We're on the Senate Floor. Not literally of course. I'm sitting in the lobbyist room watching the proceedings on HF 2245--the new vehicle for the House/Senate agreement--on the television monitors. Senator Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) has just described the bill and is now taking questions. Due to the way the bill was put together, a number of the questions are quite pointed and discussion as to why the bill was put together outside of the conference committee process is taking place. The bill was agreed upon in the wee hours this morning and was available for review at around 5:00 AM and some are complaining that they haven't had time to review the bill.

Because this bill is not a conference committee report, it can be amended. I am aware that there will be an amendment to take care of some oversights and technical issues which should pass, but I doubt any other changes will take place. The bill will then go to the House, where there will have to be a successful motion to concur with the Senate amendments to prevent another conference committee.

So, if you have access to watch this discussion, tune in. It's going to get wild!