USA > Michigan > Official directory and legislative manual of the State of Michigan for the years 1893-4 > Part 14
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When the first vote is recorded, nothing is in order but to proceed with the roll call.
47. A motion to lay on the table a motion to take from the table was held not in order .- Summer's Appeal, S. J.1839, p. 405.
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Parliamentary law is supposed to be calculated to establish simple and regular methods for a legislative body to do business, not to muddle it up, as would be indicated by such a motion.
48. Held, that until a select committee is discharged, a bill and its report thereon are not in the possession of the Senate, and a motion to lay the same on the table is not in order .- Denton's Appeal, S. J. 1845, p. 252.
When a bill is reported to the Senate it is in the possession of the Senate and subject to its action, whether reported by a standing or a select committee. The simplest way for a committee to dispossess itself of a bill is to report it; and when they have done so the bill must be either in possession of the Senate or in the air. The act of reporting the matter referred to it dissolves a select committee.
49. A motion having been made to refer a bill and substitute to a committee, a motion made pending that to lay the substitute on the table was held out of order. -Thompson's Appeal, S. J. 1849, p. 609.
A motion to lay on the table cuts off all other motions by House rule 28; but by Senate rule 34 the previous question has priority. It is impossible to reconcile this decision with the usual rules of practice. The motion to table the substitute, if it had prevailed, would have carried with it the original bill.
50. The chair refused to entertain a motion to lay on the table a motion to lay a concurrent resolution on the table .- Summer's Appeal, S. J. 1850. p. 515.
Of course he did. See comment on No. 47.
51. A motion to suspend a rule is in order, even though the House is not on the order of "Motions and Resolutions."-Hawley's Appeal, H. J. 1849, p. 353.
So far as the suspension may relate to pending business, and no farther.
52. A demand for the previous question was held out of order on a motion to postpone indefinitely .- Chase's Appeal, H. J. 1857, p. 629.
Under our present rules the question of indefinite postponement is not debatable. A motion for the previous question is made to close debate. It cannot be necessary in such cases as this, for there can be no debate to close.
53. A motion for the previous question takes precedence of the motion for the call of the Senate .- S. J. 1850, p. 431.
Senate rule 44 defines exactly the standing of these motions, and their exact relative positions.
54. The Senate having adjourned pending an appeal relative to receiving and entering on the Journal a protest, upon convening again the President held that as the appeal related to a privileged question, it must take precedence of the regular order of business .- S. J. 1850, p. 434.
According to congressional practice a protest against the action of the House or Senate is not properly a question of privilege. Proper.
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questions of privilege are of the highest order and supersede all others. By our Constitution it is the right of any member of either house to have placed in the journal his protest as to any proceeding or resolution.
55. The Senate corrected the journal of the preceding day in relation to a report of a committee of conference. Mr. Conger, as chairman of said committee, entered a " protest against the action of the Senate in altering the journal by amending the report of the committee of conference, contrary to the facts in the case, as unjust to the committee and an innovation upon all ordinary usages of legislative bodies." The Senate then reconsidered the motion to correct and the same was lost .- S. J. 1858. p. 119.
The reading at length each morning of the previous day's journal for correction, is something seldom omitted in Congress. Corrections are then in order to make the journal a true record of what trans- pired. In the Michigan practice, this reading is usually omitted, and the journal considered approved, unless some member calls attention to an error. In the above case it would seem that the journal was changed from a true to a false statement, and that was aggravated by the fact that, by the change parliamentary law was violated. No wonder, then, that the great objector objected.
56. A portion of the previous day's proceedings may be expunged from the jour- nal .- Cust's Appeal, S. J. 1845, p. 130.
Such has long been the practice.
57. A report having been laid on the table, held that the same could not be- ordered printed until first taken from the table .- H. J. 1859, p. 727.
Strictly true. Yet it has been the custom to print all reports in the journal without reference to their final disposition.
58. Held, that a substitute for a bill, which was in possession of the committee of the whole, could not be printed until the committee had been discharged from the further consideration of the bill .- H. J. 1861, p. 173.
