It's the fourth week of the General Assembly -- do you know where your state senator is?

Don't look for him or her in the Senate chamber; senators haven't been there much lately.

For the second consecutive week, the Senate is meeting in "perfunctory session" on Tuesday and Thursday.

Translation: The Senate itself is not actually convening, although many of its committees and subcommittees are.

On Wednesday the entire Senate convened in regular session for the first time since the previous Wednesday, when senators met for about 40 minutes.

"We just haven't had anything on the calendar that was keeping us there for anything other than introductions" of guests, said state Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens.

That's fine, said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, if the Senate doesn't have enough to do right now.

But he wants to know why senators won't support his bill that would shorten the annual legislative session.

The House unanimously approved the measure last month to start the legislative session a month later in odd-numbered years. That would mean convening in February instead of January. Sessions in even-numbered years would still begin in January.

The General Assembly works on a two-year cycle. Odd-numbered years are always the first year; even-numbered years are the second.

In even-numbered years, bills that did not pass the year before keep their status and can be debated on the floor of the House or Senate immediately. In odd-numbered years, however, all legislation starts from scratch and must go through committee in most cases.

According to the Office of State Budget, the bill could save the state up to $300,000 in each odd-numbered year.

The bill would allow committees to meet in January and early February of odd-numbered years, so that when the full Legislature returns in February, there are bills ready to be debated.

"What it underscores is the fact that the first couple of weeks of every session there are no bills on the calendar," Wilkins said. "So it's necessary for the committees to work."

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, opposes the idea of a shorter session. And since he's the most powerful senator, that means the bill will most likely not pass the Senate.

"We don't need the House of Representatives telling us how to do our business just like we don't tell the House how to do their business," McConnell said.

Still, McConnell has introduced legislation that would allow either body not to meet for up to 30 days each session. It would also eliminate the rule that prevents either body from meeting for more than three days if the other body is not also meeting. It's known as the "three-day rule."

"We're trying to build more flexibility into the rules," McConnell said.

Wilkins' bill, and others like it, have passed the House each of the past several years only to die in the Senate.

The House has managed to send several major pieces of legislation to the Senate in the first few weeks of the session.

Campaign finance reform, a labor-management relations bill, and several others have been sent to the Senate.

Although the Senate isn't meeting on Tuesday and Thursday, senators are paid for those days if they attend committee meetings.

On Tuesday, every senator had at least one committee meeting. Some had several. Today, all but five senators have committee meetings.

Don't think senators aren't still working hard, said state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington.

"I was leery of the perfunctory session at first, too," said Knotts, who supported the shorter-session bills when he was in the House. "But we work harder during perfunctory session, meeting in committees pushing bills through."