The Thursday Blowup

The legislative session ended with a walkout yesterday when House Republicans refused to return from caucus after House Speaker Pat Bauer got a bit too liberal with his application of House rules. This blowup was brewing all day long.

The shredding of the House rule book began when Rep. Dave Crooks, who we here at FH just love, convened the House Commerce, Energy, and Utilities Committee without the necessary quorum to conduct business, a blatant violation of House rules. As for the walkout, here's the part you won't read in this morning's Star.

The walkout was triggered when House Speaker Pat Bauer refused to consider the committee report for SB 335, the immigration bill. Committee reports reflect changes made to legislation. Until the reports are adopted, the bills cannot be considered by the full House. Yesterday was the last day to pass a committee report or the bill was dead. Bauer refused to call SB 335 because Rep. Eric Turner filed a minority committee report that would have included language in the bill to restrict public benefits for illegal immigrants, an issue democrats don't agree with but would be forced for political reasons to support if it came to a vote.

Bauer basically pulled a bait and switch on the House Republicans by choosing to kill SB 335 and amend its contents into SB 345, even though it was clearly not germane to the original bill. House rules require that amendments on the floor be germane to the subject matter of the legislation. Further, the amendment to SB 345 was in a bill pending before the House, SB 335. Amending the contents of a bill pending before the House into another bill on the floor is a violation of House rules.

This procedural move allowed Bauer to protect his caucus from having to vote on the Turner report. Bauer poked the House Republicans in the eye once more by recessing session instead of adjourning. This prevents anyone from filing additional amendments to SB 345 and debating the immigrant benefits provisions. Ironically, if anyone does try to address this issue at the podium on Monday, Bauer will likely cite House rules that require debate to focus on the bill being considered.

It's hard to tell who will come out on top of this politically. At the end of the day the original immigration bill will surely pass in some form so in the mind of the public the issue will have been addressed. However, Bauer didn't earn any friends or set the stage for a conciliatory final three weeks of session with his blatant disregard for House rules. It always makes for good political theater, but usually poor public policy and the people's confidence in their legislature is always damaged on days like this. Original Article by FH From Frugal Hoosiers