Legislative calendar

A legislative calendar is used by legislatures to plan their business during the legislative session.

Typically, one of the first items mentioned on the calendar is passing the bill enacting procedures and deadlines for the session. Time may also be allotted for considering the budget bill, which is usually the major item of business in a session. The calendar may provide scheduled committee hearings and generally includes many important deadlines.

For instance, California has a fiscal deadline, which is the date on the legislative calendar by which all bills with fiscal effect must have been taken up in a policy Committee and referred to a fiscal Committee; any fiscal bill missing the deadline is considered "dead" unless it receives a rule waiver allowing further consideration.

Some legislatures have a "crossover day," which is the point in the session after which each house only considers legislation sent to it by the other house. In the U.S. Congress, the phrase "placed on calendar" accompanies a bill that is pending before committees of either house; the bill is assigned a calendar number, which determines when it will be considered by that house.

On a legislative calendar, a "legislative day" is a day on which the Legislature actually meets. The Virginia General Assembly has six legislative days per week (Monday through Saturday), probably reflecting the desire to have a citizen legislature that accomplishes its business in a relatively short, intense annual session, after which the members return to their full-time employment. The Oklahoma legislature, by contrast, has four legislative days per week.

The daily version of the legislative calendar is sometimes called the daily file, agenda or calendar, which lists all the bills that will be considered on a given day.

The term "legislative calendar" can also refer to the final published compilation of the action on each instrument during a legislative session. It can also refer to a list of legislation available to be heard by the Legislature.

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