every year, as the legislative session winds down, and as legislators and staff start to plan vacations, one of my busiest times of year is just getting started.

in total, this year the legislature passed 245 bills:

• 3 constitutional amendments
• 7 vetoed
• 6 became law without signature
• 229 signed in to law

the vast majority of the bills were signed between the end of session and july 8 (roughly two months). that may seem like plenty of time, but when have to collect comments and recommendations from all the various departments, schedule time to review the bills with the governor, not to mention getting them actually signed, two months can go by really quickly.

to help the policy staff and myself keep track of everything, i print a list of all the bills enrolled, then mark them off as they become law, or are vetoed. the analysts like it because its sometimes helpful to be able to see visually how much we’ve done, or how much is still left to do. for me, it’s satisfying to cross out the bills as they’re finished.

this year, i thought it would be entertaining to do a stop-motion-type movie, showing the wall of bills get filled in over time. here’s the result:

(granted, it’s my first foray into stringing individual pictures together into a video, so it’s not the best quality, but it was cool enough to do that i’ll likely try again in the future….)

today is july 10, days after the deadline and things are quiet in the office. it won’t stay that way for very long, but i’m happy with the respite.