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Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP Federal Relations October 20, 2009 Federal Representation Update, Action Items, and Recommendations In the House, most bills go to the Rules committee before reaching the floor. The committee adopts rules that will govern the procedures under which the bill will be considered by the House. A "closed rule" sets strict time limits on debate and forbids the introduction of amendments. These rules can have a major impact on whether the bill passes. The rules committee can be bypassed in three ways: 1) members can move rules to be suspended (requires 2/3 vote)2) a discharge petition can be filed 3) the House can use a Calendar Wednesday procedure. 3. Floor Action - Legislation is placed on the Calendar 4. Debate 5. Vote - the bill is voted on. If passed, it is then sent to the other chamber unless that chamber already has a similar measure under consideration. If either chamber does not pass the bill then it dies. If the House and Senate pass the same bill their it is sent to the President. If the House and Senate pass different bills they are sent to Conference Committee. Most major legislation goes to a Conference Committee. 6. Conference Committee - Members from each house form a conference committee and meet to work out the differences. The committee is usually made up of senior members who are appointed by the presiding officers of the committee that originally dealt with the bill. The representatives from each house work to maintain their version of the bill. If the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it prepares a written conference report, which is submitted to each chamber for a vote. 7. Conference Report Vote in Full Chamber - The conference report must be approved by both the House and the Senate. 8. The President - the bill is sent to the President for review. Signed, veto, or Pocket Veto (President does not sign bill within 10 days) 9. The Bill Becomes A Law - once a bill is signed by the President or his veto is overridden by both houses it becomes a law and is assigned an official number. Transportation Authorization Projects: As you may recall, the Transportation Authorization bill - which is crafted about once every six years - provides House and Senate Members an opportunity to submit "High Priority" transportation projects for possible inclusion and funding. If a project is submitted by a Member, accepted by the Committee, passed by the House and Senate, and signed by the President, the bill becomes law and the named projects receive funding in six yearly installments. When High Priority Project submission information became available this year, LGN shared that information with the City and recommended that they identify possible projects and present them to Congresswoman Betty McCollum for her consideration. Following the submission of the projects by the City and numerous contacts with her office, Congresswoman McCollum submitted the following New Brighton projects to the Committee for inclusion in the House authorization bill. • $800,000 - Plan, design, engineer, and construct Bike/Pedestrian Bridge & Connections from New Brighton Northwest Quadrant Redevelopment project to Long Lake Regional Park. • $2.4 million - Design, Engineer, acquire right-of-way, and replace Old Highway 8 Bridge over Interstate 694. The Senate recently sought High Priority Project requests as well. The City of New Brighton submitted the Highway 8 and Pedestrian bridge projects to Senators Franken and Klobuchar in hopes that they might support their inclusion in the Senate transportation bill. It is unclear at this point if Senators Franken or Klobuchar have submitted the City of New Brighton's projects to the Senate Committee of jurisdiction and depending on the outcome of the current transportation debate; it may be several more months. 2