A Reversal of Roles

While the House bogged down on bills that impact the Education Trust Fund, the Senate passed several pieces of noteworthy legislation.

Including the following:

Sen. Parker Griffith: Excluding federal tax rebates from state income tax
Sen. Vivian Figures: Indoor smoking ban
Sen. Hinton Mitchem: Sex offenders restricted from college and university property
Sen. Roger Bedford: Unemployment compensation bill that saves businesses more than $700 million in taxes, and a bill that provides tax breaks to attract the film industry.

As busy as the Senate was passing bills they also killed one that many had their eyes on: a bill to remove the state-portion of the sales tax on food.

But even when the House is in a slowdown, they eventually get some things done.

The House finally passed a bill that adds $67 million to the proposed spending plan for education, along with bills that provide a tax break for small businesses and their employees on health insurance.

Both chambers were still in session as of 6:43 p.m. There is some buzz that they could be here all night.