If your bill won’t have a public hearing until March, don’t despair.

Email all of the interested parties now to get their input.

Your goal is to reach consensus before the hearing.

If you can do that, the committee can act favorably on your compromise – with time to spare.

 

Every bill has a fiscal note that estimates the cost if the bill passes.

If that cost exceeds a certain amount, draft an amendment that reduces the cost of the bill below that ceiling.

 

If your legislation has a provision that everyone agrees with, keep it in the bill and delete the controversial provisions.

 

Over the last several days, I’ve been involved in each of those three scenarios.