Thursday & Friday, March 10 & 11

The collective bargaining bill was debated Wednesday afternoon/evening, Thursday morning/afternoon/evening, and Friday morning.  When I walked in the chamber in the morning, there were nineteen reps waiting to talk on an amendment to an amendment.  Finally, the Majority Leader made a motion to debate only until noon and then force the voting of the remaining amendments and the bill itself without any debate.  Many of the amendments were declared out of order, and the Speaker even had the power to simply declare an amendment not germane.  It was amazing to me that something like this can be done, but I've been told that the majority party can do almost anything they want.  If they have 51 votes.

Here's how it goes.  The clerk calls up the amendment: "Amendment H-0000 by Hunter (Democrat) of Polk (County)." Then the Speaker says "The gentleman from Polk moves the adoption of amendment H-0000.  Those in favor will say 'aye'. Those opposed say 'no'.  The no's appear to have it; the no's do have it.  The amendment fails."

Here's the amazing thing.  The Democrats, who want the amendment to pass, scream "AYE" at the top of their lungs so the AYE is louder than the NO.  Then the Republicans, the majority, give a half-hearted "no", which is obviously not as loud as the "AYE".  That's when the Speaker says "the no's appear to have it; the no's do have it."  Even though the no's really didn't.  But the thing of it is that if they vote individually (when it shows on the board), the no's will always have more than 50 votes.

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Then the most amazing thing of my whole entire experience happened.  After the final vote of this bill itself, Representative Murphy was granted a "point of personal privilege."  He told the chamber that this morning, the switchboard was empty, and he checked it several times throughout the morning: still empty.  Then, at 11:55 am, five minutes before the forced voting began, he finally saw a page at the switchboard.  By this time, he was yelling (YELLING) and his last words were at the top of his lungs: SHAME ON YOU! I assume he was not referring to the page.  That page was me.  

It was his third point of personal privilege in his 22 years as a representative.

Wednesday, March 9

In the morning, HF 453, HF 321, HF 324, HF 389, HF 393, HF 405, and HF 406 were all passed.  After caucuses and lunch, debate began at 2:00 for HF 525.  This is the big-deal-collective-bargaining bill for which there are now 100+ amendments.  By 4:00, we were on the third amendment (and the first two weren't even debated).  It will be a long night of debate.

Topics have ranged from feces on rest area floors, to the "Hello, this is Peggy" credit card commercials, to a story about a convict who escaped with the help of a private sector guard and killed two people.  Point of order.

After the first hour or so, the previously-full galleries had thinned out after everyone realized the bill wasn't going to be passed today.

The third amendment, H-1177, was debated.  It says that 1) if a public employee is being laid off, their manager must give them reasonable notice, and 2) they must give a reason why.  The amendment, brought forth by the Democrats, seems good to me, but the Republicans argue that any reasonable employer would do this anyway, so they're not going to mandate it.  And after four hours of debate it finally failed 42-50.

Tuesday, March 8

Today I accomplished several more tasks.  For instance, a seating chart underneath the glass on the desk is now color-coded for each party.  How handy!  In the afternoon debate began. SF 209, HF 148, HF 186, HF 212, HF 254*, HF 268, and HF 535 were debated and passed.  HF 254 was brought forth by Iverson; it was the first time I've heard him talk on the floor.

For the second time, the issue of preschool was debated.  Way back in January, HF 45 was debated, and it took away funding for preschool.  Tonight, HF 535 created "preschool scholarships" for qualifying families.  THe Democrats argued that the bill "was a complete mess" and they asked Rep. Forristall countless questions about transportation to preschool, placement, and teacher qualifications.  It all is a very confusing program (which was put together by the governor's office).  Personally, I think the current system, while expensive, works well and I would like to see it tweaked instead of replaced.  I predict that  it will be confusing for parents and school districts to comply.  Lastly, as far as I can tell it even increased the government's involvement from what it has been.  In my ever-so-humble opinion, a better, more complete program can be produced.  It passed only 55-45; that means that five Republicans probably had the same thoughts I did and voted on the side of the Democrats.  I think this is the first time this has happened on a major vote.

But the bill is supposed to die (the majority leader won't let it be debated) in the Senate, so the hours of bickering like preschoolers were only for "going on the record".

