Keeping in Touch: Legislature starts up
On Monday, January 3, 2010, the 62nd Legislature will convene at noon in both the House and Senate Chambers. At this time, 100 House Representatives and the newly elected Senators will officially be sworn into office.
On Tuesday, January 4th I will be attending, along with other legislators a Law School for Legislators. Following the Law School Session, we will have an abbreviated Floor Session from 1:00-1:30 with the remainder of the day dedicated to budget training sessions.
On Wednesday, January 5th through Friday, January 7th we will begin our day with Committee organizational meetings, followed by Joint Subcommittees overview of the State’s Budget by section (sections include: General Government, Health & Human Services, Natural Resources & Transportation, Judicial, Education and Long Range Planning) , then on to Legislative Rules training, an abbreviated Floor Session to be followed up with Education, Department of Health & Human Services and Public Safety, Corrections & Judiciary budget hearings for the Joint Subcommittee Members.
On Saturday, January 8th we will begin with another abbreviated floor session and onto a Private Sector Testimony session. Examples of topics to be addressed are: agriculture, labor, health care, tourism, extraction, manufacturing, technology, transportation, construction, retail and gaming-taverns.
Then business as usual will begin on Monday, January 10th with House and Senate Floor Sessions beginning at 1:00 o’clock p.m. until adjourned. In addition, committee meetings will begin and for me, that means I’ll begin chairing the State Administration and Veterans Affairs meetings Monday through Friday; Local Government meetings on Tuesday’s and Thursdays; and Health & Human Services meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
House Bills (HB) that I have tentatively scheduled within my State Administration and Veterans Affairs (SAVA) Committee are as follows: Monday, January 10th: HB 39 Revise statutes relating to military affairs, HB 23 Clarify primary sponsor contact requirements for administrative rules, HB 40 Changing the standard for adoption of administrative rules, HB 64 Require Dept. of Administration to adopt rules on loan of employees between agencies & HB 120 Provide for audio minutes as official minutes; Tuesday, January 11th: HB 45 Amend laws relating to stale-dated state warrants, HB 53 Consolidate state employee benefit plan requirements, HB 77 Eliminate the publishing policy committee & HB 108 Clarify coordination of insurance benefits vs. subrogation for state group insurance plans; Wednesday, January 12th : HB 66 Clarify agency to which the state records committee is attached, HB 88 Allow youth election judges, HB 89 Eliminate local registration, disclosure filing for legislators, statewide candidates & HB 91 Revise Election Laws; Thursday, January 13th : HB 99 Generally revise laws relating to absentee ballots and mail ballots & HB 130 Expand types of elections to be conducted by mail ballot elections.
SAVA along with the other Legislative Committees are facing full days and a multitude of bills, and while we are doing the work of the people, the legislative process relies on the participation of informed citizens such as yourself. Tracking the bills and communicating with the legislators regarding your approval, opposition or suggestion for possible changes plays a very important role in the outcome of the bills. You may access a free online service, the Legislative Automated Workflow Systems (LAWS), to find the complete text of bills, their status, committee hearing schedules, agendas for committee hearings and floor sessions and House and Senate votes on bills at www.leg.mt.gov/laws.htm.
Floor sessions will be broadcast online live beginning January 3rd at noon, with floor sessions generally beginning at 1:00 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays. To access the video and audio broadcasts, visit www.leg.mt.gov/broadcast. Viewers will need RealPlayer software.
In addition to Internet broadcasts, the Legislature will broadcast its proceedings over cable television through TVMT. To find out if TVMT programming is available in your area visit www.leg.mt.gov/tvmt or call the Legislative Information Office at 444-2957.
This session the Legislative Services Division will debut a new feature on the legislative Web site. Users will be able to search for audio & video related to specific bills using on search function at www.leg.mt.gov/broadcast-archives. Click on “Bill Specific Audio/Video Form.”
Please “Keep in Touch” with me during the session by leaving messages for me by using an online form available at www.leg.mt.gov/message, or by calling the information desk at (406) 444-4800 to leave a message, or by e-mailing me at pingraham@mt.gov, or you may mail your comments to me at Representative Pat Ingraham, Capitol Building, PO Box 200400, Helena, MT 59620-0400.