Right, yet, constructively, nearly all the bills at the printing office- during the session are in the hands of the committee of the whole ..
59. Held, that papers which have been referred to a committee may be ordered printed by the Senate before being reported back by said committee .- Barry's Appeal, S. J. 1841, p. 285.
As a matter of convenience, this has been the practice, to direct the secretary, or clerk, to procure the printing of certain papers in. the hands of committees, or on the table, preparatory to their con- sideration, without the formality of discharging the committee or· taking from the table.
60. On the reconsideration of a certain motion, a Senator declined to vote on the ground that he was not present when the vote was taken upon which the recon- sideration was had. Held, that the motion to reconsider was a constituent part of the first motion, and he could not be required to vote .- Mason's Appeal, S. J. 1844, p. 341.
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Every member in the hall, when the question is stated from the chair, must vote unless excused. It is hard to see, if the reconsidera- tion was properly stated, how the Senator could be excused from voting.
61. A paper which is not confined to a discussion of the action objected to, but contains reflections on the House. is not a protest within the meaning of the con- stitution .-- Chamberlain's Appeal, H. J. 1849, p. 411.
Webster says a "protest" is a solemn declaration of opinion. Undoubtedly the framers of the Constitution, when they so freely granted every member the right of protest of record, intended just that and nothing more.
62. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the Sergeant-at-Arms was dis- patched after the absentees is in order .- Cartter's Appeal, H. J. 1845, p. 389.
Yes; but he is usually sent only under the operation of a call, and the same purpose is more easily accomplished in our practice by a motion "to dispense with all further proceedings under the call."
63. A motion to reconsider cannot be entertained after the bill has passed out of possession of the House. The proper motion is that the Senate he requested to return the bill .- H. J. 1850, p. 210.
By rule, a reconsideration is in order on the same or next suc- ceeding day. Any member desiring to do so can secure the holding of a bill for these two days by publicly giving notice that he will move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; but, if for lack of notice or lapse of time the bill has gone from the pos- session of the House, then very properly the motion should be " that the Senate be requested to return."
64. A notice that a motion will be made tomorrow to reconsider a vote was held not to cut off an immediate motion to reconsider .- H. J. 1861, p. 1370.
No; nor does the failure of the motion on the first day prevent the trial of the question again on the morrow, in accordance with the notice. See No. 63.
65. A motion to reconsider in the Senate is not in order while the resolution is in possession of the House .- Mason's Appeal, S. J. 1844, p. 223.
Reconsideration is only in order for a limited time. Notice hav- ing been given, the bill or resolution must be held until the expira- tion of the time. See Rule 40, and decisions Nos. 63 and 64.
66. A motion to reconsider a vote by which an appeal was tabled was held out of order .- Eldredge's Appeal, S. J. 1848, p. 405.
Correctly so.
67. A motion to reconsider a vote by which the Senate refused to reconsider another vote was held out of order .- Fenton's Appeal, S. J. 1846, p. 502.
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Correctly so. In the Senate, reconsideration is in order three several days. With proper notice the question may be tried once. only each day. Rule 40.
68. A motion to reconsider is not in order after the bill has been sent to the House.
See comments on numbers 63 and 65.
69. A resolution to allow the respondent in proceedings on a breach of privilege to withdraw his answers to the interrogatories propounded to him by the Senate, was held out of order, as the answers would form part of the journal and could not be withdrawn .- Mason's Appeal, S. J. 1845, p. 437.
Courts allow prisoners to change their pleas. Was it not compe- tent for the Senate, by resolution, to do the same?
70. The official journal cannot be altered so as to record a member's vote on a question three days after the determination of that question .- H. J. 1865, p. 1097.
It cannot. The only possible relief for a member in such a dilemma is a question of privilege.
71. A concurrent resolution containing matter not included in the Governor's message to an extra session, was held in order and properly before the House, because the right of the House to act upon concurrent resolutions does not depend upon the recommendation of the Governor; and the resolution having been received and acted upon by the House, the privilege of raising the point of order had been waived .- H. J. 1862, p. 30.
