You can tell a lot about the future of a bill introduced in a legislative session by the number of committees it is referred to before it sees the light of day on the floor for a vote. If a bill has three committee referrals, you can expect it’s got a long uphill battle that will see the session end before the bill makes it to the the floor. When it comes to tax raising legislation, that is what those of us prefer to spend our own money want to see.
On the other hand, if a bill has only one committee referral, then it’s pretty clear that someone with power wants to see it passed. Last week, we noted that HB 9 INCOME TAX SURTAX bill, had quickly collected a lot of signatures by those who believe in taxing more before spending less. Now, we observe that it has only one committee referral. If you find yourself in the group that currently pays 59% of the state’s income tax revenue, and you don’t want to pay even more, you better start lighting up those phone lines and filling those inboxes.