For the next two weeks, January30-February 10, committees will hold public hearings both morning and afternoon following a 9:00 a.m. check-in on the floor. For the first couple of days of our all-day hearings, I know some committees have scheduled their public hearing to begin at 9:00 a.m. If you serve on one of those committees, I ask that you come to the floor and check-in prior to going to the public hearing. We will need a quorum to convene each morning. For the next two weeks, time on the floor will be minimal once we convene.

Next Monday, we begin committee public hearings at 1:30 p.m. A reminder that during the week of January 23, hearings will only take place in the afternoon. The following two weeks, January 30-February 10, committees will hold public hearings both morning and afternoon following a 9:00 a.m. check-in on the floor.

Monday and Tuesday of next week (January 23 and 24) also will be check-in days with a 10:00 a.m. start time. Wednesday, January 25, we will convene at 9:30 a.m. and at 10:00 a.m. Governor Pillen will deliver his State of the State address. The start time for Thursday and Friday will be 9:00 a.m. unless otherwise announced next week. Adjournment times for Thursday and Friday will be contingent upon any legislative business we may have to address (i.e. committee confirmation reports, motions to withdraw, etc.).

A few notes this morning regarding our schedule for next week.

At the beginning of the session, I announced my intention that we would begin the debate on the motion to adopt permanent rules on Tuesday. That will not be happening.

The Rules Committee’s public hearing ended yesterday around 10:30 p.m. on 58 proposed rule changes. The committee members need more time to consider the proposals before holding an executive session. Senator Erdman, chair of our Rules Committee, has scheduled the executive session for Tuesday afternoon. It is my expectation that the committee will be able to file their rules report with the Clerk on Wednesday morning and provide a copy to all members that morning.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will convene at 10:00 a.m. for bill introduction. A reminder that Wednesday is the tenth and final day for bill introduction.

Thursday morning we will begin the debate on the motion to adopt permanent rules. Thursday we will convene at 9:00 a.m., recess for lunch, and continue debate in the afternoon. If necessary, we will continue debate into the evening. My goal is to adopt permanent rules before we leave on Friday. On day one, we adopted temporary rules through the twelfth day, Friday.

Additionally, I want to share with the entire Body that our public hearings this year will include an ADA Accommodation of Written Testimony. ADA Qualified individuals can submit written testimony online in a format similar to our online comments portal. The qualified individual submitting testimony in this manner will have their testimony included in the hearing transcript as public hearing testimony. The individual’s name will also appear on the Committee Statement with a notation that the person submitted ADA Accommodation Written Testimony.

With the number of new committee chairs this session, I wanted to preview the new system with them before announcing this new process to all members. I shared the policy with the Chairs on Wednesday of this week. We have several new chairs this year, and I wanted to be sure they understood the new system first since they and their committee staff will be responsible for implementation.

Next Wednesday, January 18, at 9:00 a.m., I will hold a briefing and demonstration to familiarize all members and their staff with the ADA Written Testimony process and procedures.

The briefing and demonstration will include the Legislature’s Online Comments process. During the 2021 session, the Legislature tested a new system allowing the public to submit comments on every bill. Last session, the Legislature expanded the online public comments process to include the option for individuals to submit comments for the public hearing record on a bill.

This briefing will allow new members to learn about the Legislature’s submission of online comments process and serve as a refresher course for the senators and staff here last year. The online comments are searchable by date, bill, and district. It is a great resource allowing members to know the views of their constituents on all measures before the Legislature.

For the 2023 Session, I will be reinstating many of the normal procedures to the Norris Legislative Chamber although some restrictions/modifications will remain.

Staff

No specific restrictions will be placed on staff permitted on the floor, other than the general stipulation that the Norris Legislative Chamber is a working environment and certain conditions dictate when staff are or are not permitted in the Chamber. Staff are permitted on the floor when their presence supports a specific need of their senator. Examples of specific needs include the distribution of physical information or picking up and dropping off personal belongings. Staff permitted under these circumstances are not to remain in the Chamber and should leave after the immediate need has passed.
Additionally, staff assisting their senator during a specific debate with note taking, drafting amendments, providing research etc. falls within the definition of providing support and indicates a legitimate reason for their presence on the floor.
Staff loitering or utilizing the chamber as a personal work station is prohibited. Staff wishing to observe the floor debate without providing support to their senator are asked to watch the floor debate on their television or computer from their office. Senators whose staff abuse these guidelines will be asked to direct their staff to leave the floor.

Media Access

Credentialed media will be allowed on the floor as space permits.

Balcony Usage

The north and south balconies will be open for visitors. The ADA Accommodation for visitors who are physically unable to utilize seating in the balcony will be the provision of an unobstructed view behind the glass walls in the gallery at the back of the Chamber. Please direct these visitors to the Sergeant at Arms seated at the rotunda desk.

The east balcony will continue to be reserved for members who are ill and would like to participate in debate. A microphone will allow these members to engage in debate and a method for voting will be established.

