Senate approves procedural motions, announces committee schedules and recesses until Tuesday

The Senate convened and called the roll before a quorum was announced. Senators heard an invocation from Pastor Steve Graves, a guest of Senator Williams, and then recited the Pledge of Allegiance led by Senator Williams.

Following opening formalities, the Senate approved several routine procedural motions by voice vote. A motion to dispense with the reading of the journal was put and carried. Senator Harkins moved to dispense with the reading of committee reports and later moved to dispense with the reading of the titles of bills and resolutions; both motions were approved by voice vote.

Senator Younger introduced youth court judge Lisonbee Kaiser, who was recognized in the gallery. Senators used the floor to announce a busy committee schedule: among the notices were meetings for Senate Energy, Judiciary Division A and B, Appropriations, Finance, Medicaid, Tourism, Agriculture (postponed until tomorrow at 2 p.m., per Senator Berry), Gaming, Universities and Colleges, Corrections and several subcommittee sessions. The clerk read a consolidated list of room numbers and meeting times so members could locate committees throughout the day.

Senator Hawkins moved that "the senate stands in recess until the last committee report is filed, at which time the senate will stand adjourned until 10AM, Tuesday morning." The motion was adopted by voice vote and the presiding officer announced that the ayes had it, putting the body into recess with adjournment scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday.

No substantive bills or policy debates were taken up on the floor during this session; the day's work consisted of procedural approvals, guest introductions and scheduling of committee work.