Once the bill passed the house and came to the senate it was assigned
to the Natural Resources Committee. Since it is a bill requiring
extensive analysis (due to the controversy of all the people
protesting it) it was assigned to the agricultural subcommittee.
Common practice is for the members to carefully examine the bill
under consideration, and then the subcommittee makes a report to the
full committee. All committee business is required to be conducted in
open meetings. No official action or vote may be taken except in a
meeting that is open to the public. The senate posts 24 hours in
advance unless it waives that rule for a particular bill.
After considering a bill, a committee may choose to take no action or
may issue a report on the bill to the house or senate. The committee
report, expressing the committee's recommendations regarding action
on a bill, includes a record of the committee's vote on the report,
the text of the bill as reported by the committee, a detailed bill
analysis, a fiscal note or other impact statement, and other
attachments as necessary.
The required parts of the committee report are assembled and printed
and distributed to the members as a single document. Committee
reports are advisory only and may take several forms. The committee
may recommend passage of the bill without amendments, or it may
recommend amendments to the bill or even substitute a new bill for
the original document.
The senate's regular order of business lists all bills and
resolutions that have been reported favorably from committees in the
order in which they were reported to the senate. For all practical
purposes, the regular order of business is merely a listing of bills
that are eligible for consideration, because the senate rules provide
that a bill on the regular order of business may not be brought up
for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the bill has
filed with the secretary of the senate a written notice of intent to
suspend the regular order of business for consideration of the bill.
The sponsor must be a member of the opposite chamber of the one in
which the bill was filed. Which means it needs a Senator as a sponsor
to take it forward out of turn on the senate floor.
So far it is in committee, but has not had a committee hearing and I
see NO house bills on the regular or the local list of bills to be
heard in the senate chambers without a senate sponsor.
I think if they could get it on the local and uncontested list they
would have. Since it has no sponsor it may be just too hot for the
ag committee to touch and natural resources won't hear it until the
sub-committee prepares it's report. Betty Brown has only one bill
currently on the senate floor, she does not have the power of some
other representatives so she may not be able to find a senate
sponsor, we can hope!