The conventional Statehouse wisdom holds that the Legislature will adjourn this week — and all signs point in that direction.
At this writing, the Senate is plowing through the calendar in a procession of lopsided or unanimous votes, with little debate. Even the higher education budget, a hot topic in days of yore, passed Wednesday morning on a ho-hum 35-0 vote.
A few K-12 proposals passed easily Wednesday. The House passed ground rules for high school WiFi systems and voted to create a committee to review questions on the state’s new Common Core-aligned assessment. The Senate approved a bill to shield a school bus driver from civil or criminal liability, if the driver comes to the aid of a passenger.
All three bills are headed to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk.
The big unresolved issue is the K-12 budget, broken up into a series of seven bills. Those bills are starting in the House, and the first of the bills came up Wednesday afternoon.
While waiting for the budget bills to come up, you can track comings and goings on legislative issues by clicking on our vote tracker. We’ve updated the vote tracker to note bills that Otter has signed, or bills awaiting his signature. (Otter hasn’t vetoed any bills yet this session.)