Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The House and Senate will be back at it on Smith Hill this afternoon fighting through hundreds of bills as they race to adjourn for the summer.

They will have their work cut out for them if they hope to finish, as some had hoped, by the end of the day Friday or early Saturday -- or by July 1 as Speaker William J. Murphy had predicted.

Both chambers have voted to suspend the 48-hour notice posting requirements in their own rules; committee calendars were still being updated close to midnight Thursday night and throughout Friday morning.

As of 1 p.m., the House calendar alone ran 22 pages, with 140 items listed. The Senate meanwhile has yet to vote on the state budget and must first begin its day taking up the governor's nomination of Kristin E. Rodgers for a Superior Court seat.

Among the slew of outstanding measures one or both chambers could take up or let die in the final hours: bills that would assess private colleges and universities a municipal impact fee; require school districts to honor teachers contracts beyond their expiration date; change the state's public records law; and give domestic partners the right to make funeral arrangements for their loved ones.

Both afternoon sessions begin at 2 p.m.

 Tags  General Assembly Providence RI William Murphy

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