Senator: education conference committee delaying House bills; Senate recesses until 10 p.m.

Senate leadership told members the chamber would pause floor business as a House–Senate conference committee met on an education bill and two House bills were being held pending the committee’s outcome.

“We are still in something of a wait and see mode,” the senator from Chittenden said on the floor, adding that the conference committee “is meeting; I think they are making progress.” The senator said the House was holding two bills until after the conference committee wraps, which complicates the Senate’s schedule.

To avoid asking members to remain on-site when there was no substantive business, the senator from Chittenden moved that the Senate stand adjourned until 10 p.m. The presiding officer called for the question and, after a voice vote, declared, “Aye. The ayes have it. And we will stand in recess until 10PM.”

The senator from Chittenden said if the Senate was not credibly near adjournment by 10 p.m., they would return with a plan and notify members when the chamber would reconvene. The transcript does not record the names of the two House bills or the members of the conference committee, nor does it record additional scheduling details.