In a deal struck late Wednesday night, House Democrats have agreed to make the representation on the House Committee on Redistricting equal between the parties and have promoted State Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany) to co-Chair on that committee, effectively giving Republicans a veto over decisions made regarding redistricting.

In exchange, House Republicans have agreed to waive the constitutional requirement to have every bill read in it's entirety before it is voted on -- something which is normally done each session.

The agreement follows on weeks of slow escalation in the chamber, as Republicans have done procedural measures to slow the pace of legislation, as Democrats have responded by increasing the length of floor sessions so as to pass more bills. Democrats have been moving bills with fewer number of pages to the floor, in hopes of keeping legislation moving, but had begun to run short of smaller bills and would have to start moving longer bills to the floor.

State Representative Mike Nearman (R-Independence) warned of what's coming. “Fasten your chinstraps,” he said. “The speed of legislation is going to get fast and the tone of the legislation is going to make a hard turn left.”

The first bill to be considered this morning was HB 2954 got bogged down in a procedural tactic, known as a minority report, in which the Republicans propose a substitute for a bill on the floor. It took over an hour to pass the bill.

The fireworks continue.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-04-15 10:32:54