The Arkansas House on Wednesday approved its rules after a debate that showcased some members' dissatisfaction with the chamber's new committee-selection process.
The House rules are among the first matters of business considered by the body every two years when it convenes for regular sessions, and they're historically approved without substantial dissent.
House Resolution 1001 by Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, passed with eight dissenting votes (three Republicans and five Democrats).
Reps. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, and Gayla McKenzie, R-Gravette, spoke against the measure. The current committee selection process, which is completed entirely by the speaker, concentrates too much power in one person, the two Northwest Arkansas Republicans said.
"We have given a tremendous amount of power, that really truly isn't ours to give, to one single person," Della Rosa said. "I really like Speaker Shepherd, and I probably ended up with better committee assignments than I probably would've gotten under the original system, so I'm probably harming myself. But I agree it's the process that needs to change."
Traditionally, representatives picked their own committee assignments based on seniority, but the House voted to change its rules in 2017 that vested that power in the speaker. The rules took effect in this session.
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Republicans pushed for the rule change two years ago after Democrats briefly gained control of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, despite being the minority party.
In addition to taking away members' power to choose their committee assignments, the rule change also postponed when members learned which committees they'd serve upon.
Before the change, members met to choose committees the day after the November election. This year, the first under the new rule, members learned of their committee assignments on Monday -- the first day of the regular session.
Shepherd said that McKenzie and Della Rosa raised fair concerns, and he said he was open to rule changes. However, he encouraged members to go ahead and pass HR1001 on Wednesday and bring back any changes later in the session.
Wednesday's vote required a simple majority -- 51 votes -- while any rule changes later this year will require a two-thirds majority -- 67 votes.
Shepherd said that a higher vote threshold would ensure that any changes could stand the test of time.
"That [committee] selection process has been fairly controversial and hotly debated," Shepherd said. "So my preference would be, with regard to further changes, yes it's a higher vote threshold, but I think that's going to help ensure that we're not in a situation where we have a rule change pass by 51-49 vote and continue to have further discussion."
In addition to a higher vote threshold, Rep. Charles Blake, D-Little Rock, also noted that any rule changes would have to go through the House Rules Committee before going before the House floor, so the scope of any changes would be determined by that committee instead of the House as a whole.
Shepherd said he was "too close to the process at this point" to say whether the committee selection rule should be changed. Shepherd has said that he's spent about 50 hours over the past several months and met with every representative to generate the best possible committee rosters.
Shepherd did say that several members are drafting proposed changes to the rule, but he noted that the committee selection process for this Legislature has already occurred. Any rule changes would apply to the 93rd General Assembly, which will convene in 2021.
A Section on 01/17/2019