Wednesday, March 9

In the morning, HF 453, HF 321, HF 324, HF 389, HF 393, HF 405, and HF 406 were all passed.  After caucuses and lunch, debate began at 2:00 for HF 525.  This is the big-deal-collective-bargaining bill for which there are now 100+ amendments.  By 4:00, we were on the third amendment (and the first two weren't even debated).  It will be a long night of debate.

Topics have ranged from feces on rest area floors, to the "Hello, this is Peggy" credit card commercials, to a story about a convict who escaped with the help of a private sector guard and killed two people.  Point of order.

After the first hour or so, the previously-full galleries had thinned out after everyone realized the bill wasn't going to be passed today.

The third amendment, H-1177, was debated.  It says that 1) if a public employee is being laid off, their manager must give them reasonable notice, and 2) they must give a reason why.  The amendment, brought forth by the Democrats, seems good to me, but the Republicans argue that any reasonable employer would do this anyway, so they're not going to mandate it.  And after four hours of debate it finally failed 42-50.