Asked if the House is in for a six-hour hearing tomorrow when it takes up the state health exchange legislation – since that’s what happened in the Senate – the Legislature’s top leaders laughed a little. “Twice as many people – you’re looking at 12 hours tomorrow,” Senate President Pro-tem Brent Hill told House Speaker Scott Bedke.

Bedke said House Republicans will caucus this afternoon. “We’ll talk about the decorum in debate. We’ll reference some rules,” he said. “Other than that, they’ll have at it.” Bedke said, “I think we’re going to start probably around 9:30 and go, you know, ‘til we’re done. But we may break for lunch depending on how we’re doing. I think this is an issue that needs to be vetted, and there are members that feel strongly about this, and I’m certainly not going to be one that … tries to limit that debate.”

Said Hill, “There’s more reasons for debate than to change a vote, particularly since we’ve started broadcasting the sessions. … I had a few people come up to me after the debate in the Senate, or email me or talk to me even at church, and say, ‘I learned so much about that issue by listening or watching that particular debate,’ because most people have only seen or heard one side of the issue depending on which talk radio they like to listen to. And it’s a complex issue.” Hill said, “You don’t want to limit debate on something like that. I think it’s helpful for a lot of reasons.”