CHEYENNE — Legislative leaders recently adopted sweeping changes in the interim committee bill process that collapsed in the last session.
The need for readjustment has been blamed on the new power and ideology of the hard right Freedom Caucus which controls the house and half the senate.
The political question raised by the change is whether the majority of the management council, the administrative arm of the Legislature, voted for reform to spit in the eye of the caucus or for the genuine need to do something different.
I choose to belief in the need for change or maybe a bit of both. Anyway, it is an opportunity.
The leaders changed the rules for interim committees. Henceforth the committees are allowed to meet only four days during the period between regular sessions instead of six.
Two committees, revenue and corporations, are exempt from the new rule because of their assignment loads.
Any other committees who need more time can ask for permission from the management council.
Moreover, the motion from Senate Majority Chairman Tara Nethercott R-Cheyenne, gives committee chairman more authority to identify interim topics that need study. As a result, it diminishes the role of the management council
The new plan, if it plays out as envisioned, should save the state $152,500, according to various publications.
The council includes ten leaders from the house and senate. Currently the political ratio is eight Republicans and two Democrats.
One of the Democrats, Rep. Mike Yin of Jackson, supported Nethercott’s motion.
Yin said he thought the current system was “a little silly.” He said he had made the same motion in council meetings in past years; colleagues agreed but said they wanted to continue on as always regardless.
And the system is tortuous.
The first step is at the end of the general session when the committee chairmen in consultation with the members devise a list of studies and priorities with public input.
This list by letter goes to the management council, which then holds public hearings and finalizes the list for the committees.That meeting is lengthy going at least 12 hours, Nethercott said.
First of all, the original purpose of the management council as designed in the early 1970’s was to do only two things; be responsible for the Legislature’s budget and the oversight of the Legislative Service Office (LS0).
Yet like so many things in government, the council grew and began to expand its authority and muck into new areas. The council at one point did micromanage the interim process by changing priorities on bills
There was a lot of backlash over that.
But the council also did good things within its purvue.
Alarmed by the increasing number of bills filed several years ago, the council, through senate and house rules, put limits on the number of measures a single legislator could introduce.
That limit in the rules still restricts the senate to seven in the general session and three in the budget session. For the house the limit is five in the budget session and none in the general session
The latter is in recognition of the house members’ conviction that they are closest to the people because they have to face voters every two years.
Not all the council members embraced the new change.
Rep John Bear, R-Gillette, chairman of the appropriations committee, and Sen. Stephen Pappas, R-Cheyenne, chairman of the travel committee, were two who objected on grounds they doubted whether they could fulfill their assignments with four meetings days.
This movement is a big change or may be just another blip in Wyoming legislative history
Joan Barron can be reached at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
