Politics

As session wraps up, how to track bill progress online

In the last days of the Legislature, most bills are either dead by rule or effectively dead, but the last few dozen bills in play can be tracked on BASIS, the Legislature's online bill tracking system. Look for the "Daily Floor Sessions Schedules," and keep checking back; they're updated regularly.

But most of the actual work on bills happens in the each body's finance committee. Those committees effectively act as executive committees, handling all the bills involving money and the most other important legislation.

Those committees' activities are also on BASIS, under "Daily Committee Meeting Schedules."

And this time of year, one other committee becomes very important. Conference committees work out differences between House and Senate bills, most notably on the operating and capital budgets. Despite legislative rules requiring openness, those and other key actions happen behind closed doors, with those decisions then being formalized in the public meetings later.

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