News from Montpelier week 17 (2017)

The week has yet to close but the last group of Pages were recognized and thanked this morning. Their season ended on schedule this afternoon even if the General Assembly is not quite there. Tuesday and Wednesday nearly had the midnight oil burning but the gavel did fall about fifteen minutes short of that hour.
Bills have been messaged back and forth between chambers, rules have been suspended to allow forward motion and behind the scenes key players are negotiating the budget and tax bills that must pass before we can drop the final gavel.

S100 came to the floor mid-afternoon Friday. A strike-all amendment was offered that caused some concern over funds being siphoned from clean water money. The compromise arrived at received majority support because it presented a “short term loss for a long term gain”, as a dedicated member of the Natural Resource, Fish and Wildlife committee said. Other bills Fairfax residents shared concerns or support for were S103, H233, H196 and the amendment to H509.The latter caused quite a stir by coming to a vote that forced the Speaker to cast the ballot that tied and thereby failed the action.

The last bill the House took action on before adjourning for the day on Friday was H513. The report of committee of conference for this incorporated language from both the House and Senate miscellaneous education bills as well as modifications to Act 46.
The finish line was not able to be met within this week. The House will be back in session Wednesday at 10 AM with committees of conference doing work all day and bringing their reports to the chamber for adoption. The current thought is that the House will be able to close for the session on Thursday which still leaves a few days of expenses for the members unexpended.