USA > Michigan > Michigan legislative manual and official directory for the years 1899-1900 > Part 14
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RULE 42. The first named member of any committee shall be the chairman, unless the committee by a majority of their number elect a chairman.
RULE 43. No committee shall sit during the sessions of the house, without special leave, nor shall employ a clerk at the public expense, without first obtaining leave of the house for that purpose.
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THE LEGISLATURE.
CHAPTER VIII.
BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
RULE 45. Every bill or joint resolution shall be introduced on the re- port of a committee, or by motion for leave; in the latter case, at least one day's notice shall be given, which notice shall be in writing, and shall contain the title of the bill or joint resolution.
RULE 46. Every bill or joint resolution shall receive three several readings previous to its passage; the first and second readings may be by its title only, but the third reading shall be in full, unless otherwise ordered by the house, and on a day subsequent to that on which it re- ceives its second reading, or passed the committee of the whole house.
RULE 47. Every bill or joint resolution reported upon by a committee with the recommendation that the same "do pass," shall be printed. referred to the comittee of the whole, and placed on the general order.
RULE 48. No bill or joint resolution shall be committed or amended until it has passed its first and second reading.
RULE 49. On the final passage of every bill and joint resolution, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal; and no bill or joint resolution shall be declared passed unless a major- ity of all the members elected to the house shall have voted in favor of the passage of the same.
RULE 50. No bill or joint resolution appropriating the public money or property for local or private purposes, or altering or amending any act of incorporation granted prior to 1850, shall be declared passed un- less two-thirds of all the members elected to the house shall have voted in favor of the passage of the same.
RULE 51. Every bill or joint resolution transmitted from the senate shall receive the several readings, be committed, and treated in all respects as though the same originated in the house.
RULE 52. A motion to strike out the enacting words of a bill shall have precedence of a motion to amend; and if carried shall be consid- ered equivalent to its rejection.
RULE 53. When notice of the intention to move the reconsideration of any bill or joint resolution shall be given by a member, the clerk of the house shall retain the said bill or joint resolution, until after the time expires during which the motion can be made.
RULE 54. The title of every bill shall express the subject to, which the same relates, and if the bill proposes any amendment to existing laws, enacted prior to the last general compilation, the title shall con- tain also the compiler's section and the chapter of the compiled laws which the bill proposes to amend.
RULE 55. Bills or joint resolutions which have been considered in committee of the whole, may be amended by the house by a two-thirds vote of all the member's present and voting thereon. When any bill or joint resolution, considered in committee of the whole, shall have been recommitted, any amendments made thereto by the committee may be concurred in by a majority vote .- H. J., April 1, 1891.
RULE 56. Bills or joint resolutions placed on the order of third read- ing, or their final passage, without having been considered in commit- tee of the whole, may be amended prior to their passage by a majority vote.
MICHIGAN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, FLINT. Main Building and Offices.
113
HOUSE RULES.
RULE 57. For the purpose of amendment the preamble of a bill or joint resolution shall be considered as a part of the bill or joint resolu- tion to which it is attached, but on the final passage of any bill or joint resolution, the preamble shall be considered with the title.
CHAPTER IX.
MISCELLANEOUS,
RULE 58. No person unless introduced by a member shall be admitted within the bar of the house, except the executive, members of the sen- ate, the heads of the departments of the state government, judges, members of congress, those who have been members of congress, of the constitutional conventions of the state, of the state legislature, and such persons as the speaker shall assign places as reporters. (All per- sons provided for as above shall be known to the sergeant-at-arms, and such persons introduced shall be admitted within the bar only upon the personal request of a member each time such courtesy is granted.) -- H. J., Feb. 2, 1897.
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RULE 59. Every order or resolution to which the concurrence of the senate shall be necessary, shall be read to the house, and shall lie upon the table one day preceding its adoption. No concurrent resolution appropriating money shall be declared adopted unless a majority of all the members elected to the house shall have voted in favor of the adoption of the same .- H. J., May 25, 1897.
RULE 60. Upon the passage of any question, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal of the house, when demanded by any ten members.
RULE 61. No newspaper or other matter foreign to the business of the house, shall be read within its bar during the sessions thereof.
