Sine Die is coming

During these final hours, a sense of urgency and purpose comes over the legislature. Or, you know, not.

The battle over transgender bathrooms nearly sidetracked Monday an effort to tap into a federal apprentice program to help train Louisiana workers.

State Rep. Michael Johnson, R-Bossier City, said as good as the program would be in training workers, it could fall under President Barack Obama’s recent directive forbidding institutions from discriminating against people whose gender identity differs from their sex at birth.

House Bill 1001 brings the language of an apprentice program, which currently has about 4,000 participants, in line with federal guidelines and thereby allow the state to receive a $10 million federal grant for the program, said Rep. Patrick Jefferson, the Homer Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations.

Also there seems to be some drama over HB2 which is the capital improvements budget. The House seemed ready to pass it and get it on to conference but then this happened.

Alario is also very frustrated with @NeilAbramson, who wasn't in Baton Rouge to talk to Senate leadership yesterday about HB2. #lalege

— Julia O'Donoghue (@JSODonoghue) June 6, 2016

RepSamJones publicly wonders where Ways & Means Chair @NeilAbramson was yesterday. Speaker Barras says he can't answer #lalege

— Greg Hilburn (@GregHilburn1) June 6, 2016

Rumor: HB2 has enough votes for concurrence. But @NeilAbramson has been whipping votes for rejection. End result still uncertain #lalege

— Justin DiCharia (@JDiCharia) June 6, 2016

And then Neil left the building.. or something. That's what it seemed like anyway. The reporters (and Dan Claitor) spent some time pretending to search for him. They were gonna send Michael Johnson to check the bathroom but that got weird real quick. And then they found him!

Abramson has returned to the chamber. #lalege

— Kevin Litten (@kevinlitten) June 6, 2016

And then he left again.  It’s a very fluid situation.  Or maybe Neil is playing a different game than everyone else.

Catching up on #HouseofCards @Netflix with my wife. The irony isn't lost on me...

— Neil Abramson (@NeilAbramson) March 11, 2016

Update: Here's a more thorough report from NOLA.com