Calendar for the Session

There was a little confusion this past week over the meeting calendar for the rest of the legislative session. Depending on who you asked and what day you asked there were wildly varying meeting schedules proposed. By law we cannot meet any later than June 13th so there was no question we were not going beyond that date. The real question was whether or not we would meet in the month of May or not.
Some people at the State Souse will argue that the idea of not meeting in May was just purely a fanciful rumor. I can tell you it was indeed a very real proposal. The only reason this rumor ever got started in the first place was because of the confusion in coordinating so many different calendars at once. As it turns out, we will not meet for roughly two weeks during the month of May. The Joint Legislative Reapportionment Committee will hold public hearings throughout the state during those two weeks allowing for the legislature to vote on final congressional district lines before we adjourn in June. This will save money by not having a special session dedicated solely to reapportionment as has happened in the past.
Tentatively we are scheduled to meet for three legislative days a week over the next two weeks. Then we will be out of Montgomery for the second two weeks of May, before returning for two more three day legislative work weeks at the end of May and first week of June. The goal would be for Sine Die adjournment to take place on Thursday June the 9th.
Of course like everything else in the Alabama Legislature this is subject to change as I discovered on more than one occasion this past week.