Legislative Management directs counsel to seek outside counsel to review recent petition

The Legislative Management committee voted to ask legislative counsel to seek outside counsel to review a petition that was submitted to the Legislative Assembly last week, the committee recorded during a meeting (date not specified in the transcript).

Senator Bechdel introduced the motion, saying, “Mister chairman, I would move that legislative management have legislative counsel seek outside counsel for the petition that was, put onto the, the legislative assembly last week.” The motion was seconded on the floor (second recorded as Houck). Mr. Bjornsson was asked to take the roll call.

A roll-call vote was recorded. The roll call as recited in the transcript recorded affirmative responses from Hogue, Beckettall, Davidson, Hogan, Klein, Meerdal, Sorvag, Representative Zafar, Bosch, Freilich, Hager (recorded twice in the roll call), Halk, Warrie and Weiss; Istuh was recorded as voting no. The chair declared the motion carried.

After the vote the committee turned to routine business. A member moved to approve the minutes of the June 26 meeting “as presented”; that motion was seconded and approved by voice vote (the transcript records the approval but does not supply a roll-call tally). The committee then moved to adjourn and the chair closed the meeting.

The motion requires legislative counsel to pursue outside counsel for review of the petition; the transcript does not specify a timeline for hiring outside counsel, the scope of the review, or which firm(s) will be considered. The committee did not record further discussion of next steps in the transcript.

The transcript does not include a meeting date; the article reflects only what is contained in the record.