SENATE BILL 99

 

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

An act To Revise the Committee on Rules into
the Committee on Rules and Calendar and to Correspondingly Revise the Duties of the Committee

 

 

BE IT ENACTED,     by the North Carolina State University Student Senate that:

 

Section 1.        All cases in the Standing Rules of the Senate, specifically those in Rules 1, 3, 13, 20, and 24 shall be amended by striking “Committee on Rules” and inserting “Committee on Rules and Calendar”.

 

Section 2.        Senate Rule 3(b) Order of Business shall be amended by inserting after “Consideration of Special Rules”:

                         (8) Consideration of Calendar Recommendations;  

 

Section 3.        Senate Rule 3(c) Approval of the journal shall be amended by striking:

 

(c) Approval of the journal. The Secretary shall provide copies of the journal for all unapproved meetings held at least five class days prior.  At the appointed time, the Secretary shall move the approval of the journal for all meetings for which it is provided.  The motion that the journal be approved shall be decided without debate, but amendments may be proposed, also without debate, by any Senator and shall be considered approved by unanimous consent unless objected to.  Should a simple majority of the Senate fail to approve the journal, it shall be deemed to have been reconsidered and referred to the Committee on Rules, which shall be instructed to revise and report it at its next meeting, to be considered again at the subsequent Senate meeting.

 

                        and inserting

                                        

(c) Approval of the journal.   At the appointed time in the Senate meeting, the Secretary shall move the approval of the journal for any meeting in which the Committee on Rules and Calendar has recommended approval, provided the journal has been posted online for at least twenty-four (24) hours.  Prior to the meeting, all Senators shall be entitled to submit written corrections to their own remarks and motions, which shall be applied unless objected to by a two-thirds majority of the Senate.  The motion that the journal be approved shall be decided without debate. Should a simple majority of the Senate fail to approve the journal, it shall be deemed to have been reconsidered and referred to the Committee on Rules and Calendar, which shall be instructed to revise and report it at its next meeting, to be considered again at the subsequent Senate meeting.

 

Section 4.        Senate Rule 3 shall be amended by inserting:

 

(g) Consideration of Calendar Recommendations. At the appointed time, the President shall proceed through each recommendation from the Committee on Rules and Calendar to place an act of legislation on calendar for second reading or calendar for appointment confirmation. Such recommendations shall be decided without debate, and shall require a simple majority for adoption.

 

Section 5.        Senate Rule 13(b) At-large members of the Committee on Rules shall be amended by striking:

 

At-large members of the Committee on Rules shall be subject to majority confirmation of the Senate.

 

and inserting

 

At-large members of the Committee on Rules and Calendar shall be subject to majority confirmation of the Senate, but may serve a maximum of one (1) meeting on a provisional basis prior to such confirmation.  

 

Section 6.        Senate Rule 14. Duties of the Committee on Rules shall be struck

 

Rule 14. Duties of the Committee on Rules.

 

(a) Special Rules for Consideration of Legislation.  The Committee on Rules may compose a Special Rule, by majority vote, for consideration of any act of legislation.  All such special rules shall be in the form of a Senate Resolution. 

 

(b) Placement of Legislation on Expedited agenda.  The Committee on Rules may place, by majority vote, any act of Legislation, on the expedited agenda provided that it has received a committee report recommending Senate consideration. 

 

(c) Consideration of Ordinary Business.  The Committee on Rules shall be empowered to consider ordinary committee matters including referred legislation, referred business and matters of the committee’s own concern in accordance with all rules governing standing committees except those involving membership.

 

(d) General Committee Duties.  The Permanent Committee on Rules shall be responsible for reviewing amendments to the rules of the Senate, reviewing matters of controversy in Senate procedure, promulgating special rules, determining the composition of the expedited agenda, overseeing procedural education of the Senate with the assistance of the Parliamentarian, and advising the President and other Senate officers on Senate Rules outside of meetings of the Senate.

 

and the following inserted

 

Rule 14. Duties of the Committee on Rules and Calendar.

 

(a) Special Rules for Consideration of Legislation.  The Committee on Rules and Calendar may compose a Special Rule, by majority vote, for consideration of any act of legislation, as defined by Rule 18  All such special rules shall be in the form of a Senate Resolution. 

 

(b) Placement of Legislation on Expedited agenda.  The Committee on Rules and Calendar may place, by majority vote, any act of Legislation, on the expedited agenda provided that it has received a committee report recommending Senate consideration. 

 

(c) Placement of Legislation on Calendar for First Reading. The Committee on Rules and Calendar may place, by majority vote, any duly filed act of legislation not already on calendar for first reading onto the calendar for first reading. Consistent with SBS §2-2, this clause shall not be applicable to punitive legislation. No legislation placed onto the calendar per this clause shall be subject to fast-track.

