Conference Committee Continues...

UPDATE 5:18pm
No sightings of the Conference Committee members today...they no doubt spent the day working behind the scenes on differences. In fact, Rep. Keen was quoted as saying that they only have a few differences left...Tuesday will be day 39 and Thursday will be the last day - day 40. This means that (I believe) they must place the Budget on the Senate and House desks on Wednesday so it can sit for 24 hours for review by legislators so that it can be passed on Thursday. With the added time it takes to print the over 236 copies, it will be a late night tuesday!

UPDATE 8:00am
House and Senate members were unable to reach agreement on the FY07 budget this weekend, and so are forced to continue their work this week. Rumors flew around the capitol as late as 8:00pm that they found themselve just too far apart. No word on when or if they will meet tomorrow.

UPDATE 4:45pm
This article on the remaining work for the session just appeared in the AccessNorthGeorgia.com publication. It states that

hashing out versions of those plans and pulling together two drastically different drafts of the state's $18.6 billion budget is expected to mean some long days ahead at the Capitol and the possibility of the final day of the session being delayed beyond this week...."It all depends on how much progress we make on the budget," Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said when asked about the week's schedule. Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Martinez, the House Appropriations committee chairman, said divisions on the spending plan are far sharper than they were last year _ the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans controlled both the House and Senate.

Harbin went on to explain that

the Senate's version of the budget, which is crafted first in the House, shifts around millions of dollars, in some cases eliminating entire state agencies and creating new ones. "Those are decisions that ought to be worked on together when they're that big," said Harbin, who said the Senate's opening proposal removed several projects from his district in an apparent show of strength. "You can't govern by shooting from the hip."

And here we sit...

UPDATE 3:15pm
We still wait for the conference committee members to meet publically to confirm any agreements in the FY07 budget. Amid rumors of appearances and sightings, over 40 lobbyists spend their Sunday afternoon waiting like pigeons on a wire. We are all here mainly out of a fear that a question by one of these members would go unanswered and result in the loss of the funding in which we are advocating. Magazines, newspapers, laptops and casual conversations fill the room, while we all wish for some movement forward.

If the House and Senate are unable to reconcile their differences today, it is believed that they will be forced to recess, moving the conclusion of this year's session to the mid part of April.

Click here to see the differences that impact us.