The typical trailer bill in the state Legislature winds up looking like this (Thomas Boggan/Tribune file photo).

Gov. Jan Brewer has sued the Legislature to get her hands on a package of budget bills, claiming Republicans leaders could keep them until June 30 in an attempt to compel her to sign the measures to avoid a government shutdown. Given Brewer’s lengthy political experience, I have to believe she has a  good idea what some Republican lawmakers are thinking. But there’s also a more noble reason for Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, to hold on to the budget bills until an deal is reached with Brewer — the trailer bill.

This term refers to a piece of legislation that “trails” along after approved bills with the intent of solving a political problem. One typical example is the governor wants a few items changed in a complex, important bill headed to her desk and, without those changes, she’ll veto the entire thing. Ignoring the governor’s wishes means legislative leaders would have to seek an veto override, or rework the bill after spending months to win enough votes for passage in the Senate and House.

As an alternative, legislative leaders promise to send the governor a new bill, a trailer, that corrects the few concerns she has about the original legislation. In theory, the governor can safely sign the first bill knowing that what she doesn’t like will be removed or changed almost immediately with the trailer bill. (Trailer bills also have been connected to disputes between the Senate and House over proposals that already have moved through most of the legislative process and sponsors desperately want to get to the governor’s desk before a session ends).

I don’t know how long the Arizona Legislature has used trailer bills, but they had a dismal track record during the Janet Napolitano years. The timing between an approved bill and its trailer never seemed to work out, and the trailer bill would get dumped under pressure to wrap up the regular session. Napolitano always could wield the veto stamp to block what she didn’t like. But rank-and-file Republican lawmakers who counted on trailer bills to deliver something they wanted out of negotiations with Napolitano or legislative leaders got left out in the cold.

A key downfall for trailer bills is once a bill is sent to the governor, she has five days to act on the legislation or it automatically becomes law. Few new bills can get through the legislative process in that time.

Burns’ handling of this year’s budget bills solves that problem. Assuming the Legislature and Brewer eventually agree to changes in the current $8.2 billion plan that can be handled with trailer bills, Burns could wait until the trailer bills are approved and send the whole package to Brewer at the same time.

So the question is, can that be done before the fiscal year ends in 11 days, especially now that negotiations between the governor and Legislature have been suspended until Monday, according to news alerts from The Associated Press and Capitol Media Services?