 

(d) Direct Placement of Legislation on Calendar for Second Reading. The Committee on Rules and Calendar may place, by majority vote, acts of legislation on calendar for second reading or calendar for appointment confirmation, in a given order of reading, provided that either:

(1)   the legislation has been reported by committee; or

(2)   the legislation is of the nature of an honorary Resolution and on calendar for first reading.

 

(e) Calendar for Second Reading Placement Recommendation. In cases where part (d) of this rule does not apply, the Committee on Rules and Calendar may, by majority vote, issue a recommendation that an act of legislation be placed on the calendar for second reading or calendar for appointment confirmation, in a given order of reading, provided that either:

(1)   the legislation is on calendar for first reading; or

(2)   the legislation is under review by committee, and the committee has not previously issued a report against consideration.

The Senate shall review such recommendations during the period of Consideration of Calendar Recommendations.

 

(f) Application of Five-Minute Rule on Amendments. The Committee on Rules shall be empowered to apply the five-minute rule on amendments, as defined by Rule 17A, by majority vote, to any act of legislation on calendar for second reading.

 

(g) Review of the Journal of the Senate. The Secretary shall file with the Committee on Rules and Calendar, at least twelve hours prior to their meeting, a draft copy of the journal for all meetings occurring at least five (5) calendar days beforehand and not yet approved by the Senate. The committee shall review the journal for accuracy and completeness, and shall make any needed corrections prior to recommending, by simple majority vote, that the Senate approve the journal. The Secretary shall revise and resubmit any journal not recommend to the Senate for approval.

 

(h) Consideration of Ordinary Business.  The Committee on Rules and Calendar shall be empowered to consider ordinary committee matters including referred legislation, referred business and matters of the committee’s own concern in accordance with all rules governing standing committees except those involving membership.

 

(i) General Committee Duties.  The Permanent Committee on Rules and Calendar shall be responsible for reviewing matters of controversy in Senate procedure, promulgating special rules, determining the composition of the expedited agenda, overseeing procedural education of the Senate with the assistance of the Parliamentarian, and advising the President and other Senate officers on Senate Rules outside of meetings of the Senate.

 

(j) Rules and Calendar Report. The Committee on Rules and Calendar shall submit a report of its actions by noon the day following its meeting. The chair shall specifically notify all Senators by electronic mail of all committee actions placing or recommending legislation for first or second reading by noon the day following the committee meeting.

 

Section 7.        The Senate Rule 16(d) shall be amended by striking:

 

All reports recommending Senate consideration of legislation must be submitted no later than noon on the Monday prior to a Wednesday Senate meeting in order to be considered at that meeting. 

 

And inserting:

 

All reports recommending Senate consideration of legislation must be submitted no later than 9 o’clock AM the morning two (2) days prior to the day for which the meeting is scheduled, in order to be considered

               at that meeting.

 

Section 8.        The Senate Rules shall be amended by inserting:

 

Rule 17A. Five-Minute Rule on Amendments.

 

(a) Applicability of Five-minute Rule on Amendments. The Five-minute Rule on Amendments shall be a secondary procedure for consideration of amendments to legislation during second reading. This procedure may be invoked by order of the Committee on Rules and Calendar, by motion, or mandated by rule or statute. The motion to invoke the five-minute rule on a given act of legislation shall not be in order once debate has commenced on the act, shall be decided without debate, and shall require a simple majority vote for passage. The five-minute rule shall be automatically invoked on any legislation successfully fast-tracked, unless otherwise determined by the Committee on Rules and Calendar.

 

(b) Effect of Five-minute Rule on Amendments. When under the five-minute rule on amendments, no amendments to a given act of legislation shall be in order in the Senate, except by general consent, unless recommended by the Committee of the Whole. Such amendments recommended by the Committee of the Whole shall be decided without debate.

 

(c) Entrance to the Committee of the Whole. When under the five-minute rule on amendments, the Senate shall automatically dissolve into the Committee of the Whole upon the seconding of a motion to amend, unless the previous question is ordered on the amendment. Motions to amend shall be deferred until the second round of debate, unless otherwise determined by the chair.

 

(d) Five-minute Rule Consideration. When the Committee of the Whole is sitting per the invocation of the five-minute rule, the chair shall first proceed on amendments introduced in the Senate, and then call for additional amendments before the Committee rises. Each motion to amend shall be reviewed by the Committee of the Whole for a period not to exceed five (5) minutes. The Committee may extend the period on any given amendment by five (5) minutes, provided that eight (8) or more Senators do not thereto object.

 

Section 9.        Senate Rule 18 shall be struck:

 

Rule 18. Special Rules.

 

(a) Calendaring of Special Rules.  All duly reported special rules shall be placed on the calendar for consideration at the next Senate meeting.

