Inside the Capitol

May 20, 2009

It’s been almost four weeks since the Legislature finished up it’s business and adjourned. Early talk of coming back for a short special session to deal with several bills that they didn’t come to agreement on in the final hours changed to not coming back when Legislative leaders and the Governor realized that they still couldn’t come to agreement. The Governor has been reviewing and signing bills and just signed the budget after vetoing several sections and cutting out about another $80 million in spending.

One bill she did sign was our Certified Mail bill, House Bill 1426. In talking with some state agency folks after the session I found that they had used the “electronic” method before not knowing that it wasn’t legally authorized. When I explained to them that the postcard method and the electronic method were two totally different Postal Service products they said “Oh my gosh, you’re right. Thank you”. Many thanks go to Dan Johnson for bringing this opportunity to save money to our attention.

It appears that the recession, if not getting better, has started to bottom out with state revenues not going down as much. It is still possible that with new official revenue forecasts this summer and fall may show more decreases and require a special session to adjust the budget, but that is looking less likely. That would be wonderful as it would make budgeting more predictable and legislators wouldn’t shy away from proposals that might cost small amounts of money to implement.Now is the time for us to start working towards next year.

To be successful we need to reach out to members, find out what their concerns are, evaluate whether they can be solved legislatively or not, figure out how that can best be done, resolve any internal disagreements, prioritize those issues, draft the bills, reach out to other groups, agencies, and associations to try to gain their support or address their concerns, re-write the bills if necessary, re-prioritize if necessary, and talk to key legislators to get them on board. It’s not an easy process, and it’s one that needs to start early. It’s not one I can do alone but one that I will need the active participation and commitment of a broad based Legislative Committee. If you would like to be involved and represent your District please contact our Legislative Committee co-chairs, Paul Bressi and Ron Madler. Even the best of ideas if brought up late in the fall will have to wait a year.

As I have mentioned before, and as an example of the difficulty changing state law, between three and four thousand bills are filed every year but only a few hundred ever get to the Governor. The prime sponsor of our Certified Mail bill and last years TRAW co-Legislator of the year Rep. Sam Hunt, prime sponsored 24 bills for various groups and agencies this year and our bill was the only one of them that actually passed into law.. even though he is the chairman of the House State Government committee.

I look forward to working with the Legislative Committee and Board over the summer and fall to get prepared for a great session next year.

Stu Halsan
TRAW Lobbyist