Another “Special Session?” Well Why Not?

March 08, 2022

In the last several years we have had multiple “Special Sessions,”  but all can be attributed to pandemic related circumstances – major overhaul of the 2020 biennial budget and/or distribution of federal funding which did not appear in the routine cycle of events caused one extra Session in 2020 and two in 2021.   Now that the pandemic is fading, and we are better prepared, one might have hoped that we would escape this year with only one Session (plus the “veto Session” in April.  That may not be the case . . .

The Governor has again laid out his expectations for the budget;  the ideas outlined in his letter were those also introduced as bills during the Session (increasing the standard deductions were HB472 & SB560). Most did not pass the Senate who chose to take a more measured approach and who recognized the critical needs which had to be met with funding available now.


Years other than  COVID years have had special sessions (2012, 2014, 2018 all finished the regular Session without a budget – in 2014 they stayed in Session until Fall!   So we know it is not the end of the world, but . . .