Special session: summary thus far

They didn't actually do much today, so this recap will be brief -

1. The Governor finally issued the official call for a special session of the legislature. The paperwork authorizing the 3 p.m. opening made it over to the lege a little before 1 p.m.

2. Both chambers then met, recited a prayer, the pledge of allegiance, and then adjourned.

3, The Senate will return to session on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. There are four bills to be considered - SB1001, SB1002, SB1003, and SB1004. No agenda for a meeting of the Senate's Appropriations Committee has been posted yet, but one is expected for tomorrow.

My guess regarding the ambiguity of the Senate's schedule has to do with gathering enough votes to pass anything - while the House bills all have sponsors like House Approps chair John Kavanagh and cosponsors from the ranks of the Republican leadership in the House, all of the Senate bills were dropped under the name of Bob Burns, the Senate President, and have no cosponsors listed.

The rumor circulating at the lege today was that the Senate did, in fact, have enough votes to pass the bills, but those may not be locked in.

We could be looking at another roller coaster ride type of week...

4. The House will return to session on Thursday at 10 a.m. House Approps will meet at 8 a.m. in HHR1. They will consider HB2001 (General Appropriations); HB2002 (K-12 Education Budget Reconciliation); HB2003 (General Revenues); and HB2004 (Anti-deficiency statutes; property).

Assuming that the Senate vote goes according to the plans of the Republican leadership, the bills should all pass on Thursday.

However, given the events of the past few months, that may be an overly ambitious assumption.

KTVK-TV coverage here; EV Tribune coverage here. I'd link to the AZ Rep's coverage, but it's all of three sentences.

Later...