A technical evasion of both the points named.
72. A member having offered for introduction a joint resolution under the order of "Motions and Resolutions," after the expiration of the fifty days' limit for the introduction of bills, the Speaker ruled the same out of order, on the ground that joint resolutions are considered the same as bills, by both the Constitution and the rules of the House, and the receipt of either at that time would be the receipt of new business, and would be in conflict with the Constitution .- Thorpe's Appeal, H. J. 1879, p. 1026.
See comments on numbers 8, 34 and 38.
73. The Legislature of 1839 met in joint convention before the Senate had elected a President pro tempore. The Speaker of the House called the convention to order, and continued to preside. On a motion to adjourn a tie vote resulted in each house. The Speaker, who had voted us Speaker with the Representatives, on the announce- ment of the vote, decided, as presiding officer, that the President of the Senate should give the casting vote. Whereupon the President arose and gave the casting vote in the affirmative, and the convention adjourned .- Hawkin's Appeal, H. J. 1839. p. 175.
This is a most extraordinary case, and it may well claim our atten- tion. 1. How could it happen that the Speaker should preside in joint convention? 2. The Lieutenant Governor being present, why did he not preside? 3. When the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House had each announced an equal and like number of votes, for and against the motion, why did not the chairman declare the motion lost, it not having received a majority of all the votes cast, instead of hunting up an outside party to vote, whose name was not upon either roll call, and whose name nobody was
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authorized to call? It may be that these three questions could have been answered more easily under the Constitution of 1835 and the rules of 1839 than now, for clearly, under our present Constitution and rules, it is the duty of the Senate to furnish a presiding officer for joint conventions (Rule 4, for Joint Convention*). If the Lieu- tenant Governor is absent then the President pro tempore presides; and if, as was the situation in this case, the Senate has no President pro tempore one should be elected before proceeding to joint con- vention, as it is an office established by the Constitution (Sec. 13, Art. V.), and a wise provision to insure the proper discharge of the duties of the office of Lieutenant Governor and Governor, to each of which it may in turn succeed. Then, as to the propriety of the Lieu- tenant Governor's voting when he was not acting chairman, a careful reading of Sec. 14, Art. V., of the Constitution, leads to the conclu- sion that, while he is authorized to debate in committee of the whole, he has no place in the Senate except in the chair. Authority to decide a tie vote vested anywhere except in the chairman is too unreasonable a proposition to consider. The intent is clear that, if the Lieutenant Governor is present in the Senate (or joint conven- tions) and acts at all, he must act as presiding officer. If he substi- tute (Rule 5), or allow the Senate to substitute, the substitution is complete. The Constitution says "he shall be President of the Sen- ate." But in this case, whether right or wrong, the Speaker did preside. Clearly he had no greater power than would have had a President pro tempore of the Senate acting in the same capacity. Now, Rule 4 for joint conventions defines in precise words: "In case of a tie, the question shall be declared lost." Thus it is hard to see where there was any occasion or opportunity for the action had, or the question raised.
74. A joint resolution, reporting an amendment to the constitution by adding a section to stand as Section 16 of Article 18, having been put upon its passage, a substitute was offered for the whole joint resolution, to which substitute two amendments were made. A motion was then made to amend the substitute for the joint resolution by inserting in lieu of the proposed section 16 another section 16. Held, that the latter amendment was not in order, as it was "a substitute for a substitute to a proposition pending before the House, which substitute had been amended by the House, and the effect of the proposed substitute would be to entirely change the character of the one which has been partially agreed to by the House in its present form."-H. J. 1870, p. 132.
A substitute to a pending substitute is never in order. See No. 3.
* The " Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives in Joint Convention " were not adopted until nearly three months after the joint convention here men- tioned. They appear first in the Manual of 1840.
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75. A majority of the committee on elections having recommended the adoption of a resolution to postpone indefinitely the further consideration of the eligibility of certain members to hold their seats, and the minority having submitted a con- trary report, a motion was made to adopt the resolution reported by the majority. A motion to amend by adopting the resolution reported by the minority was held out of order, "on the ground that the majority resolution was simply a motion to indefinitely postpone, which was not susceptible of amendment, and must be decided without debate."
