Hello everyone! Today, instead of going to committee, I sat in on the Democratic caucus meeting. Because it's the minority party, it is much more strict than the Republican caucus and is held much like a committee meeting. Members go through each bill on the calendar and discuss or ask questions, many times directed towards the democratic members who sat on the committee in which the bill was heard. If the members decide that they either want more information or they disagree with the bill, they choose to move it off of the consent calendar, which lets the speaker know that they are in disagreement over the bill and will debate on the floor. It was interesting to see some of the bils that I saw passed in committee be reviewed once more in caucus and see some of the amendments made since then.
Caucus is also where the quote of the day comes from. When discussing the bills, many members drew from their personal experience to ask questions about bills, including Rep. Alston commenting that age needed to be included when evaluating used tires, commenting that she had a car that she hasn't used for at least a decade and that those tires were clearly shot. As members laughed, Rep. Friese cracked a joke about selling her car, which is the quote of the day.
I think that this quote shows the value of our representative legislature, that we have people in the House from all different parts of the state with different backgrounds and different life experiences to weigh in on these issues. Though its diversity could always be improved, it is encouraging to see representatives pulling from their own life experiences to make laws for others.
Also, if you want to watch some awkward footage of me in the background of caucus, here you go: (look Trey I'm so engaged)
Monday, February 20, 2017
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Thanks for the shoutout, but you made me watch quite a bit of that to see you. It'd be nice if the video player had scrubbing support.
ReplyDeleteHi Trey! I know, it should, but I embedded the video to start where I was- sorry you had to watch all of that!
DeleteWow, this is all really interesting. You really looked very studious in the caucus meeting. Keep up the great work Mimi! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ameya!
DeleteHey Mimi!
ReplyDeleteI like how you decided to sit in on the caucus meeting instead of going to the committee. Thank you for providing an in-depth explanation as to what goes on there. Do you plan to continue attending caucus meetings instead of going to committee in the future? I look forward to reading next week's post.
Hi Kirill! I agree, I thought it was very interesting. I hope to sit in on more caucus meetings, but I guess we'll see where the wind takes me.
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