RULE 62. The rules of parliamentary practice comprised in "Cush- ing's Law and Practice of Legislative Assemblies," shall govern in all cases in which they are not inconsistent with the standing rules and orders of the house.
RULE 63. Any rule of the house may be altered or amended by a vote of two-thirds of the members elect, or may be suspended by a two- thirds vote of the members present.
RULE 64. Any question which requires, under the rule, a two-thirds majority to adopt, being lost, may be reconsidered by a majority vote.
RULE 65. When the reading of a paper is called for, and the same is objected to by any member, it shall be determined by a vote of the house.
RULE 66. No memorial, remonstrance, or petition shall be printed in full in the daily journal without having been first read to the house.
RULE 67. On all appeals from the decisions of the chair, the question shall be, "Shall the judgment of the chair stand as the judgment of the house?" which shall be decided by a rising vote unless otherwise ordered by the house.
RULE 68. An appeal may be laid on the table, but shall not carry with it the subject matter before the house at the time such appeal is taken. ·
RULE 69. Any subject matter having been made the special order for a particular day, and not having been reached on that day, the same shall come up on the order of "Unfinished business" on the next suc- ceeding legislative day.
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THE LEGISLATURE.
RULE 70. All standing committees, before reporting adversely to any resolution or bill, shall notify the member presenting such resolution or bill when and where he may meet such committee to explain the same; such notice to be given by mail in the house postoffice, twenty- four hours, or in person at any time, before so reporting.
RULE 71. All bills appropriating money from the public treasury shall be referred to the committee on ways and means for their ap- proval or correction before final action is taken on the same .- H. J., Jan. 16, 1891.
RULE 72. The words "within the bar of the house," when used in these rules, shall mean the space on the main floor of representative hall, together with the cloak and toilet rooms .- H. J., April 20, 1899.
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JOINT RULES
OF THE
SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
[Adopted by the senate and house January 6, 1899.]
RULE 1. Each house shall transmit to the other all papers on which any bill or resolution shall be founded.
RULE 2. When a bill or resolution which shall have passed one house is rejected in the other, notice thereof shall be given to the house in which the same may have passed.
RULE 3. Messages from one house to the other shall be communi- cated by the secretary of the senate and clerk of the house of repre- sentatives, unless the house transmitting the message shall especially direct otherwise.
RULE 4. It shall be in the power of either house to amend any amendment made by the other to any bill or resolution.
RULE 5. In every case of a difference between the two houses upon any subject of legislation, if either house shall request a conference, and appoint a committee for that purpose, and the other house shall also appoint a committee, such committee shall meet at such hour and place as shall be agreed on by the chairmen, and state to each other verbally or in writing, as either may choose, the reasons of their respective houses, and confer freely thereon, and they shall be authorized to report to their respective houses such modifications as they shall think advisable.
RULE 6. It shall be in order for either house to recede from any sub- ject matter of difference existing between the two houses at any time previous to a conference, whether the papers on which such differenc has arisen are before the house receding, formally or informally, and that a majority shall govern, except in cases where two-thirds are re- quired by the constitution; and the question having been put and lost, shall not be again put the same day, and the consideration thereof, in other respect, be regulated by the rules of the respective houses.
RULE 7. After each house has adhered to its disagreement, the bill which is the subject of difference shall be deemed lost, and shall not be again revived during the same session, in either house, unless by con- sent of three-fourths of the members present of the house reviving it.
RULE 8. The same bill shall not create, renew, or continue more than one incorporation, nor contain any provision in relation to the altering of more than one act of incorporation; nor shall the same bill appro- priate public money or property to more than one local or private pur- pose. Any bills appropriating moneys for the payment of the officers of the government shall be confined to that purpose exclusively.
RULE 9. Whenever there shall be an election of any officer in joint convention, or whenever said convention shall advise or consent to a
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THE LEGISLATURE.
nomination made to them by the governor, the result shall be certified by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of repre- sentatives, and shall be announced by the presiding officer of each house to their respective houses, and shall be entered on the journal of each, and shall be communicated to the governor by the secretary of the senate and clerk of the house of representatives.
RULE 10. No bill that shall have passed one house shall be sent for concurrence to the other on either of the last two days of the session, whenever a time shall have previously been fixed for the adjournment of the legislature.