The motion to indefinitely postpone is one of the privileged motions frequently used to prevent debate, and bring on the final issue. In this sense it is in part another form of the previous question, and was correctly held as not amendable.
76. A motion to lay on the table and print having been made. held that the ques- tion of printing may be debated .- H. J. 1851, pp. 433-4.
This was a motion of easy virtue, not consistent with good parlia- mentary practice. "The table " is a place of rest. "To print " is a condition of activity, indicating progress. The two cannot be made to harmonize; but if such a combined motion were entertained, there can be no question that it was rightfully held to be debatable. It would have been much better to have divided the motion. See numbers 57, 58 and 59.
77. When a bill originating in one house is amended in the other, the concurrence in that amendment is equivalent to the passage of the bill and requires a vote of a majority of the members elect. During the extra session of 1851, a contrary decis- ion was made by the House on an appeal. The House passed a bill and the Senate adopted a substitute therefor. The vote on the adoption of the Senate substitute. by the House. stood thirty yeas to twenty-six nays. The Speaker pro tem. decided the substitute not concurred in, a majority of all the members elect not having voted therefor. An appeal was taken and the decision of the Speaker pro tem. was not sustained by twenty-two yeas to twenty-seven nays .- Church's Appeal, H. J. 1851 (Ex. Session), pp. 68-76. The bill was ordered enrolled by the House and sent to the Governor. and was returned to the House by Gov. Barry upon a statement of the facts .- Id. pp. 90, 96 ; also House Document No. 1, Ex. Sess. 1851.
Our Constitution requires an affirmative vote of a majority of all the member elect to pass any bill or joint resolution. Certainly a substitute for a bill, or an amendment to a bill, would require a like number, and no less would suffice, as action upon such substitute or amendment from the other house, if decided affirmatively, would be the last vote upon the bill, i. e., the passage of the bill. Such vote upon concurrence is always taken by yeas and nays, and entered at length upon the journal, the same as the original vote by which the bill passed, because if less than a majority of all the members elect vote affirmatively upon the amendment then the same is not adopted and there is a disagreement between the two Houses. See number 14.
78. A bill was pending in the House to declare a certain railroad aid grant of Jands forfeited by one corporation and to confer the same upon another by confirm- ing the action of the State Board of Control in the premises. Held, by the Speaker, that a vote of two-thirds of all the members elect was requisite to the passage of the bill under section 45, Art IV., of the Constitution .- Mercer's Appeal, H. J. 1881, p. 1563.
19
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If the bill conveyed no rights of the State, i. e., public property, to the railroad corporation seeking its passage, then it was worthless and needless, but if on the contrary it did convey public property, then undoubtedly a two-thirds vote was necessary. The theory that the State simply transfer from one corporation to another something it did not and could not have, was hardly logical.
79. One of thesix bills prepared by the tax commission of 1881 and submitted to the House by the Governor in his message, being upon the order of third reading Mr. Earle raised a point of order against the House at this time taking any action as to the bill in question, his objection being that it had never been properly intro- duced into the House; that neither a member nor a committee of either House of the Legislature had presented the bill; that by the Constitut on of this State and the rules of the House, a definite method was provided for the introduction of bills; that that method had been entirely ignored, consequently all future action upon the bill would be entirely unauthorized, as it had no legal standing in the House. Held. that, under the law creating the tax commission, the bill, with sev- eral others. came from the Governor, as the work of such commission; that the bill entered the House, with others, by special message opening this session; that the objection raised might be a question for the consideration of the House, but it was not an objection which could be sustained at this time by the presiding officer. -Earle's Appeal, H. J. 1882 (Ex. Sess.).
