House Majority Leader @mjlehman23: expect staggered entry to House chamber on Tuesday's #INLegis #OrganizationDay. No plans to pass any bills that day.
Lehman: rules governing entry into statehouse itself will be handled by executive branch, Department of Administration. Witnesses for committee hearings likely to testify remotely. Conference committee procedures, which start in April, still TBD.
.@eddelaney86: "I don't want our organization day to turn into a superspreader." He's urging testing of legislators, and traditional #OrgDay address by House Speaker to be given outdoors or in the atrium instead of chamber.
DeLaney wants a mask requirement. Lehman: #masks are "strongly encouraged," but as far as a requirement "That discussion will still be ongoing."
Lehman notes #INLegis has a dress code, and masks could be incorporated into it. But no final decision on how/whether to enforce it.
After Org Day, House plans to meet at least in part in the Indiana Government Center, with voting by iPad. Committee hearings in three conference rooms in IGC, plus the House chamber.
#INLegis looked at holding session at Indiana Convention Center, but it would have cost an additional $250K-$350K, not counting additional charges for the center's vendors.
Senate plans to meet in the Senate chamber, with 30 senators on the floor and 20 in the spectator gallery.
Lehman: There will likely be a bill in January to change the requirement that #INLegis meet "at the Capitol" to let the legislature conduct business wherever they opt to gather. Lehman notes it's not just the pandemic that's an issue; e.g., a tornado could wipe out the building.
Lehman: it's likely #INLegis won't have its usual honorary resolutions, where entire high school football teams and such come to the House and Senate to be congratulated.
DeLaney: #INLegis shouldn't be locked into the usual two-month lag between #OrgDay and the real start of the session in January. He says that's two months where legislators are ceding all decisionmaking to @GovHolcomb.
DeLaney says #INLegis should start committee meetings immediately, with legislators able to participate electronically from home.
It'll be up to House and Senate to decide how to handle votes, including whether to allow members to vote remotely or have them enter the chamber in smaller subgroups to cast votes.
Lehman: "I think there's an understanding among [House] members that if you come and talk to me, and I ask you to wear a mask, that you do that." But study committee votes down a motion to enforce mask requirement in #INLegis dress code.
Rep. Greg Steuerwald says he expects the speaker can still enforce a mask requirement without passing it as an #INLegis rule.
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