Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Bills: What Happens From Here

Couple of things: first, I am going to be receiving a recording of last week's Senate hearing, so I will listen to that and try and quote from it in an effort to give a more detailed description of what transpired at the hearing in addition to Debra Harvey's testimony.

Also, in a matter of days, we will know for sure whether our bills will pass or even get as far as the House and Senate floors. March 30 is the deadine by which SB 354 must be voted on by the full Senate. That means one of three scenarios will occur:

1) The bill gets a favorable report by the SJC and gets sent to the Senate floor for a vote.

2) The committee kills the bill.

3) The committee does nothing, missing the March 30 deadline, and the bill simply dies on its own, which would have the same result as scenario no. 2.

Sen. Brian Frosh, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has the final word on whether SB 354 gets out of committee. But as the committee's chairman, he has to consider the bill's fiscal note, i.e., the estimated cost associated with passing the bill, which has been estimated at approximately $202 million.

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