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GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Legislative Committees and How They Work
When a bill is introduced in the House of Representatives or the Senate, it is sent to a committee that deals with its particular issue. At committee meetings, the members consider and make recommendations on those bills. Committees are appointed by the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader and are organized according to subject matter.

There are 23 permanent House committees and 22 permanent Senate committees. These "standing" committees are of various sizes and are appointed for two-year periods. The Appropriations Committees are subdivided in subcommittees where bills with monetary implications are assigned for discussion, analysis and revision before being presented to the full committee for action. There are 19 House appropriations subcommittees and 16 Senate appropriations subcommittees.

When a bill is referred to a standing committee, the members have a choice in the actions they may take: report a bill with a favorable recommendation, or without recommendation; report a bill with amendments, with or without recommendation; report a substitute bill in place of the original bill; report a bill and recommend that it be referred to another committee; or take no action on a bill (committees are not required to "report out" a bill).

In some cases a committee may arbitrarily refuse to report out a bill, this situation can be remedied by a motion to "discharge the committee from further consideration of the bill.", which if approved by a majority of members, means the bill is placed on the order of Second Reading in the House or General Orders in the Senate.

As a general rule, all standing committee meetings are open to the public. Most committee business is conducted during the meeting and most committee action requires the approval of a majority of those appointed and serving on the committee.

Another type of committee is the joint committee. Several of these are established by statute. These committees, like standing committees, are appointed for two-year periods, but membership consists of both Representatives and Senators.