State representatives next week will take the first of three weeks of furlough during this year’s session. They’re expected to also take off the last week of March and first week of April. Meanwhile, the Senate’s furlough schedule isn’t set in stone yet, but senators probably won’t work the Thursday before Easter, which is March 27, and the following week.
The weeks ahead will be laden with lots of more budget work, with the House set to follow this tentative schedule:
- Feb. 16-18: House Ways and Means proviso subcommittee to meet.
- Feb. 22-25: Full House Ways and Means Committee to deliberate on 2016-17 budget.
- March 1-3: Appropriations bill to be printed.
- March 8-17: Appropriations bills to be on members’ desks.
- March 21-24: House to take up budget with floor deliberations.
Another key budget date arrives Monday when the state Board of Economic Advisers is supposed to announce its final estimate of revenues available for lawmakers to use for budgeting purposes. Earlier estimates indicate legislators may have more than $1 billion more than earlier projected for projects for the coming year.
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