Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, center, talks with Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, right, before the Senate went back into session Tuesday. The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — Just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed banged her gavel and sent the Senate into extended recess for at least part of the summer, capping a chaotic month on Smith Hill that ended with both chambers on indeterminate breaks and major legislation still up in the air.

Until House and Senate leaders return this month or next, as they have promised to do, there will be no ban on indoor prostitution, no “affinity” license plates for sports fans and no immediate changes to the state’s Open Records Law. Those hoping to see a 2010 ballot question asking voters if they want to drop “Providence Plantations” from Rhode Island’s formal name will have to wait, too. Each of these proposals and dozens more remain unresolved.

“It’s one of the strangest sessions I’ve seen in 35 years,” said Dan Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Town and a longtime fixture at the State House. “It’s strange insofar as there’s no finality to it.”

In Saturday’s early hours, bleary-eyed House leaders called a recess, sending stacks of bills to the Senate in hopes lawmakers there would, in a classic State House swap, act on them before taking their own break.

The Senate returned Tuesday, but convened for less than two hours.

With little or no debate, members sent the governor a hodgepodge of bills including those that would allow 24-hour gambling at Twin River, while blocking a bid to suspend dog racing there; permit 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote; ban organized pub crawls — and perhaps most bizarre — exempt funeral directors and embalmers over the age of 65 from continuing education requirements.

There was similarly little discussion before senators endorsed legislation to change a Medicaid oversight provision in the state budget that could have cost the state $12 million in lost federal dollars, according to the House Finance Committee chairman. The proposal was prompted by a warning letter from federal Medicaid officials last week.

Some debate cropped up on bills that won’t head to the governor soon because the House hasn’t yet acted on them.

A late submission from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel DaPonte that would require municipalities and their school districts to consolidate computer, purchasing and maintenance functions within two years received unanimous approval –– and much praise –– from the senators. Whether the bill will even surface in the House remains to be seen.

The same was true for a plan to create a state Department of Veterans Affairs in 2011, a move that would come despite across-the-board 5 percent spending cuts in all existing departments. A similar version passed the legislature two years ago, only to be vetoed by the governor who said that while he values veterans’ commitment, he did not believe “establishing yet another new bureaucracy … does anything to assist Rhode Island’s veterans.”

Before voting on this year’s Veterans Affairs bill, Sen. Hanna M. Gallo, a Cranston Democrat, inquired how much it would cost to create a new state department. The proposal calls for a fiscal analysis to be performed after the legislation is approved. Though the House last week approved a nearly identical bill, no one version passed both chambers.

In less than two hours Tuesday evening, the Senate wrapped up its business, thanked staffers and headed to Mediteranneo, a popular Federal Hill eatery.

“There are a number of pieces of legislation that I fully anticipate over the next couple of weeks [Senate Majority] Leader Connors and [House Majority] Leader Fox will be working together … to see if some resolution can be reached,” Paiva Weed, the Senate president, said as the rank-and-file members trickled out of the chamber.

Paiva Weed dismissed rumors of strife between Senate and House leaders, insisting that the two chambers worked closely throughout the session, particularly on the $7.8-billion budget. “There are numerous pieces of legislation that still need to be addressed and I’m confident that the speaker and I have always worked well together and that we will continue to work together in the future,” she said.

This is not the first time the part-time legislature has taken a summer break without completing its business, and not the first time it has promised to return, either.

The 1996 session was one of Rhode Island’s longest, lasting from Jan. 2 until Aug. 1.

Two years later, the Senate walked out on the 1998 General Assembly session in a tiff with House leaders, gridlocking important legislation until members returned in mid-July to wrap up the proceedings.

More recently, in 2005, lawmakers extended the session until the second week in July to deal with legislation involving expansion of video slot machines at Twin River (then Lincoln Park) and Newport Grand.

Neither Murphy nor Paiva Weed have indicated a specific return date for this summer.

-- With reports from Steve Peoples and Katherine Gregg

cneedham@projo.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that a bill that would keep expired teacher contracts in effect until new agreements are reached is headed to the governor. The House has not passed this bill.