THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN ...

20 THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: AN EVALUATION AND BLUEPRINT FOR REFORM
FIGURE 8
NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR
RULES COMMITTEES IN
PROFESSIONAL LEGISLATURES
■
IS RULES COMMITTEE EXEMPTED FROM
NOTICE REQUIREMENT?
STATE BODY YES
California House
California Senate
Illinois House X
Illinois Senate X
Massachusetts House
Massachusetts Senate
Michigan House
Michigan Senate
New Jersey House
New Jersey Senate
New York House X
New York Senate X
Ohio House
Ohio Senate
Pennsylvania House
Pennsylvania Senate
Wisconsin House
Wisconsin Senate
Testimonial evidence confirms these findings. One Assembly staff member characterized
committee votes as “pro forma”: the chair usually signals his or her recommendation
before the meeting; if a majority member has a different opinion,
the protocol is to contact the chair before the meeting and resolve the issue so
that, in practice, the chair’s recommendation is never voted down. 130 Similarly, in
the Senate little debate or dissent occurs in committee meetings; the committee’s
vote is usually a rubber stamp for the chair’s position. 131
■■■THE RULES COMMITTEES
No discussion of committees’ reporting of bills is complete without an understanding
of the role played by the committees on rules in each chamber in New
York State. Chaired by the Speaker in the Assembly and the Majority Leader in
the Senate, 132 these committees have effectively controlled the true flow of legislation
to the floor for at least a century.
These committees’ control takes slightly different forms in the Assembly and the
Senate, but is essentially complete in both houses. First, in the Assembly the committee
on rules determines the order of the bills reported by standing committees
on the legislative calendar, while in the Senate the Majority Leader (i.e., the chair
of the rules committee) exercises parallel authority through his “starring” powers,
as discussed below. 133 Regardless of a bill’s origins, therefore, the committees on
rules control whether and when the full chamber votes on a bill. Second, the
Assembly’s committee on rules can introduce legislation and refer the same to the
appropriate standing committee for consideration. 134 In the Senate, the committee
on rules “shall have the authority to introduce and refer bills to itself.” 135 In
other words, by using these rules committees, the Speaker and Majority Leader
need not depend substantively upon the standing committees for the bills they
choose to bring to the floor. Third, throughout the legislative session, standing
committees in both chambers often refer bills to the rules committees rather than
directly to the floor. 136 In the Senate, on or after the second Thursday in May,
“[a]ll committee reports . . . shall be made directly to the Committee on Rules”
rather than to the full chamber. 137 Finally, in both chambers the committees on
rules can discharge a bill from a standing committee to itself at any time – in the
words of the Senate Minority Counsel, the rules committee can “just pluck a bill
out of committee” and report it itself. 138 In short, when it matters most during the
latter part of the legislative session, the committees on rules become the gatekeepers
for all bills to be considered by the full chamber.
Unlike other committees, moreover, these committees can meet at the leaders’
discretion, without formal notice, 139 an exemption expressly granted in only 16
other chambers nationwide. 140 Among professional legislative chambers, the
Illinois Senate and House are the only chambers besides New York’s that exempt
their rules committees from such a meeting notice requirement. 141 See Fig. 8. In
addition, New York’s rules committees virtually never meet in any event; instead,
the Speaker and Majority Leader and their respective staff simply act on behalf