At the same time Republicans from around the country gather in Cleveland to promote Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as their presidential nominees, lawmakers here in Massachusetts are taking time off for the political conventions while running out of time to complete a number of important bills.
Either the House or Senate will meet in formal session until Saturday, so that Republicans can attend the RNC. The thing is, no one from the Senate and only three members of the House are actually going to Cleveland to support Trump. The House and Senate schedules were put in place before the GOP knew Trump was going to be the nominee, and both Republican and Democratic leadership say it was too late to alter course.
A number of Democratic lawmakers are heading down to Philadelphia for Hillary Clinton's convention and work traditionally comes to a halt when the Democrats are out of town. Lawmakers are also taking next week off of formal work for the DNC and will come back into session this weekend, the last two days they are allowed to pass bills.
That leaves just three marathon sessions to complete all of the Legislature's work on energy, ride-hailing, pay equity and more before lawmakers recess for the rest of the year.
