LEGISLATIVE CALENDARS

Working with individual states to provide legislative histories compels us at LIS to become familiar with different legislative sessions’ timetables. California, which just ended its current session at the end of August and is awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger’s approval of enrolled bills, is one of the last states to wrap up its regular session in 2010. Other states adjourned their regular sessions sometime in March, such as Idaho, Indiana, Utah, and Virginia, or in April, such as Alaska, Florida, Hawaii and Maryland. These early adjournments do not mean that legislative business is finished because various states legislatures will continue to meet throughout the year and special sessions can be called to address specific topics, from budget, finance reform, education and transportation. In California, there were eight extraordinary legislative sessions called to address specific issues, including the state budget, during the 2009 – 2010 legislative session.