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



DKB/njw