2011 North Carolina bill deadlines

The House (HR1) and Senate (SR1) rules for the 2011 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly have set out deadlines for requesting and filing bills in the House and Senate.

The first two deadlines:

1. In the House, requests to staff to draft bills already recommended by study commissions are due by Tuesday, March 1, those bills must be filed in the House by Wednesday, March 9
2. In the Senate, requests to staff to draft local bills (those affecting less than 15 counties) are due by Tuesday, March 1, those bills must be filed in the Senate by Wednesday, March 9

NC Bill Drafting requests down 31%

Total bill drafting requests received by staff for the 2010 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly are down over 31% from the same point after convening of the 2008 short session.  There are two conflicting trends — 1) Requests to the Research Division are up over 21%, probably a reflection of more study committees meeting and recommending substantive legislation, and 2) Requests to the Bill Drafting Division are down over 42%, a reflection of a drop off in special appropriations bill requests.    

		2008	2010	CHANGE
				2008-2010
RESEARCH DIVISION		221	268	+21.27%
DRAFTING DIVISION		1066	610	-42.78%
GRAND TOTAL		1287	878	-31.78%

Bill drafting and filing deadlines in the 2010 NC short session

Below are the deadlines for various types of bills for the 2010 short session to be requested from North Carolina legislative staff and filed in the Principal Clerk’s offices:

2010 House/Senate Deadlines

Drafts	To Bill DraftingBy 4:00 PM	Filed in House/SenateBy 4:00 PM
Bills recommended byStudy commissions	Wednesday, May 12	Wednesday, May 19
Bills Affecting2010-2011 Budget	Friday, May 14	Tuesday, May 25
Local Bills	Wednesday, May 19	Wednesday, May 26
Bills Affecting State orLocal Pension orRetirement Systems	Wednesday, May 19	Wednesday, May 26

 

Eligible to file in 2010 but no deadlines:

(1)   Appointments to and confirmation of members of State boards and commissions

(2)   State Constitutional amendments

(3)   Resolutions honoring deceased persons

(4)   Resolutions authorizing other bills (two-thirds vote required)

(5)  Adjournment resolution sine die

Bills disapproving administrative rules are also eligible to be filed by the 30th legislative day of the short session under G.S. 150B-21.3(b1). A legislative day is a day when either house meets.  Assuming session Monday-Thursday of each week, the 30th legislative day will be Thursday, July 1, 2010.

Finding House bills filed at the deadline

Looking for the 157 House bills filed April 8, 2009 (HB 1221-1377) and the 127 House bills filed April 9, 2009 (HB 1378-1504)?

The quickest way is to go to:

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/lastaction/lastaction.pl?Biennium=2009&SessionNumber=1

where you can scroll through the short titles and click on the links.

Today at 1:00 pm was the filing deadline under the House rules for substantive House public bills.  The deadline for House appropriations and finance bills is May 6, 2009.

2009 NC bill deadlines

Here are the North Carolina General Assembly House and Senate deadlines for getting bill drafting requests to staff, filing those bills, and crossover when non-money bills must clear one house. The deadlines can also be found here on the Legislative website.

 

 

 

2009 House Deadlines 

 

Drafts	To Bill Drafting by 4 pm	Filed in House by 3 pm Wednesdays
Local Bills	Wednesday, March 18	April 1
Public Bills (Not Appropriations or Finance)	Thursday, March 26	April 8
Appropriations and Finance	Wednesday, April 22	May 6

 

 

 

2009 Senate Deadlines

 

Drafts	To Bill Drafting by 3 pm	Filed in Senate by 3 pm Wednesdays
Local	Tuesday, March 3	March 11
Public & Resolutions	Friday, March 13	March 25

 

Crossover Deadline Thursday May 14

NC Bill filing deadlines in 2009

 I’m getting a lot of inquiries about the bill filing deadlines for the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2009 Regular Session, which convenes January 28.  Those deadlines have not been set — typically, they appear in the temporary or permanent rules adopted the first day of session.

remaining 2008 bill eligibility

With the passing of today’s 4:00 pm deadline for local and pension bills, only the following categories of bills and resolutions remain eligible for introduction in the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly under the adjournment resolution. There is no deadline on any of these other than (12). Note that bills under category (7) can not be filed UNTIL an authorizing resolution has passed each house by 2/3 vote. Some explanations appear after the list.

 

…..

(*2*)                   Bills amending the Constitution of North Carolina.

…..

(*6*)                   Selection, appointment, or confirmation of members of State boards and commissions as required by law, including the filling of vacancies of positions for which the appointees were elected by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the Senate, or President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

(*7*)                   Any matter authorized by joint resolution passed during the 2008 Regular Session by a two‑thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives present and voting and by a two‑thirds majority of the members of the Senate present and voting. A bill or resolution filed in either house under the provisions of this subdivision shall have a copy of the ratified enabling resolution attached to the jacket before filing for introduction in the Senate or introduction in the House of Representatives.

(*8*)                   A joint resolution authorizing the introduction of a bill pursuant to subdivision (7) of this section.

