Fifteen years ago, the Rules Committees in the Utah House and Senate were closed affairs where members were not allowed to even talk about what went on in the mysterious committees.

No more.

First, the committees opened their meetings. And this year, the new House Rules Committee chairman, Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, has allowed minority Democrats on the committee to pick the same number of bills as their GOP counterparts to send out for debate.

"I'm pleasantly surprised," says Rep. Neal Hendrickson, D-West Valley, both of Urquhart's personal approach and the way the important panel is being run under his direction.

"Steve called me up before the session started and told me what he was planning and asked my opinion. I've been on that committee every session for a decade. No other Republican chairman ever called me or asked my opinion."

Urquhart said he came up with a new way to run the Rules Committee by himself, ran it past House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and other GOP leaders and then struck out on his own. "I believe the leaders have faith, trust me on this," said Urquhart, who last year was the majority whip but lost his race to step up to majority leader this year and was appointed rules chairman by Curtis.

History has shown that Democrats on the Rules Committees have often been treated as second-class legislators. When they tried to put a Democrat-sponsored bill on the list to be sent out for hearings or later in the session to be sent out for floor debate and votes, they've routinely been questioned — and many Democratic bills died as the committee's GOP majority voted them down.

Under Urquhart, each legislator on the eight-member committee (six Republicans and two Democrats) gets to pick a certain number of bills to be considered for debate. The bill list is provided to members before the meeting (in the past, Rules Committee members saw the list as they walked into the room). Each committee member is even given a color code, so Urquhart, through his committee's Web site, knows each member is keeping up with his assignments.

Urquhart's actions "gives every member here some real power," said committee member Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake. "It is much easier to get Democrats' bills out now" for a hearing.

Of course, Republicans on the committee can easily out-vote the two Democrats.

"They can pull stuff (bills) off the list, and have," said Biskupski. "But this year has been much less hostile (in the committee) than in years past."

And Urquhart is praised for that.

"I take some pride in how I've run other committees up here," said Urquhart, who was first elected in 2000. "I like to protect all members' rights — we are all elected, Republicans and Democrats, by constituents."