Let’s start with a bit of trivia dedicated to other “One Fifths”:
1. One fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz every day.
2. One fifth of all mammals are bats.
3. One fifth of students age 11 to 18 say they have been cyberbullied.
4. One fifth of grandparents use social media.
5. One fifth of my constituents read my blog every night.
Now you decide which “one fifth” of the comments above is not true.
OK, on to more serious legislative issues, I’ve had several people email and ask me to explain more specifically about how the legislative process works. So, I’m dedicating a little space here tonight to share what a Committee meeting is like.
Each legislator serves as a member on two Standing committees and one Appropriations committee. In the House there are usually about 10-12 members on each of those committees and there are few in the Senate because they are smaller in number. There is a chair and co-chair for each committee and they are assigned by the Speaker of the House. They run the meetings, set the agenda, and oversee the bills that get assigned to be heard in their committee. I currently serve as the vice-chair for the Political Subdivisions Committee.
Appropriations Committees are tasked with setting budget priorities for their area. In the state of Utah we are required by state law to balance the budget. Over the past several years this has been a difficult challenge because of the recession. A unique challenge is facing us this year as we anticipate a small revenue surplus and find ourselves having the chance to determine where to best place that revenue.
Standing Committees hear debate on bills that relate to their area. Every bill has a sponsor who is either a member of the House or the Senate. The bill will first be presented to the committee for the chamber of the sponsor (House committee for a House sponsor for instance) and then if it passes out it will be heard in the opposite body for their vote. The sponsor presents the basic idea of the bill to the committee, the members of the committee can ask clarifying questions, members of the public are invited to comment, debate and further questions from the committee to the bill sponsor, and then motions are taken to pass out the bill with a favorable recommendation. Depending on the vote tally the bill will either pass out, fail, get held, or the committee may decide to move onto the next item on the agenda. That means the bill has not died, is still retained by the committee chair, and can be brought back to the committee or additional presentation at a later meeting. A tie vote means the bill will not pass out. The committee chair determines if the vote is taken by a raise of hands, a voice vote of yea/nay, or a roll call vote where members state their vote when their name is called. Sometimes bills that seem really simple can actually take up quite a bit of time with thoughtful and detailed questions, and other times you can spend less time on a bill with a lot of significance because the sponsor has done so much work with committee members on an individual basis answering questions in advance of the meeting. The pictures above are from the Education Committee this afternoon where Rep. John Dougall was presenting a bill allowing students and parents to determine the best place for their technical education to take place. The current law states that the school district will make that choice. It was a pretty simple, only four line bill, that basically empowered parents and their students to have some educational choice.
That is the work of the legislative committee. Next week I’ll describe the next phase of the legislative process, the floor debate and include some photos from the House chamber.
