Senator Erich M. Fabricius submitted the following report regarding Government Bill 81, "An Act to Disallow Ending Debate by Suspension of the Rules", on Wendesday, March 21, 2001, on behalf of the Government Operations Committee, and pursuent to its March 19, 2001 recommendations, with 6 members voting in the affirmative and 0 in the negative:

As provided by Senate Rule 12(b), the committee requests that the Senate President place GB 81 on the calendar for second reading.

Attendance:

There were seven (7) Senators (Brown, Burgess-Ford, Denton, Engler, Fabricius, Mangum, Mcilmail.) present;

There were two (2) Senators (Carlson, Davis.) absent;

A quorum was present.

Purpose of the Legislation:

The Previous Question Act is designed to prevent suspension of the rule that two-thirds of legislation debate time must elapse prior to use of the previous question. Suspension of this rule can currently be effected by a procedure no more complicated than the previous question itself, and violates the spirit of open discussion that the previous question restriction intends to create.

Background Information:

The Student Senate began restricting use of the previous question statutorily during the 1983-1984 session, when the previous question was disallowed before the end of the first round of debate. Later that decade the Senate increased the duration of protection to the second round of the debate, as it stands today, albeit in a different form following the revision to the Senate rules in the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 sessions.

Debate:

Debate revolved around if the limit on moving the previous question should exist or not, as opposed to the rule should be suspended or not. The concept that came out of discussion was that failure to adopt this bill for these reasons is indirectly undermining the existing rule. The opposition announced intention to introduce legislation that would strike the entire limit on previous questions.

Recommendations:

The Committee on Government Operations recommends the Student Senate consider the Previous Question Act as soon as practicable.

Committee Amendments:

There were no amendments.