A house RESOLUTION

 

TO AMEND RULES 6.3 14. and 15., AND 8.9 of the RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, all RELATING TO THE MOTION period, so as to delete the motion period and all references to it; and to amend Rule 8.6, relating to WHEN THE PREVIOUS QUESTION MAY BE INVOKED (cloture), so AS TO revise the procedure for invoking cloture.

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

 

(1)        That Rule 6.3 14. and 15. of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to read:

 

14.       a.        motion period;

 

            b.         consideration of local contested bills and joint resolutions on second reading;

 

15.       consideration of statewide contested bills and joint resolutions on second reading in the order in which they appear on the Calendar;

a.         Notwithstanding the order of business set forth in Rule 6.3 a matter may be set for Special Order for consideration on a particular day at a particular hour or at a particular place on the Calendar.

b.         Special orders may be set for appropriations bills and local bills by majority vote of the House. Special orders on all other bills on the Calendar shall be set only by written resolution, which has been referred to the Rules Committee or originates therein, and agreed to by two-thirds of the members of that committee and agreed to by majority of the members of the House present after the committee has made its report; provided, however, that notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 9 governing the amendability of bills and resolutions, no amendments may be offered to any Special Order resolution, which amendments do not pertain to the bill which is the subject of the Special Order resolution, except as to the time and date called for in such resolution.

Provided, that for the purpose of explaining any Special Order resolution the time limit for opponents shall not exceed five minutes and the time limit for proponents shall not exceed five minutes.

c.   A Special Order set for a certain day and hour, not being considered by the House at the hour named, shall be transferred by the Clerk of the House to the Special Orders of the following day until disposed of, in the chronological order of original appointment.

Any member may insist upon a Special Order of the Day, or other Special Orders, until it be discharged.

d.   The motion period provided for the daily order of business under Rule 6.3 shall be limited to ten minutes only.

Provided, however, that time consumed by roll call votes shall not be construed as part of time allotted to said motions period.             

e.         Consideration of uncontested local bills and joint resolutions on third and second readings as provided in subsection 7a and b of this rule shall be limited to a total of ten minutes only.  Consideration of contested local bills and joint resolutions on second and third readings as provided in subsections 12b and 14b of this rule is limited to a total of ten minutes for second reading bills and joint resolutions and ten minutes for third reading bills and joint resolutions.

                        f.          Consideration of uncontested statewide bills and joint resolutions on third and second readings as provided in subsection 8a and b of this rule shall be limited to a total of thirty minutes only.

                        g.         No debate shall be allowed in the uncontested period, provided, however, the Speaker may recognize a proponent and opponent of any uncontested bill or joint resolution for a brief explanation of their position.

                        h.         Consideration of unanimous consent requests as provided for in subsection 12 of this rule shall be limited to five minutes only.  No unanimous consent requests except those unanimous consent requests dealing with the pending matter may be considered at any time other than during the time provided for in subsection 12 of this rule.

 

(2)        That Rule 8.9 of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to read:

 

            8.9       When a motion is made during a motion period, the Speaker shall entertain but one motion at a time and there shall be no substitute motions considered.  The same motion may be entertained consecutively during the motion period. (Reserved)

 

(3)        That Rule 8.6 of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to read:

 

            8.6       The previous question upon any matter may be invoked as follows:

            After three hours of debate of a bill or resolution a motion for the previous question may be made by any member of the House. Upon an affirmative vote on a motion for the previous question (fifty percent of those present and voting, a quorum being present, plus five, being required to interrupt debate and a simple majority vote at all other times), the amendments then upon the desk shall be considered, but no further amendments shall be allowed to be offered unless the amendment has at least two thirds of the membership of the House as its sponsor.  The Speaker shall order that the House stand at ease temporarily, and the Majority party leader and the Minority party leader, or their respective appointee, shall each select no more than twelve amendments from those placed on the desk prior to adoption of the motion for the previous question. Provided, the Majority leader and the Minority leader may each offer one additional amendment, in addition to the previously selected twelve amendments. The House shall debate the amendments in the order they are presented by the Speaker. The proponents of an amendment shall be allowed an opportunity to make a short explanation of his each amendment for a period not to exceed threesix minutes, then opponents to the amendment shall be permitted not more than threesix minutes to oppose theeach proposed amendment.  Then two hours of debate shall be allowed on the bill, the time being equally divided between opponents and proponents with no person to speak more than ten minutes.  Provided, that after the previous question has been invoked, the primary sponsor of an amendment may withdraw it with unanimous consent without making a motion to table it.

            Provided, the previous question may be invoked on a motion to reconsider only when the matter to be reconsidered is debatable.

            Provided, a motion to adjourn debate shall be in order even though the previous question has been invoked.

            Provided, further, any member who has been recognized by the Speaker and is speaking from the podium, is considered to be debating the issue and a call for the previous question, whether by the member or any other member, requires the necessary fifty percent of those present and voting plus five.

 

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