For three hours, House members formed a large scrum at the Speaker's dais and argued whether they should continue to discuss the abortion sonogram bill. As it turns out, a debate about House rules was more heated than the abortion proposal.
Eventually, they all agreed to send the bill, which mandates women should see sonograms and hear fetal heartbeats, back to committee. So what was the deal?
Well, the way most bills are heard in committee is that the chairman "lays out" the bill for all to see and debate. Then people testify. Before they do, they fill out a card with their name, affiliation and whether they are for, against or neutral on the bill. That information is included in the committee record so everyone can see at a glance who spoke about the bill and which side they were on.
But State Affairs chairman Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, did it differently.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/rules-and-the-delayed-debate-o.html
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