USA > Michigan > Michigan official directory and legislative manual for the years 1915-1916 > Part 61
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9. Report by clerk of enrollment printing and presentation to the governor. Senate bills shall, as far as possible, take the same course as house bills.
All resolutions proposing amendments to the constitution shall take the same course as bills.
Nothing in this rule contained shall be construed to prevent a majority of the mem- bers-elect of the house from discharging a committee from the further consideration of any measure. A notice of at least one day shall be given of a motion to discharge any such committee, said notice to be in writing and entered in the journal. In case a committee of the house is discharged from the further consideration of a bill, the bill shall be printed, referred to the committee of the whole and placed on the general orders.
The notice above mentioned may, if the motion made thereunder does not prevail, be offered again on succeeding days of the same legislative session, but not upon the same day.
Reading.
RULE 59. Every bill 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 receives its second reading or passed the committee of the whole house. No bill shall be passed until it has been printed and in the possession of the house for at least five days. A request by a member that a bill be printed out of regular order must be in writing and shall be referred to the committee on printing for determination.
Commitment and amendment.
RULE 60. No bill shall be committed or amended until it has passed its first and second readings. No bill shall be altered or amended on its passage through the house so as to change its original purpose.
Amendment; vote.
RULE 61. Bills which have been considered in committee of the whole may be
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THE LEGISLATURE.
amended by the house by a majority vote of all the members-elect. When any bill 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 of the members present and voting thereon.
RULE 62. Bills placed on the order of third reading, or their final passage, with- out having been considered in committee of the whole, may be amended prior to their passage by a majority vote of the members present and voting thereon.
Majority vote on bills.
RULE 63. On the final passage of every bill the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the journal. No bill shall be declared passed unless a majority of all the members elected to the house shall have voted in favor of its passage.
Two-thirds vote.
RULE 64. No bill appropriating the public money or property for local or private purposes, or providing for the incorporation of trust companies or corporations for banking purposes, or regulating the business thereof, or amending or repealing any law providing for such incorporation or regulation shall be passed unless two-thirds of the members elected to the house shall have voted in favor of the passage thereof.
Title; object; reference to compiler's sections.
RULE 65. No bill shall embrace more than one object, which shall be expressed in its title. If the bill proposes any amendment to existing laws enacted prior to the last general compilation, the title shall contain also a reference to the compiler's section or sections of the compiled laws.
SPECIAL ORDERS.
RULE 66. Any subject matter made the special order for a particular day not having been reached on that day shall come up for consideration under the order of "Unfinished business" on the next succeeding legislative day.
CHAPTER VI.
MISCELLANEOUS.
READING AND ENDORSEMENT OF PAPERS.
Reading.
RULE 67. When the reading of a paper is called for and an objection is raised to such reading, the house shall determine whether or not the paper shall be read.
Endorsement.
RULE 68. Every member presenting a paper containing subject matter for the consideration of the house shall endorse the same with a statement of its subject or contents and his name.
YEAS AND NAYS.
How called.
RULE 69. In taking the yeas and nays upon any question the names of the members shall be called alphabetically.
Demands for yeas and nays.
RULE 70. Upon the passage of any question the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journal of the house on the demand of any ten members.
RULES AND PRACTICE.
Amendment or suspension of rules.
RULE 71. Any rule of the house may be altered by a majority vote of the members- 79
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elect, but no rule shall be amended unless such amendment is in writing and in possession of the house five days prior to its consideration. A rule may be suspended by a vote of two-thirds of the members shown to be present by the journal entries.
Practice.
RULE 72. The rules of parliamentary practice comprised in Cushing's "Law and Practice of Legislative Assemblies" shall govern in all cases in which they are not in- consistent with the standing rules and orders of the house or the constitution of the state of Michigan.
APPEALS.
Form of question.
RULE 73. 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 ques- tion shall be decided by a rising vote unless otherwise ordered by the house.
Debate.
RULE 74. No member shall speak more than once on the question of an appeal without leave of the house.
Tabling appeals.
RULE 75. An appeal may be laid on the table, but shall not carry with it subject matter before the house at the time such appeal is taken.
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JOINT RULES
OF THE
SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
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 been passed.
