No Budget Conference Committee Today.  The omnibus supplemental budget conference committee did not meet today, but that doesn't mean the Capitol was bereft of action.  Things are happening behind the scenes, but it is way too early to say whether or not true progress is being made.  The chances of an agreement on transportation funding looked better yesterday than today.  The chances for some measure of tax bill also look to have improved.  The question is going to be how much revenue will be dedicated to these purposes if and when an agreement on the overall budget targets is reached.

The House did release their $800 million bonding proposal, but the Senate has yet to pass a bonding bill, so there's a way to go on that package as well.

I don't know where the supplemental budget sits vis-a-vis the other major bills, but even with a deal on transportation looking iffier, there may be a chance to put together a deal on all the other major bills in the absence of an agreement on roads, bridges, and transit.  Transportation has been portrayed as the key to resolving everything, but it may not be the lynchpin that it was advertised to be.

So it's time for another "waiting" video, this one from '80's artist Richard Marx, with "Right Here Waiting (for You)."  I think this will be a lobbyist theme song for the rest of the week with the "you" being the Legislature.  Believe me, we will all be "right there."