Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Interim and the Legislature

Even though your Kansas legislators are not currently in session does not mean that they are not working. Interim, or the months between sessions, is a time in which the Legislature does much of its work. Your Senators and Representatives are busy at home learning the wishes and desires of their constituents. Many legislators serve on task forces assigned by the Governor druing the interim. But there is more work than that to be done.

What is not widely known is the volume of the legislature's work takes place between sessions in interim committee meetings. Because the action of the legislative session flies by in 90 days, most of the discussion, negotiation, and research of the issues must take place well before the 2010 legislative session begins. Just before the start of session in January, the interim committees will produce reports to the legislature to utilize in the formation of new legislation.

If you wish to learn what is being worked on currently, there are online tools to help you:

You can find the list of interim committees, what is on their agenda, and the committee members at
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Committees.htm

You can see this month's interim committee schedule at
http://www.kslegislature.org/committeeminutes/07-08/interim_joint/interim.pdf

You can find minutes of interim committees at
http://www.kslegislature.org/committeeminutes/09-10/interim_joint/index.shtml#joint

You can find a calendar of interim meetings at
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/agendas/grid.pdf

An index of interim reports from 1934-2005 is available at
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Publications/SubjectIndex1934through2005.pdf

If you have any questions about the legislature or about interim, you are welcome to call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-432-3924 or you may Ask a Librarian.

Article contact: Kim Harp
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