Governor: 'There's no sense of urgency' for special session; tweets pic of empty House floor

The governor tweeted a picture of an empty Louisiana House of Representatives floor adding: "First day of an 11 day special session to pass a budget, and the House isn't working. There's no sense of urgency."

A special session to pass a budget started on June 8 at 6:30 p.m., but before 30 minutes had passed, the House had adjourned until Monday at 9 a.m.

When the Louisiana State Senate heard that the House had adjourned, they decided to put off any official work until June 14 at 4 p.m. That's when Senate leadership expects to have the first vote on any legislation that comes from the House.

Governor Edwards called the special legislative session before the regular session was over because it looked like a state budget wouldn't get passed.

He was right. The House and the Senate could not put their differences aside and agree on a budget.

The special session started 30 minutes after the regular session ended. But, legislators had had enough and will restart the process next week.

The special session must end by midnight, Monday, June 19. With the Senate convening on Wednesday, June 14, the two sides will have less than a week together to agree on a budget.