Fri, 2010-04-09 17:02
We keep having bills of interest like the state sovereignty bill killed in committee. How does the committee system work? I am quickly discovering that our state and federal congress voting doesn't resemble what I was taught in school. Can anyone explain what is happening?
Well OKCmom, the pat answer is this: Every committee has a chairman and vice-chairman. Every chairman on any House committee is appointed by the Speaker of the House (Chris Benge) http://www.okhouse.gov/Documents/Rules/52/RULE%20ONE.pdf.
This is the same on the Senate side, where the Senate Pro Temp appoints the chairs and vice-chairs (Glenn Coffee) http://www.oksenate.gov/publications/senate_rules.pdf.
The House membership select the Speaker of the House and the Senate membership select the Senate Pro Temp.
I think you should be getting the idea now...If the Pro Temp or the Speaker of the House don't want something done, they just say, "Don't do it" and because the committee chairs and vice-chairs are appointed by them, they tend to dance with the date that brung 'em - if you get my drift.
And so...Chris Benge and Glenn Coffee have never had any intention of allow property tax reduction bills to go before the House or Senate and CERTAINLY not to a vote of the people, so they keep telling their committee chairs to kill the bills before committee.
And so it goes and now I need to take a bath - as I always do when discussing politics for any length of time!