Regular Session Quietly Reaches Irregular Close

May 2, 2015

There was no hanky drop to mark “sine die” on Friday.

The House and Senate sergeants at arms didn’t carry out the tradition of meeting in the fourth-floor rotunda, between the two chambers, to hold a brief ceremonial handkerchief drop to signal the end of the annual legislative session. Also absent were the cheering lawmakers, staff members and lobbyists — and the red plastic cups of adult beverages that seem to find their way into the rotunda.

The lights of the Senate chamber were quickly turned off at 5:08 p.m. Friday, as there was no lawmaking on either end of the Capitol on the final scheduled day of the 60-day session.

“My colleagues and I look forward to returning to Tallahassee in short order to complete the work we were elected to do,” Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said in a release just before 5 p.m.

Gardiner’s statement came shortly after a majority of the Florida Supreme Court said an abrupt adjournment Tuesday by the House was unconstitutional, but that there wouldn’t be an accompanying order for lawmakers to return to Tallahassee, as Senate Democrats had hoped.

The House adjournment came amid a bitter impasse with the Senate about budget and health-care issues. Lawmakers will have to return to the Capitol in May or June for a special session to negotiate and pass a budget.

In all, the most-untypical regular session included the House and Senate passing 232 bills from among a total of 1,752 that were filed. The number of bills approved by both chambers was the lowest in the past 15 years.

Throughout the Capitol complex, few doors were open Friday.

Students on end-of-year school outings to the Capitol replaced the well-dressed lobbyists who typically would have congregated outside the House and Senate chambers in the final hours of the session.

Earlier in the day, Senate pages, with little work to perform for lawmakers, took the chamber floor to briefly hold their own mock session.

And with few customers, the 10th floor snack bar reverted to its non-session 1 p.m. Friday closing time.

House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, emailed House members that taking a few weeks off will better position the House to pass a budget.

“With the lawsuits over and a little time to reflect, I trust that we can return with a new level of civility on both sides,” Crisafulli said in the email. “We will make up for these three days, and then some.”

Senators met Tuesday after the House adjourned and also passed bills Wednesday before calling a halt. On Friday, a Senate staffer tweeted a photo of senators lunching on Chick-fil-A in the president’s office.

Several House Democrats, meanwhile, attended an Agency for Health Care Administration hearing on the Low Income Pool program, a health program at the heart of the budget impasse between the House and Senate.

“We have been on this road for a long time, now is the time for us as a state to stand proudly to say we’re not only addressing the needs of hospitals, but all Floridians,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida


Comments

2 Responses to “Regular Session Quietly Reaches Irregular Close”

  1. Tom on May 2nd, 2015 7:35 pm

    And they got paid for not being there working. I should have been a politician, they work less than the average Joe.

  2. Sedition on May 2nd, 2015 2:02 pm

    Correct me if I’m mistaken, but don’t they work for the people?
    Well, this “people” wants them fired for walking off of the job. If they return, arrest them for criminal trespassing.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News