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Senate committee hides secret amendments, wastes testifiers' time

The question of whether psychologists should have prescriptive authority under HB2589 has been very contentious with lobbyists busy lobbying and a great deal of written and oral testimony submitted.

A hearing on this bill was held on March 20, 2006 by the Senate Health Committee and was very lengthy, with some testifiers preparing and submitting detailed material.

After hearing all the testimony, the Chair revealed that she had prepared a detailed amendment, which she described briefly, and recommended that the committee pass the measure with the as yet unrevealed (to the public) amendment.

This action violates sunshine because the text of the amendment prepared by the Chair in advance and voted on by committee members was not available to the public at any time. This action violates trust because the Chair essentially wasted the time of numerous testifiers who had taken the time to prepare material and sit through the long session, including persons who stated that they had taken vacation time from work in order to do so. The public was testifying on a measure that had already been superseded because the Chair intended to offer the unrevealed amendment to the committee for a vote. The public testimony on either side was rendered irrelevant because the amendment had been prepared in advance.

posted by Larry @ 9:00 PM