General Assembly moves fast on day one of special session

Yesterday, the Senate Budget and Tax Committee held its hearing on the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act or BRFA (SB 1301) and the State and Local Revenue and Financing Act (SB 1302). Fiscal notes are available for both bills, as is our testimony in support of the revenue bill. The committee gave a favorable report to SB 1301 and 1302, setting the stage for passage by the Senate.  After rejecting all amendments and an affirmative vote at second reading yesterday, the Senate is poised to pass the bills upon third reading today.

This year, the House of Delegates must wait for the Senate to send it the BRFA and revenue bill before it can act (the chambers alternate taking the lead on the budget; next year the opposite will be true). However, in order to save time and taxpayer money, the House held hearings yesterday on identical House bills. The House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the BRFA (HB 1801), followed by a hearing on the revenue bill (HB 1802) in the Ways and Means Committee. 

The combination of the compressed three-day schedule for the special session and the legislative rules laid out in Maryland's constitution require some contortions regarding legislative dates.  The constitution requires three readings on three separate days for all bills.  A holdover from the early days of Maryland, reading each bill three times ensured that illiterate legislators had a chance to digest the import of each bill before they voted.

In the modern, more literate General Assembly, bills are rarely read aloud three times. In most cases the legislature interprets other actions as having fulfilled the three readings requirement.  However, the three day rule still applies.

The Senate got around this problem yesterday by adopting a rules exception allowing two readings on the same day.  The House took a more interesting approach as it waits for the Senate bills. Last night the House recessed but did not adjourn, meaning that the legislative date inside the House chamber is still Monday, May 14th.  Once the Senate passes SB 1301 and 1302 (in a Tuesday, May 15th session) and sends them across the hall, the bills will move backwards in (legislative) time as the House moves through their first reading, then adjourns Monday's session. Later on Tuesday the Speaker will then open Tuesday's session and the chamber will proceed with the second reading.  Third reading and passage of the two bills in the House is expected sometime on Wednesday.