Bill Text: NJ SR115 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends Senate Rule 17:7 to clarify that a bill or resolution must have received second reading to be order of the day.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-08 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee [SR115 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-SR115-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT M. GORDON
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Amends Senate Rule 17:7 to clarify that a bill or resolution must have received second reading to be order of the day.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution concerning orders of the day and amending Senate Rule 17:7.
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. Rule 17:7 is amended to read as follows:
17:7. Order of the Day; Limitations on Bills and Resolutions Considered.
a. Any bill or resolution which has been given second reading may, on motion with the consent of its sponsor, be made the order of the day, and shall be considered whether or not it is on the Calendar for that day, and in preference to all other business of the Senate.
b. At any meeting, the total number of bills and joint and concurrent resolutions considered for final passage shall not exceed 30. The consideration of concurrences with General Assembly amendments shall not be included in this limit. The reconsideration of bills vetoed by the Governor, through either concurrence with the Governor's recommendations or veto override, shall not be included in the [30 bill] 30-bill limit.
c. On the recommendation of the President, the Senate may adopt a resolution limiting the consideration of bills and resolutions at its next meeting to those listed in the resolution.
2. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This resolution clarifies that a bill or resolution may only be made the order of the day if it has been given second reading. Bills and resolutions on first reading are recently introduced or referred to committee and, thus, are not ready for consideration as the order of the day. Furthermore, as a principle of parliamentary law, a body can only act on a proposition within its possession. When a bill or resolution is referred to a committee, even though a committee is a subordinate body of the house, the bill or resolution is no longer within the possession of the full Senate. Therefore, it would be improper, as a matter of parliamentary procedure, to use the motion to make a bill or resolution an order of the day to bring a bill to the floor without first relieving a committee of the measure.
