Raleigh, N.C. — The General Assembly may not appoint three new board of education members by Wednesday, Feb. 6, the group's next meeting. 

Gov. Pat McCrory has appointed former state GOP chairman Bill Cobey and two others to serve on the panel. Lawmakers have said the governor would like to have the three in their seats by the time the board convenes. 

In order to make the appointments, the House and Senate need to meet in joint session and it doesn't appear as if that will happen by Wednesday. 

A House bill calling a joint House-Senate session is in the House Education Committee on Tuesday. It doesn't contain a date for the session, saying only that the session will convene "upon the call of the Speaker of the House of Representatives." Most such bills use a specific date and time, if only to avoid the institutional chaffing between the two chambers. 

Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, said the joint session would happen as soon as possible.

"I know the governor would like for it to happen by Wednesday," Tillman said. "But it's not going to happen that quick. I had breakfast with the governor today and told him that. I'd like for him to have it, I just don't think we can move that fast." 

Under the normal order of business, Tillman is correct. But it's not unheard of for resolutions dealing with the mechanics of running the legislature to bounce back and forth between the two chambers in a matter of hours, if not faster. For example, on the legislature's one-day opening session Jan. 9, a procedural resolution adjourning and bringing the General Assembly back to work this week passed in less than three-and-a-half hours.