Revised Statues - Chapter 50 Legislature

(1) The final draft report, the agency response, and the unit director's evaluation prescribed in section 50-1210 shall be reviewed by the committee. The committee shall amend, if necessary, and adopt or reject each draft report recommendation, and the adopted recommendation shall be incorporated into a final committee report which shall be approved by majority vote of the committee.

(2) The committee may decide, by majority vote, to defer adoption of a final committee report pending a public hearing. When the committee elects to schedule a public hearing, a preliminary report shall be released for review by interested persons prior to the hearing. The preliminary report shall include the unit report and recommendations and any agency response. The public hearing shall be held not less than ten and not more than thirty calendar days following release of the preliminary report.

(3) When the committee elects to schedule a hearing prior to releasing a final committee report, the final committee report shall include, as an addendum, a summary of the testimony received at the hearing. A transcript of the testimony received at the hearing shall be on file with the committee and available for public inspection. The final committee report shall be released within sixty days after the public hearing.

(4) After the committee approves the final committee report, the unit director shall forward the report to the agency director. The communication to the agency shall invite written response to the final committee report and shall prohibit the release of any part of the final committee report to any person outside the agency. The agency shall be allowed fifteen calendar days from the receipt of the final committee report to provide a written response to the committee. Any written response received from the agency shall be attached to the final committee report as an addendum.

(5) Once the committee has approved a final committee report and received a written response to the report from the agency director, the chairperson of the committee shall cause the report to be released concurrently to all members of the Legislature and to the public. Only the chairperson or his or her designee may initially release a committee report or any information relating to the content of the report, including recommendations, and then only after approval by a majority of the committee.