After having a long day of committee meetings, the Congressmen and I were both grateful for a late start and a long relaxing Senate Session. It was very cool seeing some of the bills that I had watched be discussed in committee be discussed on the actual Senate floor. The first bill on the docket was the motorcycle bill that I had seen earlier in the day. Unlike in committee, there was no debate on it, they voted for it almost immediately. The actual voting process was not really what I expected I thought it would be like High School congress, where everyone for the bill stands up and is counted and then the same thing happens for those against the bill. I expected the process to be somewhat slow and formal. Instead, it was all electronic, at every single senator’s desk, there are a red button and a green button that allow them to vote for or against the bill when a vote is called for. The entire voting process took 10 seconds, it became law, and then they moved on. They then went through a series of the locals bills I discussed in my last post. They passed almost 8 of them in quick succession. No one asked questions, everyone was polite, it was sort of weird. I asked Andy if this was what it was always like and he told me no. Normally there was a lot more debate, and the Senators were a little bit more abrasive. However, the Senate was passing the budget the next week, and so all the Senators were trying to keep each other happy so that they can get funding for their counties and projects when the budget comes around. It was very interesting to see things become law just so people wouldn’t get mad at each other.

The senate also recognizes a lot of visitors during the session to honor them. They announced the names of a former Senator in the audience and his family. They announced the names of some elementary school children that were visiting, as well as some community business leaders. Every senate session, they have a doctor of the day that they recognize and honor. They have high school students page for them, whom they also announced. Pages carry briefcases for the congressmen and get people to sign the visitors papers. At the end of the very long session, at about 4 o’clock, a resolution was introduced to honor a former colleague that passed away this week. Almost 30 senators gave speeches about how much she had affected their lives, and how much they were going to miss her. It was very emotional.