RULE 11. The committee on enrolled bills in each of the two houses shall act jointly in the examination of all bills and resolutions before their presentation to the governor, either as a body or by such respect- ive sub-committees as such committees may appoint for that purpose.
RULE 12. Whenever both houses, by the constitutional vote, direct that any act or resolution shall take effect immediately, or at any time less than ninety days, a proviso shall be added thereto at the enroll- ment of the same in words to this effect: "This act (or resolution) shall take effect immediately (or in - days.)"
RULE 13. Every resolution by which any money or other property of the state shall be donated or appropriated, or by which any expense to the state shall be incurred, or which shall have any operation or effect outside of the two houses of the legislature, except such appropriations and expenses as shall be for the exclusive use, necessity, or con- venience of the legislature, shall be either a joint of concurrent reso- lution; and shall take the same course as a bill, and shall be enrolled and presented to the governor for his signature before the same shall take effect.
RULE 14. Whenever a bill shall have been passed by both houses of the legislature, the objections of the governor to the contrary notwith- standing, or whenever a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution shall have been passed by both houses in the manner prescribed by the constitution, such bill or such joint resolution shall be duly enrolled and signed by the presiding officers of both houses. The secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house shall then each attach a certificate to such enrolled copy, to the effect that the same has been passed by the senate and house respectively, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, and shall forthwith file the same in the office of the secretary of state .- H. J., May 15, 1895; S. J., May 16, 1895.
JOINT CONVENTION RULES.
[Adopted by senate and house January 6, 1899.]
RULE 1. Joint conventions shall be held in the hall of the house of representatives, and the president of the senate shall preside.
RULE 2. The secretary of the senate and clerk of the house of rep- resentatives shall be secretaries of the point convention, and the pro- ceedings of the convention shall be published with the journals of the house, and the final result, as announced by the president on return of the senate to their chamber, shall be entered on the journal of the senate.
RULE 3. The rules of the house of representatives, so far as the same may be applicable, shall govern the proceedings in joint con- vention.
RULE 4. Whenever a president pro tempore presides he shall be en- titled to vote on all occasions, and in case of a tie the question shall be declared lost.
RULE 5. Joint conventions shall have the power to compel the at- tendance of absent members, in the mode and under the penalties pre- scribed by the rules of the house to which such members respectfully belong; and for that purpose the sergeant-at-arms of each house shall attend.
RULE 6. Joint conventions may adjourn from time to time, as may be found necessary, and it shall be the duty of the house of represent- atives to prepare to receive the senate, and of the senate to proceed to the hall of the house of representatives, at the time fixed by law or resolution, or to which the joint convention may have adjourned.
MICHIGAN LEGISLATIVE DECISIONS. (a)
INDEX.
Adjournment-1, 80.
Amendment to committee report-
5: to bills-2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 74, 77.
Appeals-54, 66, 81, 92. Arrests-17. 18, 20. Authorities-12.
Bills-amendments to-2, 3, 4. 6, 9. 10. 11. 22. 23, 74. 77 ; signed by governor. unparliamentary to recall-84: re- call from engrossing committee-95. Call of the house-1. 17, 18, 19, 20, 53. 62.
Casting vote-27, 73. Commitment-10, 29. Committee of the whole-83. Committee report-5, 8.
Concurrent resolutions-15. 21. 39. 50. 71. 94.
Conference committee-22, 23, 28, 36. Contestant-right of, to vote-93. Contested elections-24, 25.
Dilatory motions-81.
Debatable questions-19, 76.
Division-of the house -- 13; of the question-4. 7. 28, 29, 30. Election of members-24. 25, 75. Enacting clause-striking out all
after-2, 7, 30.
Executive session-31. Fifty days' limit-8, 38, 39, 72. Galleries-clearing of-31. Immediate passage-81. Indefinite postponement-32, 33, 52, 75.
Instructions-29, 44.
Introduction of bills-81. Irrelevancy-6.
Joint conventions-73.
Joint resolutions-21, 30. 34, 72, 74, 86. Journal-37, 54, 55, 56, 69, 70, 92. Minority report-35, 36, 37. Oath of office-of secretary-40.
Passage of bills-14, 15, 77, 78, 79, 82, 97, 98.
Previous question-52, 53.
Printing-57, 58, 59, 76.
Protests-54, 55. 61. 87, 92, 93.
