NC Bill drafting requests still 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 14%, probably a reflection of more study committees meeting and recommending substantive legislation, and 2) Requests to the Bill Drafting Division are down over 40%, a reflection of a drop off in special appropriations bill requests.  The 31% drop is almost identical to that reported last week.

		2008	2010	CHANGE
				2008-2010
RESEARCH DIVISION		256	293	+14.45%
DRAFTING DIVISION		1196	711	-40.55%
GRAND TOTAL		1452	1004	-30.85%

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%

stats on NC long sessions 2001 through 2009

Here’s a table comparing the volume of legislation filed and passed during the last five long sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly, covering 2001 through 2009:

	2001	2003	2005	2007	2009
Date Convened	Jan. 24	Jan. 26	Jan. 26	Jan. 24	Jan. 28
Date adjourned	Dec. 6	July 20	Sept. 2	Aug. 2	Aug. 11
Senate legislative days	173	102	126	111	112
House legislative days	179	102	125	113	114
Senate bills introduced	1,109	1,340	1,184	1,573	1,109
House bills introduced	1,478	1,028	1,800	2,072	1,658
Total bills introduced	2,587	2,368	2,984	3,645	2,767
Session Laws enacted	519	435	463	551	577
Vetoes	0	1	1	1	1
Joint resolutions ratified	36	32	58	68	33
Simple resolutions adopted	10	16	26	7	8
Total measures passed	565	483	547	626	618
% measures passed	21.8%	20.3%	18.3%	17.2%	22.3%

source for most of the data: North Carolina Legislative Library, Legislative Statistics 1965-2009. This post is an update of a similar one post-2007 long session, which covered 1993-2007 .

2009 NC bill filings down 23.6% (or 26.0%) from 2007

We’re now past the final deadlines for most bill introductions in the 2009 long session of the North Carolina General Assembly.  Total bill filings dropped by 23.6%, with a 19.4% drop in the House and a 29.2% drop in the Senate. When factoring out companion (identical) bills, there were 26% less total filings.

 Resolutions and a few categories of bills (such as redistricting) can still be filed.

Here are  comparison stats from 2009 and filings at the same point in the 2007 session:

                      HOUSE        SENATE     TOTAL

2009:        1651                   1101         2752

2007:       2049                   1555        3604

CHANGE   -19.4%            -29.2%      -23.6%

A companion bill is the same bill as another filed in the other house (they miught be filed at the same time or later in the session.  In 2007 there were 1137 companions, in 2009 there have been 926.  Factoring these out, here’s how many different bills were filed:

2009         1826

2007          2467

CHANGE: -26.0%

As mentioned previously, the total of bill drafting requests dropped by 16.6%  between 2007 and 2009. the disparity between this number and the total bills filed indicates a sharp uptick in drafting requests that did not result in bills being filed. In 2007 a total of 3,948 drafting requests were made, resulting in 2,467 filings (62.7%), while in 2009 3,627 requests were made with 1,826 bills filed (50.3%).

In 2007, there were 24 House bills and resolutions and 20 Senate bills and resolutions filed after the deadlines.

Bill drafting requests down almost 17%

The total number of substantive bill drafting requests received by North Carolina legislative staff is down by almost 17% comparing May 4, 2009 with the same point in the 2007 Regular Session, a reduction from 3948 to 3293.  The dropoff has accelerated since I reported a 12% drop as of March 23, 2009.

Interestingly, the number of bills filed in North Carolina has dropped during bad economic times. During the eight-month long 2001 recession, bill filings dropped by 3% compared with 1999; there was a sharper 32.3% drop from 1989 to 1991 during that recession; while bill filings dropped 32.3% between 1929 and 1931.

The final House drafting request deadlines have now passed, just a few requests remain to be processed before this Wednesday’s appropriations bill filing deadline, and resolutions are exempt from the deadline. Senate deadlines were a month ago.

I had noted previously that our paper consumption on an average per bill is down by 36.8% as we implemented in January formatting changes that cut the average length of a bill by 18.5% and are printing 22% less copies of each bill.

The table below shows the statistics in greater detail:
2009 long session drafting
requests as of May 4 compared
with same point in 2007 Session	2007	2009	CHANGE
RESEARCH DIVISION	406	421	+3.69%
DRAFTING DIVISION	3627	2906	-19.88%
TOTAL	4033	3327	-17.51%
BLANKS	85	34	-60.00%
SUBSTANTIVE TOTAL	3948	3293	-16.59%

Bill drafting requests down 12%

The total number of substantive bill drafting requests received by North Carolina legislative staff is down by over 12% comparing March 20, 2009 with the same point in the 2007 Regular Session, a reduction from 3105 to 2727. 

