House committee adopts rules for 2025 session after roll call

The House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government and Veterans adopted proposed committee rules dated Jan. 21, 2025, after a motion from Vice Chair Rick Lewis and a roll-call vote during an organizational meeting Tuesday.

Chair Tran opened the organizational meeting and asked committee staff to summarize the rules. The committee analyst said the rules are posted on OLIS, were unchanged since last session and that four members constitute a quorum for this committee. Vice Chair Rick Lewis moved to adopt the proposed committee rules dated Jan. 21, 2025; the clerk then called the roll for the vote.

The rules set the committee’s operating procedures for the session and apply to the roughly 100 bills that have been referred to the committee, the chair said. The committee briefly recessed the roll call to allow a newly sworn member to vote; after reopening the vote the motion carried.

The clerk recorded individual votes during the roll call. Representative Boyce voted “Aye;” Representative Paul Evans voted “Yes;” Representative Scarlato voted “Yes;” Representative Scott Athos voted “Yes;” Representative Mari Watanabe later recorded “Yes;” Vice Chair Graber voted “Aye;” Vice Chair Rick Lewis voted “Aye;” and Chair Tran voted “Aye.” The motion passed and the rules were adopted.

The chair said the committee will use the rules to process the bills already assigned to the panel and that vice chairs will work with members as the committee schedules hearings. The meeting then moved on to introductions and an informational session with state agencies.

The chair closed the organizational portion of the meeting and opened an informational meeting on agency introductions.