Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon Legislature is expected to wrap up business soon. Lawmakers met over the weekend to make sure they beat Tuesday's self-imposed deadline to adjourn. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

Outside the capitol children played in the fountains in 80 degree sunshine. Inside, the House took the weekend off but the Senate was hard at work Saturday to help clear out a backlog of bills.

That kept people like Jim Markee on their toes. It might have been the first full weekend of summer, but Markee was stuck indoors.

He was part of a group of lobbyists watching floor debates on a TV monitor just outside the Senate chamber. He was here to watch the fate of a bill on mortgage lending.

Jim Markee: “You never know what might go wrong, and if something does go wrong I want to be here to try to do whatever I can to correct it.”

With most budget issues out of the way, lawmakers are mainly crossing T's and dotting I's at this point.

Some of the major unresolved issues that remain: The fate of a bill that phases out field burning and a measure that puts a temporary moratorium on new online charter schools.