Today was the first milestone of the session: the Bill Request Guarantee Date.

If I request that a bill be drafted today, I will be able to introduce it by the next deadline, which guarantees that my legislation will get a public hearing.

You can pass a bill that’s introduced later in the session, but you don’t want to create an unnecessary hurdle to clear.

All bill requests, however, are not created equal.

Mine today ranged from a complete draft of the bill, written by a lawyer who practices in the relevant area of law, to a mention of a tax credit in another state, with details to follow, courtesy of a reference librarian.

You may decide that a bill isn’t needed to achieve your objective.  Language added to the budget bill can get the job done.

I made one less request for that reason.