I don't believe it's accurate to say that the Calendars Committee is exempt from open records or oversight. All meetings of the Calendars Committee are technically open meetings, and the minutes of those meetings are publicly available. The problem is that, because Calendars does not take public testimony, they are only required to give two hours' notice before a meeting. Also, because the minutes only reflect the the final votes, the minutes typically reflect that the committee unanimously voted to schedule one group of bills and to not schedule another group of bills. The minutes don't reflect the discussion, which is when the members work out how they're going to vote.Wolverine wrote:If it's a pro-gun bill, Joe Straus usually lets the public lawmaking proceed without interference, knowing he can kill them in the calendars committee which is exempt from open records or other oversight.
Theoretically, a group of people could take shifts hanging out at the Capitol, attending every meeting of the Calendars Committee. But you'd have to be in it for the long haul, because as soon as you missed a meeting, that's when they'd vote on the bill you were waiting to hear about.