News from Montpelier Week 16

The non-contentious capstone for this week is the final passage of H65, an act relating to designating the Gilfeather turnip as the State Vegetable. With the Governor’s signature it can become law. Wardsboro students did the heavy lifting, but the bill was initiated by a request from Fairfax’s own Greg Carpenter.
It is a challenge to follow the moving parts of these end days. The work of this week has been to respond to Senate amendments to House bills and offer House amendments to Senate bills; then have a last chance for response from the chamber that initiated the bill and a decision to accept the final version or request a Committee of Conference. This week three House members were appointed to each of eight such committees for different bills. The goal is for each committee to find consensus language to propose to the Chambers for a final vote.
A ‘token session’ will be held tomorrow at 8 AM to move bills along and the House will hold an unusual Monday session at 2PM next week. The current hope is to finish the biennium no later than midnight next Saturday.