The state legislature could sine die early this year. With the official sine die scheduled for Sunday, April 1st, legislators say they expect to get out early this year.
“As is the case in most years, when we complete our work early, as we think we will do on Wednesday we will have a motion to sine die on Wednesday,” said Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden.
Snowden said that the term sine die is Latin in origin.
“Sine die is Latin for ‘without day’,” Snowden said. “When the legislature adjourns typically during the session, we will adjourn until 9 a.m. tomorrow or whatever. Well, when there is no tomorrow to come back to we adjourn without day, meaning we are not coming back until either the Governor calls us back in a special session or by the constitution next year that says we have to convene again. When we say sine die we mean we’re gone and we’re not coming back.”
Snowden added that the term has been colloquialized as ‘sign and die’ meaning that all of the bills on the Governor’s desk will either be signed or die.
