Like School on Saturday
Class is in session here at the Senate. House members had the good sense to go home for the weekend Thursday, but senators began meeting about 10:20 a.m. this morning, a little more than 10 hours after adjourning Friday's session around midnight.
I've lost count of the bills they've shoved through the process in the last 72 hours. The legislation has included everything from changes to the state employee retirement system to recycling mercury switches on old cars to regulating genetically modified plants.
Of course, we're all wondering about the big one: the Lottery. The Senate must act on a lottery bill before the game can be put in place, even though provisions on how to spend lottery money are included in the budget.
From observing the unofficial action on the Senate floor (the stuff that happens before, after and sometime during debates that has nothing to do with the matter before the body) it looks like proponents are still working to bring the lottery to pass but they have an uphill battle.
And we are, curiously, still waiting for the governor to sign the state budget that got final legislative approval on Thursday.
We'll wrap this up in Sunday's paper.
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