Black River Today

By Senator Alice Nitka, Windsor County,May 10, 2013 

I’m writing these notes on Friday evening, the 10th, in the midst of floor action with rules being suspended, roll calls occurring, bills being ordered to lie but then taken up later, amendments being authored on the floor and Conference Committee reports arriving regularly. The hope earlier today had been to adjourn the session on Saturday, 5/11, whatever the hour might be or on Sunday morning, sometime after midnight. Never is there a plan to work on Sundays so at least that was a given. Nothing else is predictable today. If we don’t get all the work done we will need to be here at least part of the week of 5/13 which was what was planned at the start of the session. The pages, our 8th grade messengers, who work here four days per week for six week periods really hope we will be here another week. They love their jobs and are getting their first real paychecks so naturally they would like another one. 

The Senate and House staff who reconstitute, digest, organize and format the daily calendars and journals for each day must work every night to do this for the action that has occurred during the day. They put all of this on the WEB but must also get it printed. The print shop in Middlesex works during the night printing these and putting them into booklet form. Some of the “smaller” jobs can be done in the State House in our own copy room which has copiers the size of small railroad cars. The Secretary of the Senate, John Bloomer, an attorney from Wallingford and elected unanimously by Senators of all political parties is in charge of all this work. Secretary Bloomer is a former Senator himself who represented Rutland County in the past as did his father, his mother and many other ancestors. He is the Senate parliamentarian who interprets the rules from Mason’s Manual whenever a question or action requires it, advising the Lt. Governor who makes the final decision, as the presiding officer in the Senate. They have been very busy today as Senators are striving to get bills passed in these last days and making all kinds of motions. One unusual ruling was needed on, “A point of Order” that had the Majority Leader seeking to have a Senator of this own party silenced for speaking “tediously” (a term in our rules) for going on too long. The Senate President, Phil Scott ruled the request as, “not well taken” as is the terminology and allowed the lengthy and somewhat interesting diatribe to continue. The speech had no impact and the bill in question passed. 

In the House and Senate chambers, the men wear suits or coats and ties thus it was quite amusing when one influential Senator returned to the floor after some difficult negotiations on one of the Conference Committees on which he is serving. He looked wrecked! He had his tie half off and askew, the neck of his shirt undone and was about to find out that one of his own bills might not be moving. Such is the work in the final days! 

Contact me at home at 228-8432, the State House at 1-800-322-5616 or anitka@leg.state.vt.us or PO Box 136, Ludlow, VT 05149. Find schedules and bills at www.leg.state.vt.us.