INDIANAPOLIS – It is not quite Schoolhouse Rock, but as months of legislative business come to a head at the Indiana General Assembly, below are answers to questions about the final days.
Lawmakers have spent this week resolving differences in legislation at conference committee meetings, scheduled at 15-minute intervals, with up to four happening at once — and heading in and out of rules committees and sessions. It is all to finalize numerous bills and push them through before a strict, drop-everything deadline.
How do conference committees work?
Lawmakers often change up bills that originated in the opposite chamber — and those modifications are not always met with agreement. When a chamber disagrees, the legislation goes to a conference committee. Four lawmakers are tasked with negotiating compromise language. The bill author typically serves as the chair.
Committees usually schedule a brief initial meeting, then iron out differences privately. They will then come up with the final bill version. Each conferee must approve the report.
Why are conferees removed?
When one or more of the conferees does not agree with the final version of a bill they will refuse to sign the report. At that point, the party in control of the chamber is free to remove that person and replace them with someone more amenable. It does not even take a vote, just an announcement from the podium by the House Speaker or Senate President Pro Tem.
Republicans are currently in charge of both chambers. But when Democrats controlled the House, they regularly did this as well. The bipartisan conferees are a courtesy at the beginning of the process but are not required to be maintained. If a conferee couldn’t be replaced, it would give power to one individual to block a bill that the majority of the chambers approve of.
When will the session end?
Legislators must end their work by April 29 at 11:59 p.m. But, don’t count on legislators working on a Saturday, so, a safe bet would be this Thursday or Friday.
The only piece of legislation that must be finished before the session deadline is the state’s two-year budget. Everything else can die and be re-introduced in the next legislative session.