(Or something. Another story has them meeting behind closed doors.)
But the six-member panel of House and Senate members took a break immediately after convening Wednesday because there still is no deal on how high Michigan's income tax rate should be.
It's a key part of the negotiations toward erasing a projected $1.75 billion deficit in the state budget for the fiscal year that starts Monday. Lawmakers need to get a deal in place soon to avoid a government shutdown Monday.
Stories filtering out now about what will happen in the event of a shutdown. Ottawa County announced they will lay off employees.
If no agreement is reached, though, the county will lay off 48 of its 1,100 employees beginning Wednesday, with more layoffs following soon.
The county receives $17 million in direct funding from the state.
Expect that to happen all over the state - and one wonders how they file for unemployment.
And even if they do pull a rabbit out of their hat at this late date? Don't expect miracles.
Sharon Parks of the Michigan League for Human Services, a Lansing-based advocacy group for children and low-income residents, says she worries the voices of those most affected by budget cuts or changes won't be heard.
"There's just been a real lack of opportunity to air choices, to discuss impact," she said. "It's been a very closed process. I don't think it's in the public interest."
-snip-
Parks said the prospect of the budget being slapped together is even more worrisome because so many lawmakers have never dealt with a state budget before. Thirty of the House's 110 members are new this year, so one out of five of the state's 148 senators and representatives don't have state budget experience.
"They don't know what really is in the budget," she said. "Often things are singled out that we can cut this, or we can cut that, without knowing it's federally funded. There's tremendous lack of knowledge within the budget itself."
Just getting something done before everything shuts down is the best we can hope for at this point. For a comprehensive, but certainly not complete, list of services that might cease, check WZZM's list here.
The Detroit News now has a clock running on their Politics page that shows four days, but word has it that this actually has to be done by Thursday evening for the checks to clear on Monday.
Keep your fingers crossed they find a way to solve this in time. We have less than 36 hours to go if Dillon is correct.