On Monday, the Idaho Legislature fielded a flurry of bills from committees. That’s by design.
The 36th calendar day of each legislative session is the last day that personal bills can be introduced in most committees. That was Monday, which resulted in a glut of bills popping up in committees.
Boise State University Political Science professor Gary Moncrief says after the deadline, it gets harder to get bills into the Legislature.
“There are a few committees in the House and the Senate that are called privileged committees and they can continue to introduce bills beyond that deadline of February 13,” says Moncrief.
Typically, another 100 or so more bills will be introduced by “privileged committees,” including the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and the two State Affairs committees.
Moncrief says now that a majority of the bills have been introduced, most of the action over the next few weeks will be in committees, where public hearings will be held on those bills.
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