act on it before the end of the day.

This agreement initially will be in the form of a Conference Committee Report. The question is, what precisely will be in it?

The papers report about only the broadest of outlines of an agreement. Will anyone have a chance to review it in detail before it is acted upon?

As we have seen in past years, the budget bill is not limited to appropriations. Seemingly anything may be contained within its hundreds of pages of dense text. (See this ILB entry from June 23rd on some of what is in the version of HB 1001 adopted by the Senate.)

The House and Senate rules contain some safeguards to insure that legislators, member of the public, and the Governor, have at least a limited opportunity to review a bill before it becomes a law. Here is Senate Standing Rule 83(a):

83. (a) Each report of a conference committee for the adjustment of differences between the Senate and House, together with a digest of the bill and the changes made, shall be reduced to writing, signed by the appointed conferees, reviewed by the Majority Attorney and Minority Attorney, filed with the Office of the Principal Secretary at least eight (8) hours before action is taken thereon, and distributed to the Senators at least four (4) hours before action is taken thereon.
Here are House Standing Rules 163 and 164:
163. Placed on Members’ Desks. All reports of conference committees for adjustment of differences between the House and Senate together with a digest of the bill shall be filed with the Principal Clerk, reproduced, placed on each member’s desk, and made available on the House computer network as soon as practicable.

164. Time on Members’ Desks.

164.1 During the first regular session, conference committee reports shall be laid over for twenty-four (24) hours after filing.

164.2 During the first regular session, the budget bill shall be laid over for twenty-four (24) hours after filing. This rule may not be suspended without a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members of the House.

164.3 During the second regular session, such reports shall be laid over for twenty-four (24) hours after filing.

164.4 Such reports shall then be read in their entirety again and placed before the House for action.

Expect these rules to be suspended. Ordinarily, within the next few hours, the CCRs on HB 1001 of this special session would be available for review here, at the very bottom of the page. But today is when all the safeguards break down.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 30, 2009 09:00 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law