H.R. 2

1

HOUSE RULES RESOLUTION ON COMMITTEE
2 ORGANIZATION AND SELECTIONS
3 2012 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Chief Sponsor: John Dougall
6
7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This rules resolution modifies procedures for appointing, selecting, and replacing
10 committee members and chairs.
11 Highlighted Provisions:
12 This resolution:
13 . provides procedures for assigning membership to standing committees and
14 appropriations subcommittees to members of the House of Representatives;
15 . defines requirements for committee membership, both in number of members and
16 the partisan makeup of committees;
17 . provides procedures for representatives to give notice of committee preferences;
18 . defines terms;
19 . provides procedures for the selection of House committee members for House
20 standing committees and appropriations subcommittees;
21 . provides procedures for appointing House members to the Retirement and
22 Independent Ethics Committee;
23 . provides procedures for the appointment of House standing committee and
24 appropriations subcommittee chairs;
25 . provides procedures for calling and conducting organizational meetings for
26 committees; and
27 . provides procedures for replacement of House standing committee and

28 appropriations subcommittee members and chairs.
29 Special Clauses:
30 This resolution provides an effective date.
31 Legislative Rules Affected:
32 AMENDS:
33 HR3-2-201
34 ENACTS:
35 HR3-2-201.5
36
37 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the state of Utah:
38 Section 1. HR3-2-201 is amended to read:
39 HR3-2-201. House Standing Committees.
40 (1) [The Speaker shall appoint the] Members of the House of Representatives shall
41 serve on the following standing committees[, including appointing a chair and vice-chair]:
42 (a) Business and Labor;
43 (b) Education;
44 (c) Government Operations;
45 (d) Health and Human Services;
46 (e) House Rules;
47 (f) Judiciary;
48 (g) Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice;
49 (h) Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment;
50 (i) Political Subdivisions;
51 (j) Public Utilities and Technology;
52 (k) Revenue and Taxation;
53 (l) Transportation; [and]
54 (m) Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development[.]; and
55 [(2) The members of the Retirement and Independent Entities Committee created in
56 Utah Code Section 63E-1-201 who are appointed from the House of Representatives are a
57 standing committee.]
58 (n) Retirement and Independent Entities Committee, as provided in Utah Code Section

59 63E-1-201 .
60 (2) Each committee shall have a maximum of 15 and a minimum of seven members.
61 Section 2. HR3-2-201.5 is enacted to read:
62 HR3-2-201.5. Selection of House Members for Service on Committees -- Selection
63 of Chairs -- Vacancies.
64 (1) (a) Following each regular general election, the speaker of the House of
65 Representatives shall assign each representative to:
66 (i) at least one House standing committee, as listed in HR3-2-201; and
67 (ii) one appropriations subcommittee, as listed in JR3-2-302.
68 (b) The speaker shall have the discretion to appoint a representative to more than one
69 House standing committee and more than one appropriations subcommittee.
70 (2) The speaker shall make committee assignments according to the following
71 procedures:
72 (a) on each committee or subcommittee, the speaker shall appoint members of the
73 majority and minority parties in a proportion approximately equal to the proportion of majority
74 and minority parties in the House of Representatives as a whole, as that proportion exists
75 according to the results of the regular general election occurring immediately before selections
76 are made under this section;
77 (b) on or before November 15, the speaker shall send to each representative a
78 committee rotation list, showing the committees that meet during each time block;
79 (c) on or before December 1, each representative shall submit to the speaker:
80 (i) a list of every committee and subcommittee described in Subsection (1), ranked in
81 order of the representative's preference;
82 (ii) a statement as to whether the representative is interested in serving on more than
83 one House standing committee; and
84 (iii) a statement as to whether the representative is interested in serving on more than
85 one appropriations subcommittee; and
86 (d) (i) subject to Subsection (2)(d)(iii), the speaker shall, using a round-robin selection
87 method, assign each representative to a committee or subcommittee based upon each
88 representative's ranked preference starting with the representative having the highest seniority,
89 as determined under Subsection (3), and continuing through the member having the lowest

90 seniority, and repeating round-robin rounds as necessary to assign those members to
91 committees as provided in Subsection (1)(a);
92 (ii) when making round-robin assignments, if the number of representatives requesting
93 assignment to a particular committee exceeds the number of members permitted on that
94 committee or the number of members of that party permitted on that committee due to
95 majority/minority requirements, that member shall be assigned to the member's next
96 highest-ranked committee;
97 (iii) the speaker shall assign each representative that did not submit a ranked list to a
98 House standing committee and an appropriations subcommittee of the speaker's choice after the
99 speaker has made the round-robin selection;
100 (iv) the speaker may choose to appoint representatives to additional committees
101 consistent with the requirements of this section, except that the speaker may, but is not required
102 to consider, preference rankings or representatives' requests for service on additional
103 committees when making selections under this Subsection (2)(d)(iv); and
104 (v) the speaker shall publish the committee and subcommittee assignments on or
105 before December 15.
106 (3) For the purposes of this section:
107 (a) seniority shall be determined by the total number of months of service in the House
108 of Representatives, whether that service is interrupted or uninterrupted;
109 (b) calculation of seniority shall not include consideration of service in the Utah
110 Senate; and
111 (c) if members have the same seniority based on the above calculations, seniority
112 among those members shall be determined by random selection that is newly generated each
113 time appointments are made under this section.
114 (4) When making appointments to the Retirement and Independent Entities Committee
115 under Utah Code Section 63E-1-201 , the speaker shall:
116 (a) appoint those representatives selected under the requirements and procedures of this
117 section to the committee; and
118 (b) designate the representative who is chosen by a vote of a majority of the
119 representatives appointed to the committee as House cochair.
120 (5) When making appointments to an appropriations subcommittee under JR3-2-302,

121 the speaker shall:
122 (a) appoint those representatives selected under the requirements of this section to each
123 subcommittee; and
124 (b) appoint the representatives who were chosen by a vote of a majority of the
125 representatives appointed to the subcommittee as chair and vice-chair.
126 (6) (a) On or before January 15, the speaker shall call meetings of all of the House
127 standing committees and appropriations subcommittees in order to organize the committees.
128 (b) At the organizational meeting the committee shall, by a majority vote:
129 (i) select a chair for the committee; and
130 (ii) select a vice-chair for the committee.
131 (c) The speaker shall appoint a temporary committee chair for the purpose of
132 commencing the meeting and conducting the votes for chair and vice-chair.
133 (7) If a member of a committee ceases to serve due to resignation, death, or other
134 discontinuation of service in the Legislature, the person replacing that representative shall take
135 the representative's place on the committee:
136 (a) if that member is the chair of a standing committee, the standing committee shall
137 select a new chair and vice-chair by a majority vote;
138 (b) if that member is a vice-chair of a standing committee, the standing committee shall
139 select a new vice-chair by a majority vote;
140 (c) if that member is the House chair of an appropriations subcommittee, the House
141 members of the subcommittee shall select a new chair and vice-chair by a majority vote; and
142 (d) if that member is the House vice-chair of an appropriations subcommittee, the
143 House members of that subcommittee shall select a new vice-chair by a majority vote.
144 Section 3. Effective date.
145 This resolution takes effect upon approval by a constitutional majority vote of all
146 members of the House of Representatives on November 1, 2012.




Legislative Review Note
as of 2-22-12 1:24 PM

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel