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Last updated on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
(STATEHOUSE) - House Republicans are going back to work… even though with Democrats still boycotting, they can’t do anything binding.
The house will begin committee hearings on bills which have passed the senate, despite the fact democrats remain encamped in Urbana, Illinois.
Speaker Brian Bosma acknowledges those committees will have to reconvene to amend or vote on any bills.
A bill can't legally be assigned to committee without a quorum of the full house.
The senate is taking its own action, stuffing as much legislation as it can into the few bills it received from the house before the walkout.
On Wednesday, the Health Committee will pack nine Senate-passed health bills into a prescription-regulation bill.
And the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday scheduled the first of seven hearings on a new state budget, even though the house spending plan is stuck waiting for Democrats' return.
Rep. Scott Pelath, one of three democrats in the house on Monday, says Democrats would be content at this point to let the senate rework the bills under discussion, then return at session's end for up-or-down votes on the results.
Instead, he charges Republicans are wasting money with fruitless efforts to convene the house each day.
Pelath says democrats want to resume discussions on the terms of their return.
Bosma cut off talks last week, accusing democrats of stalling rather than negotiating.
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