Renton State Rep. Steve Bergquist was elected by his colleagues this week to a seat on the House Rules Committee, the group that has the final say over which bills will, or will not, be debated and voted on by the full state House of Representatives.
According to the legislative web site, the House Rules Committee “considers all bills reported from policy and fiscal committees and determines whether, and in what order, to schedule their consideration on the floor of the House. The Rules Committee also reviews, adopts and schedules consideration of floor resolutions.”
Bergquist, a public school teacher and small-business owner who begins his fourth year in the Legislature in January, is deputy majority floor leader in the House, and sits on four other House committees: Education, Higher Education, Transportation, and State Government, where he serves as vice-chair. He said he’s honored by his new role.
“The Rules Committee is the eye of the needle in the House,” he said. “Thousands of bills might be introduced in a typical session. Only a fraction of those will make it through the policy committee process, and even fewer will be tapped by the Rules Committee for action by the full House. I plan to take this new responsibility seriously, and look forward helping to make sure that the bills we do vote on will be good for our state.”
The 2016 legislative session, slated to last 60 days, opens Monday, January 11.