Live-Blogging the House-Vol. 2

Anyone wishing to catch up with El Somnambulo’s timeless prose from earlier today can link here.

When the House recessed for an arm-twisting session around 5:30, ‘bulo doubted that it would eventually turn into the dinner break. Apparently, ‘Bulo was wrong, not for the first time today, nor certainly for the last time tonight. Clearly, the last hurdles for finalizing the fiscal deals have not yet been cleared. At least two key bills, the tax on beer and alcohol (3/5 majority required), and the raising of administrative fees collected by the Secretary of State’s Office (2/3 majority) do not currently have the votes for passage. Unless an agreement can be reached on those two bills, either the Joint Finance Committee will have to find more cuts, or alternative revenues that can be passed must be found.

FWIW, the House D’s have reportedly been caucusing since 7 p.m. Could be arm-twisting, could simply be laying out what they plan to work/not work the rest of the night, could be both, could be neither. General Rule of Thumb: The longer the caucus, the tougher time they’re having resolving outstanding issues. An hour is not a long caucus. Just have to see how much longer it continues…

In the four hours since the House was scheduled to go into session, they have passed, let ‘bulo make sure his count is accurate, zero bills. Just a couple of ceremonial resolutions. That’s it. This will likely have the following two consequences as the evening progresses, and these both are based on what may be the faulty assumption that there will be few snags from fiscal package: (1) The session will almost inevitably run well past midnight and into the 2-4 pm range at best; and (2) There could be some institutional conflict with the Senate. Both of these eventualities are related. A lot of legislation gets passed on June 30/July 1, and that includes priority bills from all 62 legislators. The House hasn’t worked anything today. Pretty soon, Senate leadership is likely to threaten not to run House must-lists if the House doesn’t start running Senate must-lists. So even if the fiscal issues all get ironed out by midnight, there will be a raft of legislation awaiting action before recess.

Of course, it’s possible that House and Senate leadership is currently closeted in the Governor’s office, and/or the Joint Finance Committee is hastily reconvening. Either way, it’s shaping up to be a lo-o-ong night.

House is back. 8:42 pm. HS1/HB 267 is back off the table and before the House. This is the fees charged by the Secretary of State bill, and it’s a 2/3 bill. Sounds like they’re going right to roll call. Quick call for the roll call. So far all R’s no, Kowalko votes yes, Oberle votes yes. Cathcart, D. Short and Blakey switch to yes. Passed with the bare minimum. 28 Y.

Rep. Dennis P. Williams, Chair of the Joint Finance Committee, introduces House Joint Resolution 6, which sets the official estimate for state revenue for FY 2010, a prerequisite for consideration of the Budget Bill. Roll call likely to be unanimous.  And it is.

Rep. Dennis P. Williams introduces HJR 7, which sets the official General Fund revenue estimate for FY 2010. Passes unanimously. Budget Bill shouldn’t be far behind.

Rep. Williams requests action on House Bill 290, the State Operating Budget for FY 2010.  Ranking Republican Joe Booth is speaking. He intends to support the budget. Lavelle allowing his mouth to run again. Apparently he can’t read the newspaper and needs to understand the pay cut issue. Controller General Russ Larsen is explaining it in words hopefully even Greg can understand. Greg apparently wasn’t really interested in the answer, but loved hearing his dulcet tones reverberate throughout the Chamber. He was the only one. Rep. Marshall asks Ann Vasalli to also take the floor. Vasalli explains that case law indicates that judges are constitutionally exempt from mandated pay cuts. The judges are reportedly doing it voluntarily. Same with the Governor, who is voluntarily taking a 20% pay cut for FY 2010. Greg Lavelle is back on the floor saying that he’s voluntarily taking a 10% pay cut. He’s still overpaid. Rep Kovach calls for a House attorney. He asks for a constitutional opinion about the reduction of state legislators’ salaries, which is included in the bill. The response of the attorney, Bill Busch, is “The language speaks for itself” and is unconstitutional. Rep. Oberle points out that the only ones who have standing would be legislators, and he doesn’t think any legislator would file suit. Russ Larsen, Controller General, is back on the floor to clarify. Rep. Kovach says he’s not inclined to vote for the budget b/c of the constitutional issue. He says that it is a principled stand based on not voting to take action contrary to the Constitution. Roll call: 27 Y 14 N. The State Budget has passed the House!

They’re now passing a House Consent Agenda I allegedly full of non-controversial bills. You can find it here.

House now considering SB 173, designed to enable counties and municipalities to engage in energy efficiency projects, and further reforms the SEU process. Although Rep. Kowalko was listed as the floor manager, Rep. Gerald Brady managed the bill. Maybe means something, maybe not. Passed unanimously.