Visitors to the Chamber

The roped off seating area under the north and south balconies will be reopened for members to invite guests, with the permission of the chair, pursuant to Rule 2, Sec. 3. Guests with a direct interest in the matter being discussed are not allowed on the floor. Guest floor seating is intended for occasional visits.

Access to the Chamber

There will be two entrances open to the Chamber. The glass doors off of the rotunda and the southwest door outside of the speaker’s office.
The senator’s lounge will be closed for the entirety of the session, however, a path will be open to access the men’s restroom for senators located within the senators’ lounge. Additionally, the women’s restroom for senators accessed through the cloak room will be open.

Delivery of Notes

The delivery of notes from the rotunda by the Sergeants at Arms will continue.

Doctor of the Day

The Doctor of the Day Program will continue normal operations.The Doctor of the Day office has been relocated to a new room on the north side of the cloak room next to the water fountain.

Prayer

The Chaplain of the Day program will resume normal operations with scheduling via the Chaplain Request form on the Uninet. See the “Legislative Staff” heading under “Applications.”

Technology Issues

Legislative Technology staff will be sitting on the floor each day and will provide assistance to senators as needed.

Coffee, Tea, Water and Sponsored Food

Pages will continue getting coffee, tea, and water for members.

Food sponsored by groups or senators can be distributed to members of the Legislature in the Chamber.

Senator Announcements and Use of Personal Privilege

I will continue the practice of Speaker Hilgers’ to accommodate the “good news” announcements (births, birthdays, anniversaries, and community accomplishments), by again incorporating into our daily schedule up to six minutes of announcements each morning following any “Messages, Reports, and Announcements” by the Clerk. Each announcement will be limited to one-to-two minutes dependent upon the number of announcement requests for that day. For inclusion on the personal announcement schedule, please remember to provide notification to Laurie Weber in my office by 5:00 p.m. the day prior. Please note, I reserve the right to postpone any scheduled announcements to another day in order to accommodate pressing business before the body or to accommodate the day’s schedule.

Additionally, I want to remind you that I will be following the same policy as last year of restricting the use of the Point of Personal Privilege motion to the purposes outlined in our rules (Rule 2, Sec 11). Please know that I will be ruling all instances of personal privilege out of order unless the member wishes to address the “rights, dignity, and integrity of the Legislature collectively” or the “rights, reputation, and conduct of members individually.” I ask that members approach me before using a point of personal privilege to discuss whether it would be held in order by the presiding officer.

Legislative Resolutions

And finally, I want to provide notice about how I will be handling certain Legislative Resolutions. Legislative Resolutions that are not congratulatory or ceremonial in nature, nor are Constitutional Amendments, but would establish a policy position of the Legislature and are controversial in nature, will neither be referred to a committee for a public hearing nor scheduled for debate.

I believe the primary work of the Legislature is to pass legislation. As perhaps the only state that requires a public hearing on all bills, other than Revisor bills, our committees have a large workload without adding to their duties. Additionally, floor time is precious and during some years not enough time exists for all priority bills to be debated by the full Legislature. Therefore, I do not intend to add to our workload with the consideration of Legislative Resolutions which are divisive.

January 6, 9 through 13
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill introduction
• Adjourn around 11:30 a.m. or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk’s office

January 13
• (Tentative) Last day to submit bill requests to Revisor of Statutes/Bill Drafting Office (by noon)


January 17
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Begin debate of motion to adopt permanent rules
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 5:00 p.m.

January 18
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Last Day of Bill Introduction

January 19, 20
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.

January 23
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Public hearings begin at 1:30 p.m.

January 24, 26, 27
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Public hearings at 1:30 p.m.

January 25
• Convene at 9:30 a.m.
• Governor Pillen’s State of the State Address-10:00 a.m.
• Adjourn at 11:00 a.m.
• Public hearings at 1:30 p.m.

January 30 through February 10
• Convene at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn following check-in
• Morning and afternoon public hearings

February 13
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Begin debate of bills
• Adjourn around noon
• Public hearings continue in the afternoon

February 21
• Convene at 9:30 a.m.
• Chief Justice Heavican’s State of the Judiciary Address-10:00 a.m.
• Debate of legislation
• Adjourn around noon

March 9, Prior to Adjournment
• Last day to submit a letter to the Speaker requesting the designation of a bill as a 2023 speaker priority bill

March 14, Prior to Adjournment
• Deadline for designation of committee and senator priority bills

March 15, Prior to Adjournment
• Speaker will announce 2023 speaker priority bills

March 24
• Date to complete public hearings on introduced bills

March 28
• Full Day floor debate begins

April 11-June 2
• Senators are requested to keep their session day evenings open beginning April 11 and throughout the remainder of the session for extended floor debate.

Please note that beginning February 13, the Legislature will be in session all morning and public hearings will be held only in the afternoon. Additionally, we will convene the first day of the work week at 10:00 a.m. (unless otherwise announced) and we will convene at 9:00 a.m. on the other days.

If bad weather necessitates a time change, members will be notified and the change will be announced via the Legislature’s website.