Gatekeeping Committees

Gatekeeping committees exercise disproportionate control by deciding whether items reach the full body. When used abusively, they prevent legitimate issues from being debated or voted on at all.

Why It Matters

• Concentrates decision power in a few hands.

• Undermines majority rule when widely supported measures are blocked.

• Leaves citizens with no record of where representatives stand.

Tell-Tale Signs

• Popular proposals never leave committee.

• Chairs sit on referrals without scheduling hearings.

• Leadership packs committees with loyalists to ensure bottlenecks.

Examples Across Levels

• Local: A planning subcommittee never reports a resident’s proposal to the board.

• State: Committee chairs pocket-veto bills by declining to calendar them.

• Federal: House Rules Committee determines which amendments are in order, often shielding leadership priorities.

Countermeasures

• Set deadlines requiring items to be reported out.

• Allow minority members to discharge items to the full body after delay.

• Increase transparency: publish lists of “bills held in committee.”

Related Patterns

• Agenda Manipulation

• Stacked Committees