Getting the Job Done, On Time

This is Crossover Week.

If a House bill passes the House by the close of business next Monday, it’s guaranteed a hearing in the Senate.

Same guarantee for Senate bills coming to the House.

But, as I remind people, you’re guaranteed a hearing on your bill, but not a vote.

After that deadline, you’ve got to get your bill out of the Rules Committee.

Time, in the legislative process, is not on your side.

The crossover date used to be the Monday with two weeks remaining in the session.

With the likelihood of a veto of important bills by a Republican governor, the date was moved to the Monday with three weeks remaining.

Several of Governor Hogan’s vetoes were overridden before we adjourned.

That’s no longer a problem.

That also means that you no longer have to count to 85 votes to override a veto.

71, a constitutional majority,  gets the job done.

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