Bill 3715

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                       3715
Type of Legislation:               Concurrent Resolution CR
Introducing Body:                  House
Introduced Date:                   19950301
Primary Sponsor:                   Sheheen 
All Sponsors:                      Sheheen 
Drafted Document Number:           PT\1731DW.95
Residing Body:                     Senate
Current Committee:                 Rules Committee 14 SR
Date of Last Amendment:            19950426
Subject:                           Joint Rules of Senate and
                                   House

Body    Date      Action Description                       Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  _______________________________________  _______ ____________

Senate  19950427  Introduced, referred to Committee        14 SR
House   19950426  Amended, adopted, sent to Senate
House   19950420  Committee report: Favorable with         29 HR
                  amendment
House   19950301  Introduced, referred to Committee        29 HR

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

AMENDED

April 26, 1995

H. 3715

S. Printed 4/26/95--H.

Read the first time March 1, 1995.

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO ADOPT THE JOINT RULES OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE 1995 AND 1996 SESSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Amend Title To Conform

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the following rules are adopted as the Joint Rules of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the 1995 and 1996 Sessions of the General Assembly:

Every Bill shall receive three readings on three several days in the House in which it originates before it is sent to the other House.

All messages between the two Houses must be in writing and numbered in regular sequence for each session, except that messages announcing the organization of either House, or its readiness to adjourn pursuant to Joint Resolution, may be as directed by the presiding officer.

When the two Houses meet for any purpose, the President of the Senate shall preside and discharge the duties of the Joint Assembly. If he is unable to do so, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall preside in his place and stead. If neither is able to preside, the Speaker of the House shall preside in their absence.

Questions of difference between the two Houses shall be referred to Committees of Conference as follows:

If the disagreement concerns a Resolution, Bill, or Report adopted by one House and sent to the other House for consideration, and it be proposed to amend such Resolution, Bill, or Report, the House in possession of the paper will send a message to the other House containing the amendment proposed. If that House disagrees to the amendment, it will return a message accordingly. If the House proposing the amendment still desires to urge it, it will send a message to the other House, insisting upon its amendment, and asking that a Committee of Conference may be appointed at the same time naming its own Committee of Conference. This must be granted as of course. The Committee of Conference shall meet in Joint Session and shall formulate and submit its report in writing to both Houses. If the Joint Committee of Conference fails to agree upon any plan of settlement, or its Report is not concurred in by both Houses the Resolution, Bill, or Report is lost. Provided, that the Conference Committee does not have the power to insert any new matter not found in the Senate or House version of the Bill, Resolution, or Report in disagreement. Nor does the Conference Committee have power to alter or delete any matter agreed upon by both Houses in such Resolution, Bill, or Report, and in the case of appropriation of money it does not have the power to exceed the maximum or go below the minimum found in either the Senate or House version. Provided, further, that upon the approval of two-thirds vote of the entire membership of the Senate and the House separately taken any Resolution, Bill, or Report may be referred to a Committee of Free Conference. Provided, further, that any new matter inserted in an Appropriation Bill by a Free Conference Committee may be stricken upon motion carried by majority vote in either the Senate or the House of Representatives and that all new matter, including any appropriation which is in excess of the maximum amount passed by either the Senate or the House, contained in a report of a Free Conference Committee, must be italicized except that in the event any question arises as to what constitutes new matter the same must be resolved by the presiding officer of each body.

Provided, further, it is always in order before the adoption of the report of the Committee of Free Conference to move to recommit it to the same Committee of Free Conference notwithstanding that either House had adopted the report. If that motion prevails (by a majority vote of either House) a message must be sent to the other House informing them of that action. Upon receipt of the message, notwithstanding the previous adoption of report of the Committee of Free Conference, a motion is in order to recommit the report to the same Committee of Free Conference.

When a Bill or Resolution or any other matter which has passed in one House is rejected in the other, notice must be given to that House in which the same has passed.

Each House shall transmit to the other all papers upon which any Bill or Resolution or Report sent to it for consideration has passed.