Questions of order-41-6. 51. Questions of privilege-26, 54, 70, 88. Reading of bills-16.
Recalling-of concurrent resolution- 94: of bills-95.
Reconsideration-60, 62-8, 69, 91.
Request-for return of bill-89. Resolutions-42; concurrent-21, 39. 50, 71, 94; joint-8, 30. 34, 38, 72, 74.
Rights of members-12, 16.
Rules of previous senate not in force until adopted-99.
Secretary-40.
Select committee-5, 48.
Strike out-2, 30.
Strike out and insert-4, 7.
Substitute-3, 8, 14, 38, 49, 58, 74. 77. Suspension of rules-51. Table-32, 40, 47, 50, 57, 76.
Two-thirds vote-78, 82, 85, 86, 96, 97, 98.
Veto-91.
Vote-casting-27, 73; change of-26; declaring of-90; duty to-27, 60; record of-70; two-thirds-78, 82. 85, 86, 96, 97, 98; right to-93. Yeas and nays-13, 15.
(a) These decisions have been carefully collected from the legislative journals from 1835 to 1891, inclusive. The comments to the rulings were fur- nished by the Hon. D. L. Crossman, for many years clerk of the house, with the exception of No. 24, which was revised by the speaker of the house of 1891. The references "S. J." and "H. J." stand for the "Senate Journal" and "House Journal," respectively. The comments on rulings No. 92-98, inclusive, were furnished by Hon. Lewis M. Miller, clerk of the house, 1893.
LEGISLATIVE DECISIONS.
1. A motion to adjourn is in order during proceedings under call of the house .- Church's Appcal, H. J. 1851, p. 272.
Undoubtedly so; and if it prevailed, all proceedings under the call not saved by a special previous action, would fall; in fact when a call has failed to bring in a quorum, the only way to dispose of it is to adjourn. as no other motion is in order.
2. It is not in order to amend a bill after a motion to strike out all after the enacting clause has been put and lost .- Barry's Appeal, S. J. 1846, p. 257. Jones' Appeal, H. J. 1846, p. 57. Sec. 4.
This is true because a motion to amend takes precedence of a motion to strike out. Therefore the motion to strike out is held in abeyance until all motions to amend are disposed of.
3. A substitute for a senate substitute for a house bill was held not in order .- H. J. 1851 (Ex. Session), p. 62.
It would have been better to call the second substitute an amend- ment. A substitute for a substitute is not in order anywhere whether to a motion or a bill.
4. A proposition to strike out a section and insert a new one in lieu thereof having been lost, a motion to amend said section by striking out a portion thereof was held out of order .- H. J. 1870, p. 78.
One important point seems to have been overlooked in this decision, viz .: That a motion to strike out and insert is of a very different char- acter from a motion to strike out only. The former is in the nature of an amendment to perfect the section or bill, and is not divisible. Parlia- mentary law especially steps in and says such a motion cannot be divided, thus prohibiting the conversion of this motion into the latter one, of which, like all other amendments, it takes precedence-the the- ory being that, the section or bill having been perfected by the amendments of its friends, then comes the motion of its enemies to strike out. This, in any event, closes the controversy; as, if it pre- vails, there is nothing further to act upon, and if the motion is lost, no further amendments are in order.
5. The report of a select committee may be amended .- Etheridge's Appeal, S. J. 1839, p. 208.
It is hard to see how any question could be raised on this point. The report of any committee is usually accepted without formality, and then becomes the property of the house, to amend, adopt, or reject as it may please.
6. A motion to amend may be ruled out of order on account of ir- relevancy .- Greenly's Appeal, S. J. 1840, p. 634.
If an amendment is clearly irrelevant it certainly cannot be in order as an amendment. But the mover usually, when ruled out of order on his amendment, offers the same thing as a substitute, which need not be relevant.
120
THE LEGISLATURE.
7. A motion was made to strike out all after the enacting clause of a house bill and insert in lieu thereof a certain senate bill. The question was divided and the proposition to strike out was lost. A motion to amend the bill farther was then held out of order, as the senate had refused to strike out all after the enacting clause .- Sumner's Appeal, S. J. 1840, p. 440.
