Even though this was a short legislative session a lot of important legislation was passed and pressing issues were taken care of and looked into more deeply. One issue that I forgot to mention in my last blog that is incredibly important to the state financies and industries is HB 144 that dealt with the taxation of cigarettes and alcohol. This was an important piece of legislation to be passed because it was so controversial. The urban areas wanted additional taxes on cigarettes but not on alcohol and the rural areas wanted the complete opposite. The parties were also divided because Repulicans are against higher taxes of any form and are for tax cuts for businesses. But both parties and all constituents knew that something had to do be done to help the budget for the next fiscal year. So the Democrats compromised on some of the parts of the legislation to bring the Republicans on board. Even though the bill was not passed by a large majority it still passed through committee and through both Houses and was signed by the Governor. This piece of legislation being passed in itself shows how sucessful this legislative session was.
Another interesting thing that came out of this legislation was we saw the use of a line item veto on HB 330 dealing with appropriations and transportation. The line that was vetoed by the Governor dealt with specific appropriations and time periods that the governor thought the state didnt have money to spend on that particular piece of transportation. The line item veto when sent to the Houses was not acted upon and the bill was signed by the Governor and became law.
Even though the closing of this legislative session was not as eventful as 2008’s it was still extremely effective. The most incredible thing was that we saw partisan lines being crossed and compromises being made on both sides to improve the condition of the state, whether it was through education or taxes to increase revenue. So in conclusion I would say that this session was more effective then alot of sessions we have had in the past.
