It was a Peter Courtney moment. Presiding over the Oregon Senate, just after absorbing news from across the Rotunda as the Legislature was preparing to adjourn:

“All right, I’ll tell you what’s happening,” as if announcing social plans on a Saturday night. “The House is coming in at 2:45. They’re gonna do some stuff. Then they’re going to adjourn and come back in at 4:30. Then they’ll do some more stuff.” (Courtney’s style, some combination of informal and driven, is all his own.) The Senate would return around 5, he said, hopefully with most of the House work complete.

The exact clock times, of course, didn’t hold. But both chambers continued processing bills, and you could tell from the visitor’s gallery that staffers at least were optimistic of an early-evening adjournment. And no late glitches seemed to be lying in wait.

The latest “experimental” even-year Oregon legislative session does seem nearly over, maybe later today. It has worked; substantial legislation moved through smoothly, and the session seems about to end ahead of deadline (which was February 28).

The major loss, as now appears: The proposed constitutional amendment to allow annual sessions. The House and Senate seem positioned to simply agree to disagree. Ironic, since this session seems to have been a good Exhibit A for the proposal.