…..

(*10*)                 Joint resolutions, House resolutions, and Senate resolutions authorized for introduction under Senate Rule 40(b) or House Rule 31.

(*11*)                 A joint resolution adjourning the 2007 Regular Session, sine die.

(*12*)                 Bills to disapprove rules under G.S. 150B‑21.3.

 

                                    NOTES: Resolutions under category (10) might include those honoring the memory of a deceased former member, authorize astudy of a subject by the Legislative Research Commission, or deal with some matter internal to the procedures of either house or the General Assembly. Bills in category (12) must be filed by the end of the 30th legislative day, which is Wednesday, July 2, assuming sessions only on Monday-Thursday before then.

 

first two bill deadlines this week

The first two bill request deadlines occur this week for the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly, which convenes Tuesday, May 13, 2008. They are shown in italics in the table below. 
 

2008 House/Senate Deadlines

Drafts	To Bill Drafting By 4:00 PM	Filed in House/Senate By 4:00 PM
Study Bills	Wednesday, May 14	Wednesday, May 21
Bills Affecting 2007-2008 Budget	Friday, May 16	Tuesday, May 27
Local Bills	Wednesday, May 21	Wednesday, May 28
Bills Affecting Pension or RetirementSystems	Wednesday, May 21	Wednesday, May 28

Eligible but no deadlines:

(1) Appointments to and confirmation of members of State boards and commissions

(2) State Constitutional amendments

(3) Resolutions honoring deceased persons

(4) Resolutions authorizing other bills (two-thirds vote required)

(5) Bills disapproving administrative rules

 

short session authorizing resolutions explained

I have had several requests recently to explain “authorizing resolutions” for the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly

 

The adjournment resolution lists ten categories of bills that can be considered in the short session:

(1)    state budget and state tax bills,

(2)    state constitutional amendments,

(3)    bills that passed one house in 2007,

(4)    bills recommended by study commissions and select committees in the interim,

(5)    noncontroversial local bills,

(6)    appointments,

(7)    state and local pension bills

(8)    joint resolutions allowed under the rules,

(9)    adjournment resolutions, and

(10)   bills disapproving administrative rules.

 

It then allows bills that are not otherwise eligible to be considered in the following circumstance:

 

“(7)       Any matter authorized by joint resolution passed during the 2008 Regular Session by a two‑thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives present and voting and by a two‑thirds majority of the members of the Senate present and voting. A bill or resolution filed in either house under the provisions of this subdivision shall have a copy of the ratified enabling resolution attached to the jacket before filing for introduction in the Senate or introduction in the House of Representatives.”

 

In order to use this provision, the member needs to have the substantive bill drafted and also ask the drafting staff to prepare the “authorizing resolution”, which lists the title of the bill proposed to be authorized. The member may ask for an authorizing resolution at the same time the substantive request is made. The member files the authorizing resolution, and when passed by two-thirds vote of each house and ratified, the member may then introduce the main bill.

 

Here is how many authorizing resolutions were ratified in each short session the past 20 years:

2006:     7

2004:     0

2002:     1

2000:     0

1998:     0

1996:     9

1994:     5

1992:    37

1990:    31

1988:    11

 

Here is what one authorizing resolution that passed looks like:

 

A JOINT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE 2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY, REGULAR SESSION 2006, TO CONSIDER A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT ALLOWING THE STATE LICENSING BOARD OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS TO EXTEND THE PERIOD IN WHICH A LICENSE REMAINS IN EFFECT AFTER A PERSON LICENSED ON BEHALF OF A FIRM OR CORPORATION CEASES TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT FIRM OR CORPORATION.

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

 

SECTION 1.  The 2005 General Assembly, Regular Session 2006, may consider “A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT ALLOWING THE STATE LICENSING BOARD OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS TO EXTEND THE PERIOD IN WHICH A LICENSE REMAINS IN EFFECT AFTER A PERSON LICENSED ON BEHALF OF A FIRM OR CORPORATION CEASES TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT FIRM OR CORPORATION.”

SECTION 2.  This resolution is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15^th day of June, 2006.

2008 NC short session bill filing deadlines

I have had several requests this week for the bill filing deadlines for the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly, which convenes Tuesday, May 13, 2008. The deadlines appear below.

2008 House/Senate Deadlines   

Drafts	To Bill Drafting         By 4:00 PM	Filed in House/Senate  By 4:00 PM
Study Bills	Wednesday, May 14	Wednesday, May 21
Bills Affecting 2007-2008 Budget	Friday, May 16	Tuesday, May 27
Local Bills	Wednesday, May 21	Wednesday, May 28
Bills Affecting Pension or RetirementSystems	Wednesday, May 21	Wednesday, May 28

  Eligible but no deadlines: 

(1)   Appointments to and confirmation of members of State boards and commissions

(2)   State Constitutional amendments

(3)   Resolutions honoring deceased persons

(4)   Resolutions authorizing other bills (two-thirds vote required)

(5)   Bills disapproving administrative rules