The work of the State Parliamentary committees

In order to structure parliamentary work efficiently, parliament as a whole forms subdivisions. These subdivisions of parliament, formed on a technical and specialist basis, are the (technical) committees.

They prepare the State Parliament’s deliberations and resolutions and thus, as so-called "parliamentary workshops", do a very important part of the work of parliament. The tasks and subject areas which the State Parliament has to deal with are so comprehensive and diverse that the plenum as a single body would have too big a workload if it were to try to deal with every single matter in detail. Another consideration is that many specialist political issues are so complex that experts fully familiar with the details and particular features of their own areas are needed. Accordingly, the main role of the committees is to deliberate the matters referred by parliament, such as bills, budget plans and other petitions, in full detail.

In order to obtain the necessary information and clarify complex issues from various points of view, committees often hold public hearings. Experts, lobbyists and informants are invited to state their case and answer questions. In addition, committees are given detailed advice by the legislatory and advisory service of the State Parliament administration, which is neutral with respect to any political party and whose members enjoy discretion similar to that of judges in producing reports and giving legal opinions.

Topics for deliberation are referred to committees by the plenum. The parliamentary parties in the State Parliament have to be represented on the committees according to strength and by at least one member in an advisory capacity. The Lower Saxony State Parliament currently has 11 standing committees, 3 standing subcommittees and 6 special committees. The standing committees have 17 members.

Some standing committees that may be mentioned are the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Matters, with a Subcommittee entitled "Detention and Help for Delinquents", the Committee on Internal Administration and Sport, the Budget and Finance Committee with a Subcommittee called "Management Account Auditing", the Education Committee, the Environmental Issues Committee and the Committee on Federal and European affairs and Media (which to a certain extent is concerned with such things as co-operation between the Land and the Federal government, other states, the European Community and their respective organs at parliamentary level). The special committees include for example the Committee on Election Supervision, the Committee on Matters pertaining to Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Committee on Control of Special Police Investigations.

Although in principle the formulation of political demands and objectives in parliament is supposed to take place "in front of everyone", the requirement of public debate does not apply to the sessions of the parliamentary committees, except for the "public discussion" above mentioned of a bill or motion for resolution instead of the first deliberation by the plenum of the State Parliament. As part of this process it has to be possible to reach compromises requiring concessions on both sides - something which is easier to do in a closed session rather than an open one, as a rule.