Late night at the Legislature

Betsy Russell is hard at it reporting on the frenzied, mindless vote marathon taking place in the House of Representatives at the Capitol Annex. Below you will see a variety of posts she has made.  The time stamp on each article is Pacific Standard Time so you can see how late they are working.  When all of the shouting is done and the ink is dried, what will this legislative session be remembered for? 

Here are some of Betsy's bests:

Pizza fueled decision making. At nearly 7 pm the House had passed 30 bills starting at about 10 in the morning and taking breaks for a press conference a caucus or two and some committee meetings.  See what I mean about frenzied and mindless.

The $20 million dollar shift. This bill is a shell game...shifting money between federal dollars and general fund dollars.  It is an unwise and unnecessary action.

"Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, noted that the bill includes a shift of $20 million of school funding that had come from the state’s general fund, which was taken out and replaced by federal stimulus money. That freed up the $20 million for spending elsewhere in the state budget."

Emotional Debate??  The good Senator from Rexburg quoted below obviously doesn't understand what happened with the education budget.

Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said, “I’ve always supported education … yet there are those that believe we’re the bad guys in this economic stress. … We sat here and voted to cut other programs left and right. Some of those were tough votes,” including sharp cuts in the departments of commerce, environmental quality and agriculture. “Why? So we could put more dollars in public education. …"  What about the $20million shift?

From Senator Kate Kelly One of the best quote of the day...

“I’m very sad to be part of the first legislature to cut funding for our public school system,” Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, D-Boise, told the Senate. “We’re doing something that we’ve never done before, and we’re leaving our kids behind.”

 

I don't hate teachers...  From Rep. Noni,

“Counter to everything you might read in the newspaper, I don’t hate teachers - I admire teachers. I think it’s an admirable profession.”

In my day, Rep. Noni would have had to write, I don't hate teachers. I don't hate teachers...a thousand times...on college ruled paper, no erasing.  Can you tell I had to do something similar a time or two in school?
AND HERE IT IS FOLKS...THE LAST ONE OF THE NIGHT The House of Representatives has adjourned at nearly 9 tonight. I wonder what will happen next? Maybe they all should join the Governor for a cup of coffee.

 SB 1166, a controversial bill to retroactively alter provisions regarding the state insurance fund, just passed the House 50-16. That’s the last bill the House is taking up tonight. Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, announced that a barbecue scheduled for tomorrow is being put off to Monday because the House is adjourning sine die tonight.