House Business Committee chair sets rules, deadlines and paperless workflow for 2025 session

Chairman Clow told members of the Idaho House Business Committee at their organizational meeting on Jan. 9, 2025, that the panel will move to an electronic, paperless workflow and follow specific procedural preferences and deadlines for the 2025 legislative session.

Clow front-loaded several calendar targets and procedural rules that he said will guide the committee’s handling of legislation and public testimony this year. He told members, “The great danger to the consumer is the monopoly, whether private or governmental,” quoting Milton Friedman as an opening remark and then turning to the committee’s operating practices.

The nut of Clow’s message: sponsors should provide draft language before requesting an RS (the transcript uses the abbreviation “RS” without further definition), materials will be posted in a shared OneDrive, and the chair will generally wait to accept motions on bills until after public testimony. He also said staff from IT would be available after the meeting to help members configure access to the committee OneDrive.

Most of Clow’s guidance was procedural. He asked members to keep questions concise during review, to avoid rhetorical questions that take the form of speeches, and to use the committee’s lighting system to manage follow-up questions. He said small technical changes to RS drafts are sometimes appropriate but generally prefers returning drafts to sponsors for substantive revisions rather than amending in committee.

On public testimony, Clow said the committee will allow virtual and in-person testimony, and he included a standard two-minute time limit on the agenda: “I will usually … limit testimony to 2 minutes,” he said. He emphasized that public witnesses should be allowed to speak, that sponsors should note incorrect statements and address them in closing remarks, and that members who want to ask questions of individual testifiers should indicate that by turning on their light so the chair can call on them.

Clow reviewed several scheduling targets the committee will use this session: an RS deadline of Feb. 3 to get materials to LSO, Feb. 10 as the last day the committee can introduce legislation without special permission from the speaker, a Feb. 28 target to complete a rules-review report, a March 3 transmittal target for legislation between the houses, and a March target for JFAC budget work as the Legislature aims to adjourn (sine die) around March 21. He said he prefers to publish agendas three days in advance when possible, following a request from the Mountain States Policy Center to increase notice.

Administrative items announced during the meeting included the selection of Representatives Faye Thompson and Steve Birch to proofread committee minutes and the committee’s plan to post minutes and a scrolling agenda in OneDrive so members can follow long bills more easily. Clow told members to leave their physical committee folders at the room’s end of day unless they needed to retain documents.

Several members introduced themselves at the meeting; much of the session consisted of those personal introductions and light committee banter. No formal motions or votes on legislation occurred. Clow said the committee will most likely meet next on Wednesday, Jan. 14, and adjourned the meeting.

Ending: The meeting focused on internal operations and scheduling rather than policy decisions; members received technical help offers for the OneDrive workflow and were given a calendar of deadlines and procedural expectations to guide their work through the 2025 session.