What the heck is a "Committee of Conference..."?
I’ve been looking for a good excuse to publish my first real (defined loosely!) Substack article, and the Committee of Conference week feels right. Plus, I had hoped to publish an episode, but this weekend had other things in store (scrubbing a grill that apparently won’t work; multiple trips to hardware stores; the CrossFit Murph workout…to name three).
If you have a vague memory that I’ve previously talked about Committees of Conference - which, for the benefit of all of us, I’m going to shorten to “CoC” - you’re right! Almost exactly a year ago, my guest was Alexis Simpson, the Democratic Leader of the House, and we got into the nitty gritty of the legislative process from start to finish, including a brief chit chat about CoCs.
But let’s dig into what the heck a CoC is, since the legislative session is wrapping up and you might see stories about bills that have died (so long, campus carry bill!), bills that have passed and are headed to Governor Ayotte’s desk (including, ahem, an anti-abortion bill), and bills that have been amended, but legislators want to…well, negotiate.
In order for a bill to go to the governor’s desk, it needs to pass through both chambers identically. If you see a bill number out in the wild, and it starts with “HB,” that means “House Bill” and that the prime sponsor is in the House. Bills beginning with “SB” are Senate bills, and the prime sponsor is in the Senate. Sponsors can be from either chamber, but where the prime sponsor is located is where a bill originates.
When the other chamber amends the bill and sends it back from whence it came, the originating chamber has a few options. They can “concur,” which means they agree with the amended change. They can “nonconcur,” which means they disagree with the amended change and do not want to talk about it further - and the bill then dies. Or they can “nonconcur, and request a committee of conference.” If they request one, the other chamber has to then agree to a CoC - or they can say no, a la the campus carry bill, and then the bill dies.
Want to nerd out and see the full list of bills in CoCs? Some might look familiar!
Here’s the thing: CoCs are negotiating in these meetings (and out of these meetings, let’s be real) to figure out what both chambers - by a majority vote - would accept/pass. If they come to an agreement, they file a report that every member of the CoC must sign, and then each chamber has to vote to accept the report by a majority vote.
But CoCs do not need to come to an agreement. They can literally walk away and the bill dies.
So this is when I share you in on a little secret: CoCs can be a bit lawless.
Wait wait wait, I don’t want to get angry emails about how that’s NOT EXACTLY TRUE, so let me clarify some of the rules and some of the lawlessness (in my opinion).
CoCs must have members from both the House and the Senate, but there are no explicit rules about members representing different parties. Typically, the House members on a CoC have voted with the majority position and are often from the House committee where the bill was introduced. The Senate members typically begin with Senators from both political parties, also from the committee where the bill was introduced.
I can’t emphasize the word “typically” enough.
Here comes part of the lawlessness: CoC members can be swapped out at any time. If there is a member of the CoC who will not sign the CoC report (for example, because they are from the minority party and disagree with the bill overall), that person can be replaced by someone else in the chamber. Bloop. Just a little switcheroo!
Additionally, a CoC can say they have wrapped up their work, they’ve walked away, they can’t come to an agreement…but until the CoC report filing deadline has passed, they could still come back (not-so-longtime #NHPolitics folks might remember the 2022 parental bill of rights situation). They do, however, need to give at least 12 hours’ notice of when they are meeting for a second, third, fourth time…
But this is actually when “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over” is applicable…because until the deadline passes, anything can happen. This year’s CoC deadline is Thursday, May 28 at 4:00 p.m. After that time, nothing can change.
Perhaps you’re reading all of this and thinking, wow. I wish I could watch these play out in real time. Good news: you can! CoCs are livestreamed and available on YouTube (for Senate bills, go here; for House bills, go here), and if you’re feeling super ambitious, you can watch them in Concord.
The chambers will meet once more on Thursday, June 4th, where they will vote on each of the CoC reports: up or down, yea or nay, accept or not. No more amendments, no more changes.
From there, we head straight into summer Election season! But that, my friends, is a Substack and/or episode for another day.