Crossover: Senate passes 212 and House passes 427 bills

Crossover was yesterday; the day that bills introduced into each house must be passed to the other to stay “alive” for the legislative session.  In years past, the legislature has debated into the late hours of the night to pass as many bills as possible before the midnight deadline.  This year was much different, the House and Senate both concluded session in the daylight hours.

The Senate passed 212 bills out of their chamber, making them fair game during this legislative cycle.  Of those 212 bills, 31 have already become law and one is on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature. That means there are only 180 bills sponsored by the Senate to watch during the remainder of this legislative session.

The House passed 427 bills before the crossover deadline, 30 have already become law and 4 are on the Governor’s desk.  This leaves the house with 393 bills to debate during the remainder of session.

But what about the discussion of the tax reform plan and the budget?  Those bills haven’t been filed yet, and haven’t been debated by either chamber because certain exceptions apply to bills.  Bills that spend or take in money are immune to the crossover deadline, thus the reasoning for not having a budget or tax reform bill made public before the crossover deadline.  Other immunities include constitutional amendments, redistricting, finance, and adjournment resolutions.

These rules seem straight forward, but legislators have learned strategies to get around the crossover deadline and still get their bills passed into law.  Here are a few methods commonly used:

• They can add an appropriation or fee to the bill to make it deal with money.
• Language from a “dead” bill can be inserted into the budget as a special provision.
• The substance of one bill that did not meet the deadline can be added to another that did, as long as the subject matter is relevant.
• “Gut and amend” strategy, when a bill that met crossover can have its contents removed and replaced with that of another bill that didn’t meet the deadline.  The title of the bill can be changed and essentially the original bill becomes a vehicle for something else entirely.

So what does the rest of the legislative session hold for the state of North Carolina?  We know what bills are on the books and what is possible, but as I explained above – anything is possible.