Pre-Filing Begins For Fiscal Session Legislation

Posted on January 7th, 2010

From The House Communications Office: The first-ever fiscal session of the Arkansas General Assembly begins Monday, February 8. However, next week marks an important first step in preparation for the session, as appropriation bills and concurrent resolutions may be pre-filed beginning Monday, January 11.

In the House of Representatives, the pre-filing process is simple and efficient. To minimize the possibility of error, the sponsor hand delivers the legislation to the Chief Clerk. Each bill, drafted by the Bureau of Legislative Research, has a barcode that is scanned, assigning the bill a number. Upon scanning, the legislation is automatically posted to the General Assembly’s Website, under “Recently Filed Bills.” The full text of the bills and resolutions will be available to the public on the day they are filed.

Also next week, Joint Budget Committee members will conduct pre-fiscal session budget hearings beginning Tuesday, January 12. The committee will initially review and recommend action on appropriation measures for the Department of Education Public School Fund Account, Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Department of Corrections, Department of Community Corrections, Department of Higher Education, and the Arkansas State Library. Appropriations will be for the state’s next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2011. The committee’s deliberations will continue after the session convenes.

FISCAL SESSION FACT SHEET

• In November 2008, 69% of Arkansas voters approved legislatively referred Proposed Constitutional Amendment 2, which became Amendment 86 to the Arkansas Constitution.
• Amendment 86 reduces the period for which appropriation bills are valid from two fiscal years to one, requiring the General Assembly to meet in a fiscal session during even-numbered years, with deliberations limited to action on appropriation bills.
• Each fiscal session will begin the second Monday in February of even-numbered years (Monday, February 8, 2010), and shall not exceed 30 days.
• The fiscal session may be extended one time, however, for no more than 15 days, by a 3/4 vote of both the House and the Senate.
• In order for non-appropriation legislation to be introduced, a concurrent resolution substantially describing the bill must be approved by a 2/3 vote required in both chambers.
• A concurrent resolution to allow a non-appropriation bill may be pre-filed along with other legislation beginning Monday, January 11, but must be filed no later than Monday, February 8, (the first day of the session).
• If a concurrent resolution is approved by 2/3 of the House and the Senate, the non-appropriation bill referenced in the resolution must be filed no later than February 22, 2010, (the 15th day of the session).
• If the bill is an appropriation bill, it too must be filed no later than February 22, 2010, (the 15th day of the session), however, requires no concurrent resolution.
• Two non-appropriation bills are expected to be introduced for consideration. The Revenue Stabilization Act is not an appropriation bill, but it funds General Revenue budgets and must be addressed to govern state spending in the next fiscal year.
• Lawmakers are also expected to consider legislation establishing award amounts for lottery scholarships. This will be a non-appropriation bill that effectively functions as one, and is essential to ensuring net revenue generated by ticket sales from the voter-mandated Arkansas Lottery is passed on to students who qualify for scholarships at Arkansas’s two-year and four-year colleges and universities.
• Both the Revenue Stabilization Act and the Lottery Scholarship bills must be authorized by concurrent resolutions.
• In the spirit of a limited and cost-efficient fiscal session, the House intends to follow certain procedures. Those include Mondays being reserved for committee meetings of the Joint Budget Committee, the Rules Committee, and other House committees desiring to consider issues limited only to bills which were withdrawn by the author during the Regular Session for the purpose of further study.
• The House will convene at 12 p.m. on Monday, February 8. At 12:30 p.m., the House and Senate will convene in Joint Session.
• Regular course of business calls for the House to convene at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for action on bills referred by committee. Fridays will be reserved for Members to attend to constituency service.
• Further streamlining of fiscal session activities will include eliminating the consideration of simple resolutions; no ceremonial presentations will be conducted on the House floor; no House tours will be conducted, and no House pages will be used during the session.

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