Members debate limits on bill-draft requests; no rule change adopted
Summary
Committee members discussed proposals to limit the number of bills a member can sponsor in a budget session (options raised included a 5-bill limit), but no rule change was adopted during the meeting.
Representative Provenza presented two companion rule-change ideas aimed at reducing the number of bill-draft requests submitted to Legislative Service Office staff during a budget session. The proposals would either reduce the sponsor bill limit for the budget session or otherwise place a cap; the discussion framed the change as an effort to reduce staff workload and improve the quality of drafting.
Director Matt Obrecht explained capacity constraints in the Legislative Service Office: he said the office was down two attorneys for drafting and reported that the office handles many hundreds of bill-draft requests (members cited numbers in the 600–700 range for recent sessions). He said staff experience suggests later requests and very late drafting tend to lower quality because of time pressure.
Members were divided. Representative Baer and others argued constituents generate late ideas and that limiting drafts risks preventing legitimate constituent requests from being filed. Representative Provenza and some others argued that the volume of requests strains LSO and that the body should exercise discernment about what gets drafted, and they suggested members use interim work to develop ideas earlier. Several members noted other states and staffing models handle drafting differently. No formal motion to adopt a cap was passed; Representative Provenza said she would "read the room and move on" and the committee did not sponsor a rule limiting bill-draft counts at that meeting.
