This week marks a very significant deadline at the State Capitol as all bills must pass their initial committee assignments. After this week, House committees will turn their attention to Senate bills that passed that chamber and the same will occur for House bills in the Senate committees. After "cross-over" week, the committees will meet for four more weeks to consider the bills passed by the other chamber.

A big exception, and one very much relevant to transportation infrastructure this year, are the bills that have been assigned to the appropriations committees, which have no such deadline. While they have more time to be considered in committee, the longer they go without consideration, the less time they have to cross-over for consideration by the other chamber.

Of course,ultimately, the fate of these appropriations bills will come down to whether their subjects are included in the state budget, which will be passed with a separate package of bills that won't be drafted until legislative leadership feels that they are close to having an agreement on the budget details and the votes to pass it.

As you can see from the attached transportation bill matrix, many bills appropriating funding for transportation projects have been introduced and are moving through the legislative process. While their final outcome will depend on their inclusion in the budget, their progress as individual bills prior to the budget drafting can be a strong indicator of their level of support and likelihood of budget inclusion.

The updated matrix includes all of the bill's status and also whether they have been scheduled for a committee hearing during this cross-over deadline week.