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November 17, 2006
Game and
Senator Grant Larson, Chairman
Representative Randall Luthi, Vice Chairman
Senator Jim Anderson
Senator John Hines
Senator Rae Lynn Job
Senator John Schiffer
Representative Roy Cohee
Representative Ross Diercks
Representative Tom Lockhart
Representative Wayne Reese
Representative Ann Robinson
Representative Colin Simpson
Senator Mike Massie
Dan J. Pauli, Director
Dave Gruver, Assistant Director
Wendy K. Madsen, Legislative Information
Officer
Dave Nelson, School Finance Manager
Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the
Council Sign-in Sheet
for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.
The Management
Council held a half-day meeting in Casper to consider issues related to
administrative rule reviews, school litigation, committee issues, adoption of a
session schedule, information about new legislator orientation, policies
related to the intern and aide program, an update on the 2007 CSG-West Meeting,
and practices regarding press releases.
Chairman Larson
called the meeting to order at 1:50 p.m.
The following sections summarize the Council proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the
Council Meeting Agenda.
Minutes from the
June 2, 2006 Council meeting were approved without changes.
Mr. Dave Gruver
updated the Council on actions taken by the LSO to explain procedural issues
relating to the rule review process to executive branch agencies. He explained that LSO held a rules seminar in
conjunction with the Attorney General’s Office and 172 individuals attended the
seminar. Mr. Gruver noted that a number
of attendees commented that the seminar helped them understand the role of LSO
and Management Council in the administrative rule process. Senator Job requested the handouts that were
provided at the seminar and Mr. Gruver offered to provide copies of the
handouts to any member of Management Council.
Mr. Gruver explained
that a Department of Environmental Quality rule related to emissions trading
was placed on the non-consent list. He
explained that there were no substantive problems with the rule, but just a
technical correction to bring to the attention of the Governor’s Office.
Representative Luthi moved to approve LSO’s recommendation on the rule. The motion carried.
Appendix 2.1 lists
the Council’s action on rules taken by mail ballot since the last meeting at
which rules were considered.
Chairman Larson
called the Council into executive session at 2:00 p.m. to consider issues
related to school finance litigation.
The Council came back into open session at 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Pauli explained
the memo from the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities related to
research on electronic voting requested by the Select Committee. He explained that the Committee was
forwarding research from the LSO research section to Council because the
Committee recognized that their role was more appropriately related to the
aesthetics of the building and not the policy issues related to electronic
voting. The Select Committee recommended
that if the Council elected to pursue this issue, that the Process Committee
review the policy issues involved in electronic voting, and then assign issues
related to technology to the Select Committee on Legislative Technology, and
involve the Facilities Committee regarding Chamber displays. Senator Schiffer moved to table the issue
until a future date. The motion
carried.
Representative
Anderson addressed the Council and explained that the Revenue Committee has
been approached to address the issue of providing a discount for the direct
payment of sales tax. He noted that
although this is a complicated issue and the Committee would need to develop an
understanding of the subject to consider the topic, the Committee was not
requesting an additional meeting, but permission to review the issue at the
Committee’s next scheduled meeting. Representative
Luthi moved to approve the topic for Committee review at their next
meeting. The motion failed.
Representative
Anderson requested that Council consider compensating Select Water Committee
members to attend water workshops. He
noted that the issues related to water are getting more complicated and these
workshops help the members understand the issues. He recommended that members receive both
salary and per diem for their attendance at the water workshops. Mr. Pauli explained that traditionally Select
Water Committee members have been paid salary only when the Committee gavels in
at Committee meetings, but members have been provided per diem and mileage for
attending water tours in advance of Committee meetings.
Senator Larson asked
if Council has historically authorized this type of reimbursement and if it is
allowed in statute. Mr. Pauli said that
staff would need to check to determine if the Committee has been paid per diem
and mileage to attend workshops in the past.
