Rules Committee

What is the Rules Committee?

Wisconsin: The Rules Committee is the Assembly standing committee responsible for scheduling bills for floor debate.   It consists of the Speaker, Majority and Minority Leaders, Assistants to the Leaders, and Caucus Leaders.  Additional members are appointed.  (see here for more detail)

US House of Representatives:  The Rules Committee is a committee of the House of Representatives that is responsible for the rules under which bills will be schedule for debate.  This includes setting rules about the amendment process, debate time, etc.   There is no counterpart in the Senate.   (See this summary for more detail)

Rules Committee Duties

Within the Legislative Semester, the Rules Committee is responsible for organizational tasks, such as running the leadership elections, managing the issue declaration process, appointing committee chairs, and assigning bills to committee.  As with the Wisconsin Assembly and US House committees, they have jurisdiction over the house rules, and work with the Speaker to schedule debate for the Full Session.   The majority party has a majority on the Rules Committee.   (*in the House of Representatives, the Speaker appoints members to committees and assigns bills to committee, but because this is a big job we do it in collaboration with the entire Rules Committee, chaired by the Speaker)

Overview of the Rules Committee

Each class elects one member of the Rules Committee by secret ballot.

The rules committee provides a  great opportunity for students to meaningful engage with the legislative process and make powerful decisions, and they are a HUGE help to you, taking some of the organizational tasks out of your hands and supporting larger events like the Elections and Committee Hearings.   Rules Committees are powerful and influential bodies in both the Wisconsin Legislature and the Federal Congress.  They are highly partisan (controlled by the majority by a 2:1 margin in the case of the House Committee).  Because we do not seek to play up partisanship, the Legislative Semester Rules Committee should refelct the makeup of the body as a whole (ratio of R to D).  This may require appointment of additional members after party declaration day.  Appointments are made by a vote of the committee.  

Rules Committee Elections Instructions

When electing rules committee members from each class, begin by sharing this Leadership Overview with the class, going through it together, and fielding questions to the best of your ability!  Then ask students to consider what qualities they'd like to see in a rules committee member, and to nominate members of the class, or themselves.

Elections: Check in with any students who were nominated to the Rules Committee, and ask if they accept the nomination.  Give students 30-60 seconds to give a short speech.  Then prepare a ballot listing the names of the candidates in the class, and conduct an election.  You may need multiple rounds if no one candidate gets a majority of the votes.  Because students have not yet declared their party and the Rules Committee for the US House is strongly partisan, additional members may be appointed to the Rules Committee by the Speaker, once elected, to achieve the proper partisan balance.  

Rules Committee Manual:  Sample Agendas and Related Resources