Smile! It's 7 a.m.!

Chances are, not many voters in Hampton Roads want to roll out of bed for a 7 a.m. subcommittee meeting at the General Assembly in Richmond.

Chances are, not many reporters do, either.

But subcommittees have become an inside-baseball debate up here in Capitol Square -- which explains why someone has felt the need to capture them on video.

The Republican majority allows legislation to die in subcommittee on unrecorded votes. That means bills can disappear shortly after sunrise with only a few lawmakers agreeing to do it.

Democrats are waving the flag of open government, saying that bills shouldn't die this way. To hammer home their point, they've started recording the meetings for the public record.

Actually, this started last year, said Mark Bergman, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong of Henry County. And once again, the Dems plan to post significant video on the website www.assemblyaccess.com.

Republicans say critics are missing the point. Thousands of bills are introduced in the General Assembly each session, and many are doomed to fail from the outset. The process becomes more streamlined if subcommittees can weed out some legislation. (Believe me, the words "streamlined" and "General Assembly" don't normally fit in the same sentence.)

Republicans also point out that a procedure exists for bringing up subcommittee bills in the full committee. That said, at least one significant measure died in a House sub last year -- the one that would ban smoking in restaurants.

Anyway, to the extent that the Daily Press bureau finds itself awake at 7 a.m., we'll keep you posted. Or you can watch the web site.