Master FIR (1988)

NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature. The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.

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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Boitano		DATE TYPED:	02/02/01		HB
SHORT TITLE:		Limit Number of Bills Introduced				SB	SCR 2
					ANALYST:		Burch

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY01

FY02

FY01

FY02

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

See Fiscal Implications Section of this report.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC files.

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 proposes a new joint rule, 11-1, to limit the number of bills introduced by: (1) senators to no more than 15 each; and (2) representatives to no more than 9 each. Excluded from each member's total are two bills endorsed by an interim legislative committee, bills requested by the governor or a state agency, simple or joint memorials and resolutions. These limitations may be suspended in either house by a vote in that house. A legislator may allocate any part of his allotment for bills to another member of the same house.

This translates to 630 bills introduced in each house, not counting committee-sponsored bills, governor or state agency bills and simple joint memorials and resolutions. It is assumed that capital outlay requests are also not included in the count.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES/FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Currently, there is no limit on the number of bills introduced. Following is a table of the number of bills introduced during the last 6 years for the regular sessions:

TABLE 1. NUMBER OF BILLS INTRODUCED

Bill Type	1995 60 Days	1996 30 Days	1997 60 Days	1998 30 Days	1999 60 Days	2000 30 Days

House bills	1,188	793	1,392	544	929	540
House concurrent resolutions	1	2	0	0	1	1
House joint resolutions	14	19	19	22	25	20
House joint memorials	65	79	100	88	91	82
House memorials	38	7	28	30	55	25
House capital outlay requests	0	0	0	499	858	757
Senate bills	1,207	863	1,300	424	800	501
Senate concurrent resolutions	3	1	0	1	1	1
Senate joint resolutions	23	24	16	16	27	23
Senate joint memorials	101	103	75	54	67	76
Senate memorials	30	10	14	33	46	39
Senate capital outlay requests	0	0	0	518	1,018	819
Total	2,670	1,901	2,944	2,229	3,918	2,884

NOTE: In years 1997 and earlier, capital outlay proposals were made by bill. Beginning in 1998 and forward, capital outlay proposals were made as "capital outlay requests" rather than bills.

TABLE 2. NUMBER OF BILLS COMPARED TO OTHER LEGISLATION

Bill Type	1995 60 Days	1996 30 Days	1997 60 Days	1998 30 Days	1999 60 Days	2000 30 Days
	2,395				1,729	10,491,049

Bills	2,395	1,656	2,692	968	1,729	1,041
Memorials, resolutions and requests	275	245	252	1,261	2,189	1,843
Total	2,670	1,901	2,944	2,229	3,918	2,884

As indicated in the tables above, the Legislature tends to propose more bills in 60-day sessions than in 30-day sessions. In 30-day sessions the number of bills introduced that would be under the purview of the proposal generally fall below the limit imposed by the proposal. In 60-day sessions, the bills are more than the limit imposed by the proposal; there may be some savings in 60-day sessions, although it is undeterminable at this time.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

There probably would be no significant impact for 30-day sessions, but in 60-day sessions, there may be less bills to draft, refer to committees for hearings, less copying and less analysis performed.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Does the sponsor intend to also exclude capital outlay requests from the bill count? Either way, the bill probably needs clarification.

DKB/njw