The motion to strike out and insert should not have been divided, and by parliamentary law could not be taken as two motions; but since it was divided it must be understood that the mover modified his motion or consented to the division, so that it became simply a motion to strike out, the result of which must be final, whether it prevail or not. See 2 and 4.
8. The committee of the whole having reported a substitute which did not relate to the subject matter of the bill and having been dis- charged, a point of order was raised while the report was under con- sideration as to the propriety of entertaining the substitute. Held, that, as the senate had discharged the committee, it was a virtual re- ception of the report, and that the bill and substitute were before the senate .- Howell's Appcal, S. J. 1844, p. 92.
There is under this innocent looking question one phase of the effort which recurs every session, to introduce new business after the first fifty days of session in violation of the constitution. Both presiding officers and governor have been troubled by it, and while they have not always been uniform in their holdings, they have generally been of one opinion, i. e., that it is better to leave something to the courts than for a chairman arbitrarily to decide upon the constitutionality of a measure, against the action of the senate and house.
9. An amendment in the senate to an amendment of a house amend- ment was held out of order .- Finley's Appeal, S. J.1850, p.329.
Amendments are in order just as long as they can be stated with sufficient distinctness to have the proposition understood, and no longer.
10. An amendment pending when the bill is committed, falls .- Shoe- maker's Appcal, S. J. 1850, p. 238.
By senate rule 34 a motion to commit cuts off a motion to amend. The question itself illustrates the more common way of avoiding an objectionable amendment.
11. When a bill has passed the senate and house, and has been returned to the senate, the senate cannot amend those portions of the bill which have been fully considered and agreed to by both houses .-- Mead's Appeal, S. J. 1851. (Ex. Session), p. 87.
If the house reported back no amendments the bill would be at once enrolled for the governor's approval. But if the bill came back with certain house amendments, then it would open action, but only upon those points as to which the two houses had failed to agree.
12. A member has a right to quote and read authorities in support of his argument of a question .- H. J. 1861, p. 1076.
He has such a right either by himself or by the clerk. The authori- ties must be without doubt relevant to the question at issue.
13. A demand for the ayes and noes is not in order after a division of the house is ordered .- Smith's Appeal, H. J., 1841, p. 682.
After a division of the house is ordered, nothing is in order but the division; but the congressional practice is to allow the requisite num- ber of members to order the yeas and nays even after a division is
121
LEGISLATIVE DECISIONS.
had, it being the theory that a given number of members can make each individual vote a matter of record, and this has come to be regarded as good practice in all legislative bodies.
14. When the house adopts a substitute for a senate bill, and the senate concurs with certain amendments, the concurrence of the house to those amendments passes the bill .- Tucker's Appeal, H. J. 1840, p. 516.
The question of concurrence must be by yeas and nays; if carried, then every proposition contained in tlie bill as it stands has received the sanction of both houses. A majority of the minds have met, and the bill is ready for the governor's signature.
15. A concurrence in the report of a conference committee by a majority of all the members elect is a passage of the bill .- Conger's Appeal, S. J. 1858, p. 107.
A conference committee is in the nature of a third legislative body, created for a special purpose, viz .: to revise a bill, as to which the two houses cannot agree. Its work is offered to the senate and house for ratification. The vote on the agreement must be by yeas and nays, and it is not adopted unless a majority of all the members elect in each house, respectively, vote therefor, in which case the bill is ready for enrollment and the governor's signature. The report of a confer- ence committee cannot be amended or laid on the table.
16. At the first session of the legislature, under the constitution of 1850, it was held in the senate that a motion that the second reading of a bill be by its title only, was out of order under the constitution .- Le Roy's Appeal, S. J., 1851, p. 20. This ruling was confirmed in the sen- ate of the next legislature, by two decisions that the reading of a bill by its title only "was not a reading of the bill within the meaning of the provisions of the constitution." -- Griswold's Appeal, S. J., 1853, pp. 12, 22. In the house of 1865, a motion having been made that the reading of a bill in extenso be dispensed with, on its third reading, and a point of order having been raised thereon, it was held that it is the right of any members to demand the reading of any bill or paper in full; but that it is within the province of the house, upon the third reading of a bill, to order that it be read by its title only .- Williams' Appeal, H. J. 1865, p. 1288. See also Williams' Protest, p. 1363, and Brockway's Resolution, p. 1655.
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