Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin said he spent a little time today hiding under the table in the Senate Transportation Committee, trying to avoid committee chairmen and chairwomen and lobbyists who want more time to work on bills.
On the door of the pro tem's office is a sign that says:
It's crossover
The answer is no.
Fondly, Peter
(no exceptions)
Crossover is the Legislature's self-imposed deadline for getting bills out of committee and ready to cross over to the other chamber. It hasn't in recent years been strictly adhered to. Shumlin, who's been out of the Legislature for four years, said he didn't realize that until Friday afternoon, but now he's beginning to see why so many people are mad at him. He shook his head in mock shame at the way things were done while he was away.
Leaders in both chambers were holding firm to the deadline today, and that meant bills were flying out of some committees. House Commerce worked until after 11 p.m. Thursday on the broadband bill. Plenty of committees are still at it.
Across the hall from each other, House Judiciary and Education were working on death and taxes (physician-assisted death and education funding). As Benjamin Franklin said: "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
Certainty aside, it appeared that wrestling with death was actually easier than wrestling with taxes.
- Terri Hallenbeck