RULE 3. Messages from one house to the other shall be communicated by the secre- tary of the senate and clerk of the house of representatives, 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, the house wherein the difference arises shall advise the other house of the disagreement. Such other house shall then either recede from its position relative to the subject under consideration or insist thereon and ask for a conference. Upon granting the request for a conference the house granting the request shall name three of its members as conferees on its part at said conference, and shall notify the other house of its action. Such other house shall thereupon name three of its members as conferees on its part at said conference. The bill under consideration shall be delivered to the conferees on the part of the house in which it originated. The conferees on the part of the two houses shall meet and consider the matters of difference between the two houses. In case the conferees of the two houses are unable to agree they shall report that fact to both houses, and the bill shall accompany the report to the house in which it originated. The situation shall then be the same as if no conference had been requested. In case of an agreement the conferees of the two houses shall make detailed report thereof, which report shall be signed by at least two of the conferees of each house, and the report, together with the papers in the case, shall be submitted to the house in which the bill originated. The vote shall be on the adoption of the conference report and if the question shall be decided in the affirmative, the bill, to- gether with the conference report, shall be transmitted to such other house with the information that the report has been adopted. If the question be decided in the negative the other house shall be notified thereof, and the situation shall then be the same as if no conference had been requested. When (the conference report having been adopted in one house) the report with the papers in the case shall have been transmitted to the other house, the question in such other house, shall be on the adoption of the conference report. If the question shall be decided in the affirmative the bill shall be returned to the house in which it originated with the information that the other house has con- curred in the adoption of the conference report and the bill shall then be referred for enrollment, printing and presentation to the governor. If the question shall be decided in the negative, the situation shall then be the same as if no conference had been re- quested. In either house, the question on the adoption of the conference report shall not be subject to amendment or division.
RULE 6. It shall be in order for either house to recede from any subject matter of difference existing between the two houses at any time previous to a conference, whether the papers on which such difference has arisen are before the house receding, formally or informally. A majority shall govern, except in cases where two-thirds are required by the constitution; and the question, having been put and lost, shall not be again put the same day. The consideration thereof in other respects shall be regulated by the rules of the respective houses.
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
RULE 7. In case each house adheres 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 consent of three-fourths of the members present of the house reviving it.
RULE 8. The same bill shall not amend or repeal more than one act of incorpor- ation; nor shall the same bill appropriate public money or property to more than one local or private purpose. Any bill 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 the result shall be certified by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives; shall be announced by the presiding officers to their respective houses; shall be entered on the journal of each; and shall be communicated to the governor by the secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives.
RULE 10. Whenever both houses, by the constitutional vote, direct that any bill shall take effect immediately, a statement shall be added thereto at the enrollment of the bill in words to this effect: "This act is ordered to take immediate effect."
RULE 11. Proposals for amendments to the constitution shall be by joint resolu- tion which in each house shall take the same course as a bill.
RULE 12. Whenever a bill shall have been passed by both houses of the legislature, the objection of the governor to the contrary notwithstanding, or whenever a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution shall have been agreed to by both houses in the manner prescribed by the constitution, such bill or such joint resolu- tion 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 or agreed to as the case may be 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.
RULE 13. The title of every bill to amend or repeal existing laws passed prior to the date of the last general compilation shall refer to the chapter of the compilation containing such act, and to the sections proposed to be amended or repealed. When bills to amend existing laws are printed, words added to such laws shall be enclosed in brackets; the omission of words shall be indicated by stars; and where the proposed alteration is of such character that it cannot readily be indicated in either of the fore- going ways, it shall be indicated by printing in italics the parts differing from the ex- isting law.
RULE 14. The legislative postoffice shall be kept open every week day from 8 o'clock a. m. to 9 o'clock p. m., and on each Sunday from 12 o'clock noon until 1 o'clock p. m., and the mail shall be delivered to the Lansing postoffice in time for the outgoing trains on Sunday evenings.
JOINT CONVENTION RULES.
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 representatives shall be secretaries of the joint convention, and the proceedings 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 journals of the senate.
RULE 3. The rules of the house of representatives, so far as the same may be ap- plicable, shall govern the proceedings in joint convention.
RULE 4. Whenever a president pro tempore presides he shall be entitled 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 attendance of absent members in the mode and under the penalties prescribed by the rules of the house to which such members respectively belong, and for that purpose the sergeant-at-arms of each house shall attend.
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RULE 6. Joint conventions may adjourn from time to time, as may be found neces- sary, and it shall be the duty of the house of representatives 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.
