Well, almost — the 2009 session actually begins Monday morning.
Early on there will be plenty of ceremony — on Monday legislators are sworn in, Tuesday lawmakers certify election results and honor former statewide elected officials, and Wednesday the Governor gives her inaugural address (the inaugural ball is held Wednesday night.)
There will also be plenty of work in the committee rooms to kick off the 2009 session. On the budget front, the fiscal committees will dive right into the supplemental budget, with House Ways and Means starting off at 3:30 pm Monday afternoon. At 1:30 Thursday, Senate Ways and Means will hear the higher education portion of the supplemental budget. Lawmakers are expected to act quickly on approving supplemental spending cuts, since they will translate into savings that will apply toward the much larger budget gap for the upcoming biennium. Thursday at 3:30 the House Capital Budget Committee will be briefed on the results of the four-year scoring process for higher education capital projects.
Not all of the focus will be on the budget — at 10 am Tuesday, the Senate Environment, Energy and Water Committee will hear a panel on sustainable design practices, including those on campus.
We will be posting the latest session news we have here. For those who want to watch the session unfold, TVW has started a new blog that will highlight some of the key events of the week, plus upcoming guests on TVW’s interview programs. Also, be sure to eat your Wheaties this weekend — it’s going to be a breakneck 105 days.