In my experience with state legislatures, the Rules committee is where bills go to die. It's an easy way to kill legislation without having to commit yourself to voiting "No" on it. Very few bills that go into the committee ever make it out. Usually they just die from inaction. You get to the end of the session and they're still sitting there.

It's a favorite way for a sponsor who has introduced something they know is a dog to let it die and still save face with the people who hounded them into introducing it in the first place. In this case, Harriet gets to tell the Wildcatters she tried to help them out but just couldn't pull it off. And those who know the bill is a dog don't have to risk upsetting anyone by voting against it. Although they'd get a lot more support from more of us if they would kill it outright.

But this scenario isn't always true. Some controversial legislation does make it out of Rules in a sneaky way towards the end of the session as an amendment to another bill. So we should all keep our eyes out and keep sending those emails to your reps and committee members. I sent another note to everyone on the Rules committee urging them to bury it.

BG