PRACTICE AND PROCEEDINGS.
The legislature having convened, been called to order, the list of members-elect read and the oath administered [see Act No. 67, laws of 1877, p. 53], it is customary to im- mediately adopt the rules of the preceding house, they having no force until so adopted. The joint rules are adopted afterwards by concurrent resolution. The election of officers is then proceeded with viva voce, each member rising as his name is called and naming the candidate of his choice; a majority of all the votes cast elects. The house having chosen a speaker, a committee is appointed to conduct him to the chair; he then assumes the duties of the office. The officers usually elected are: By the senate, president pro tempore, secretary and sergeant-at-arms. By the house, speaker, speaker pro tempore, clerk and sergeant-at-arms.
By concurrent resolution, the postmaster and assistant postmaster.
The assistant sergeants-at-arms, janitors, keepers of the cloak-rooms, and messengers (except the messengers of the secretary and the clerk), are appointed by the lieutenant governor or the speaker.
The assistant secretaries and proofreaders of the senate are appointed by the secre- tary. The journal clerk, bill clerk, reading clerk, financial clerk and proofreaders of the house are appointed by the clerk.
Each house, having completed its organization, appoints a committee to wait upon the other and inform them that it is ready for business; after which a joint committee is appointed to wait upon the governor and inform him that the legislature is duly organized and ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make. At the time fixed by the governor the senate and house meet in joint convention and receive his message. The standing committees of the senate and house are appointed by the lieutenant governor and the speaker respectively, as soon as possible after the organization.
COMPENSATION.
Section 9, Art. V of the constitution, fixes the compensation and mileage of members The compensation of officers is fixed by Act No. 3, laws of 1873, as amended by Act No. 255, laws of 1905, and Act No. 85, laws of 1907. The manner of paying the com- pensation of members of the legislature is prescribed by Act No. 1, laws of 1909. Pay is drawn by pay rolls signed by the presiding officer and secretary, or clerk, and counter- signed by the auditor general. Such stationery as is needed by the committees is furnished by the state.
DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOYES.
President and speaker .- Senate rules 2, 3 and 4, and house rules 4 to 12, inclusive, prescribe the duties of presiding officers.
Secretary and assistants .- Senate rules 5 to 10, set forth the duties of the officers. One assistant keeps the journal of the senate, the other the bill record, and perform such other clerical duties as are assigned to them by the secretary.
Clerk .- House rules 13 to 21, prescribe the general duties of the clerk and he assigns such duties to his assistants as he deems proper. The assignment of duties to them has heretofore been as follows:
Journal clerk .- It is his duty to keep a record of each day's proceedings; to enter in the journal all documents ordered printed therein; to correct the daily journal for the publication of the official journal; and in case of the absence of the clerk to perform his duties generally.
ยท Bill clerk .- It is his duty to keep the bill history, with card index, showing the num-
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MICHIGAN MANUAL.
ber, file number, and all action on bills and joint resolutions, with the date thereof, to furnish the journal clerk, for entry on the journal, a copy of the titles of all petitions, etc., presented, and bills and joint resolutions introduced, in numerical order, together with the name of the member presenting the same, and the reference to committees; to distribute to the proper committees, or officers, all bills, petitions and documents re- ferred; to prepare and transmit the messages to be delivered to the senate.
Proofreaders .- It is their duty to attend to the printing of all files and to enrollment printing of all bills and resolutions passed by the house, and present the same to the governor, taking a receipt therefor, showing the day and hour at which each bill was deposited in the executive office.
Reading clerk .- It is his duty to attend to all reading from the clerk's desk and per- form such other duties as may be assigned to him.
Financial clerk .- It is the duty of the financial clerk to make out and have signed the pay rolls and to distribute the pay envelopes received from the state treasurer; to make out all vouchers for incidental and committee expenses; to keep a ledger account of all moneys paid out or vouchers issued; and to perform such other duties as the clerk may assign.
Sergeants-at-arms .- They are the police officers of their respective houses. They have charge of the keepers of cloak-rooms, janitors and messengers; control of the police regulations. They also attend to the warming and ventilation of the halls, provide rooms for committees, and supply them with furniture and conveniences, and serve subpoenas and warrants. The assistants perform such duties as are assigned them.
