By Heidi Holste
The following is an estimated timeline of when important actions will occur in the first year of the 112th Congress, as well as key dates for our state legislative activity, so you can plan your grass-roots activity accordingly:
Federal Timeline
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February 14 |
President Obama will submit his annual budget proposals to Congress. |
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Late March |
Six weeks after the President delivers his budget to Congress, congressional committees are required to submit their "views and estimates" of spending and revenues within their respective jurisdictions to the House and Senate Budget Committees. |
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April |
U.S. House and Senate Budget Committees draft and mark up concurrent resolution on the budget, which sets spending limits for the year. April 15 is the deadline for completion of action on the Congressional budget resolution (though partisan and fiscal differences have precluded approval of a formal budget resolution in recent years, and that may prove true again in 2011.) |
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May |
The U.S. House and Senate Committees will begin work on the FY2012 Authorization Bills, including any changes that may be imposed by budget resolution spending limits. |
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May-July |
Full U.S. House and Senate pass their respective versions of the spending bills. |
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July-October |
U.S. House and Senate negotiators resolve differences between their respective versions. |
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October-December |
Final budget bills are passed by Congress and become law. |
State Timeline
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February 15 |
Governor Dayton releases his proposed state budget. |
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After February 15 |
State Legislature begins to hold hearings on Governor's proposed budget. |
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Late February-early March |
The Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) Department will issue its state budget forecast by the end of February, to be released in early March (called the “February Forecast”). |
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After the forecast |
State Legislative committees begin to debate their own proposals for a proposed state budget. |
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Various dates |
Committee deadlines were supposed to be announced on Thursday, February 10, but as of this printing we do not have the official deadlines. However, we are hearing that the first committee deadline will be March 25th and this deadline will actually be the budget bill committee deadline, which means that all bills in regard to the state budget need to be completed through the budget division committee process. This is different than in years past where the first committee deadline has been the policy committee deadline—or all policy bills must have passed through at least the House or Senate policy committees. |
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Late April/Early May |
State Legislature appoints budget bill conference committees to begin the work of passing a state budget. Any negotiating with Governor Dayton and other State Administration Officials will happen at this time as well. |
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May |
State Legislature continues to meet in Conference Committees and send their bills to Governor Dayton for his approval (or veto). Any negotiating with Governor Dayton and other State Administration Officials will happen at this time as well. |
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May 23, 2011 |
Mandatory adjournment date for the Minnesota State Legislature. |
Changing the committee deadlines by requiring the passage of budget bills before policy bills seems to be sending a message that the budget is the priority.
We will report the official deadlines next week.
Heidi Holste
952.851.2482
hholste@careproviders.org
Resources
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Care Providers of Minnesota 7851 Metro Parkway • Suite 200 • Bloomington, MN 55425 Phone: 952.854.2844 • Fax: 952.854.6214 • MN Toll-Free: 800.462.0024 • www.careproviders.org |