More partisanship in House Rules Committee

But several Republicans on Rules said that Biskupski, one of the three openly gay members of the Legislature, has continually been pushing Democratic-sponsored bills in Rules that could prove embarrassing to some Republicans in this election year, including several anti-discrimination bills dealing with nontraditional relationships.

"Jackie has been doing her job, doing it well — looking out for (Democratic-sponsored) bills," said House Minority Whip Dave Litvack, D-Salt Lake.

One Republican on Rules said he preferred the old way Rules was run by Urquhart. Even though some Democratic bills probably would have to be killed in a Rules public vote, "it gave everyone on Rules a chance to put a bill on the agenda — we all had a say. Now Rules will be totally partisan. And that is OK, understandable, but unfortunate it has to be that way."

Any Rules committee members can still raise their hand, and if recognized by Urquhart, can make a motion to add or remove any bill from the list. However, sometimes motions are made and voted on before other committee members can make a motion. If a controversial bill were already on the list, a motion must be made to take it off.

And even if a controversial bill makes it on the final Rules list, Curtis and Urquhart can send it to a standing committee where it may likely be killed.

For example, several years ago, Rules sent that session's controversial public school voucher bill to the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Standing Committee instead of the Education Committee — the logical choice for the hearing — because GOP leaders knew the Education Committee would kill the bill and that Natural Resource Committee members would vote it out for a full vote on the House floor.

---

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com