Social Services Consortium,
Well folks, this session just seems to have no end. The Senate convened last Thursday and Basnight said they wouldn't return until the 2006 session. The House did not adjourn and has continued to meet. Word on the street was that Monday would be their last day before leaving.
Just when it looked like this session would finally come to an end, an e-mail came from Basnight's office to Senate members requesting that they return to Raleigh on Tuesday for a full session. It looks like they are returning because the Senate leadership thinks they have enough votes to pass the lottery. There are 2 Republican Senators who are unavailable to come for a vote (one on a honeymoon and another in the hospital for a staph infection) which would put the lottery vote at a tie in the Senate. Lt. Governor, Beverly Perdue would break the tie by voting for the lottery.
Below is an article that came out today with more details…
Karen
SENATE U-TURN: Senate leader Marc Basnight reversed course Friday and
announced the Senate will return to work this week, a move that raises
questions whether enough votes are now available to pass a lottery bill
in the chamber. Basnight, D-Dare, alerted members by e-mail that a full
floor session will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday. His message said the
session should last one day but could go longer, and that the calendar
could include any bill eligible for consideration, including conference
reports and House bills awaiting Senate votes. Basnight was adamant
when the Senate left Raleigh at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday after a marathon
20-hour session that the chamber had wrapped up its work for the year
and wouldn't return before the start of the 2006 session May 9. A
handful of senators have been convening skeleton sessions to comply
with constitutional requirements while waiting for the House to
adjourn. In an interview with The Associated Press, Basnight declined
to discuss the reasons for his change of mind, saying only that he
hopes to end the session for good Tuesday. The House has continued to
hold full daily sessions. Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, said there
were several bills he wanted to examine closely and urged the Senate to
return to try again and pass a lottery bill, saying the $400 million
projected annually for education is too big a sum to defer another
year. The House also wants the Senate to take up several bills it
approved this week that would authorize up to 46 counties to hold
referenda on raising sales taxes by a half-cent to provide funds for
school and community-college construction projects. Senate leaders
elected not to call for a vote last week on a lottery bill that cleared
the House in April, with 21 Republicans and five Democrats remaining
staked out against the measure despite weeks of pressure from Gov. Mike
Easley and other lottery supporters to change their positions. The
stalemate leaves lottery proponents one vote short of a potential 25-25
tie that could be broken by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who has said she
will vote for the lottery if the opportunity arises. When asked Friday
if one of the 26 senators in opposition had a change of heart, Basnight
said: "You never know how everyone's going to vote for it." Senate
Minority Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said he is not aware of any
defection from the unanimous Republican opposition to the lottery but
is having a staff member contact caucus members to see if anyone has
switched sides. (Gary D. Robertson, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 08/26/05).
