Legislative Committees--Joint Membership and Rules on Public Notice

You asked for the (1) states where legislative committees have joint membership and (2) notice requirements for public hearings and committee meetings.

Only Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts hold joint legislative committees meetings. In 46 other states, House and Senate members hold separate meetings. Nebraska’s legislature is unique from all others because it has a single house (i. e. , unicameral legislature).

Each state legislature has established rules of procedure and process, including the conduct of public hearings and committee meetings, adopted by their members. Most legislatures have rules governing each chamber and then joint rules to which each chamber agrees to adhere. Included in most of these rules are minimum requirements for notifying the public of committee meetings and public hearings. State notice requirements vary greatly from less than 24 hours in Louisiana to seven days for Senate (1) committee meetings in New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania and (2) public hearings in Nebraska. No legislative rules notify the public of the time a meeting or public hearing will end. The rules in some states prohibit meeting and public hearing during hours that might prove inconvenient to the public. For example, Minnesota prohibits meetings between 12: 00 midnight and 7: 00 am.

Table 1 shows the notice requirements for committee meetings (Mtg) and public hearings (PH) as recorded in the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) State Legislative Rules and Procedures (RAP) Database. We have excluded from the table rules that do not contain minimum notice requirements. The RAP database is accurate as of April 3, 1999. While it contains rules and procedures for most of the nation’s 99 legislative chambers, some states are not represented in the database and in other states the rules of only one chamber are included. The states absent from RAP are: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah. States where only one chamber’s rules are included are: Delaware (H), Florida (H), Illinois (S), Maryland (S), North Carolina (H), Pennsylvania (S), South Carolina (H), Tennessee (S), and Washington (S). If you would like more information on a particular state, please let us know and we will conduct an individual state search.

TABLE 1: MINIMUM MEETING AND HEARING NOTICES BY STATE LEGISLATURE


*State Legislature*	*Notice Requirement*
*State Legislature*	*House*	*Senate*	*Joint*
Alabama	2 legislative days (HR 63)	24 Hours (SR 57)
Alaska			PH: 5 days Mtg: 4 pm on Thursday of the preceding week (JR 23)
Arizona	By 4 pm on Wednesday of the preceding week for Monday meetings, otherwise by 4 pm on the preceding Thursday (HR 9)
California	The Committee on Rules designates the day and hour for committees to meet (HR 56)		PH: 4 days (JR 62)
Colorado		1 calendar day (SR 22)
Connecticut			Mtg. : 1 day PH: 5 calendar days (JR 5 and 6)
Delaware	The Speaker assigns the time and place for committee meetings (HR 33)
Florida	2 week days during the 1^st 45 days of the Session and at least 1 day thereafter (HR 7. 10)	2 legislative days during the 1^st 50 days of the Session and 4 hours thereafter (SR 2. 6)
Hawaii	48 hours (HR 11. 5)	72 hours (SR 20)
Illinois		6 days (SR 3-11)
Kentucky	3 calendar days (HR 49)
Louisiana	4 pm or 1 hour after the House convenes, whichever is later, on the preceding legislative day (HR 14. 21)	Meeting times and places are assigned for the weeks of the Session. Reminder notices no later than 1 pm of the preceding day (SR 13. 73)
Maine			Timely (JR 107)
Minnesota	The Speaker sets a regular date and time. 1 day advance notice for special meetings (HR 6. 20)	3 calendar days (SR 58)
Mississippi		Announced Daily (SR 44)
Missouri	1 day (HR 32)
Nebraska		Mtg: Committee on Committees sets meetings at 1: 30 on specified weekdays PH: 7 days (SR 3)
New Hampshire	4 days (HR 43)	7 days (SR 22)
New York	1 week (HR 4)	7 days (SR 7)
North Carolina	Mtg: Standing Committee on Rules sets a schedule for meeting times and places (HR 28) PH: 5 days (HR 29. 1)
Ohio	5 days (HR 33)
Oregon		Not specified (SR 8. 15)
Pennsylvania		7 days (SR 15)
Rhode Island	3 days (HR 32)	2 days (SR 6. 2)
South Carolina	Mtg: 24 hours PH: 5 days (HR 4. 4)
South Dakota			1 legislative day
Tennessee		Senate adopts time and place for all committee meetings (SR 83)
Texas	PH: 5 calendar days (HR 4)	24 hours (SR 11. 10)
Washington		PH: 5 days (SR 45)
Wisconsin		PH: On or before noon on the Monday of the preceding week (SR 26)	Mtg: On or before noon on the Monday of the preceding week (JR 75)
Wyoming		3 pm on the preceding day; 3 pm on preceding Friday for Monday meetings (SR 10-3)


January 13, 2005		2005-R-0058
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES--JOINT MEMBERSHIP AND RULES ON PUBLIC NOTICE

By: Sandra Norman-Eady, Chief Attorney