Bill Text: TX HR72 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Resolution 72 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Amending House Rule 1 Section 15, and Rule 5, Sections 3 and 8.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 32)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-23 - Referred to House Administration [HR72 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HR72-Introduced.html



	By: Vasut	H.R. No. 72



	R E S O L U T I O N
	BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 87th
	Legislature, that Rule 1, Section 15, of the permanent rules of the
	House of Representatives of the 87th Legislature is amended to read
	as follows:
	Sec. 15. Standing Committee Appointments - (a) The speaker
	shall designate the chair and vice-chair of each standing
	substantive committee and shall also appoint membership of the
	committee, subject to the provisions of Rule 4, Section 2.
	(b) If members of equal seniority request the same
	committee, the speaker shall decide which among them shall be
	assigned to that committee.
	(c) In announcing the membership of the standing
	substantive committees, the speaker shall designate which are
	appointees and which acquire membership by seniority.
	(d) The speaker shall appoint the chair and vice-chair of
	each standing procedural committee and the remaining membership of
	the committee.
	(e) If a new speaker is elected to fill a vacancy in the
	office after the appointment of standing committees, the new
	speaker may not alter the composition of any standing committee
	before the end of the session, except that the new speaker may:
	(1) vacate the new speaker's membership on any
	committee;
	(2) make committee appointments for the member who was
	removed as speaker;
	(3) designate a different member of a standing
	committee as committee chair; and
	(4) fill vacancies that occur on a committee.
	(f)(1) A member shall be removed as chair and vice-chair of
	all standing and procedural committees the member serves on, but
	shall retain his or her membership on the committee, if a majority
	of the house adopts a motion to remove a committee chair or
	vice-chair for any of the following reasons:
	(A) the member is absent from the sessions of the
	house without leave under Rule 5, Section 3, for more than seven (7)
	cumulative days during any regular session;
	(B) the member is absent from the sessions of the
	house without leave under Rule 5, Section 3, for more than three (3)
	cumulative days during any special session;
	(C) the member is absent from the sessions of the
	house without leave under Rule 5, Section 3, for more than fourteen
	(14) cumulative days, with the intent to cause a lack of quorum
	under Rule 5, Section 1, during the past six (6) months.
	(2) A motion under Subdivision (1) must be seconded by
	twenty-five (25) members, of whom the speaker may be one, and shall
	be recognized as a privileged motion if otherwise in order.
	(3) A motion under Subdivision (1) is not in order
	unless a member has previously provided at least twenty-four hour's
	notice of intent to make the motion by addressing the house when the
	house is in session and stating that a member intends to make a
	motion for the removal of a member(s) as chair or vice-chair of a
	standing or procedural committee.
	(4) A member that is subject to a motion under
	Subdivision (1) is permitted, but not obligated, to address the
	house for not more than 10 minutes on a motion being considered by
	the full house under Subdivision (1). The time limits established
	by this rule shall include time consumed in yielding to questions
	from the floor. The time limit established by this rule shall not
	be extended.
	(5) No member may be subject to a motion under
	Subdivision (1) more than once during any regular or special
	session.
	(6) A motion under Subdivision (1) is incidental to a
	call of the house, under Rule 5, Section 7.
	(g) The speaker may not appoint a member as a chair or
	vice-chair of any committee if the member was removed as a chair or
	vice-chair of any committee during the previous twelve (12) months
	pursuant to Subsection (f).
	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
	87th Legislature, that Rule 5, Section 8, of the permanent rules of
	the House of Representatives of the 87th Legislature is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 8. Securing a Quorum. (a) When a call of the house is
	moved for one of the above purposes and seconded by 15 members (of
	whom the speaker may be one) and ordered by a majority vote, the
	main entrance to the hall and all other doors leading out of the
	hall shall be locked and no member permitted to leave the house
	without the written permission of the speaker. The names of members
	present shall be recorded. All absentees 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 the
	sergeant-at-arms or an officer appointed by the sergeant-at-arms
	for that purpose, and their attendance shall be secured and
	retained. The house shall determine on what conditions they shall
	be discharged. Members who voluntarily appear shall, unless the
	house otherwise directs, be immediately admitted to the hall of the
	house and shall report their names to the clerk to be entered in the
	journal as present.
	(b) Until a quorum appears, should the roll call fail to
	show one present, no business shall be transacted, except to compel
	the attendance of absent members or to adjourn. It shall not be in
	order to recess under a call of the house.
	(c) Any member without sufficient excuse who fails to appear
	in the hall within twenty-four (24) hours of a call of the house, or
	within twenty-four (24) hours of the appointed time for the member
	to appear pursuant to any written permission of the speaker, shall
	be fined a sum equal to two times the member's per diem per day the
	member is absent without excuse during a call of the house. Such
	fine shall be remitted to the sergeant-at-arms and made payable to
	the Texas House of Representatives.
	(d) Any member without sufficient excuse who fails to appear
	in the hall within forty-eight (48) hours of a call of the house, or
	within forty-eight (48) hours of the appointed time for the member
	to appear pursuant to any written permission of the speaker, shall
	be re-designated as having zero years and zero days of cumulative
	service as a member of the house of representatives for purposes of
	seniority under these Rules and any privileges appurtenant thereto.
	There shall be no method by which to reinstate the seniority of a
	member that has been re-designated as having zero years and zero
	days of cumulative service as a member of the house of
	representatives for purposes of seniority under this subsection.
	(e) Any member without sufficient excuse who fails to appear
	in the hall within seventy-two (72) hours of a call of the house, or
	within seventy-two (72) hours of the appointed time for the member
	to appear pursuant to any written permission of the speaker, shall
	be removed as chair and vice-chair of all standing and procedural
	committees the member serves on, but shall retain his or her
	membership on the committee.