House Fish and Wildlife Committee approves proxy voting, assigns custody to vice chairs

Representative Jedidiah Hinkle, chair of the House Fish and Wildlife and Parks Committee, opened a discussion on how the committee will handle proxies during its organizational meeting. Representative Jill Cohenauer moved to allow proxies so members who are absent because of other committee duties could still have their vote counted. "I would move that we allow proxies in the committee for a first discussion point if we could," Cohenauer said during the meeting.

Members supported the idea as a practical way to prevent scheduling conflicts from blocking votes. Representative Paul Fielder said proxies enable members who are serving on other panels to still record a vote during executive action. The committee debated who should physically maintain proxy forms; Cohenauer proposed that vice chairs hold the binders but that individual members retain flexibility to assign who may present their proxy.

After discussion, the committee took a voice vote. Chair Hinkle announced, "The ayes have it," adopting a policy that permits proxies and directs vice chairs to hold the proxy binders and distribute forms as needed. Members clarified best practices for using proxies, including leaving the form's proxy recipient blank if a member wants flexibility to reassign their proxy and preparing extra proxy sheets for use.

The committee's proxy policy was approved by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes. The chair said the committee will continue to refine administrative details as needed during the session.