What to Watch For: January 6-10

The first two weeks of the Session will be largely organizational in nature. Over the next few days, House and Senate Committees will convene for organizational meetings and then get to work reviewing administrative rules. The administrative rules review process will take a little more time this year given that all rules (both existing and new) were reviewed in the interim. 

Legislators will also introduce personal bills during the first few weeks of the Session. These bills are generally introduced as a courtesy. IAC generally does not include personal bills in our bill tracker because they rarely move forward. Because of the broader rule review process, it may take a little extra time before general legislation begins to be introduced.

On the budget front, the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee will waste no time in reviewing budget projections and beginning to set budgets. The Governor is targeting a 3.75% budget increase and given feedback from legislators, JFAC is likely to follow the recommendations. 

As legislation picks up in the coming weeks, look for more content to be included in this section. We’ll do our best to predict what issues will be before legislative committees to give the membership a heads up to help you prepare for the weeks to come.