Joint oversight committee adopts rules; retains statute-based rule that virtual participants do not count toward quorum

The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee adopted its committee rules on a voice and roll-call vote after a debate about how to treat remote participation.

The committee approved the rules as written, 8 yes and 2 absent, keeping a provision that a member participating virtually is not counted toward quorum even though that member’s vote may be counted if quorum is present without them. The committee’s attorney, Holly Vaughn Wagner, said the rule mirrors state law and explained multiple clarifying edits across the rules package.

The vote followed a lengthy discussion about Rule 19, which implements the statute on remote participation. “The statute requires that a member who’s participating in a meeting virtually is not counted toward quorum,”…