Code or the short title of the Consolidated Laws, or Revised Statutes, or law to be amended, with some brief reference to the subject-matter of the proposed amendment, and the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to return any bill to the Senator intro ducing the same, when this rule has not been complied with. A bill providing for an appropriation or creating or increasing a charge upon the State Treasury shall, when reported by any committee other than the Finance Committee, be referred to the Finance Committee to consider and report thereon and the committee reporting such bill shall, at the time of making such report, recommend the further reference thereof to the Finance Committee. At the request of the Temporary President, or of the Chairman of Finance, a bill creating or increasing a charge upon the State Treasury reported by any committee other than the Finance Committee, shall, at any time before final reading, be referred to the Committee on Finance which may consider and report upon any features in the bill creating or increasing such a charge. 17. When a bill shall be reported by the Committee of the Whole, and not otherwise disposed of, the question shall be. "Shall the report be agreed to?" Upon such question the merits of the bill may be debated, and a motion to commit, or recommit, or to amend, as provided in the fourteenth rule, or lay on the table, or to postpone to a future day, shall be in order. And when the report of such committee, if favorable, shall be agreed to and the bill not otherwise disposed of, the bill shall be ordered printed and engrossed for a third reading. Should the report be not agreed to, the bill shall then lie upon the table and be subject to any further action of the Senate and may be called up at any time in the order of Reports of Committees or Motions and Resolutions. 18. Every bill shall receive three readings previous to its being passed, and the President shall give notice at each, whether it be the first, second or third and shall only be read by sections in the Committee of the Whole, except when the bill shall not have been printed and upon the desks of members for three days, when it may be so read. No bill shall be amended or com mitted until it shall have been read twice, and no bill shall be read a third time out of its regular order, unless on a vote of two-thirds of all the Senators present voting. All resolutions which propose any amendment of the Constitution, or ratify any proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, shall be treated in the form of proceedings on them, in a similar manner with bills. No bills shall be ordered to a third reading without having been acted upon in, and reported from the Committee of the Whole and the Committee of the Whole shall not be discharged except after suspension of this rule. The Calendar of bills on the order of third reading shall consist of all bills which have been ordered to a third reading by vote of the Senate, and, as well, all Assembly bills which, having passed the Senate, have been subsequently reconsidered upon recall from the Governor and thereupon amended by the Assembly 19. After a bill or resolution to amend the Constitution shall be ordered to a third reading, no motion to amend the same shall be in order without unanimous consent; but any such bill or resolution may be committed prior to the final reading thereof. 20. When any bill requiring the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators is under consideration, such concurrence shall not be requisite except on the question of its final passage. 21. The question on the final passage of every bill shall be taken by ayes and noes, which shall be entered on the Journal, and unless the bill receives the number of votes required by the Constitution to pass it, it shall be declared lost, except in cases provided for by the twenty-fourth rule, and such question shall be taken immediately after the third reading and without debate. 22. Every bill immediately upon its introduction shall be printed and placed on the files of the Senators. It shall retain its original printed number when reprinted, together with its new number thereafter during all stages of its progress. All bills reported favorably or for consideration, if reported with amendments, shall be immediately reprinted. Every bill when introduced, and every amendment thereafter made to such bill amending existing law, must have all new matter underscored, and all matter eliminated by amendment from existing law must appear in its proper place inclosed in brackets. In the printed bill such new matter shall be italicized and all matter eliminated from existing law shall be inclosed in blackfaced brackets. Where a printed bill is amended by eliminating new matter from such bill, the same shall be omitted in the reprint of the original. It shall be the duty of the President to direct the Clerk to cause any bill appearing on the calendar and not complying with this rule to be immediately amended and reprinted so as to comply with the same. There shall be printed for the use of the Senate as authorized by section seven of the State Printing Law, three hundred additional copies of such general Senate bills as may be designated by the Clerk of the Senate. 