RULE XIII. CALENDARS AND REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 1. There shall be three Calendars of business reported from committees, viz: First. A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, to which shall be referred bills raising revenue, general appropriation bills, and bills of a public character directly or indirectly appropriating money or property. Second. A House Calendar, to which shall be referred all bills of a public character not raising revenue nor directly or indirectly appropriating money or property. Third. A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House, to which shall be referred all bills of a private character. 2. *All reports of committees, except as provided in clause 51 of Rule XI, together with the views of the minority, shall be delivered to the Clerk for printing and reference to the proper Calendar under the direction of the Speaker, in accordance with the foregoing clause, and the titles or subjects thereof shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Record. RULE XIV. OF DECORUM AND DEBATE. 1. When any member desires to speak or deliver any matter to the House, he shall rise and respectfully address himself to "Mr. Speaker," and, on being recognized, may address the House from any place on the floor or from the Clerk's desk, and shall confine himself to the question under debate, avoiding personality. 2. When two or more members rise at once, the Speaker shall name the member who is first to speak; and no member shall occupy more than one hour in debate on any question in the House or in committee, except as further provided in this rule. 3. The member reporting the measure under consideration from a committee may open and close, where general debate has been had thereon; and if it shall extend beyond one day, he shall be entitled to one hour to close, notwithstanding he may have used an hour in opening. 4. If any member, in speaking or otherwise, transgress the rules of the House, the Speaker shall, or any member may, call him to order; in which case he shall immediately sit down, unless permitted, on motion of another member, to explain, and the House shall, if appealed to, decide on the case without debate; if the decision is in favor of the member called to order, he shall be at liberty to proceed, but not otherwise; and, if the case require it, he shall be liable to censure or such punishment as the House may deem proper. 5. If a member is called to order for words spoken in debate, the member calling him to order shall indicate the words excepted to, and they shall be taken down in writing at the Clerk's desk and read aloud to the House; but he shall not be held to answer, nor be subject to the censure of the House therefor, if further debate or other business has intervened. 6. No member shall speak more than once to the same question without leave of the House, unless he be the mover, proposer, or introducer of the matter pending, in which case he shall be permitted to speak in reply, but not until every member choosing to speak shall have spoken. 7. While the Speaker is putting a question or addressing the House no member shall walk out of or across the hall, nor, when a member is speaking, pass between him and the Chair; and during the session of the House no member shall wear his hat, or remain by the Clerk's desk during the call of the roll or the counting of ballots, or smoke upon the floor of the House; and the Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper are charged with the strict enforcement of this clause. RULE XV. ON CALLS OF THE ROLL AND HOUSE. 1. Upon every roll-call the names of the members shall be called alphabetically by surname, except when two or more have the same surname, in which case the name of the State shall be added; and if there be two such members from the same State, the whole name shall be called; and after the roll has been once called, the clerk shall call in their alphabetical order the names of those not voting; and thereafter the Speaker shall not entertain a request to record a vote or announce a pair unless the member's name has been noted under clause 3 of this rule. 2. In the absence of a quorum, fifteen members, including the Speaker, if there is one, shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, and in all calls of the House the doors shall be closed, the names of the members shall be called by the Clerk, and the absentees noted; and those for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found, by officers to be appointed by the Sergeant-at-Arms for that purpose, and their attendance secured and retained; and the House shall determine upon what condition they shall be discharged. Members who voluntarily appear shall, unless the House otherwise direct, be immediately admitted to the hall of the House, and they shall report their names to the Clerk to be entered upon the Journal as present. 3. On the demand of any member, or at the suggestion of the Speaker, the names of members sufficient to make a quorum in the hall of the House who do not vote, shall be noted by the Clerk and recorded in the Journal, and reported to the Speaker with the names of the members voting, and be counted and announced in determining the presence of a quorum to do business. RULE XVI. ON MOTIONS, THEIR PRECEDENCE, ETC. 1. Every motion made to the House and entertained by the Speaker shall be reduced to writing on the demand of any member, and shall be entered on the Journal with the name of the member making it, unless it is withdrawn the same day. 2. When a motion has been made, the Speaker shall state it or (if it be in writing) cause it to be read aloud by the Clerk before being debated, and it shall then be in possession of the House, but may be withdrawn at any time before a decision or amendment. 3. When any motion or proposition is made, the question, Will the House now consider it shall not be put unless demanded by a member. 4. When a question is under debate, no motion shall be received but to adjourn, to lay on the table, for the previous question (which motions shall be decided without debate), to postpone to a day certain, to refer, or to amend, or postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the foregoing order; and no motion to postpone to a day certain, to refer, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall be again allowed on the same day at the same stage of the question. 5. The hour at which the House adjourns shall be entered on the Journal. 6. On the demand of any member, before the question is put, a question shall be divided if it include propositions so distinct in substance that one being taken away a substantive proposi tion shall remain. 7. A motion to strike out and insert is indivisible, but a motion to strike out being lost shall neither preclude amendment nor motion to strike out and insert; and no motion or proposi tion on a subject different from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment. 8. Pending a motion to suspend the rules, the Speaker may entertain one motion that the House adjourn; but after the result thereon is announced he shall not entertain any other dilatory motion till the vote is taken on suspension. 9. At any time after the reading of the Journal it shall be in order, by direction of the appropriate committees, to move that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the purpose of considering bills raising revenue, or general appropriation bills. 10. No dilatory motion shall be entertained by the Speaker. RULE XVII. PREVIOUS QUESTION. 1. There shall be a motion for the previous question, which, being ordered by a majority of members present, if a quorum, shall have the effect to cut off all debate and bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered. The previous question may be asked and ordered upon a single motion, a series of motions allowable under the rules, or an amendment or amendments, or may be made to embrace all authorized motions or amendments and include the bill to its passage or rejection. It shall be in order, pending the motion for, or after the previous question shall have been ordered on its passage, for the Speaker to entertain and submit a motion to commit, with or without instructions, to a standing or select committee. 2. A call of the House shall not be in order after the previous question is ordered, unless it shall appear upon an actual count by the Speaker that a quorum is not present. 3. All incidental questions of order arising after a motion is made for the previous question, and pending such motion, shall be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate. RULE XVIII. RECONSIDERATION. 1. When a motion has been made and carried or lost, it shall be in order for any member of the majority, on the same or succeeding day, to move for the reconsideration thereof, and such motion shall take precedence of all other questions except the consideration of a conference report or a motion to adjourn, and shall not be withdrawn after the said succeeding day without the consent of the House, and thereafter any member may call it up for consideration: Provided, That such motion, if made during the last six days of a session, shall be disposed of when made. 2. No bill, petition, memorial, or resolution referred to a committee, or reported therefrom for printing and recommitment, shall be brought back into the House on a motion to reconsider; and all bills, petitions, memorials, or resolutions reported from a committee shall be accompanied by reports in writing, which shall be printed. |