Guess what? Committee administrators are getting a little punchy

At first, Abbey Bryduck says, she was getting a little mad.

Then she decided there was nothing she could do about it, so she might as well laugh.

At last count, Bryduck, administrator of the Minnesota House Transportation and Transit Policy and Oversight Division, had sent out 14 e-mails in three days, alerting interested parties to changes in the schedules of the committee’s three hearings this week — bills added to and taken off those schedules.

And so, instead of getting mad, Bryduck got lighthearted: “Guess what? Bill added” was the subject line of her most recent schedule-changing e-mail, sent out this afternoon with a time stamp of 3:41 p.m.

The reason for all the schedule alterations: The first legislative deadline of the year is midnight Friday, the time by which House and Senate committees must act favorably on policy bills in their houses of origin — which means lawmakers are scrambling to get their bills added to committee schedules.

Bryduck said she generally tries to give three days’ notice on schedule changes, but in a week like this one, 24 hours is more realistic.

“It’s just a combination of things,” Bryduck said. “No matter how late or how early deadlines are, people wait until the last minute.”