This should not even need to be said.
But in the hyper-partisan context of the Legislature in Charleston today it does.
Today, the state Senate is expected to reconvene in special session again to take up HB 206.
That’s the 145-page sweeping education reform bill that survived a narrow 51-47 in the House of Delegates late Wednesday.
The issue now appears whether to suspend the rules in the Senate to allow for considering and passing the bill in one day, rather than the three it normally requires.
Suspension of those rules in the Senate takes a four-fifths vote — 28 of its 34 members.
The Senate’s 14 Democrats were being polled Friday to get an idea about what they want to do when the session reconvenes.
Some of the Senate president’s comments at one time last week led many to believe he was unhappy with HB 206.
He not only took issue with removing a provision that codified that it’s illegal for teachers to strike but also rejected removing an appeal process for denials for charter school applications.
“There’s people that just don’t have the fortitude to get these things done,” Sen. Mitch Carmichael said Tuesday on a Charleston radio program.
However, it’s apparent he has changed his mind and fully intends to urge his caucus to pass HB 206.
So much for fortitude. Political expediency and campaign donors are calling.
But we would be remiss here if we did not bring up the Democrats’ call to suspend this session before it ever got started and even once it did.
One point Democrats never stopped making throughout this special session, which convened at least three times, was this on the taxpayer’s dime.
When both chambers are in session, at once, it costs on average about $35,000 per day.
Which leads us to our point: The Senate’s Democratic caucus should vote to suspend the rules to quickly allow this legislation to go to the governor’s desk.
That’s not to suggest its members need to vote for this legislation. All this yearlong all 14 Democrats and two Republicans in the Senate have voted against it.
However, also all yearlong 18 Republicans have voted for its many incarnations and will undoubtedly do so again.
There is nothing to be gained by voting against suspending the rules and prolonging passage of this bill an extra two days.
Matter of fact, Democrats stand to not only cost themselves taxpayers’ ire by not doing so, but their credibility, too.
No one has heard the last of HB 206, but let’s wait until 2020 to let voters have the last word.
