We are now a week away from the end of session, April 26.

Friday, April 17, at 5 p.m., was the last day to consider bills from the opposite body. This means that for the last few weeks the Senate has been debating House bills and the House has been debating Senate bills.

Each body receives their bills that have been passed with amendments back and decides if they ‘concur’ with the amendments. This is known as the concurrence process.

As is traditionally the case, the Senate began running concurrences on the Saturday (yesterday) following Friday’s cut-off.

The Senate may concur with the amendments proposed by the House, negotiate alternative language or the bill will end up in dispute. If agreement cannot be reached on a bill in dispute between both houses, a conference committee consisting of members from both chambers can be appointed and, eventually, a conference committee report prepared.

If the report is approved by the Senate and the bill is passed, then it may be considered by the House and vice versa.

At this point, the report for the bill is either accepted or denied. If accepted, it moves on to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

It’s always an interesting time in session because you can usually get a clear picture on whether the bills you have worked hard on will gel or not.

I have a number of bills going through this process. Some with minor changes, and one which will require a conference and much more discussion.