All Bills that have been read three times in each House and have been duly engrossed and become Acts must be returned into the possession of the Clerk of that House in which the Bills originated. A day for the ratification of them in the Senate Chamber must be fixed by a message between the two Houses. At the time appointed, the Speaker of the House, attended by the Clerk of the House and Sergeant-at-Arms, in the official costume, with the members of the House, shall repair to the Senate Chamber, the Clerk of the House taking with him the House Acts which are to be ratified. The Senate, with its officers, shall duly receive the House and its officers, the Clerk of the Senate having in his possession the Senate Acts which are to be ratified. At this time, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House shall interchangeably sign and present to each other the Acts from their respective Houses by their respective titles; and when they are all signed and ratified, they must be left with the Clerk of the Senate, and the Speaker with the House and its officers, shall retire to the Hall of the House. The Clerk of the Senate shall immediately deliver the Acts to the Governor for his action, making a note on each Act of the day and hour of its delivery.

All Joint Assemblies for whatever purpose shall convene at the hour set in the Concurrent Resolution adopted by both the Senate and the House calling for the convening of the Joint Assembly. Only matters set forth in the Concurrent Resolution setting the Joint Assembly may be considered in the Joint Assembly and no Concurrent Resolution may set a Joint Assembly less than three calendar days in advance of the Joint Assembly.

(A) In a Joint Assembly, when a vote is being taken, no member may change his vote after it has been announced and recorded but a member who did not vote when his name was called may do so before the result has been duly announced.

(B) In all elections held by the Joint Assembly nominations to fill the vacancies must be called for by the presiding officer, and all seconds of nominations must be forwarded to the desk after the presiding officer shall declare that `It appears to the Chair that no further nominations are to be made'.

(C) Seconds to nominations are then in order until the motion to `proceed to a ballot' is made and adopted. No nominations or seconding speeches are allowed unless by previously arranged Concurrent Resolutions providing for it.

(D) If there is only one nomination to fill any one vacancy, it is permissible to elect and declare the election by viva voce vote.

(E) In elections where there are more nominations than there are vacancies, and the Presiding officers of each House consider it necessary, there must be appointed on behalf of the Senate by the President of the Senate such Senators and the Assistant Clerk of the Senate and by the Speaker of the House of Representatives such Representatives and the Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives who shall serve as tellers for the pending election. The Reading Clerks of the respective Houses shall call the respective rolls, but nothing in this rule shall prevent the House, with unanimous consent from the Joint Assembly, from voting by electronic means available in the Chamber at the time of the vote.

In all elections in the Joint Assembly the doors of the Hall of the House of Representatives must be closed and no person other than members, Clerks, and attaches of the two Houses must be allowed within the Hall of the House of Representatives; provided, however, that the gallery must be open to visitors. The Sergeant-at-Arms of the two Houses and the doorkeepers are charged with enforcement of this rule.

(A) There is created a joint committee to be designated as the Committee on Invitations to be composed of six members, three of whom must be appointed by the President of the Senate from the members of that body and three of whom must be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives from the members of that body.

(B) Invitations may be issued only to the Invitations Committee. Any invitations extended to the General Assembly to attend any functions held on a statewide legislative day between the hours of eight o'clock a.m. and seven o'clock p.m. must be referred to this committee at least ten days in advance in order that it may determine what legislation or other pertinent matters may be pending before the General Assembly and its committees before action is taken on this invitation. The General Assembly may accept only one invitation each day after six o'clock p.m. The General Assembly shall accept no invitations to any functions other than a breakfast or luncheon before six o'clock p.m. No invitations to functions for the General Assembly as a whole may be accepted after the third Thursday in May.

(C)(1) The committee shall not recommend the extension of an invitation:

(a) to any person or group to address the Joint Assembly or to appear unless the person or group is of significant national or state prominence at the time the invitation is extended and will bring a message of major importance to the General Assembly; or

(b) to any individual or group for any artistic performance before the Joint Assembly during the established hours of meeting. (2) After recommending the extension of an invitation by a report to the Senate and the House, both bodies must adopt a Concurrent Resolution to officially extend an invitation to this person or group.

Any Bill or Joint Resolution may be engrossed, amended, enrolled, or ratified by the use of necessary printed or typewritten material, or a combination of them, which has been duly certified.

