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House upholds speaker's ruling; appeal to recuse lawmaker over crypto holdings defeated 45'to'3
Summary
Representative Iwamoto sought to be recused from voting on a cryptocurrency-related measure, citing substantial ETF holdings. The speaker ruled no conflict under House rules; a floor appeal was defeated in a roll-call (45 ayes, 3 nos, 2 not present), leaving the speaker's ruling in place for the session.
A floor appeal over whether a lawmaker could recuse herself from voting on cryptocurrency legislation ended with the House upholding the speaker's ruling that the member did not have a disqualifying conflict.
Representative Iwamoto told the chamber she owned "a substantial amount of shares in what's called Fidelity wise origin Bitcoin ETF" and asked to be recused under House Rule 62.5, saying her interest was "substantial." The speaker replied that the proposed bill applied to a broad class and that, under the chamber's rules, membership in a broad class does not create a recusal right under the cited rule: "Therefore, the ruling is that you do not have a conflict of interest," the chair said.
Iwamoto appealed the ruling and requested a vote. The appeal prompted debate about whether the question before the House was the existence of a conflict or only whether a member may recuse herself under the chamber's rules. Representative Todd, among others, urged members to oppose the appeal on the grounds that the interest was not direct and that applying a strict recusal standard broadly would prevent routine legislative business.
The clerk tallied the roll call and reported "45 ayes, 3 nos, and 2 are not present." The speaker announced the appeal was defeated and that the ruling would stand for the remainder of the session. Representative Iwamoto asked to be waived for the remainder of the session to avoid repeating the incident.
The transcript records the exchange and the roll call; it does not show subsequent committee action on the underlying cryptocurrency bill in this excerpt.
Next steps: The speaker's ruling remains in effect for the session; the committee and calendar status of the underlying bill are not shown in the excerpt.