Mr. Pauli noted that this level of compensation would not be prohibited
in statute, but that it has been the policy of Council to only pay salary
during committee meetings. Senator Job
moved to pay salary to members of the Select Water Committee who attend the
water workshops sponsored by the water Development Office. The motion failed.
The Council
discussed that if compensation is approved for members of this committee to
attend training, that other committees may request the same reimbursement and
concerns were raised about how this will affect committee budgets. Senator Schiffer recommended that the Council
take a consistent approach to address the issue of optional training for
committee members. Senator Larson
suggested that committee members could use their constituent service allowance
for this purpose. Representative Reese
noted that this request is indicative of a much larger issue and the
Legislature will need to address how much training individual legislators need
each year to fully understand the issues.
Representative Robinson recommended that chairmen develop training
requests as part of their requests for topics to study during the interim for
review by Management Council. Senator
Hines noted that a study may be needed to look at the total cost and rationale
related to outside legislator training needs.
Senator Larson recommended that, based on discussion, this is an issue
that the new Management Council should evaluate in the future.
Mr. Gruver explained
that the Council may wish to consider assigning issues regarding education
trust funds related to the Hathaway scholarship program to either the Education
Committee or the Capital Finance Committee to address outstanding issues
related to investment of the funds. (See
Appendix 3). The Council raised concerns
that the Education Committee may have too many issues on its plate at its next
meeting and referred the issue to the Select Committee on Capital Finance. Representative Cohee recommended that the
Select Committee hold a meeting in conjunction with the next Management Council
meeting.
Mr. Pauli explained
that Representative Osborn has requested that the Council consider authorizing
reimbursement for new committee members to attend meetings of the new
committees to which they are assigned.
Mr. Pauli summarized the current policies regarding this issue, noting
that new chairmen have been authorized compensation to attend the meetings in
the past. He explained that if Council
wished to compensate new legislators for attending committee meetings, the LSO
could reimburse them as a training expense in the same manner currently
provided for new legislator orientation.
Mr. Pauli noted that there was $48,000 in the Management Council reserve
budget that could be used to compensate individuals, if approved by
Council. Representative Luthi moved to
approve travel and per diem for new members to attend legislative committee
meetings for the committees to which they have been assigned and for returning
members who have been assigned to new committees to receive mileage and per
diem for their attendance at these meetings.
The motion carried. Mr. Pauli
noted that the LSO will send a memo to all new and returning members advising
them that Council has authorized compensation in return for their attendance at
these meetings.
Mr. Pauli explained
that Chairman Larson requested that the policy governing out-of-state travel be
included on the Council’s agenda for discussion. He explained that the out-of-state travel
policy was changed in 2003 to allow members to attend two out-of-state meetings
during the calendar year for organizations to which the Legislature
belongs. If members wish to attend additional
out-of-state meetings they must first obtain approval from the presiding
officer in their chamber. Senator Larson
noted that he has received many requests for additional travel by members
beyond the two meetings. He noted that
the purpose of the policy was to encourage all members to gain knowledge from
these training opportunities and not just to authorize a few members to attend
many meetings on a first-come, first-serve basis. However, he noted that if
Representative Cohee
requested that LSO create a form to trigger more deliberate consideration by
committee chairmen when they are considering their budgets for all training,
including out-of-state travel. Senator
Job recommended that the Legislative Process Committee review the professional
development issues for all of the training needs that have been discussed
during the meeting. Senator Larson
suggested that this recommendation be brought to the new Management Council and
tabled the issue to be considered by the Council at a future meeting.
Representative
Lockhart explained that he requested this issue be put on the Council’s agenda,
to encourage committees and subcommittees to consider the option to hold
meetings by telephone conference call, when appropriate. He noted that it saves
state money and legislator time to hold meetings in this manner. Senator Job recommended reminding committee
chairmen to consider teleconference and videoconference options for future
meetings. Mr. Pauli explained statutory requirements related to legislative
compensation for short meetings and telephone conference calls. He explained members may voluntarily forgo
full reimbursement in these situations, but statute allows members to claim the
full amount of compensation available under statute.