Tomorrow will be a big day: the collective bargaining bill (HF 525) is being debated.  It has something like 97 (that's ninety-seven!!!) amendments.  Just imagine if all of them were passed---would there be a HF 525??  My expert prediction is that any amendment brought forth by a Republican will pass, and any amendment brought forth by a Democrat (unless it is a technical fix) will not pass.  The bill itself will pass.  Remember that the Majority Leader will only put a bill on the floor when she knows she has 51 votes to pass it.

Monday, March 7

As I've mentioned before, I am at the Sergeant-at-Arms desk.  While this may sound very important, it is actually... dull.  As a note is passed in from a lobbyist outside, it is put on the desk.  Then, I ring either the east or west page bell.  I also wait for the phone to "ring." I put ring in "quotations" because there is only a tiny light that flickers during an incoming call to alert me.  There wasn't a single call all day.  Or maybe there was, but I was tying my shoes.  What I accomplished was consolidating sticky notes, organizing the papers underneath the plastic top, peeling thousands of tiny, stubborn pieces of tape off of the desk, and straightening up the desk drawer (the little organizer is now taped to the bottom so it doesn't slide; there is a label for where the stapler goes; there are two push-pins for the holes in the scissors to be placed so it doesn't move...).  And I was even pushing the two buttons as I did all this!

Today there was a Lunch 'n Learn with Majority Whip Erik Helland.  His job is to make sure there are at least 51 votes for a bill before it reaches floor debate.  In other words, every single piece of legislation that will ever hit the floor will pass.  What the rep told me last week (Thursday) makes sense.

Speaking of passing bills, the House began doing a whole bunch of it today. HF 242, HF 348, HF 404, HF 465, HF 468, HF 474, and HF 494 were all debated and passed in 40 minutes.

If you want to think that sitting at the desk is important, go ahead. I won't stop you.

Thursday, March 3

The last day of my workweek was slow.  In the morning, HF 132, HF 299, HF 190, HF 363, and HF 271 were all passed with almost no debate.  Like I said before, click on them, read their titles, and read more if it seems interesting.  On Monday there is a public hearing on collective bargaining.  I am still unclear as to the details of it or to which house file it corresponds. 

Next week debate is scheduled each afternoon at 1:00 - it will be fun to listen to something while I'm at the Sergeant at Arms desk.  I talked with a legislator about his opinion on debate; he said that he believes it's essentially pointless because reps make up their minds on a bill while they're in caucus.  I suppose that's true.

Wednesday, March 2

Each week the Sergeant-at-Arms desk is staffed by a page.  Today the page supposed to be doing it was sick so I filled in for him.  Next week, I'll be at the desk.  All I have to do is wait for notes to come through the front door and ding the east or west bell depending on whether it's for an odd desk or an even desk.  The rest of the time I sit there and wait for a tiny light on the desk to light up which alerts me of a call coming through to the desk.  That doesn't happen very often.

This morning the House passed HF 290, HF 322, and HF 328.  Just click on them and read the title to see what they're about.

An amendment proposed by a Democrat this morning was declared not germane (not relating to the subject of the bill).  However, the Rules of the House (which state that amendments must be germane) can be suspended if 51 reps vote to do so.  If an amendment proposed by the Republicans is declared not germane, the Republicans have enough votes to suspend the rules, and they always do.  But, when the Democrats have a not-germane amendment and want to suspend the rules, the Republicans never let it pass.  Does this seem at all partisan?  It would be very frustrating.

Tuesday, March 1

This morning began a bit different.  We debated. Rather, the reps did.  Remember Thursday, January 27th's post? Part of it was this:


After debate, I sat in on a Veterans' Affairs meeting.  They passed a bill which gives National Guardsmen & -women the ability to sign over their share of custody/visitation to someone of their choosing if they are deployed.  The bill will now go to the floor of the house.


This morning this bill and several others were briefly debated and passed on the floor.  It was interesting to follow this bill through to the floor.


I staffed the environmental protection meeting.  They discussed updating the Code to reflect the current policies and practices such as the federal government taking charge of certain regulations.  The rest of the day was slow until 5:30 when they gaveled in and debated SF209, which is a 21-page bill regarding the IRS code.  Unfortunately, I have other plans, so I won't be able to listen to the debate on that one.