BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.J.R. 19

By: Branch

State Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Historically, there have been instances when either the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Texas Legislature has been unable to conduct business because the number of members absent from the state precluded the presence of a quorum.

C.S.H.J.R. 19 proposes a constitutional amendment to allow for two-thirds of the members of each respective house of the legislature to constitute a quorum to do business, excluding members who are absent from the state as determined by that house of the legislature, from the total membership for that purpose.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this resolution does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.J.R. 19 proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution to exclude from the total membership of each house of the legislature those members who are absent from the state as determined by the absent member's respective house when determining whether the members present in that house constitute the required quorum to do business. The resolution sets out the required ballot language.

ELECTION DATE

The constitutional amendment proposed by this joint resolution will be submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 8, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.J.R. 19 differs from the original by basing the exclusion of absent members from the total membership of their respective house for purposes of quorum on a determination made by that house that those members are absent from the state, whereas the original bases the exclusion on a determination made by the house's presiding officer.  The substitute differs from the original in nonsubstantive ways in a grammatical construction and by referring to the members of each respective house, whereas the original refers to the members of each house.