Rep. Deb Gullett, R-Dist. 11, had reservations for a 9:45 a.m. flight on Dec. 12 to join her husband Wes for a weekend in Las Vegas, but efforts to end the special session got in the way.

Legislative leadership decided to forego a Friday off in an attempt to bring the session to a close, and the House scheduled a floor session for 10 a.m. But the House didn’t go on the floor until that afternoon and then recessed to await the outcome of negotiations, which started late in the day in the Senate.

Ms. Gullett cornered negotiators leaving the Republican caucus room where legislators were meeting with Governor Napolitano. She tried to learn how the talks were going.

Negotiators, including Ms. Napolitano, finally emerged shortly after 6 p.m. to announce they had an agreement on Child Protective Services – H2024 – and that the conference committee on the bill would meet early the morning of Dec. 13.

Negotiators then moved to prisons – H2019 — and both the House and Senate adjourned for the day. The negotiations ended about midnight without an agreement.

Ms. Gullett reported later that she went home to her children and their sitter after the House adjourned. “They were really surprised to see me,” she said.

On Dec. 13, negotiations resumed shortly after noon, and Ms. Gullett continued checking on available flights. Shortly after 3 p.m., negotiators announced an agreement on H2019.

The House then began preparations for a final push with caucuses.

During the Republican caucus, Ms. Gullett had to endure a round of good-natured ribbing after Rep. Marian McClure, R-Dist. 30, pointed out that Las Vegas was host to the National Finals Rodeo and suggested that Ms. Gullett’s husband probably was surrounded by women in tight jeans.

When a last-minute glitch developed in writing the amendments for H2019, Ms. Gullett made more checks with the airlines to determine the last possible flight she could catch to Las Vegas.

Once the problem was resolved, the House went to the floor, and Ms. Gullett chaired the floor debate, moving it along in an expeditious fashion.

She talked with House members urging them to hold speeches to a minimum during the final vote and even jokingly disconnected the microphone of Rep. Tom Prezelski, D-Dist. 29.

Rep. Doug Quelland, R-Dist. 10, did read “an open letter to the children of Arizona” during the vote on H2024, but he claimed that in deference to Ms. Gullett he had cut it in half.

The vote on H2024, which passed 53-1, was the last bit of business for the House, and Ms. Gullett was able to dash from the floor shortly after 7:30 p.m.

However, as she was starting to go out the door, Speaker Jake Flake, R-Dist. 5, called out, “Wait! You’re on the sine die committee.”

“No,” she yelled, and was gone.

The Second Special Session of the 46th Arizona Legislature did adjourn – without Ms. Gullett — sine die at 8:23 p.m. Dec. 13 after sending Governor Napolitano bills on child protective services (H2024), Department of Corrections prison beds (H2019), lawsuit defense appropriation (S1008) and uniform trust code delay (H2025). The session ran 55 days. —