Legislative Commentary

Feb. 22 is, in the language of the Legislature, the “last day to read in committee reports in house of origin” for all legislative policy committees. Translation: it’s officially the last day for the Senate and House policy committees to act on legislation originating in the Senate and House, respectively. Legislation not acted upon before the end of today will be considered “dead” for the year, although bills have been known to come back from the dead with the same text under a new number.

The legislative fiscal committees get an additional week to take action. That’s because some of the bill...