Mr. Pauli presented
a tentative session schedule for the 2007 General Session (Appendix 4), which
would provide for a 37-day session, reserving three additional days for the
2008 Budget Session. He noted that the
tentative schedule includes a one-day recess for President’s Day. The Council approved the tentative schedule
without changes at this time.
Ms. Madsen
summarized the sessions planned for the new member orientation sessions that
will be held November 30-December 2, 2006 and January 4-6, 2007. She noted that in the past, Management
Council has approved the presiding officers, majority floor leaders, and
minority floor leaders in each house, or their designees, to serve as
legislative faculty for the orientation sessions. She noted that other legislators are welcome
to volunteer their services at the orientation, but only designated faculty
have been compensated by the Council in the past for their time. Ms. Madsen also explained that funds are
budgeted to pay salary, per diem, and mileage for members of the legislative
faculty and to pay per diem and mileage for legislators who may be asked to
present at individual sessions.
Representative Luthi moved to approve the compensation for faculty to
participate in the orientation session.
The motion carried. The Council
recommended that Ms. Madsen work with members of the legislative faculty to
finalize the content and speakers for the sessions. Ms. Madsen explained that Representative
Illoway requested to present information about the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC) during the new legislator orientation. The Council recommended that Representative
Illoway provide this information during a break at the orientation.
Ms. Madsen
distributed a draft policy for the consideration of the Council to clarify
provisions of the existing legislative aide and intern program (Appendix
5.) Ms. Madsen explained that the
revisions were drafted in response to several issues that have arisen in the
programs in the last several years. She
noted that the policy expands the existing college internship program to
include high school students as an academic program rather than badging these
students through the aide program. She
also explained that the new policy includes a provision for badging legislative
guests under separate requirements from the aide program. The revised policy clarifies supervision of
individuals within the programs and provides guidelines related to badging of
the individuals to allow limited access to restricted areas of the
chambers. She explained that under the
policy a legislator can register a total of two aides, guests, or high school
interns, with no limit on use of college interns. Ms. Madsen clarified that the policy does not
preclude members from having guests and assistants, but controls the numbers of
individuals in restricted areas. Senator
Anderson moved to adopt the revised policy.
The motion carried.
Mr. Pauli explained
that the LSO has received requests to send out information to legislators via
e-mail about available rental properties in
Ms. Madsen explained
that the LSO has used informal procedures over the past five years to handle
releases, letters to the editor, and op-ed pieces that legislators may request
and requested permission to work on a media policy noting these guidelines for
consideration at a future Management Council meeting. She outlined current practices, noting that
the LSO applies three levels of review for individual members, committee
chairs, committees, and leadership. First,
the LSO will not engage in any political media work, other than to distribute
caucus announcements regarding committee assignments and leadership
assignments. LSO can provide some
limited logistical services during the legislative session to set up press
conferences. Second, LSO provides very
limited policy and position assistance related to media work depending on
workload, including some limited assistance with research, crafting language,
and providing advice for distribution.
The LSO will not distribute policy and position releases to the
media. Finally, the LSO will provide
media services related to institutional promotion and participation in the
legislative process. The LSO will
distribute these types of materials directly to the media.
Ms. Madsen provided
a memo regarding progress on planning for the 2007 CSG-West Annual Meeting,
which will be held in September 2007 in
Senator Hines noted
that some towns and cities have raised concerns regarding capital construction
for schools related to sewer, roads, and electricity. Senator Larson suggested that he bring the
issue to the attention of the School Facilities Committee.
Mr. Pauli explained
that a legislator has requested to use the basement conference room one day a
week for a non-denominational bible study during the upcoming session. The Council raised concerns about whether it
would set a precedent for any group to use legislative space in the future. Representative Luthi moved to not approve the
request due to space constraints. The
motion carried.
The Council
discussed holding a final meeting prior to the end of the year. There being no further business, Chairman
Larson adjourned the meeting at 5:55 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Senator Rae Lynn
Job, Secretary