The harried state budget season may be down to the final stretch.

As they race to pass a budget and a slew of other bills, lawmakers have their fingers crossed that they’ll finish business and adjourn for the session as early as Friday.

For that to happen, they’ll have to buckle down and get moving with the floor debates and late night-sessions that mark the final days in the un-air-conditioned General Assembly chambers.

The schedule as it stands now looks like this, according to House and Senate spokesmen:

Today at 4 p.m. is the deadline for House members to submit amendments to the budget plan. Legislative staffers worked all day Saturday, drafting amendments that representatives think could improve the budget released by the House Finance Committee last Wednesday.

Tomorrow, the House fiscal staff will brief members on the 39 budget articles.

Wednesday will be the first big decision-making day. That afternoon at 2 House members will begin debating the budget plan, article by article, in what is expected to be an hours-long session, according to House spokesman Larry Berman.

To give you an idea, last year’s floor debate in the House lasted more than 11 hours. Two years ago, it stretched on for nine hours.

Assuming the House passes a version late that night or early Thursday, the tax-and-spend plan will go before the Senate Finance Committee that afternoon and be rushed to the Senate floor on Friday.

Out of breath yet?

Back on the House side, representatives will continue tackling the final stack of bills that still require action. Berman said the leadership has “expressed a goal,” of finishing up Friday evening and adjourning for the session.

No word yet on whether the Senate hopes to finish then.

It could be a very, very long night.

Mumford succeeds Slocum as GOP committeewoman

Speaking of late nights, Rhode Island Republicans met late into the night Thursday and chose Rep. Carol Mumford, R-Scituate, as the party’s national committeewoman. Mumford succeeds GOP grand dame Eileen Slocum, of Newport. Slocum, 95, has been a party fixture for decades both in Rhode Island and at the national level. She has had health problems of late and recently resigned her post.

Mumford’s election makes her an automatic delegate to the Republican National Convention, which meets in September in St. Paul, Minn.

The delegates, meeting at Lincoln’s Kirkbrae Country Club, also ousted incumbent national committeeman Robert Manning, of Charlestown, an ally of former Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey. Rep. Joseph Trillo, R-Warwick, defeated Manning to become the new GOP national committeeman. Trillo won the position in a multi-ballot race after Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian dropped out of the contest and endorsed Trillo.

Balloting ran past midnight.

Orr heads Brown’s public-policy center

Following news that Darrell West, long the public face of polling and punditry at Brown University, is leaving on July 1 to become vice president of the Brookings Institution, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the school announced that Marion Orr, a political science professor and expert on urban politics and education will be taking his place at Brown’s Taubman Center for Public Policy.

Orr, who received his doctorate at the University of Maryland, is currently the Fred Lippitt professor of public policy at Brown. Orr has taught courses and done research in urban politics, urban educational policy, African-American politics, and urban poverty.

Orr has written books and lectured frequently on urban politics and school reform and has won numerous awards for his research and writing. He previously taught at Duke University and has been a fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jim Brown visits Ocean State, old friend Harwood

Jim Brown will always be remembered by football fans of a certain age as the best running back of his time, and perhaps any time. Brown’s dazzling rushes enlivened many a dark late autumn Sunday afternoon in the 1960s in Yankee stadium in epic games between his Cleveland Browns and the Tittle-to-Shofner New York Giants.

Brown is 72 now, but he still has the charisma of his more youthful days. He was in Rhode Island last week to attend the annual fundraising dinner held by the local chapter of the ALS Association, which raises money for research on the fatal disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the famed Yankee slugger.

Brown, a Syracuse lacrosse and football standout, was in the state at the invitation of his old friend, former House Speaker John B. Harwood, of Pawtucket. When Harwood was speaker, Brown came to the State House to talk about his work with inner-city youth gang members.

Seated at Harwood’s table at least week’s event was former Gov. Lincoln Almond and his wife, Marilyn Almond.

Almond said in an interview that he was glad to see Harwood again and hear Brown.

“It was great to see the governor again,” said Harwood. “He looks great,” a reference to all the weight the burly Almond has shed since leaving the State House in 2003.

Harwood said his connection to Brown was forged via New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Belichick was a fraternity brother at Wesleyan University of William Devereaux, the prominent lawyer and lobbyist who is a lifelong friend of Harwood. “I know him through the Billy Devereaux connection,” said Harwood.

Reed, Whitehouse, Patrick Kennedy reap honors

Three members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation have been recognized for various contributions to American medicine.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse won laurels from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society last week for his efforts to legislate and lobby for high-tech improvements to the medical system. Specifically, the society cited a Whitehouse bill to develop an information technology network for health care. It also noted his call for the removal of a federal ban on electronic prescriptions for controlled substances.

“A tsunami of health care cost is sweeping down on us, inevitably, as baby boomers age and costs increase. We must act now to avert a fiscal crisis,” Whitehouse said in a news release. “Health information technology holds the key to a more efficient, more effective health care system in this country.”

Over the weekend, Sen. Jack Reed and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy were honored for their advocacy work by the Diabetes Foundation of Rhode Island. The group recognized the two legislators, as well as Deputy Secretary of State Paul Caranci, at its yearly Sugar Ball, held in Smithfield. “With rapidly growing levels of diabetes and obesity, especially among our nation’s children, it is imperative that organizations such as the Diabetes Foundation of Rhode Island continue to educate the public about the disease of diabetes, its prevention, and ultimately, its treatment,” Kennedy said.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com