Numbers
Jerry Cohen, the guru of the legislative bill drafting department, has offered his wrap-up of the legislative session by the numbers. For those waiting to see if their bills become law, this bit may be most pertinent:
With adjournment of the session on Thursday, August 2, 2007, the Governor has 30 days after adjournment to act on bills, with August 3 being day 1. The 30-day period concludes at midnight, Saturday, September 1, 2007. Any bills not acted on by the deadline become law on Sunday, September 2, 2007. Bills sent to the Governor prior to adjournment where the 10-day limit had not run out at adjournment have a new 30-day clock.
He also passes along that the "344 laws enacted plus the 195 bills pending gubernatorial signature could result in up to 539 laws enacted, a potential 16% increase from the 463 enacted in the 2005 long session."
Of course, the real debate is not over the volume of bills but whether the laws passed were worthwhile. Certainly one can argue that the last minute resolution honoring the Marquis de Lafayette (really) was an extravagance. But there were some mighty big issues (mental health reform, transfer tax, renewable energy, landfills) that did manage to get attention as well.