[S]peaker of the House Mitzi Johnson said Thursday that the Legislature may skip a Saturday session and finish its business next week.
Leaders of both the House and Senate have insisted throughout this week that they would be able to wrap up their work by the end of the week, when the regular session was scheduled to end.
But as of Thursday afternoon, the budget had yet to be finalized, a dozen conference committees were still meeting, and major differences remained between the chambers on the signature issues of minimum wage and paid family leave insurance.
“I’m not seeing a clear path as to how that wraps up this weekend,” Johnson said of the budget. “If I’m really clear that we can’t adjourn by Saturday we won’t be here on Saturday. We’ll be here for a day or two next week and wrap it up.”
In the afternoon, House and Senate leaders met to hash out the details of an extended session. Both chambers will return for Friday and adjourn until next week.
Senate Leader Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, said the Senate would be reconvening Tuesday. Johnson said she would prefer not to convene again until Wednesday.
The speaker said the plan is to wrap up discussion on everything except the “large money bills” Friday and that she expects the session to continue “a day or two next week.”
The Senate has yet to give final approval to its version of the paid family leave bill. Ashe said his chamber could vote out that bill on Friday. The House gave final approval to the minimum wage bill on Thursday after making significant changes, meaning that bill must return to the Senate.
It’s unclear how the House and Senate will iron out their differences on those bills. They could have two conference committees, combine the bills and have one conference committee, or negotiate outside of committees and exchange proposals of amendment.
“We haven’t made a decision yet on conference committees,” Ashe said Thursday evening.
Colin Meyn contributed reporting
