Senate Bill 09-10-41
| Bill ID: | 09-10-41 |
| Name: | Review of Quorum Calculation in Senate Standing Committees |
| Proposed: | 04/13/2010 |
| Sponsor: | Staff Affairs Committee |
| Proposal: | The Staff Affairs Committee requested a review of the procedures for calculating quorum for Senate committees. |
| Active? | No |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 02/18/2011 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate |
| Received: | 2011-02-02 |
| Decision Date: | 2011-02-09 |
| Decision: | The Senate voted to approve the report. |
| Actions: | The Senate discussed the report at its 02/09/11 meeting and voted to approve the recommendations for changing the quorum calculation of large standing committees. |
| Next Step: | Presidential Approval |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2011-01-21 |
| Decision Date: | 2011-01-28 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to place the item on the February 9, 2011 Senate agenda. |
| Actions: | The SEC reviewed the report at its 1/28/11 meeting and voted to forward the recommendations to the Senate for consideration. |
| Next Step: | Senate Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Elections, Representation, & Governance (ERG) Committee |
| Received: | 2010-04-16 |
| Decision Date: | 2010-12-01 |
| Decision: | The ERG Committee voted to forward its recommendations to the SEC for consideration. |
| Actions: | Current quorum procedure for Standing Committees follows Robert's Rules; a quorum is 50% of the total number of members plus one. The committee decided that the fundamental issue is that many committees are failing to meet quorum for meetings, especially those committees with larger numbers. At the October 6, 2010 meeting the Committee recounted past attempts to revise the quorum requirements for committees that had failed to be adopted. The ERG Committee concluded that there are two possible solutions to the lack of quorum for the Standing Committees: either lower the quorum for the Standing Committees or allow for business to be conducted without a quorum present. Lowering the quorum in the Standing Committees was deemed the more favorable solution. The analysis presented at the November 3, 2010 meeting revealed that, if the quorum were dropped to 1/3 of the members, some Senate Committees could conduct business with very few members present. The ERG Committee also discussed whether it was appropriate for excused absences to be allowed on Standing Committees much like is done for the Senate. They also considered the method of quorum calculation for Senate meetings (Senate Bylaws 3.4.b), applied only on the Standing Committees of a certain size; the smaller committees would continue with the current practice. Neither of these solutions was deemed satisfactory. The conclusion was that there is no "one-size-fits all" solution. After the November meeting the ERG Committee voted via email to approve recommending tailoring the quorums for Standing Committees with 16 or more voting members. |
| Next Step: | SEC review |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2010-04-13 |
| Decision Date: | 2010-04-20 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to charge the ERG Committee with reviewing this issue. |
| Actions: | The SEC reviewed the request from the Staff Affairs Committee to look at the quorum is calculated in standing committees and voted to charge ERG with review of the issue. |
| Next Step: | ERG Committee Review |
| Related Files: |