Postmaster and assistant .- They attend to the receipt and delivery of all mail matter coming to members and officers, and the proper delivery and mailing, at the general postoffice, of all matters sent by them.
Committee clerks .- Committees are grouped at the beginning of the session and the clerks are assigned to the several groups. The clerks act for all committees in their respective groups, keeping a record of all actions taken upon matters referred to their committees, preparing reports to be made to the house, and doing such stenographic and other work as the members may require. The clerks of the judiciary committees are law clerks of the respective houses.
Document room keeper and assistant .- The printed files and journals are received at the document room by these employes and are prepared for filing by being stamped with the date of receipt and punched for the files. They have the custody of all docu- ments printed and it is their duty to furnish copies on request to persons entitled thereto.
Mailing clerk .- It is his duty to attend to the folding, wrapping, pasting and mailing of all documents ordered mailed by the house.
Cloak room keeper and assistant .- They have charge of the cloak room and the custody of all coats, etc., left in their possession by the members.
Janitors .- They, under the supervision of the sergeant-at-arms, attend to the warm- ing, ventilation, sweeping, and dusting of the halls and committee rooms; have charge of the document rooms, and when required by the sergeant-at-arms, act as doorkeepers.
Messengers .- Each messenger, at the opening of the session, has assigned to him by the sergeant-at-arms a pro rata number of desks in his house for his special attention. He is expected to keep the journals and bills thereon carefully and correctly filed- adding each morning, before the opening of the session, all such as have been delivered from the printing office. He is also to arrange and keep in order on his desk all other books, papers and documents belonging thereto. During the daily sessions he is ex- pected to occupy the position assigned to him on the floor and hold himself in readiness to carry messages and papers to and from the members, the presiding officer and the secretary or clerk. All these and such other duties as may be assigned him by the presiding officer or sergeant-at-arms, under whose special direction and control he is placed, he is expected to perform in a quite, gentlemanly manner, avoiding at all times in the house, all rude, boisterous conduct, and all laughing, talking, whispering, and the like during session. The officers' messengers perform such duties as are required of them by the officers to whom they are respectively assigned.
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QUORUM AND MAJORITIES.
A majority of the members-elect constitute a quorum in each house. A majority of all the members-elect is necessary to pass a bill, and in the house to direct an im- peachment. The assent of two-thirds of all the members-elect is necessary to pass a bill or concurrent resolution in the following cases:
1. Over the governor's veto; 2. Appropriating public money or property for local or private purposes; 3. Providing for the incorporation of trust companies or corpor- ations for banking purposes or regulating the business thereof, or amending or re- pealing any law providing for such incorporation or regulation; 4. Proposing amend- ments to the constitution.
The assent of two-thirds of all the members-elect is also necessary to expel a member; to order an act to take immediate effect; to request the governor to remove a judge; to establish a new kind of court, and in the senate to convict on trials of impeachment. To amend a bill or concurrent resolution in the house after its consideration in com- mittee of the whole requires a vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting thereon.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.
The order of business is essentially the same in both houses, the only difference being one of arrangement. It is as follows:
Presentation of petitions .- Under this head are presented all petitions, remonstrances, memorials and resolutions adopted by boards of supervisors, or other bodies. Before presentation they should be endorsed as follows: "Petition of A. B. and others for
-; " "Remonstrance of A. B. and others against - -; " "Memorial of - relative to -," or "Resolutions adopted by - relative to -; " following each one, as the case may be, with a brief statement of the subject matter, and the name of the member presenting it.
-
Announcements by clerk or secretary .- Under the constitution, a bill may not be passed until it has been printed and in the possession of each house five days. The time begins to run after the announcement of printing. Under this order of business, the clerk announces the printing and filing of all bills ordered printed and the enrollment and presentation to the governor of all bills passed by both houses.
Reports of standing committees .- Here are received all reports from standing com- mittees relative to bills, etc., referred to them. If the report is favorable the bill is ordered printed, if not already printed, referred to the committee of the whole and placed on the general order, after concurrence in amendments recommended if any. Amendments made in one house to a bill which originated in the other, whether by committee or otherwise, are written on slips of paper and attached to the bill. They do not become a part of the bill until concurred in by the house in which the bill originated. If the report is adverse the bill is subject to the order of the house, and is usually tabled. Blanks for making reports are furnished by the secretary or clerk.
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