04-R 170

2004 -- H 8399

Enacted 04/06/04

H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

AMENDING THE RULES OF THE HOUSE FOR THE YEARS 2003-2004

Introduced By: Representatives Murphy, Fox, Menard, Lima, and Watson

Date Introduced: April 06, 2004

RESOLVED, That Rule 26 of the House which was adopted by the House at its January

session, A.D. 2004, entitled “HOUSE RESOLUTION ADOPTING RULES OF THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE YEARS 2003-2004,” be and it is hereby amended to read as

follows:

(26)(a) Committees shall take into consideration all such petitions, resolves, bills, matters

or things as may be referred to them by the House with power to report by bill or otherwise;

provided, however, that committees shall, whenever possible, consider all bills of substantially

the same or of a similar nature at the same time in a manner that is otherwise in conformity with

these rules.

(b) A committee shall not consider any public bill or resolution not previously distributed

in print and electronically to its members except by unanimous consent of the members present.

eight (48) hours prior to any committee meeting, a list by number and title of the bills

and resolutions to be heard at that meeting. The Chair shall limit such listings to the number of

bills or resolutions he or she reasonably expects can be taken up by the committee at that meeting.

Any bill or resolution so posted which the committee is not able to take up at the stated

meeting must be re-posted as stated above and shall be placed at the top of such subsequent

posted list. Such postings shall be made electronically and on the House bulletin board. Copies of

all posted bills or resolutions shall be provided in print and electronically to all committee

members and principal sponsors. A committee shall not hear any said bill or resolution without

such notice except by the consent of a majority of its members and with at least one (1) day's

notification to the principal sponsor. The sponsor may, however, waive such one-day notification.

(d) Every standing committee shall meet at least once weekly if any requests for hearings

on or consideration of bills or resolutions are pending before it. The right to be heard on any such

bill or resolution shall be granted upon request to the principal sponsor thereof as provided in

these rules, and provided further, however, that any such request shall be made in writing to the

Chair, a copy of which is to be given to the reading clerk, no later than ten (10) calendar days

following referral of the bill or resolution to the committee; and provided further that, in

any even-numbered year, any such request to be heard on any bill or resolution referred to the

committee during the immediately preceding session shall be made in writing to the Chair not

later than the last legislative day in the month of January, and shall be posted electronically and in

print. No committee shall hear more than twenty-five (25) bills (exclusive of city and town bills

and those to be placed on the consent calendar) at any one (1) meeting.

(e) Upon receipt of a written request by the Chair for committee consideration from the

principal House sponsor of a bill or resolution, a copy of which is to be given to the recording

clerk, the committee shall grant to said principal House sponsor a hearing on any said bill

or resolution within thirty (30) calendar days of the request, and provided further, that said

committee shall grant to the principal House sponsor consideration of his or her bill or resolution

within eight (8) legislative days of the committee hearing, unless a later date is otherwise agreed

to by the said principal sponsor and the Chair of the Committee. The principal sponsor with the

concurrence of the Chair, may cancel a scheduled hearing with twenty-four (24) hours’ notice to

the Chair, which notice shall be posted electronically. A hearing postponed twice at the sponsor’s

request need not be re-scheduled. The deadline for requests for hearings and consideration shall

be the first legislative day after the last day for bill introduction. For the purpose of the rule,

consideration shall mean a majority vote on one (1) of the following:

(i) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House with a recommendation of

passage;

(ii) a motion to report the bill or resolution as amended, or in substitute form, to the

House with a recommendation of passage; or

(iii) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House without recommendation,

provided that such action shall require the affirmative vote of four-fifths (4/5) of the members

present.

In the event of a tie vote on any of the motions specified in (i), (ii) or (iii) hereof, the bill

or resolution shall be lost.

The originals of bills or resolutions which have failed in committee shall be transmitted

by the committee clerks to the Secretary of State for the State Archives, with an appropriate

notation thereon.

(f) Once a committee has considered a bill or resolution the principal House sponsor shall

be notified in writing or electronically by the end of the second legislative day following such

action including the vote tally within the committee and the date thereof, prior to the report being

made to the full House. Committee Chairs shall bring reports of committee actions to the floor no

later than two (2) weeks following the committee votes thereon, provided that this shall not apply

to the Committee on Finance. A committee member may move reconsideration of any vote taken

so long as the subject matter of the vote remains in the possession of the committee.

Bills or resolutions concerning appropriations, revenue or expenditures shall not be

subject to the above time limits.

(g) In the event a committee shall fail to afford consideration to any bill or resolution

within the prescribed time, the principal sponsor may report such failure to the Speaker of the

House and the Speaker shall order the immediate discharge of the bill or resolution from a

committee to the House floor.

(h) All bills or resolutions reported from committee shall be placed on the calendar or,

pursuant to the restrictions of these rules, on the consent calendar for the required period of time

according to these rules before House consideration. Bills and resolutions reported from

committees and received by the Clerk of the House prior to the convening of the session on a

given legislative day shall be deemed to have been received, and therefore in order to be placed

upon the appropriate calendar, as of that day. Bills and resolutions so received after the convening

of the session on a given legislative day shall be deemed to have been received, and therefore in

order to be placed upon the appropriate calendar, on the next legislative day and shall be

considered a part of that day’s business.

House Rule 26(e) through (h) shall not apply to any bill or resolution which shall

have originated in the Senate.

(i) No public bill or resolution which originated in the House shall be considered by a

House committee unless the committee has held a hearing on that bill or resolution no later than

one (1) week prior to April 11, 2003 (or April 8 21, 2004, in the case of 2004), and thereafter

the committees of the House shall not consider public bills or resolutions except those which have

been acted upon by the Senate and transmitted by the Senate to the House of Representatives,

provided however, that the committee on finance may hear and consider such House bills, acts or

resolutions as it deems to have a fiscal impact after April 11, 2003 (or April 8 21, 2004, in the

case of 2004), except as provided in section (j) hereof, and provided further, that each other

House committee may complete consideration of not more than three (3) House bills or

resolutions after said date, on which such committee had not been able to complete action, upon

approval by the Speaker of a written request from the Chair. All such requests must be filed with

the Clerk of the House no later than April 11, 2003 (or April 8 21, 2004, in the case of 2004).

Reporting deadlines shall not apply during 2003 to the committees newly created by these Rules.

(j) No House bill which relates to an individual's pension or retirement shall be accepted

as a committee report from the committee on finance unless it shall have been considered by the

committee on or before April 11, 2003 (or April 8 21, 2004, in the case of 2004), and shall have

been heard in the committee no later than one (1) week prior to that date.

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LC03162

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