Senate Budget Panel Will Extend Deadline for Hearing Bills to Thursday

Though Tuesday is, technically, the drop-dead day for bills to clear committee and get to a full floor vote, a highly placed source tells Sunshine State News that the Senate Budget Committee will hold a special meeting Thursday to hear a backlog of bills.

Senate Bill 2040, the E-Verify immigration measure approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, reportedly is among the bills that will be heard by the budget panel Thursday.

However, a hearing does not guarantee passage to the Senate floor, where approval appears problematic. A tag team of business lobbyists continues to urge Republican lawmakers to reject any immigration-enforcement legislation. Democrats, bowing to migrant-rights groups, are already in lockstep opposition, of course.