SA 6 to SR 2

The General Assembly, like its counterparts in many other states is a time-limited legislature. The General Assembly’s regular session is restricted to run from the second Tuesday in January to June 30, but operationally the General Assembly is meeting to consider legislation less than 50 days during each regular session. The ability to consider a large volume of bills is not necessarily compatible with restricted session time. At least 24 state legislative chambers impose limits on the number of bills that may be introduced by their members in an effort to reduce the number of bills entering the legislative process and allow legislators more time to consider and debate the complex issues facing their states. This Amendment limits the number of bills introduced by Senators to 5 bills each regular session, which would add up to 10 bills for this General Assembly. The Amendment provides for exceptions for certain bills and for a process to request a waiver of the bill introduction limit by filing a request with the Senate Rules & Ethics Committee. The Amendment requires the Secretary of the Senate to keep records on and issue a report by November 1 of each year containing the following information: (1) The number of bills introduced by each member. (2) The number of bills introduced by a member under each exception to this rule. (3) The number of members who have reached the maximum number of introduced bills.