 

Interestingly, the number of bills filed in North Carolina has dropped during bad economic times. During the eight-month long 2001 recession, bill filings dropped by 3% between 1999 and 2001;  there was a sharper 32.3% drop from 1989 to 1991 during that recession; while bill filings dropped 32.3% between 1929 and 1931.

 

The House public bill and House appropriations bill request deadlines still remain in the weeks ahead, so final numbers for the long session are a few weeks away.

 

I had noted previously that our paper consumption on an average per bill is down by 36.8% as we implemented in January formatting changes that cut the average length of a bill by 18.5% and are printing 22% less copies of each bill.

 

The table below shows the statistics in greater detail:
2009 long session drafting
requests as of March 20 compared
with same point in 2007 Session	2007	2009	CHANGE
RESEARCH DIVISION	293	332	+13.31%
DRAFTING DIVISION	2895	2428	-16.13%
TOTAL	3188	2760	-13.43%
BLANKS	83	33	-60.24%
SUBSTANTIVE TOTAL	3105	2727	-12.17%

Receding and depressing bill filing historical stats

Interestingly, the number of bills filed in North Carolina has dropped during bad economic times. During the eight-month long  2001 recession, bill filings dropped by 3% between 1999 and 2001; during the 1990-1991 recession, there was a sharper 32.3% drop from 1989 to 1991; while at the start of the Great Depression the filings dropped 32.3% between 1929 and 1931. While I was not around here in 1929, the big drop in 1991 was due to almost no special appropriations bills being filed, which there had been a glut of the previous biennium. If history repeats itself, our printing costs should drop.

BILLS FILED
2001 3,320
1999 3,437

1993 4,271
1991 2,990
1989 4,053
1987 4,528

1931 2,155
1929 3,184
1927 3,362

data source:
https://ncbilldrafting.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/bill-filings-in-2007-2008-highest-since-1913/

How to achieve a finished piece of legislation

Here’s a presentation I made to Leadership NC at their government session in Raleigh on November 6, 2008. I was on a panel with North Carolina Supreme Court Clerk Christie Cameron, and Franklin Freeman, Governor Easley’s legislative liason.

WHAT IT TAKES

TO ACHIEVE A FINISHED PIECE OF LEGISLATION

Gerry Cohen, Director of Bill Drafting, North Carolina General Assembly

Presentation to Leadership NC November 6, 2008

Most civics classes focus on how a bill becomes a law. Just as important is how an idea becomes a bill. During the 2007-2008 legislative session, 4,993 bills and resolutions were filed, and 884 (17% of the total) became law.  That wasn’t the whole iceberg, legislative staff received 5,693 bill drafting requests from members. That volume of requests has been steadily rising, from 3,401 in 2001-2002, to 3,533 in 2003-2004, up a staggering amount to 5,367 in 2005-2006 and then up to this past’s session’s total.

2007-2008 Drafting workload totals

I’ve finally had a chance to total up all the bill requests received by North Carolina legislative staff for 2007-2008 and compare the totals to those for 2005-2006, 2003-2004, and 2001-2002. I’ve tracked the number of blank bill requests and excluded them from the totals. Staff workload is up 6% from 2005, up 61% from 2003, and up 67% from 2001.

Blank bills dropped dramatically after a six year rise, House rules in 2007 banned them and Senate rules limited them to two per member:

2001    491

2003    559

2005    563

2007     86

 

Total drafting requests for each biennial session:

 

	2007	2005	2003	2001
Bill Drafting Div.	4986	4687	2920	3103
Research Division	707	680	613	298
Total Draft Requests	5693	5367	3533	3401

 

 

 

 

Increase/Decrease

% Change
	2005 to 2007	2003 to 2007	2001 to 2007
Bill Drafting Div.	+6.4%	+70.8%	+60.7%
Research Division	+4.0%	+15.3%	+137.2%
Total	+6.1%	+61.1%	+67.4%

 

archive of workload posts is here.

Final drafting workload stats for 2008

Now that we’ve concluded the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly, I’ve gone back and updated my post of May 23, 2008 comparing bill drafting requests for 2008, 2006, 2004, and 2002.

While our workload is up  78% comparing 2008 with 2002 and up 35% comparing 2008 with 2004, it was off 30% from 2006, which was a welcome relief.

 

TOTALS, all comparisons to end of each short session:

 

	2008	2006	2004	2002
Bill Drafting Div.	1274	1927	889	714
Research Division	273	269	258	154
Total Draft Requests	1547	2196	1147	868

 

archive of workload posts is here.

 

 

 

 

Increase/Decrease

% Change
	2006 to 2008	2004 to 2008	2002 to 2008
Bill Drafting Div.	-33.9%	+43.3%	+78.4%
Research Division	+1.5%	+5.8%	+77.3%
Total	-29.6%	+34.9%	+78.2%