How a Bill Becomes a Law in Utah: The Rules Committee

Every bill starts in the Rules Committee (“Rules”). This gives the Rules Committee (and especially the Rules Chair) an extraordinary amount of power. If a bill never passes out of Rules, it dies. Likewise, The Rules Committee’s ability to send a bill to a favorable or hostile committee (aka, a “kill committee”) greatly affects a bill’s fate. Thus, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President typically pick loyalists to chair and serve on the Rules Committee.

Rules Committees often involve significantly horse-trading. Each legislator wants his/her bills to move quickly to a friendly committee. They will lobby the Rules Chair and the individual Rules Committee members to add their bills to the next list of bills going to the “right” committees. This allows the Chair and Committee Members to have a “I’d-be-happy-to-help-you-after-we-talk-about” conversation with other legislators.

The Rules Chair composes the list of bills to be considered by the Rules Committee. These lists come out daily during a General Session. Members of the Rules committee can make motions to add/delete bills to/from the list or to move bills from one proposed committee to another. Ultimately, a majority of the Rules Committee will vote to send out a list of bills and committee assignments in a “Rules Committee Report.”The entire body (House or Senate) votes to accept or reject a Rules Committee Report.

The body has the power to amend the report—adding/deleting bills to the list or changing committee assignments.

When bills pass one body (House or Senate) and move to the other body (“second body”) for consideration, they go to the other body’s Rules Committee, and the process repeats. Again, timing of release and committee assignment can significantly affect a bill’s fate. In some cases, rather than push for prompt release to a standing committee, a bill sponsor might want a bill to be held in Rules by the second body, so that it might later be moved straight to the floor without Standing Committee consideration (and possible rejection) by the second body.