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Joint Ways and Means committee adopts rules, restores field-trip provision
Summary
The Joint Committee on Ways and Means adopted its committee rules for the 2025 session, reinstating Rule 19 to allow subcommittee field trips; members debated but did not change referral procedures for bills with fiscal components.
The Joint Committee on Ways and Means adopted its proposed committee rules at an organizational meeting on Jan. 24, 2025, restoring a rule to allow subcommittee field trips and leaving procedures for cross-chamber referrals unchanged.
The rules "remain the same as in the prior session with 1 exception. We have added back rule 19 related to field trips," committee staff said during the meeting as the rules were presented to the joint committee. Adoption was moved and, after discussion, the rules were adopted with no objections recorded.
The added provision revives a previously used rule that had been removed in 2021 when the committee met remotely. Committee staff told members the change will "allow subcommittees to start meeting and conducting business" that may include in-person site visits or field work.
Members pressed for clarification on whether the committee rules address the referral path for policy bills that carry fiscal impacts. "I wonder during the discussion of the rules if there was any discussion around policy bills with fiscals going back to the alternative chamber for hearing before coming here?" Senator Anderson asked. Co-chair Lieber responded, "The current rules do not have that as a, as the procedure. We're gonna go with the same procedure that we have over the years," and added that referrals are determined by leadership offices rather than by committee rules.
Representative David Gomberg said the referral question is "more pertinent to the chamber rules than it is to the committee rules," and Senator Sollman described an approach in which the originating chamber could hold an informational hearing so members could ask questions before a measure moved to Ways and Means. The committee took no action to change referral procedures during the meeting.
Committee leadership also announced that the committee is not expected to meet next Friday and will meet as needed during the first weeks of session as subcommittees advance measures.
The remainder of the meeting consisted of member introductions and brief procedural notes. No roll-call vote tally was recorded in the transcript; the chair ruled the adoption approved after there was no objection.
