The House Republican Party Caucus intends to make greater use of House subcommittees as killing machines, putting to sleep the bills that the small groups of lawmakers decide are dogs no one, or only a few, really want to adopt.

The House GOP Caucus decided this in a closed meeting Dec. 11.

Because Republicans rule the roost in the House, their control of subcommittees of often seven to 11 members will allow as few as four to six GOP delegates the power to hear the bills and quickly dispose of them if the full committee’s chairman agrees.

No one asked the public, the Democrats, the non-affiliated independents or even Republicans outside this closed and slightly shrinking caucus to participate in debate or consideration of the expedited plan to kill bills that four legislators might decide are dogs.

Common legislative practice has been to allow a second consideration and hearing of a bill at the full committee level. There, at least, 22 lawmakers and a larger gathering of the public could consider the merits and flaws of bills that limp in with less than majority support from some subcommittee.

Often, these limping dog bills are dispatched, sometimes humanely, where the public can attend in a large committee room and watch the execution. This has been the nature of democracy carried out in public with some semblance of a schedule to allow people to know a day or more in advance which bills might be dealt a fatal blow by as many as 22 legislators.

Efficiency can be a good thing as long as it isn’t used as an excuse by too few lawmakers to put down too many good dogs.

More frequent use of small subcommittees to dispatch legislation without hearing the bills in full committees can lead to abuses of power.

The first abuse of power might be the decision to reshape public policy and procedure in a closed party caucus meeting.

If more than 59 people knew about the party powwow to reshape rules, the number of others told about the meeting and its public business in advance was small and silent.

Party caucus meetings can be closed, of course, and that might be appropriate for some strictly partisan business.

Another potential abuse is the likelihood that four delegates will be called upon to kill legislation that others simply do not wish to cast a recorded vote against.

What happened two Sundays ago in closed session is too important a change to legislative tradition and procedure to entrust to a party caucus.

A full and public debate should be heard in the House of Delegates. This might happen, or a party caucus that has already decided the issue might simply allow a few Democrats to complain before ramming the decision into effect.

What appears to four GOP delegates to be a dog bill worthy of quick and timely dispatch may appear to many others to be a puppy worth saving.

In either case, 22 lawmakers may deserve to decide. Not every committee hearing of a bill must be a lengthy one. Not every dog deserves to be put down by four appointed executioners.

Legislators have proven themselves unable to limit the numbers of bills introduced and, thus, have brought upon themselves the inefficiencies they seek to clean up in small groups.