House Democrats had some staffers working overtime this past weekend, trying to figure out if what the House Rules Committee did last Friday was legal.
Well, it wasn’t.
But it doesn’t really matter, either, as the Rules Committee – dominated by majority Republicans – had the power to fix the oversight on Monday.
And then the majority Republicans in the House as a whole voted to overrule the objecting Democrats and place two resolutions on the floor calendar for debate (and certain passage) Tuesday.
Get ready for some confusing internal legislative rules:
Last week, House Rules Committee Chairman Mike Noel, R-Kanab, and House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, introduced their HCR12 and HCR11, respectively.
Noel, unfortunately for him, decided that the Rules Committee, acting as a standing committee, would hear the bills and give the public a chance to comment.
That meeting was held Friday afternoon – a whole of folks from Southern Utah showed up to say they want President Donald Trump to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument (Hughes’ resolution) and reduce the size of the Grand Staircase National Monument (Noel’s resolution).
But, folks, the House Rules Committee can only meet as a standing committee to take public comment on proposed RULES changes – not on bills or resolutions that don’t deal with how the House runs itself.
Thus, Friday’s hearing was out of order – and according to House rules didn’t take place at all (even though it did).
The House Democrats saw their opening.
They knew they couldn’t defeat the two resolutions – they will both go to Trump’s desk via Sen. Orrin Hatch et al.
But they could call foul!! – the rules were being broken to overturn Democratic presidential national monument designations – in the case of Bears Ears by Barack Obama in late December, in the case of the staircase, by Bill Clinton way back in 1996.
And, perhaps, the House Democrats’ constituents would see how badly Utah lawmakers run over them year after year in the Legislature.
Well, after debates in both the Rules Committee and on the floor Monday, the House Republicans did run over the Democrats, suspended the rules to put the two resolutions on the top of the 3rd Reading Calendar, to be debated (and passed, for sure) on Tuesday.
That is unless the Democrats can figure out some other way to postpone the inevitable – as both of the resolutions will now go to the Utah Senate.
Don’t expect the same kind of shenanigans when the resolutions get to the Senate.
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said they would likely send the bill to the Natural Resources Committee when the time comes.
“We don’t plan on changing the process,” he said.
Sen. Stuart Adams. R-Layton, said any abuse of the process should land squarely on the shoulders of former President Obama.
“He did this at the end of his administration with a stroke of a pen,” said Adams. “There are a lot of people who feel that process is not the proper one.”
Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, says he’s confident that his Republican colleagues in the Senate will do the right thing.
“As long as the public has input on this, the process is fine,” said Davis.
The real question remains: Will Trump kill Obama’s Bears Ears monument; will he reduce the size of the staircase?
And how long will it take for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide these issues – for either or both will likely be appealed to the courts should the new president act like the GOP-controlled Utah House and Senate wish.
