I was downright impressed by the Senate yesterday. They adopted a special order calendar with 104 local bills and made it through almost the entire calendar. Amazing.
There were some tense moments, such as when the Greene County bingo bill was brought up early in the day based on the belief that several opponents to the bill had changed their position on it, but apparently there had been a communication breakdown because a filibuster started up over it. It failed a BIR vote but was placed back on the calendar after a motion to reconsider. In plain English that means it’s back in the queue and can be brought up again at any time.
But they made it through even the tense moments and passed more bills than on any other day so far this session. Very encouraging.
Next week they’ll work three days and we are hoping to get a shot somewhere in there. Stay tuned.
5 Comments
How confident are we that we have the votes to make it happen? Is there any doubt?
There’s always room for doubt, but based on my latest count (which is always available here) we have between 18 and 22 expected Yes votes in the Senate and between 2 and 8 expected Nay votes. There are a total of 32 sitting senators.
But since we haven’t had a vote in the Senate, it’s hard to say for sure.
Excuse me for being naive, but I’m guessing being a Senator is a part time job?
Yes, being a member of the Alabama State Legislature is supposed to be a part-time endevour (hence the legislative schedule), but there are those in the House and Senate who have made it into a full-time career.
Thanks!