Access to House and Senate Floors (H 5529, S 792)

Continuing an unfortunate trend over the years, the House of Representatives decided this session to further cut-off public access to the House floor before sessions begin. The effect of the change is to prevent both lobbyists and individual constituents from meeting with their representatives anywhere from 10-40 minutes before the start of session.  This pre-session time is crucial because representatives are often hurrying off to committee meetings once the floor session is done. The Senate unfortunately followed suit with passage of a slightly less restrictive rule. The ACLU unsuccessfully testified against the changes.