23. The vote on the final passage of any bill appropriating moneys or property, or creating, continuing, altering or removing any body politic or corporate, shall not be reconsidered whenever any such bill shall be lost, unless by a vote of a majority of all the Senators elected, but all other bills, when the same shall have been lost, may be reconsidered by a vote of a majority of all the Senators present and voting. 24. If, on taking the final question on a bill, it shall appear that a constitutional quorum is not present, or if the bill requires a vote of two-thirds of all the Senators elected to pass it, and it appears that such number is not present, the bill shall retain its place on the calendar and be again taken up in its regular order ON MOTIONS AND THEIR PRECEDENCE 25. When a question is before the Senate, only the following motions shall be received, and such motions shall have precedence in the order here stated, viz.: 1. For an adjournment. 2. For a call of the Senate. 3. To lay on the table. 4. To postpone to a certain day. 5. To commit to a standing committee. 6. To commit to a select committee. 7. To commit to the committee of the whole. 8. To amend. 9. To postpone indefinitely. The motion to adjourn, or for a call of the Senate, or to lay on the table, shall be decided without debate, and shall always be in order except as provided in Rules 1, 32 and 47. The motion to discharge a standing committee from consideration of a bill, resolution or question and the motion to suspend the rules shall only be made in the order of business of motions and resolutions. 26. All motions shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the President or any Senator, delivered to the Clerk, and read before the same shall be debated; any motion may be withdrawn at any time before decision or amendment. 27. If the question in debate contains several points, a Senator may have the same divided, provided the division called for embodies a distinct principle or statement of fact. 28. A motion to postpone to a future day, commit or refer, until it is decided, shall preclude all debate of the main question. 29. When a blank is to be filled, and different sums or time shall be proposed, the question shall be first taken on the highest sum and the longest time. 30. When a question has once been put and decided, it shall be in order for any Senator to move for the reconsideration thereof; but no motion for the reconsideration of any vote shall be in order after the bill, resolution, message, report, amendment, nomination or motion, upon which the vote was taken, shall have gone out of the possession of the Senate; nor shall any motion for reconsideration be in order unless made on the same day on which the vote was taken, or within the next three days of the actual session of the Senate thereafter. Nor shall any question be reconsidered more than once. But when a bill or resolution shall have been recalled from the Governor or from the Assembly, a motion for reconsideration may be made at any time thereafter while the same is in the possession of the Senate, and all resolutions recalling a bill or resolution from the Governor or Assembly shall be regarded as privileged. No vote shall be reconsidered upon either of the following motions: To adjourn. To lay on the table. 31. All concurrent resolutions shall lie on the table at least one day, except as otherwise directed by Rules 18 and 30, and except concurrent resolutions referring to adjournment. ON CLOSING DEBATE 32. When any bill, resolution or motion shall have been under consideration for two hours it shall be in order for any Senator to move to close debate, and the President shall recognize the Senator who wishes to make such motion. Such motion shall not be amendable or debatable and shall be immediately put, and if it shall receive the affirmative votes of a majority of the Senators present, the pending measure shall take precedence over all other business. The vote shall thereupon be taken upon such bill, motion or resolution, with such amendments as may be pending at the time of such motion according to the rules of the Senate, but without further debate, except that any Senator who may desire so to do shall be permitted to speak thereon not more than once and not exceeding five minutes; upon the roll call any Senator may speak not to exceed five minutes in explanation of his vote. After such motion to close debate has been made by any Senator no other motion shall be in order until such motion has been voted upon by the Senate. After the Senate shall have adopted the motion to close debate, as hereinbefore provided, no motion shall be in order but one motion to adjourn or for a call of the Senate by the Temporary President, and a motion to commit. Should said motion to adjourn be carried, the measure under consideration shall be the pending question when the Senate shall again convene, and shall be taken up at the point where it was at the time of such adjournment. The motion to close debate may be ordered upon a single motion, a series of motions allowable under the rules, or an amendment or amendments, or may be made to embrace all authorized motions or amendments and [SENATE JOURNAL] 4 |