Fiscal notes are like price tags for legislative bills; they estimate the costs, savings, and revenue gain or loss resulting from the implementation of proposed legislation. Unfortunately, in a year when lawmakers once again pledged fiscal restraint and a new era of financial responsibility, only 16 out of the 494 laws passed and signed in 2012 had fiscal notes. This is a slight improvement compared with 2011, when just 10 out of 650 laws had fiscal notes. Altogether, the 97th General Assembly received fiscal notes for just 2.3 percent of bills that became law. Fiscal note reform legislation deserves a closer look in 2013. Lawmakers in a state that carries a more than $9 billion backlog of unpaid bills in the billions of dollars cannot continue approving new laws without fully understanding their fiscal and budgetary impact.