Resolving Differences: The Conference Committee
When the 2 houses pass different versions of a bill, they may be able to either adopt amendments that resolve their differences or one house may recede from an amendment that is objectionable to the other house. If they cannot reach agreement, one house may request a committee of conference. Under Joint Rule 3, “In all cases of disagreement between the senate and assembly on amendments, adopted by either house to a bill or joint resolution passed by the other house, a committee of conference consisting of 3 members from each house may be requested by either house, and the other house shall appoint a similar committee.”
Conference committee members are appointed by the presiding officer of each house, and senate conferees must be approved by that body. The rules do not require bipartisan representation. The partisan makeup of the committee usually depends on the type of bill being considered. If the measure had bipartisan support, it is customary to appoint a member of the minority party to the committee. Of 7 conference committees appointed in the 1991 Legislature, 4 had bipartisan representation from each house, and 3 had members exclusively from the majority party. In the latter 3 cases, 2 dealt with budget bills, so the conference committee included the presiding officer and majority leader from each house and the cochairpersons of the Joint Committee on Finance, all of whom are majority members by the nature of their offices. (The third was a gambling bill that failed to pass.)
A conference committee report, which requires agreement of the majority of each house’s representatives, will consist of the committee’s recommendations to the legislature and may include one or more simple amendments or a substitute amendment to the bill. When either house takes up the conference report, the question is simply adoption or rejection of the report. A conference report cannot be amended. Approval of the report by roll call vote in each house constitutes final passage of the bill. Action on the report always starts in the second house so that the concluding vote will take place in the house in which the bill originated.
Under certain circumstances, a second conference committee may be required. When a conference committee cannot agree, a new one can be appointed, or if the legislature rejects the report of the first committee but is still interested in passage of the bill, it may choose to select a new committee.
