(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House Rules Committee: Hearing without three days' notice was in order – Daily Montanan [1] ['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- January'] Date: 2023-01-31 If you’re a working-class Montanan, you might not be able to clear out your schedule in just an afternoon to testify on a bill. That’s what Rep. Derek Harvey, D-Butte, said about a hearing on a controversial bill that was scheduled with little notice. “We really need to think about who we’re here to serve and who we need to accommodate, and that’s the citizens of the state of Montana,” Harvey said. He said if he tried to get out of work at the last minute, he wouldn’t have time to plan ahead, and he probably wouldn’t get a warm reception from his superiors. “My bosses would say that I’m crazy,” Harvey said. But the 8 a.m. hearing on Monday wasn’t announced until Friday afternoon, he said. It was on House Bill 303, to allow medical providers to opt out of procedures they disagree with. Tuesday, at the earlier request of Minority Leader Rep. Kim Abbott, D-Helena, the House Rules Committee took up a question about the notice. On a 15-7 party line vote with Republicans in favor, the House Rules Committee affirmed the Speaker of the House’s decision the hearing was in order even though it was on short notice. Chairman Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, said the rules allow bills to be scheduled without the standard notice of three legislative days in “exigent circumstances.” (Legislative days are generally like work days, so an announcement Friday afternoon for a Monday morning hearing is less than one day’s notice.) Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, voted “yes,” but he said in the future, he believes the Speaker of the House needs to present a rationale for such a decision. “I would suggest that the Speaker ought to have mentioned what the circumstances were that allowed for this particular thing to happen,” Bedey said. Abbott said she appreciates the need for flexibility in the session, such as when legislators are butting up against the transmittal deadline. However, she said that flexibility isn’t meant on day 20 of a 90-day session to be used to schedule a bill “with no notice because somebody’s got a light load or is bored.” “The more consistent and predictable that we are, the better it is for the public,” Abbott said. In this case, Director of Legal Services Todd Everts said members of the public were able to register to testify on Zoom all the way up through 5 p.m. Sunday. But Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, said some people might have thought they were too late to register because the notice states people need to ask for a Zoom link by 5 p.m. on the legislative day before the hearing – Friday, in this case. (In some cases, Bishop said even bill sponsors didn’t get notice their bills were up for a hearing Monday until late Friday.) Knudsen said the committee’s decision may be appealed to the full body by any representative, but he said public comment is important. “We want to make it very clear to the people of Montana that we want to make it as easy as possible for them to come testify and be a part of this process,” Knudsen said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/01/31/house-rules-committee-hearing-without-three-days-notice-was-in-order/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/