A commission to prepare bills for legislative action was a new departure for Michigan, but it was no hasty act. For more than ten years had the conviction been growing that the tax system could not be properly revised by legislative action alone. Members single- handed, committees of either house, and joint committees for five successive sessions had expended their wisdom upon it without result. The knotty question was unsolved. The Legislature of 1881 by regular enactment authorized such a commission, they prepared their work, the Governor presented it at an extra session convened especially to consider it, and at the last stage of the whole proceeding-the final vote-the question of legality came rather late. The presentation of the bill was authorized by the joint action of both houses by law. It is a fact worthy of remembrance, however, that the Supreme Court set all these acts of the Tax Com- mission aside, principally on the ground that an independent com- mission to assist the Legislature was unjustifiable interference.
80. A motion "that the Senate do now adjourn" was pending when a motion was made "that when the Senate adjourn today it stand adjourned until tomorrow at 10 o'clock." The President ruled the latter motion out of order. An appeal was taken, and the ruling of the President sustained .- S. J. 1885, p. 796.
No principal of parliamentary law has been more clearly defined than that a motion to adjourn being made it must be disposed of before any other business is in order; but within the last few years (in Congress more particularly) a practice has grown up of permit- ting a motion intended to fix the time to which to adjourn, while a motion to adjourn is pending, or even any time before adjournment
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is announced by the chair, on the ground that it may be of the utmost importance to set a new time for re-convening before adjourn- ment. Now as the question of time in such a motion would be amendable and debatable I doubt the propriety of such a course, except by unanimous consent. When all are agreed parliamentary law is of no use.
81. The Senate had voted to place a certain bill "on its immediate passage." The President refused to entertain several motions offered, ruling that nothing was in order but the reading and consideration of the bill in question. Appeal was made but the President refused to entertain it .- S. J. 1885, p. 1297.
It is no doubt very annoying to a presiding officer to entertain dilatory or filibustering motions, but on the other hand parliament- ary law is designed, and must be used to enforce the rights of minorities; majorities can take care of themselves. There are very few instances where a chairman could properly refuse to entertain an appeal from his ruling.
82. A certain bill authorizing the Board of Control of State swamp lands to use not to exceed a given number of acres of swamp lands, for a certain improvement received 55 votes, and was declared passed. An appeal was taken from the ruling which declared the bill passed on less than two-thirds affirmative vote of all the members elect, under Sec. 45 of Art. IV, of the Constitution. The ruling of the speaker pro tem. was sustained .- H. J. 1885, p. 1320-2.
Undoubtedly the ruling was in accordance with the practice of twenty years or more, upon that class of bills; yet bills making direct appropriations without the intervention of the board of control have been held to require a two-thirds affirmative vote.
83. A motion was made to discharge the committee of the whole from the further consideration of a bill, and claimed carried on a registered vote of 47 yeas to 43 nays. The question was raised, that to discharge the committee of the whole was to divert a bill from the regular course laid down by the rules, and was therefore a suspension of the rules and as such required a two-thirds vote. The Speaker ruled that a majority vote was sufficient. An appeal was taken and the ruling of the Speaker was sustained .- H. J. 1885, p. 1739-40.
The " General Order " or file of the committee of the whole is the general waiting place for all business. The rule especially contem- plates that the committee may take up the several items for consid- eration, at its pleasure. The committee has no authority except such as it derives from the House; certainly then the House itself may do what it can authorize the committee to do. The object of the gen- eral order file is to furnish a place to store up bills until they are wanted, and they are wanted whenever a working majority of the House or committee of the whole desires to act upon them.
84. A bill passed both houses and was sent to the Governor for his approval in regular order; shortly after which the friends of the measure discovered that the bill contained a mistake, which they desiring to correct, sent a respectful message to the Governor, asking the return of the bill. Meantime the Governor had placed his signature to the bill and left the city. Upon receipt of the request the private
-
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secretary of the Governor thought that courtesy demanded that he should return the bill as requested, which he did. When it came up under reconsideration the Governor's signature was discovered, and the question raised that it was no longer a bill but an act, that having received the Governor's signature it could not be reconsidered. There was no dispute as to the facts, all it lacked of being an act was the mere deposit in the office of Secretary of State, and a formal message of approval, which of course the Governor was ready to make, because he had approved the bill itself .- H. J. 1885, p. 1253-4.
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