The Plan
House Speaker Jim Black has sketched out the schedule for the House to pass a budget this week.
Right at 2 p.m. Wednesday is where things get sticky. If the committee isn't finished, the House will recess and everyone will head back to Appropriations.
Bills that raised taxes and fees have to be "read" three times on the floor. There's some debate as to whether that first reading has taken place. The consensus seems to be "probably."
That would leave two more readings. Traditionally, it's those second and third readings were a bill is debated. All three readings have to happen on separate days.
If the House gets around to it, the members could debate and vote on second reading Wednesday. If not, that will push second reading back to Thursday.
Black told members that if passage is pushed back to that later schedule, they may find themselves in the chambers at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning to do the third and final reading.
Of course, once the House passes their version of the budget is when the real fun begins. House and Senate negotiators will have a lot of work to do in order to bridget the differences between the two chamber's versions of the budget.