Update

May 20, 2009

On May 13, 2009 the chairs of the House of Deputies legislative committees and the chairs of the House of Bishops legislative committees met together in Anaheim to review and discuss their approaching work together when they meet in cognate committees in Anaheim.

The meeting together of the committees of each House has been practiced since the early 1990s, and is done to facilitate ease in open hearings on legislation and pre-report discussion. Called “cognate committees” when the legislative committees of each House meet together, voting in committee on the reports to be sent to the House of Initial Action (HIA) is done separately, with the HOB and the HOD legislative committee voting.

The House of Initial Action (HIA) is the House that will hear the report from a specific legislative committee first. The HIA is assigned by the Presiding Officers (President of the House of Deputies and Presiding Bishop).

Pre-filed legislation is assigned to a legislative committee. The committees have each been designated with a HIA. All pre-filed legislation, HIA and committee membership is available on the General Convention Office website at: http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/