Hello everyone,
We have a little over three weeks left in the 2026 legislative session and we are entering the homestretch. It was budget week in the Senate last week and as expected it went much smoother than it did the previous week in the House.
On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee heard the Long Bill (HB 1410) and the orbital bills. The Committee, as is custom, stripped off all the amendments made to the Long Bill in the House and referred all the bills to the Senate floor. Also on Tuesday, the Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses met separately to review the budget package.
On Wednesday, the Senate heard all the bills on Second Reading. Unlike the House, the Senate has a consent calendar that dramatically reduces the time it takes to pass noncontroversial bills. If a bill passes its Senate committee of reference unanimously any member on the committee can recommend the bill be added to the consent calendar. If no member on the committee objects, the bill is placed on the consent calendar. Any member of the Senate can request any bill be removed from the consent calendar. However, if a bill remains on the consent calendar, it passes with no debate. For example, on Wednesday, the Senate passed 44 orbital bills on the Second Reading consent calendar in 12 minutes. The previous week, the House spent hours on those same bills. The Long Bill was not on the consent calendar. The Senate spent about two hours debating the 50 amendments its members drafted on the Long Bill. For comparison, the House debate on the Long Bill lasted about 25 hours over three days, including the approximately 15 hours it took to read the Long Bill at length. The Senate adopted 11 of the 50 amendments. One of those amendments increases CATPA funding by $3 million General Fund. Unlike in the House, we were able to get that amendment to stick. However, we still need to get the JBC to approve the funding when it meets as the Conference Committee this week.
On Thursday, the Senate passed the Long Bill and the 63 orbital bills on Third Reading. On Friday, the House rejected the Senate amendments to the Long Bill and requested that a conference committee be formed. This week, the JBC will meet as the Conference Committee and work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Long Bill and some of the orbital bills. The package will then first go back to the Senate and then to the House to consider the JBC compromise and repass the bills. The budget will likely be finalized and on its way to the Governor by the end of this week.
So far, there have been 586 bills introduced โ 416 in the House and 170 in the Senate. Only 23 more days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist