Amidst the continuing discussions of some of the session’s most pressing issues, the 2011 General Assembly has set the day on which those conversations will cease.  In a resolution passed last week, the  House and Senate agreed to meet for legislative day 40 and adjourn “sine die” on Thursday, April 14.

After the adjournment, any legislation that is not passed or failed will hang in limbo until 2012.  Since this session is the first of a two-year legislative term, these  bills and resolutions will simply remain in their committees until next year.  Measures that are not acted upon in the second year of a term die after day 40.

Though many pieces of legislation face uncertain fates for 2011, the FY2012 budget is one bill that will be at the top of the General Assembly’s list for passage.  HB78, the budget bill, looks to be on track for timely consideration.  The Senate Appropriations Committee meets today to pass it out for debate on the Senate floor.

Though most members will return to commitments in their districts after the adjournment, they will almost certainly find themselves back in Atlanta later this year.  The legislature is expected to return for a special session in the late summer for the reapportionment of legislative districts that is spurred by the decennial census. 

Georgia’s constitution requires that the legislature meet for 40 “legislative days” each spring beginning the second Monday of January.  These 40 days can be allocated at the will of the General Assembly and typically do not run consecutively.  This year when the legislative session adjourns, 94 calendar days will have elapsed.

Last year’s session made history as the latest-running legislature in more than 120 years.  The General Assembly adjourned on April 30, 110 calendar days after it began.