Date: 05/19/2009
Final
Review of Committee 2008 Final Report
COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE EMERGENCY EPIDEMIC RESPONSE
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10:04 AM
The chair, Senator Sandoval, called the meeting to order.
10:05 AM -- Review of Committee 2008 Final Report
Debbie Haskins, Office of Legislative Legal Services, discussed the charge of the committee and briefed the committee on the 2008 final report that was issued by the committee. Ms. Haskins discussed the composition, charge, and scope of authority of the committee pursuant to Section 2-3-1503 C.R.S. Committee members received a handout summarizing this state law (Attachment A). Ms. Haskins discussed action items that were completed and items that still need to be completed by the committee. She talked about different topics that were considered by the committee, as well as testimony that was taken during 2008, and distributed the 2008 meeting summaries to the committee members (Attachments B and C).
10:15 AM
Ms. Haskins discussed a past presentation from National Conference of State Legislatures that covered other states' laws relating to the continuity of government, including: the continuity of government statutes, emergency interim succession acts, moving the seat of government in an emergency, and rules on required votes or allowing paired or proxy voting (Attachment C). She discussed the issue of relocating the seat of state government in the event of an emergency, explained that the General Assembly could meet outside of the Capitol building, and referred to a memo from the Office of Legislative Legal Services addressing the issue (Attachment D).
10:25 AM
Ms. Haskins discussed the summary of recommendations by the 2008 committee and referred to a section of the final report that was distributed to the committee members (Attachment E). She explained the committee's decision tree for responding to an epidemic declaration and discussed Joint Rule 44, which was recommended by the committee and adopted under Joint Resolution 09-004. Joint Rule 44 addresses the procedures for and restrictions on the General Assembly in order to meet in regular session or in a special session following an emergency declaration by the governor. Ms. Haskins explained the recommendations made by the committee in the final report, explained possible action items that were not adopted, and referred to a handout that was distributed to the committee (Attachment F).
10:35 AM
The committee discussed a recommendation in the 2008 final report concerning legislative vacancies and different legislative options that the committee could recommend to address legislative vacancies. Committee members received a copy of Section 1-12-203 C.R.S., which addresses vacancies in the Colorado General Assembly (Attachment G). Committee discussion ensued concerning legislative vacancies and succession of members of the General Assembly in the event of an epidemic emergency.
