Transportation funding extended through December 4 as House and Senate work out

“But I think today is a day to be really happy about a success, and we’ll have a few time to work on the Senate for an even stronger bill later”.

Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said Wednesday he will continue to push his proposal (SB 344), which could make it easier legally for people to claim self-defense in shooting incidents.

Downing didn’t want to put any kind of timeframe on when the bill might get done, but told reporters after the House left for the year Wednesday that the conference committee was “still working and still talking”. The Senate passed its long-term transportation bill called the DRIVE Act in June, but the House didn’t act on it because of certain concerns regarding funding-the bill had funding for three years, but made commitments for six.

Both Norton and DeFazio recommended that the bill be shortened by a year or two so that the same pot of money could be used to increase annual spending.

Congress could approve a six-year transportation bill by the end of this week, when authorization for federal transportation programs expires. Over forty transportation stakeholders wrote to conferees last week to express support for Chairman Inhofe’s approach.

Shuster said the schedule to get the bill passed by the December 4 deadline was “very ambitions” of the committee, but he seemed confident lawmakers from the two chambers could come to an agreement.

A bill that would prohibit employers and education institutions from forcing workers or applicants to share their social media passwords or access their accounts cleared the Senate unanimously on Wednesday.

Gavi Wolfe, legislative counsel at the ACLU of MA, which lobbied for the bill, said the bill is about putting in place the same privacy protections for online communications as exist for written communications – for example, if someone were to write a letter to a friend. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Both the House and Senate approved measures this week calling for a 2 percent increase in the cap on the state’s “net metering” program that allows electric customers and local governments to sell excess solar power they generate back to the electrical grid in exchange for credit.