Demo wants committee closed to the public

Rules panels have been open for at least 10 years

Rep. Neal Hendrickson's idea carries some irony with it since it has been legislative Democrats — 25 years in the minority — who have tried to make an election issue out of the majority Republicans closing their caucus meetings.

By legislative rule, both party caucuses and the House and Senate rules committees can be closed by a vote of each group's members.

But by practice, both houses' rules committees have been open for at least 10 years, maybe longer.

"I personally want to keep it open," the House rules chairman, Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, said following an open Rules Committee Wednesday afternoon where Hendrickson, a Rules Committee member, made his suggestion. "But we'll discuss it" with other committee members at a later date, Urquhart added. The 2008 Legislature starts Monday, and the House Rules Committee will meet at least once a day, sometimes more often than that.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said while a debate may come, "I personally prefer our Rules (Committee) remain open, and I will vehemently oppose closing it. I think I can say that Rules will remain open — as it has for some time."

House Minority Assistant Whip David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, said House minority leaders also don't believe the Rules Committee should be closed. "We stand for more transparency in government. Neal has his own ideas, and we don't tell our caucus members what to do. But (a closed Rules Committee) does not make for good decision-making."

The House and Senate rules committees are some of the most powerful committees in the Legislature. Most of the time they meet as sifting committees, where members decided whether proposed bills will go to a standing committee for a public hearing, or will die a quiet death.

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the rules committees met in secret behind closed doors. It was even outlawed for a committee member or staffer to talk about what went on in committee, and a legislator could be kicked off the committee and brought before an ethics committee for violating the oath of secrecy.

Hendrickson, D-West Valley, is one of two Democrats on the House Rules Committee. There are six Republicans on it.

In the old days of closed rules committees, wheeler-and-dealer members of both bodies were put on the committees where various secret agreements were made about whether this or that controversial bill would be killed or let out for a public hearing. And those committee members were some of the most powerful lawmakers in the Legislature.

In recent years, any House or Senate member may come into an open Rules Committee and stare down committee members voting to hold up his bill and not letting it out for debate. And that kind of pressure is warping the sifting process, some legislators complain.

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