First major legislative deadline is today

Today is the first major deadline of the 2009 legislative session " the last day individual legislators can introduce a bill.

Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said as many as 200 new pieces of legislation could be added to the 600 already in the Senate and Assembly.

As of Friday, 1,265 pieces of legislation had been requested from all sources, not just individual lawmakers. The last 100 on the list were requested by the governor and his agencies to implement legal changes required by his proposed budget.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, both D-Las Vegas, advised their respective bodies last week they should expect a long day, possibly with multiple floor sessions, to get the mass of bills introduced and referred to the proper committees.

After today, the deadlines come one after another in the Legislature. Next Monday, March 23, is the deadline for introduction of committee bills, which will bring another large batch of legislation to the floor.

After that, the only bills introduced will be those that are exempt from the deadlines. In addition to the bills that create the budget, that includes tax legislation and special proposals which receive exemptions from the speaker and Senate majority leader.

After today's deadline and the committee deadline next week, the pressure is on committee chairmen to process the bills they have. In an unusual twist, the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees have a lighter workload than normal because legislators, recognizing the recession, have requested far fewer bills containing appropriations.

Those committees have until April 10 to get the bills they intend to approve out of committee. Bills still in committee after that are officially "dead."

The bills that pass out of committee must then be passed out of the house where they originated by April 21. Again, those that don't make it are dead for the session.

The process then repeats itself with a series of deadlines for legislation as it moves through the second house of the Legislature.

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.