Why the committee is sitting in back row, behind row of empty seats…

As the hearing on HB 2 begins this morning, House State Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, offered an explanation for why the committee is seated in the back row of the dais, with a row of empty chairs in front of it. Loertscher said the Lincoln Auditorium was designed for joint committee hearings. Senate committees are smaller than House panels, and can easily fit in the front row of the dais, Loertscher said, but House committees are larger; they can fit in the back row, which has more seats. “So it’s just easier,” he said. “I for one don’t like people talking from behind me. … So those are the practical reasons why we’re sitting on the back row.” To laughter, he said, “It has nothing to do with our being terrified of anybody.”