April 13, 2021
The Legislature hit the ground running after their return from Easter/Passover break last week. The third and final committee deadline was Friday, meaning all finance committees were required to act on their omnibus budget bills, a process that took several hearings throughout the week for most committees, including the House and Senate Jobs Committees. The only remaining legislative deadline is the constitutionally mandated adjournment date of May 17th, which all of the sudden seems right around the corner!
As outlined in previous updates, both House and Senate omnibus jobs bills make one-time cuts to MIF and neither provides base funding for the Redevelopment Account. EDAM participated in the public testimony portion of the House and Senate hearings on the omnibus bills to lament this lack of funding for Redevelopment and to urge lawmakers to reconsider as these bills continue through the legislative process. We have also engaged in discussions with the committee chairs and likely conferees in an effort to secure Redevelopment funding when these bills go to Conference Committee with some positive feedback on our efforts so far.
The omnibus bills are slated to be heard in the Finance and Ways and Means Committees this week before they head to the House and Senate Floors for passage by each body in what are expected to be marathon floor sessions. Once the bills have passed, a Conference Committee will be named to work through the differences and come to a compromise between the quite different proposals. EDAM will continue to push for new Redevelopment funding and may be reaching out to members to help connect with key lawmakers as the universe of decision makers starts to shrink as we get towards the end of session.