May
27
Written by:
William Lutz
5/27/2009 10:15 PM
The Senate is streaming through bills at an auctioneer’s pace right now. With the carnage that occurred on the House floor the past five days, Senators are finding vehicles for bills on the House calendar that died because of last week’s filibuster.
Some major bills – such as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s health care bill – has been split up and hitched a ride on several bills. Just about every bill is being amended with other bills that passed the Senate and were pending on the House calendar.
This kind of activity occurs every session, but it’s on steroids this session, due to what happened in the House.
The bill allowing families making up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level to buy into the Children’s Health Insurance Program got attached to another bill today (HB 1795 relating to newborn screenings). Similarly, most of the omnibus clean air bill also hitched a ride. (HB 1796 on carbon capture)
There is a rumor that the bill on the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will hitch a ride as well, though that could be more controversial.
Today is the last day to pass a bill in the Senate on second or third reading.