The General Appropriation Bill and Supplemental Appropriation Bills shall include only provisions for appropriating funds, provisions affecting revenue, and rules, regulations, and procedures relative to it; and no provision of an Appropriation Bill, and no amendment to it is in order unless its substantial effect is directly germane to these purposes. No provision may be put in a permanent part of this Bill unless it relates directly with an appropriation being made or revenue provided in it for the fiscal year referred to in the Bill. The provisions of this rule shall be strictly construed and no precedents established, prior to January 1, 1986, in construing this paragraph may be considered. The provisions of this rule must be narrowly and strictly construed with regard to all provisions of and amendments to the General Appropriation Bill and Supplemental Appropriations Bills.

(A) Upon the receipt from a state agency of administrative regulations for legislative review pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House shall have the regulations delivered to the Clerk of the State Register for initial processing. The Clerk shall place the regulations in a regulation cover and enter on the cover the name of the promulgating agency, the chapter number assigned to the agency for codification of its regulations, the statutory authority for promulgating the regulations, a brief title, the dates the regulations were received by the Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor and based on the date of receipt, the expiration of the one hundred twenty-day period which would allow the regulations to become effective without legislative action. Separate and distinctive covers must be used for the Senate and the House. Each set of regulations relating to the same subject shall have a separate cover and be assigned a document number which must be the same for identical regulations submitted to both Houses. After entry of the above preliminary information the Clerk of the State Register shall deliver the regulations to the Clerks of the respective Houses. When the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker refer the regulations to a standing committee, the Clerks of the respective Houses shall enter upon the regulation cover the committee of reference, notify the Clerk of the State Register of the committee referrals, and deliver the regulations in the cover to the committee concerned. The Clerks of both Houses shall have printed in their journals appropriate information as to the receipt and reference of these regulations.

(B)(1) When any standing committee takes action on regulations referred to it, the committee shall notify the Clerk of the State Register of this action. The Clerk of the State Register is responsible for monitoring and coordinating legislative actions on regulations between both Houses, and based on these actions, the computation of revised legislative review expiration dates and publication as final in the South Carolina State Register.

(2) If the committee introduces a Joint Resolution approving or disapproving regulations, a copy of the regulation text must be attached to the Resolution.

(C) Upon the receipt from a state agency of a letter of agency action responding to a committee request to withdraw or resubmit a regulation, the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House shall have the letter of agency action delivered to the Clerk of the State Register for processing. The Clerk shall attach the letter of agency action and any resubmitted regulations to a cover sheet stating the action, status, and revised expiration date. The Clerk of the State Register shall deliver the documents to the Clerks of the respective Houses. The Clerks of both Houses shall have printed in their journals appropriate information as to the receipt and reference of such regulations or agency action.

(D) Upon sine die adjournment in each year the Clerk of the State Register shall notify standing committees of both Houses of pending regulations, and the sine die revised legislative review expiration dates.

(E) The Clerk of the State Register is responsible for preparation and printing of regulation covers in a format approved by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Clerks of the House and Senate shall prepare forms for Concurrent Resolutions expressing the sympathy or congratulations of the members of both Houses. Any member wishing to sponsor this Resolution shall forward in writing, on a form prepared by the Clerks, information sufficient to prepare the Resolution. The Clerk of the body where the Resolution is to be introduced shall prepare the Resolution. Both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate shall sign the Resolution on behalf of the membership. These Resolutions may not be read to the House or Senate or printed in their respective journals except upon the request of ten members of that House.

Every General Appropriation Bill and Supplemental Appropriation Bill for the ordinary expenses of state government must, prior to third reading in both Houses and prior to final concurrence by both Houses, and conference and free conference reports must have attached to it a certificate from the Budget Division of the Budget and Control Board and certification from the Board of Economic Advisors stating that in their opinion the totals of the appropriations in it provided for are not in excess of the estimated total revenue of the State for those purposes, including appropriations and revenue which may be provided for in the Bill or any other Bill previously enacted for the fiscal year to which the Appropriation Bill is applicable. Each General Appropriation Bill and each Supplemental Appropriation Bill shall conform to the requirements of Section 11-11-140, South Carolina Code of Laws, as amended.

No provisions of these Joint Rules may be suspended, even by unanimous consent. Amendments to the Joint Rules may be made by Concurrent Resolution passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership."