Lawmakers gear up for weekend sessions
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Legislative negotiators have so far failed to come up with final recommendations on a handful of major bills, including energy and economic development proposals, raising the likelihood that lawmakers will be asked to vote quickly over the weekend on complex and lengthy bills should they emerge, as expected, from conference committees.
The House and Senate have been busy during informal sessions all week but do not have sessions scheduled for Friday, which is shaping up as a travel and recovery day for those who attended the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which culminated Thursday night with Hillary Clinton accepting the party's presidential nomination.
Both branches plan formal sessions on Saturday and Sunday, the final days for formals under legislative rules, and legislators are expecting their colleagues to produce bills dealing with energy diversification, economic development supports, ride-hailing industry regulation, non-compete agreements and municipal government reform.
Six-member conference panels need supportive votes from at least two members of each House and Senate negotiating team to ratify their recommendations, which are not subject to amendment by the House and Senate. Rules call for a conference report to be filed by 8 p.m. in order to be seasonably considered the following day. But a flood of conference reports may make skimming a necessity.
None of the conference reports were filed with House or Senate clerks as of Friday morning.
Legislative leaders this week may also serve up more budget veto overrides. House and Senate Democrats encountered little resistance last Saturday as they restored tens of millions of dollars to the roughly $39 billion state budget over the objections of Gov. Charlie Baker, who has warned that the budget he signed, produced by the Legislature, underfunds accounts by about $250 million.
Baker, who is on vacation this week in Gloucester, will face a flood of decisions next week on bills that reach his desk over the weekend. Because lawmakers are scheduled to meet in informal sessions for the rest of the year, legislators are forfeiting their right to override any vetoes that Baker may hand down in August and lawmakers will need unanimity in informal sessions to act on any amendments he returns to the Legislature.
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