Utah’s Potential 4th House Seat

Last week I wrote a post on Utah’s 4th House Seat possibility. (Thanks to coltakashi for the comment on that post.)

The discussion continues today in the Deseret News,4th seat faces lots of hurdles.

The original bill, which contains a voting House member for the District of Columbia, and an at-large seat for Utah, passed the House Government Reform Committee earlier this year.
But the bill also needs to pass the House Judiciary Committee before it can go to the full House for a vote and then on to the Senate for consideration.
House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., does not like the at-large component of the bill and wants to see Utah sign off on splitting the state into fourth districts before he will consider the bill.
This means, in the six Congressional work days after the election, the following would have to occur:
• Governor calls special session
• Utah legislators agree on a four-district map to include a new fourth district
• Sensenbrenner agrees to take up the bill in the House Judiciary Committee
• The House Judiciary Committee passes the bill
• The House passes the bill
• The Senate puts the bill on its schedule
• The Senate passes the bill
• President Bush signs bill into law
Each step on its own can take more time than the process would allow at this point. If the bill does not pass by the time Congress adjourns, it will need to be introduced at the start of the next Congress in January. Even if the House passed the bill, it would hit the Senate at the same time it would be finishing up the 2007 budget, which would be more than a month overdue at that point, so where it would fit in the schedule might be hard to figure out.

As I read this article, I couldn’t help but think that it’s too bad that the priorities are mixed up – it’s “what’s best for the party”, it seems, instead of what is best for the people.

The Nov. 7 election will have huge implications for the bill’s status too, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah said, particularly to see if Matheson keeps his seat and if leadership changes in the House or Senate.
Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote, said if the Democrats took control of either chamber, Republicans might feel it is better to pass this sooner than later because the new majority could change it to something they would not support.
“Why not pass it when you can control the project?” Zherka said.
If the Republicans retain control of the House, the ratio of Democrats to Republican may also affect the bill’s status because the Republicans would not want to pass a bill that could swing control of the chamber to the other party.