The state’s two-year legislative session doesn’t end until the year is over, but for all practical purposes, their work is done because neither the state Assembly nor Senate have any more work periods left on the calendar which would allow them to convene and vote.
The Governor is in the process of reviewing several bills that were approved by the legislature. As he completes that work, you might find it interesting to know the following:
- Nearly 1,200 bills have been introduced in the 2021-22 legislative session;
- Assembly representatives estimate it takes a minimum of 12 hours of legislative work to get a bill from an idea to its first vote in just one house of the legislature. The process is repeated in the second house and needs Gubernatorial approval;
- 209 bills have been signed into law, more are awaiting the Governor’s review;
- 45 bills have been vetoed;
- The Legislative Reference Bureau found that 79 percent of bills that passed the state Senate and 74 percent of bills that passed the state Assembly in 2021 were bipartisan;
- WCRIS is one of 796 registered organizations that lobby the state’s 132 legislators, Governor, and state agency officials, like the Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Justice Office of School Safety;
- These groups spent $35.4 million to lobby that handful of state officials in 2021; and,
- The state government closed out 2021 with a $2.58 billion surplus, after years of structural deficits.