 

(b) Consideration of Special Rules.  At the appointed time, each calendared special rule shall be considered sequentially in numerical order.  The question of the adoption of a special rule, and all subsidiary motions thereto, shall be by no means debatable.  The special rule shall not be amendable by any means, save general consent, and may only be referred to the Committee on Rules.  Such special rules shall be adopted by a simple majority vote, except where otherwise prohibited by law.

 

and the following shall be inserted:

 

Rule 18. Special Rules.

 

(a) Calendaring of Special Rules.  All duly reported special rules shall be placed on the calendar for consideration at the next Senate meeting.

 

(b) Consideration of Special Rules.  At the appointed time, each calendared special rule shall be considered sequentially in numerical order.  The question of the adoption of a special rule, and all subsidiary motions thereto, shall be by no means debatable.  The special rule shall not be amendable by any means, save general consent, and may only be referred to the Committee on Rules and Calendar.  Such special rules shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority vote, except where otherwise prohibited by law. 

 

(e) Scope of Special Rules. All special rules shall apply to a specific act or acts of legislation, to some other specific item of Senate deliberative business, or to the organization of the calendar for a specific meeting. All special rules shall be as narrowly construed as possible to achieve their effect, and shall not group together unrelated or nominally related matters. No regulation deriving its authority from statutes other than those in §SBS 2-1 shall be suspended or restricted by special rule.

 

(d) Repeal of Special Rules. It shall be in order as a privileged motion for any Senator to move the repeal of a special rule, subject to the concurrence of a two-thirds majority of the Senate. Such a repeal shall remove the provisions of a special rule from force, but shall not retroactively undo any previous actions caused by the rule.

 

Section 10.      Senate Rule 20(a) shall be amended by striking:

 

The president shall place legislation filed for introduction in this manner on the calendar in first reading at the next meeting provided that it is introduced no later than 9 o’clock AM on the Monday prior to  the Wednesday for which the meeting is scheduled. 

 

And inserting:

 

The President shall place legislation filed for introduction in this manner on the calendar for first reading at the next meeting provided that it is introduced no later than 9 o’clock AM the morning two (2) days prior to the day for which the meeting is scheduled.

 

Section 11.      Senate Rule 20(e) Fast-track of Legislation shall be amended by striking:

 

(e) Fast Track of Legislation.  A Senator may notify the Committee on rules of their desire that legislation receive only a second reading at the meeting of introduction.  With the written concurrence of three members of the committee on rules, no later than noon the calendar day prior to the meeting at which the legislation is to be considered, a special rule shall be introduced. In the event there are not three installed members of the Committee on Rules, the concurrence of members-designate shall be considered equivalent to that of members, for the purposes of this rule. Additionally when written agreement of five Senators requesting fast-track has been submitted to the chair of the Committee on Rules no later than noon of the calendar day prior to when legislation is to be considered, a special rule shall be introduced, provided a Senator had previously requested that the Committee on Rules consider introducing a fast track by 5pm on the day of the Committee on Rules meeting prior to the Senate meeting at which legislation is to be considered and that the Committee on Rules did not introduce a Special Rule regarding the expedition of the bill.  All such special rules introduced under part (e) of this rule shall only provide for the suspension of the requirement of the first reading and the point on the calendar at which the legislation shall be considered.

 

and inserting

 

(e) Fast Track of Legislation.  In general, fast-track of legislation shall refer to any procedure by which an item of legislation receives its first and second reading at the same meeting. Such a fast-track may be accomplished either via the second reading calendaring authority of the Committee on Rules and Calendar, or via the motion to fast-track. The motion to fast-track shall only be in order when the following conditions have been met:

(1)   the Committee on Rules and Calendar was notified by 5 PM the day of their meeting of the Senator’s interest in fast-track;

(2)   the Senate was notified of the motion by electronic mail no later than noon the calendar day prior to the Senate meeting; and

(3)   the Committee on Rules and Calendar has not already proposed fast-track by another mechanism.

 

Section 12.      Senate Rule 21 shall be amended by inserting:

 

(c) Motions to fast-track. At the appointed time, the President shall recognize all Senators who properly submitted their intent to move to fast-track legislation as required by Rule 20(e) in turn for the purpose of making such a motion. Such a motion shall be decided without debate, and shall require the consent of a two-thirds majority of the Senate.

 

 

Section 13.      Senate Rule 22(b) Placement on calendar for second reading shall be amended by adding:

 

Any legislation that is successfully fast-tracked per Rule 21(c) shall be considered placed at the end of the calendar for second reading. Any legislation either directly placed on calendar by the Committee on Rules and Calendar, or so placed following acceptance of that committee’s recommendation, shall be on the calendar in such order designated by the committee.

 

Section 14.      The membership of the Committee on Rules shall automatically become the membership of the Committee on Rules and Calendar.

 

Section 15.      This act shall be effective upon the adjournment of the meeting of its adoption.