Call of House

There is a call of the house.

That means members of the house are not allowed to leave the floor. It also means we can't go out to meet with other people.

Maybe now we will get serious about solving this problem.

Pete

Continuation Budget

A vote is underway for a continuation budget.

This will keep all departments funded at that agreed to target levels for one month. The only budget not included is K-12.

This will mean only the Governor can shut down the state. Both the house and senate will have passed this.

Pete

We are back

Less than 16 hours and we are back in session waiting for everybody to check in.

The only interesting thing to note is that I now have a Tax Committee meeting at 6:00 pm today. That could mean they will try to get a tax bill passed or it could mean nothing at all, only time will tell.

Pete

Let's call it a night.

It appears we are done for the day.

We still have the tough votes to cast on the budget. Looking forward to it.

Watch out for tomorrow. It will be the day of the year in the Legislature.

Have a good night everybody.

We will be back in session at 8:00 am Wednesday. That will give us 16 hours to pass all the budgets.

Pete

Good bye Senate

The Senate has gone home for the night and the Democrats are in caucus for who knows how long.


Pete

Moving forward

Here we go.

Currently we are voting on Corrections Budget. It's not perfect, but we can live with it.

This budget will require reforms within the system, but not require early release. There is no sentencing guideline changes and I couldn't support this if it did.

Again, the important thing to remember is that the Governor can live within this budget with NO early releases, as long as she is willing to reform and not surrender.

Other budget are slowly moving.

One interesting note. There is a conference committee for Transportation scheduled for 12:15 am.

Pete

5:30 pm Update

We have now been in session for seven and a half hours and have only passed one budget.

With 30.5 hours left to a shut down few seem worried, but I am.

Only a few budgets still need to pass conference committees, but that doesn't mean they will have the votes on the floor.

Nobody knows for sure, but there is a fear that some form of tax increase will be in front of us. Several are floating out there, but I have learned that means nothing. A tax vote could come out of nowhere or may never come up at all.

As the evening goes on I will keep you up to date on any action or lack of that we may take.

Pete

Dept. Education budget

Dept of Education budget is now being voted on.

Looks like the votes are here to pass it.

Pete

36 hours

We now have 36 hours left to pass the budgets for the state.

Both parties are off to caucus. Nobody is sure how long they will be meeting, but it may be a while.

Pete

Sunday session canceled

Just got word that Sunday session is canceled. The House isn't scheduled to meet on Monday either since it is Yom Kippur.

That means we've got just two days left to get the budget finished. If the budget isn't finished by midnight Wednesday, the government will shut down.

The only other option is to pass an emergency budget to protect essential services, which I will vote for if given the chance.

Time is running out

There are only four days left until a government shutdown. So far, we've only passed five budgets out of 15 on the House floor. A few more have made it out of committee.

We are making progress though. We have a bipartisan agreement between the House and Senate to balance the budget without raising taxes and everything seems to be on track.

Unfortunately, the governor has not yet said whether she will veto the bill. There are also a lot of indications that Granholm is working behind the scenes to kill the bipartisan agreement.

We need to take the prudent step of passing an emergency budget to protect essential services just in case the budget doesn't get done on time. We do not need to shut down the government. Shutting down the government is reckless and irresponsible.

Senate Republicans have already approved an emergency budget, but it wasn't supported by a single Democrat.

The House isn't scheduled to meet again until Sunday.

One For the good guys (for now)

After failing to get enough votes to raise more fees (taxes), they cleared the board. This means they stopped voting because they were losing. It could come up again later, but for now the NO votes on taxes looks good.

Slowling moving

We are passing a few bills.

Still rumors about deals and then no deals.

Everybody expects a late night/early morning.

Pete

Transportation budget

They just put in a subsitute in for this and we have had no to even read this.

Am voting now unless we have time to read and review this

Pete

Ag Budget

The Ag budget just passed with many GOP members voting no.

In the budget it increased the fees on dairy producers.

I will be NO an every and any tax increase.

Pete

Voting

Yes folks we are voting YAAAAAAAAA.

There are only about 30 members here but the board is open on the DLEG budget.

Pete

Lunch

After a strong morning of getting nothing done, we are breaking for lunch. This should give everybody time to figure out what they are doing for dinner.

Can you tell this is frustrating me?

Pete

Into Caucus

Both parties are going in caucus.

We will back in who knows how long.

Pete

Tax Committee at ease

Tax Committee may still do something today, but not right now.

We are at the ease of the chair. That means we could be called back at any time to vote on who knows what.

In 15 minutes the House is back in session.

Lots or rumors flying. I really don't know what to believe.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Pete

Friday Session

Just got into the office, preparing for Tax Policy at 9 and Session at 10.

Here is a copy of the agenda for my committee meeting:

Agenda:
HR 150-(Barnett)-A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation prohibiting states with levels of unemployment that exceed the national average from being donor states.

OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

I'll keep you posted with any updates.

Pete