House loosens rules about Rules Committee

The House Rules Committee has moved back to allow its members to send bills to specific standing committees for a hearing.

According to several Republicans on the committee — and House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy — Democratic members of the Rules Committee were complaining too much and using the committee for political reasons.

For a time, Curtis and Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, had basically taken over control of the committee's usual work. Curtis and Urquhart decided which bills would be considered for a public hearing (a few bills were added by majority vote on the committee), no bills were removed from that list by the committee, and Curtis and Urquhart decided which committee each will would be sent to.

But the tight controls have been lessened a bit.

The list is still put together by Curtis and Urquhart. But Rules members officially send the different bills to specific standing committees for a public hearing. And bills can be added to the list, even by the two minority party Democrats on the six-member committee — as was done by Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake.

Asked why the change, Urquhart said that putting all control in his and Curtis' hands was cumbersome and letting the committee members decide which standing committees would hear which bills "made the work flow easier." Additionally, the hard control method was just an "experiment" which is now over.

However, a GOP source on the committee said Curtis and Urquhart decided to let the committee vote on which bills went to which standing committee because the two Democrats had stopped complaining or making trouble.

"It has been very polite, very quiet" in the Rules Committee, said one GOP legislator.