Rep. Judy Aaron, chair of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee, opened an orientation session for new and returning members that laid out how the committee will operate during the biennium, including meeting schedules, committee etiquette, subcommittee formation and the process for handling bills and executive sessions.

The session was billed as an operational briefing to help newly elected members get up to speed. Aaron and her ranking member, Representative Peter Bixby, emphasized the committee’s long-standing nonpartisan tradition and urged members to treat witnesses with respect and avoid debating testifiers at the lectern. Aaron also described routine administrative items: meeting day and typical hours, use of legislative email, expectations on dress and decorum for live‑streamed hearings, and procedures for handling substitutes for executive sessions.

Committee leadership said meetings will normally start at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and may run into the afternoon; members who cannot attend were asked to notify a chair or the ranking member. Members were told to keep committee folders available in the committee room (so copies can be reused by staff), and the chair explained rules for taking breaks, using electronic devices, and minimizing disruptions while the public testifies. Aaron and Bixby told members to raise questions through the chair during hearings so the public record remains orderly.

The orientation covered how the committee assigns work and uses subcommittees. Aaron and Bixby said the speaker’s office assigns bills to committees and that sometimes assignments fall into gray areas; when bills land in the wrong committee the leadership may request reassignment. Subcommittees will be used for bills that need extra work; members were asked to sign up to serve. Subcommittees may meet on other days; chairs are expected to schedule meetings so members can attend when possible. Members were told subcommittee meetings are noticed and live streamed the same as full committee hearings.

Members were briefed on the lifecycle of a bill in the committee: public hearings, potential work sessions, executive sessions where formal motions (OTP, ITL, retaining, etc.) are made, and committee reports that accompany bills when they go to the House calendar. The chair and vice‑chair described how committee reports should be concise explanations of a bill, its purpose and fiscal implications and said the author of the motion typically drafts the report. Minority reports are permitted if a voting minority wishes to lodge one.

Practical items discussed included safety and emergency procedures for the committee room (evacuation routes and assembly points), how to request building protective services, and the role of the committee administrative staff and researcher. Aaron said research requests should go through committee leadership to avoid duplicated work and that the committee researcher will support chairs and subcommittees. She also asked members to treat staff as nonpartisan resources and to avoid asking committee assistants to run personal errands.

The orientation closed with a reminder that field trips, such as farm tours and landfill visits, are part of the committee’s education work and members are encouraged to attend; the afternoon of the meeting was set aside for agency briefings by Agriculture, DES and DHHS staff.

Less critical procedural matters — including mileage kiosk locations, file folder handling and where to eat during long hearings — were covered before the committee adjourned for the midday presentation schedule.