Legislative deadlines

The Kansas legislative process is nearly halfway over for the 2011 session. The House and Senate have adopted rules to conduct business in a timely fashion. Last Friday was "Turn around day", a deadline in which bills must have passed from one chamber to the next. Bills that did not make it out of their original chamber must wait in committee until 2012. The next deadline in which bills are supposed to have passed their second chamber is called "drop dead day."

There are certain legislative committees which are exempted from the deadlines: House Appropriations, Senate Ways and Means, House and Senate Federal and State Affairs, House Taxation, and House Calendar and Printing.

Aside from the omnibus and mega bills which appropriates monies to state agencies, any bills introduced after deadlines cannot be acted upon until 2012.

After the 90th calendar day of session only governor vetos and the omnibus bill may be considered in either chamber.

An exception: bills can be considered past deadlines if there is a constitutional majority (2/3) vote within either chamber.

If you have a concern that you would like your Representatives or Senators to hear, you can find their contact information at http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/members/.

If you do not know who your representative or senator is go to http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/vote/, enter in your county and address and it will show you the names and districts of your legislators.

If you would like to know if there has been a bill introduced on a topic you are concerned about , call the Legislative Hotline, staffed by the State Library of Kansas' reference librarians, at 800-432-3924.

After you have been given the bill number for your topic, you can see which chamber the bill is in, whether it has come to a vote, and where it stands now at http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/measures/

If you have any trouble navigating the legislature's website call the Legislative Hotline.