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To paraphrase Woodrow Wilson, the work of a legislature is
done in its committees. A committee is a group of persons chosen by the
presiding officer to perform specific functions. Committees date from the
1600s.
Speaker Dan Webster incorporated "councils" as part of a
larger revision of the House Rules adopted at the 1996 Organization
Session. Their purpose was to oversee legislative policy-making for
committees with certain jurisdictions. Councils have existed in
some form in all succeeding terms except for 2002-2004.
The number of councils and committees and their names
change with virtually every biennial leadership. The name usually
describes the council's or committee's policy jurisdiction. The
name and number of councils and committees are part of the rules the
House and Senate adopt during Organization Session.
The Speaker shall appoint the chair, the vice chair, and
all members for each standing council and committee as well as each
conference committee, select committee, joint committee, and joint
select committee.
Councils have committee groups within them. A council is
composed of House members appointed by the Speaker to direct the
development of policy within a wider jurisdiction than that of a
standing committee.
Bills, upon filing or introduction, may be referred by the
Speaker to a council. A council chair, after receipt of a referred
bill, may refer the bill to one or more committees within the
council.
A council may report a House bill unfavorably, favorably,
or favorably with a council substitute. A council may report a
Senate bill favorably, favorably with amendment(s), or unfavorably.
A council may introduce a council substitute embracing the
same general subject matter of one or more bills in possession of
the council.
Standing committees are those with a continuing authority
to consider matters within their subject field, including bills
filed by members of the House.
A standing committee may report a bill unfavorably,
favorably, favorably with amendment(s), or, in the case of a House
bill, favorably with recommended council substitute.
Select committees are created for the purpose of dealing
with a specific and usually rather narrow situation. Unlike
standing committees that continue in existence for the duration of
the term, a select committee usually goes out of existence when the
purpose for which it was created has been accomplished. Often a
select committee will be an interim committee, meaning it will do
its work between regular sessions of the Legislature.
A conference committee is actually two committees, one
appointed by the House Speaker and the other by the Senate President
to resolve differences on a specific piece of legislation. A
majority of the members of the committee from each house must agree
before a conference committee report may be submitted to the Senate
and the House. Neither house is obligated to accept the report, but
they usually do since the alternative could be the failure of the
legislation for that session. Amendments may not be offered to the
conference report and the report must be accepted or rejected in its
entirety.
Joint committees are composed of House and Senate members
and sometimes include non-legislators. They do not have the power
to introduce or act on legislation. Their primary purpose is often
administrative but will, on occasion, involve policy matters.
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