Congratulations and Godspeed to our House of Representatives as they begin the 2019-2020 legislative session. Here’s to a successful session working as our elected officials and public servants. Do not be mistaken, our Representatives will have much before them to complete. If the previous legislative session is any indication of what is to come the present session will also be a lot of work.

During the 2017-2018 session our Representatives moved through 2,752 bills and 1,190 resolutions. That’s a voting rate of approximately four bills and two resolutions every day, including weekends, for the entire session. Wow, what a voluminous amount of policy review to handle!

The task at hand is large but don’t worry folks, the first order of business dealt with by the House was to agree that reviewing this mountain of bills and resolutions could be done even faster. Setting the rules for the current session the House of Representatives has decided to reduce the time available for proposal review by half.

Effectively the House has decided to allow single committee chairs and majority party leaders more control over what bills and resolutions make it to the floor for further consideration. It gives our elected Representative less time to consider the effects that the proposal will have to their local constituents. In the coming two years we can now look forward to eight bills and two resolutions moving through the House. No doubt they can do this in a standard workday while also actively engaging their constituency.

TIMOTHY RUNKLE, Elizabethtown