The Senate is poised to adjourn on Friday, leaving the House behind to finish up with any unfinished business it chooses to take up.
“They took a vote today that they were going to come back next week. We don’t have any intention of being here next week,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, after a late Thursday afternoon meeting during which a measure passed to adjourn sine die. “We want to finish and get the hell out of here.”
The original adjournment resolution was for Saturday, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, introduced a substitute resolution during the Rules Committee meeting moving the date up by one day.
Apodaca said he has not received any input or feedback from House members about the Senate’s plan to leave town tomorrow. Nor does he have any insight on whether the House will act on proposed legislation such as House Bill 3, which the Senate expanded from one constitutional amendment to four, and sent back to the lower chamber.
“They can still pass the bills that we sent over. That’s where we are at this point,” said Apodaca, invoking a phrase made famous by former Senate Rules Committee chairman Tony Rand, a Cumberland County Democrat.
“As my predecessor used to say, we lived 240 years just fine — I guess that’s more now, probably 250 — and we’ll be fine until January,” Apodaca said.