House Closed Subcommittee Would Affect Ramsey (and Herron) Fundraising

By Kleinheider Posted on May 17, 2009 at 12:07 pm

Tom Humphrey reports:

Senate committees are shutting down, and in the House, all subcommittees are closed except the budget subcommittee that deals with money matters.

Further, House Speaker Kent Williams says they are going to stay closed.

“I’m not going to open any sub for any reason,” he said last week.

That likely kills a bunch of bills.

For example, there’s the late move in the Senate to increase the contribution limit for all legislator campaigns and allow legislators running for governor to collect donations during the legislative session next year.

The bill moved out of a Senate committee last week and is ready for a floor vote. But it’s stuck in a closed House sub chaired by Rep. Eddie Yokley, D-Greeneville, who is also loath to reopen.

At the same time, committee shutdown increases pressure for last-minute amendments being slapped on odd bills during the final frenzy. The windup this year, say about June 12, could be bizarre.

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