Keeping in touch with Rep. Pat Ingraham

As legislators, we have had some long days and short nights as we head to the midway point of the session, the transmittal deadline for all non-revenue bills. With transmittal ending on February 27th, we have been hearing an increased number of general bills both in committee and on the floor.

Beginning on Monday, February 25th, the House will primarily be doing floor sessions with the exception of a few committee meetings on that morning. We will continue to do floor sessions with the Committee of the Whole through Wednesday, February 27th, as all non-revenue bills must pass second reading by Wednesday. Thursday, February 28th is expected to be dedicated to third readings of any house bills which have survived the committee process and passed second reading. The third reading will be the final House vote on those bills, and if the bills pass third reading, they will be transmitted to the Senate for further action.

There are 2146 introduced and unintroduced bills in the system and this final week may bring more to the committees and the House floor. Currently there are 520 House Bills which have been introduced, 90 of those have been tabled and 12 are on the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. One bill awaiting the Governors signature is one that I carried, House Bill (HB) 53. HB 53 will revise some of the duties of the State Administration and Veteran’s Affairs Interim Committee which I’ve had the opportunity to serve on the last three sessions. The change will help the staff and Interim committee use their limited time and resources in a more efficient manner when working on issues brought before them, rather than on conceptual ideas with limited information.

The Senate currently has 347 bills which have been introduced with 2 that have been tabled. In addition, there are 12 House Joint Resolutions, 3 House Resolutions, 16 Senate Joint Resolutions and 9 Senate resolutions. That makes a total of 907 bills which are in the system and are working through the process or have already reached their destination for this session.

As your representative, I have received hundreds of calls and emails each day from people all across the state and the country, but as your representative, the voices from my community are what matter most to me. Whether it’s been about school choice as found in HB 315, establishing public charter schools or in SB 175, generally revising public education funding, hearing from you regarding many of these types of issues, hearing from both opponents and proponents willing to share their thoughts and views, is appreciated. On all of these issues which come before me, I have had to cast my vote, often tough votes, because of the opposing views voiced by you. I have not taken that responsibility lightly, using all the resources, understanding and input available to me in order to make what I feel are judicious votes on contentious subjects.

From Friday, March 1st until March 3rd, legislators finally will have an opportunity to head back to our districts. For many this will be one of the few times we can make it home during the session to see family and hear from our constituents. While the time home will be brief, please feel free to contact me at 827-4652 if you’d like to visit regarding a concern or just to say hello.