RULES OF THE SENATE. [The dates under each rule indicate when the rule and its amendments were adopted. The rules as they are here printed were finally adopted by the Senate on Jan. 9, 1899. The date 1817 denotes the time when the several rules against which it is placed were first preserved. Previous to that year these rules are not to be found, although from the Senate Journal it appears that they were printed. Numbers enclosed in parentheses following each rule indicate the corresponding House rule.] THE PRESIDENT. 1. The President shall take the chair at the hour to which the Senate stands adjourned, shall call the members to order, and, on the appearance of a quorum, shall proceed to business. (1.) [1831; 1888.] 2. The President shall preserve order and decorum, may speak to points of order in preference to other members, and shall decide all questions of order subject to an appeal to the Senate. He shall rise to put a question, or to address the Senate, but may read sitting. (2, 5.) [1817; between 1821 and 1826; 1831; 1888.] 3. The President may vote on all questions. (4.) [1826.] 4. The President may appoint a member to perform the duties of the chair for a period not exceeding three days at any one time. (7.) [1831; 1862; 1865; 1888.] 5. In case of a vacancy in the office of President, or in case the President, or the member appointed by him to perform the duties of the chair, is absent at the hour to which the Senate stands adjourned, the eldest senior member present shall call the Senate to order, and shall preside until a President, or a President pro tempore, is elected by ballot, and such election shall be the first business in order. (8.) [1831; 1885; 1888.] CLERK. 6. The Clerk shall keep a journal of the proceedings of the Senate, and shall cause the same to be printed daily. He shall, in the journal, make note of all questions of order, and enter at length the decisions thereon. He shall insert in an appendix to the journal the rules of the Senate and the joint rules of the two branches. (11, 12.) [1882; 1888.] 7. The Clerk shall prepare and cause to be printed each day a calendar of matters in order for consideration; a list of matters lying on the table; and such other memoranda as he may deem necessary, and as the Senate or the President may direct. (13.) [1882; 1888.] 8. The Clerk shall retain bills and other papers, in reference to which any member has a right to move a reconsideration (except petitions, bills and resolves introduced on leave, orders of inquiry, orders of notice, reports of committees asking to be discharged from the further consideration of a subject, and enacted bills), until the right of reconsideration has expired. (15, 57.) [1855; 1856; 1875; 1882; 1885; 1888; 1891.] 9. When a bill or resolve coming from the other branch does not appear in print in the form in which it was passed in that branch, the Clerk shall either indicate the amendments on the Orders of the Day, or shall have the bill or resolve reprinted, at his discretion. [1882.] MEMBERS OF THE SENATE. 10. No member shall be permitted to act on a committee or to vote upon a question in which his private right, distinct from the public interest, is immediately concerned. (24, 63.) [1855; 1888; 1889.] 11. No member shall absent himself from the Senate without leave, unless there is a quorum without his presence. (17.) [1817.] COMMITTEES. 12. The following standing committees shall be appointed at the beginning of the political year, to wit:A committee on the Judiciary; A committee on Ways and Means; Each to consist of five members. A committee on Bills in the Third Reading; A committee on Engrossed Bills; Each to consist of three members. A committee on Rules; To consist of the President and four members. (20.) [1831; 1836; 1840; 1844; 1847; 1863; 1864; 1870; 1876; 1882; 1885; 1886; 1888; 1891; 1896; 1897.] 13. Committees shall be appointed by the President, unless the Senate shall otherwise specially order, and the member first named upon a committee shall be its chairman. In case of the election of a committee by ballot, the member having the highest number of votes shall act as chairman. (21, 22.) [1817; between 1821 and 1826; 1831; 1888.] 14. No committee shall be allowed to occupy the Senate Chamber without a vote of the Senate. (100.) [1836; 1863; 1888.] |