HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

175

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

AMENDING THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII, 2001-2002.

 

 

WHEREAS, the rules of the House of Representatives may be amended pursuant to House Rule 57 with one day's notice of the change by a majority vote of the members of the House; and

WHEREAS, the House and Senate leadership traditionally, and as a matter of practice, have agreed to joint written procedures that specify administrative and logistical procedures for Conference Committees, including meeting times, decision-making deadlines, meeting notices and so forth; and

WHEREAS, the leadership of both Houses have, prior to the 2001 Legislative session, agreed to certain Conference procedures that have included a provision that a majority of the quorum of House managers and a majority of the quorum of Senate managers must vote in favor of the proposed amendments to report a measure out of Conference Committee in amended form; and

WHEREAS, during the Regular Session of 2001, the leadership of both Houses adopted Conference procedures that, for the first time, gave a single conference committee chair the power to outvote a majority of the committee; and

WHEREAS, during the Regular Session of 2002, the leadership of both Houses again plan to include in the Conference procedures the requirement that all chairs must vote in favor of the proposed amendments to report a measure out of Conference Committee in amended form, with perhaps a majority of chairs able to override a single chair veto; and

WHEREAS, the conference chair veto provision in Conference procedures would give individual Conference chairs the ability to unilaterally veto a Conference result notwithstanding support by the majority of the managers of the Conference committees and would otherwise provide any such chair with disproportionate power over the Conference result; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, that the House of Representatives hereby amends the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature to add a new Rule 16.6 as follows:

16.6 To report a measure out of Conference Committee in amended form (CD), a majority of the quorum of House Committee managers must vote in favor of the proposed amendments.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: Amending House Rules, 21st Legislature