Text: April 26, 2021Members of the Legislature:As both bodies work to pass their omnibus budget bills under extraordinary circumstances, we thought itimportant to provide clear and consistent guidance on the format and frequency of conference committees.In the spirit of Joint Rule 2.06, a bill's first conference committee hearing will be chaired by the bill's houseof origin using the chair's preferred meeting format (remote vs. hybrid). The chair shall rotate each calendarday, again using the meeting format preferred by that chair.It is not expected that conference committees meet every day; however, due to each body's limitation on thenumber of concurrently streamed hearings, it's important that every conference committee meet inaccordance with the forgoing schedule:HF 2128 (HHS), HF 1077 (Housing), HF 1065 (Education), HF 1079 (Legacy), HF 1831 (State Gov.),HF 1684 (Trans.), HF 991 (Taxes):House Chair: Monday, Wednesday, FridaySenate Chair: Tuesday , Thursday , SaturdaySF 958 (Ag,), SF 1342 (Jobs), SF 1031 (Comm./Energy), SF 970 (Judiciary), SF 1076 (Envir.), SF 975 (Higher Ed):House Chair: Tuesday, Thursday, SaturdaySenate Chair: Monday, Wednesday, FridayDue to staffing constraints, conference committee hearings will be limited to three hours in duration. Tomanage broadcasting and room availability, chairs must coordinate with their respective chief of staff tosecure a time block. If a chair does not convene a hearing on the day they hold the gavel, the gavel switchesto the other chair at the end of the day.Any deviation from the schedule and hearing format described above must be jointly approved by the HouseSpeaker and Senate Majority Leader.Melissa HortmanSpeaker of the House of Representatives Paul GazelkaSenate Majority Leader