Yesterday I went to the House floor to hear the debate and vote on HB 348. It had been defeated 19-18 on Monday and a call for reconsideration had it available to be brought back up yesterday. But they postponed it another day.
This bill responds to the awkward situation of former Gov. Palin being evaluated on various charges by the Personnel Board made up of her appointees. The bill enlarges the board from three members to five. It also has the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court giving three names to the governor who then chooses from those three. It also puts restrictions on the kinds of jobs or other conflicts the members can have.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Lynn and basically supported by the Democrats. However, the Democrats wanted an amendment that anticipated a show-down between the Chief Justice and the Governor. The amendments - there were several variations - would have limited how often the Governor could request more nominees if the Governor didn't like the names she got and/or explicitly said the Chief Justice didn't have to give more names.
People felt strongly about this on both sides and this dispute was the reason the bill failed on the floor the first time because the supporters of the amendments voted against the bill. It does appear that today they were persuaded that the bill, without the amendment, is better than the status quo.
The video gives a sense of the floor of the House as Rep. Lynn promotes his bill.
Now it has 12 days to pass in the Senate.
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