A crossfile can help you crossover week.

If a Senator agrees to introduce an identical version of my bill, it’s called a crossfile.

If my legislation passes the House of Delegates and crosses over to the Senate by the close of business next Monday, it is guaranteed a public hearing there during the last two weeks of the session.

So this is crossover week. Hundreds of bills, included some of the most important ones this session, will be debated and voted on by next Monday evening. “It’s the biggest week of the year,” one veteran legislator said today.

My green jobs bill had a very good hearing in the Appropriations Committee two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Delegate Mary-Dulany James, my co-sponsor and chair of the subcommittee that will consider my bill, was absent for the hearing and several days following because her mother passed away.

However, Senator Delores Kelley had agreed to introduce a crossfile. Her bill got a favorable hearing in the Finance Committee, where she serves.

It will be voted on by that committee this week.

I’ll wait for the Senate crossfile to crossover – hopefully, before I ask Del. James to act on my bill.