On this fifth week of the legislative session, we were treated to a slew of activity in both chambers. That activity centered around three major issues; election integrity bills, the education Aggregate Expenditure Limit override, and the budget.
Of the election integrity bills that we are tracking and saw action this week, all but one passed. SB1140, which calls for prohibiting voting centers, was held.
The vote to override the constitutional limit on school spending cleared both chambers by the required 2/3 majority. In the House, it needed 40 votes, got 46. In the Senate, it passed by the same ratio; it needed 20 votes, got 23. The result is that the schools will get their extra $1.4 Billion. It will be interesting to see how they show their gratitude to the Republicans that made it happen.
On the budget front, Republicans were on their way to presenting a united front in the inevitable battle that will take place with the governor. But the Republican barrel had a rotten apple in it. Liz Harris, a newly elected representative, torpedoed the effort when she sided with the Democrats and Hobbs and voted NO. It is not clear how that matter will be resolved, but it is not good news for the Republicans.
One other issue that is worth mentioning is the quest to provide relief to lower and middle level wage earners via a break in municipal rent and food sales taxes. On the food front, bills advanced in both chambers. On the rental front, the House bill advanced and the Senate bill actually cleared the whole chamber. That project appears to be moving along very well.
Here is the chart of what happened last week with the bills we are tracking:
Next week will be the last week in which bills may be heard in the chamber-of-origin committees. The exceptions are the Appropriations committees, which get another week. Therefore, there is a mad dash to get as many bills as possible to be heard before the deadline. As a result, our Call to Action will have 38 bills in it, which is a lot. You may get full details by clicking HERE