The bill that would extend the city’s line of credit as an emergency funding mechanism for rail will get a first reading this week in Kapolei. And even before the first vote, it’s already cleared a potentially significant hurdle: committee assignment.

I speculated earlier this month that Ann Kobayashi and Romy Cachola could make trouble for the bill if they convinced Tulsi Gabbard to join their dissent. They’re three of the five voting members in the Budget Committee.

Instead, the bill will be the first one assigned to the “Legislative Matters Committee” that Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin created out of whole cloth two weeks ago, after I wrote my story. He’s the chair of the committee and all of his colleagues are voting members.

That’s certainly a democratic approach to handling this controversial piece of legislation while also clearing a path for quick, painless passage. It’s less heavy-handed than changing the membership of the Budget Committee or referring the bill to the rail-friendly Transportation Committee to assure passage — both of which were options available to the chair.

It’s also window into how Martin operates nearly a year into his reign as council chair. It’ll be worth watching to see how Martin uses his vaguely-titled ad hoc committee going forward.