80R11619 JSA-F

By: Talton H.R. No. 1399

R E S O L U T I O N

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas Legislature, That the permanent rules of the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas Legislature are amended as follows:

SECTION 1. Rule 3, Section 5, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 5. CALENDARS (PROCEDURAL). The committee shall have 11 members, with jurisdiction over:

(1) the placement of bills and resolutions on appropriate calendars, except those within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Rules and Resolutions;

(2) the determination of priorities and proposal of rules for floor consideration of such bills and resolutions; and

(3) all other matters concerning the calendar system and the expediting of the business of the house as may be assigned by the speaker, subject to the limitations provided by Rule 6.

SECTION 2. Rule 6, Sections 7, 15, and 25, are amended to read as follows:

Sec. 7. SYSTEM OF CALENDARS. (a) Legislative business of the house shall be controlled by a system of calendars, consisting of the following:

(1) EMERGENCY CALENDAR, on which shall appear bills and resolutions considered to be of such pressing and imperative import as to demand immediate action, bills to raise revenue and levy taxes, and the general appropriations bill. A bill or resolution submitted as an emergency matter by the governor may also be placed on this calendar.

(2) MAJOR STATE CALENDAR, on which shall appear bills of statewide effect, not emergency in nature, which establish or change state policy in a major field of governmental activity and which will have a major impact in application throughout the state without regard to class, area, or other limiting factors.

(3) CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS CALENDAR, on which shall appear joint resolutions, not emergency in nature, proposing amendments to the Texas Constitution, [joint resolutions] proposing the ratification of amendments to the Constitution of the United States, or [and joint resolutions] applying to Congress for a convention to amend the Constitution of the United States.

(4) GENERAL STATE CALENDAR, on which shall appear bills of statewide effect, not emergency in nature, which establish or change state law and which have application to all areas but are limited in legal effect by classification or other factors which minimize the impact to something less than major state policy, and bills, not emergency in nature, which are not on the local, consent, and resolutions calendar.

(5) LOCAL, CONSENT, AND RESOLUTIONS CALENDAR, on which shall appear bills, house resolutions, and concurrent resolutions, not emergency in nature, regardless of extent and scope, on which there is such general agreement as to render improbable any opposition to the consideration and passage thereof, and which have been recommended by the appropriate standing committee for placement on the local, consent, and resolutions calendar by the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars.

(6) RESOLUTIONS CALENDAR, on which shall appear house resolutions and concurrent resolutions, not emergency in nature and not privileged.

(7) CONGRATULATORY AND MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS CALENDAR, on which shall appear congratulatory and memorial resolutions whose sole intent is to congratulate, memorialize, or otherwise express concern or commendation. The Committee on Rules and Resolutions may provide separate categories for congratulatory and memorial resolutions.

(b) A calendars committee shall strictly construe and the speaker shall strictly enforce this system of calendars.

Sec. 15. ORDER OF CONSIDERATION OF CALENDARS. (a) Except for local, consent, and resolutions calendars and congratulatory and memorial calendars, consideration of calendars shall be in the order named in Section 7 of this rule and [,] subject to the other limitations provided by this rule, including the limitations provided by Sections 8, 9, 16, and 17 of this rule [any exceptions ordered by the Committee on Calendars].

(b) With respect to a particular calendar, bills and joint resolutions on third reading shall have precedence over bills and joint resolutions on second reading. This subsection does not apply to a concurrent resolution or house resolution that is not required to be read on three several days under these rules or the Texas Constitution.

Sec. 25. DISCRETION IN PLACEMENT ON CALENDARS. Subject to the limitations contained in this rule, including the limitations provided by Sections 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, and 17 of this rule, the Committee on Calendars shall have full authority to make placements on calendars in whatever order is necessary and desirable under the circumstances then existing, except that bills and joint resolutions on third reading on a particular calendar shall have precedence over bills and joint resolutions on second reading on the same calendar. It is the intent of the calendar system to give the Committee on Calendars wide discretion, within the limitations contained in this rule, to insure adequate consideration by the house of important legislation.