Bill Text: TX HR96 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amending House Rule 4 Section 9, and Rule 5, Sections 3 and 8.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 60)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-28 - Left pending in committee [HR96 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HR96-Introduced.html
| By: Darby | H.R. No. 96 | |
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| BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the 87th | ||
| Texas Legislature, That the permanent rules of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the 87th Legislature are amended as follows: | ||
| SECTION 1. Rule 4, Section 9, is amended to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 9. MEETING WHILE HOUSE IN SESSION. (a) Except as | ||
| otherwise provided by this section, no [ |
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| subcommittee shall meet during the time the house is in session | ||
| without permission being given by a majority vote of the house. No | ||
| standing committee or subcommittee shall conduct its meeting on the | ||
| floor of the house or in the house chamber while the house is in | ||
| session, but shall, if given permission to meet while the house is | ||
| in session, retire to a designated committee room for the conduct of | ||
| its meeting. | ||
| (b) Permission of the house is not required for a committee | ||
| or subcommittee to meet, in a designated committee room, while the | ||
| house is in session if: | ||
| (1) a call of the house has been ordered and a quorum | ||
| of the house has not yet been secured; and | ||
| (2) the members of the committee or subcommittee | ||
| registered as present under the call of the house have received | ||
| written permission of the speaker, under Rule 5, Section 8, to leave | ||
| the hall of the house. | ||
| SECTION 2. Rule 4 is amended by adding Section 10A to read | ||
| as follows: | ||
| Sec. 10A. PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC HEARING BY MEMBER ABSENT | ||
| WITHOUT SUFFICIENT EXCUSE UNDER A CALL OF THE HOUSE. If a member | ||
| was absent from the sessions of the house without sufficient excuse | ||
| during a call of the house and did not voluntarily appear in the | ||
| hall of the house under Rule 5, Section 8, the member may not | ||
| participate in a public hearing, either in person or under Section | ||
| 16A, during that regular or special session until the expiration of | ||
| the 48-hour period that begins at the time the member enters the | ||
| hall of the house while the house is in session and reports the | ||
| member's name to the journal clerk to be entered in the journal as | ||
| present. | ||
| SECTION 3. Rule 5, Section 3, is amended to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 3. LEAVE OF ABSENCE. (a) No member shall be absent | ||
| from the sessions of the house without leave, and no member shall be | ||
| excused on his or her own motion. | ||
| (b) A leave of absence may be granted by a majority vote of | ||
| the house and may be revoked at any time by a similar vote. | ||
| (c) Any member granted a leave of absence due to a meeting of | ||
| a committee or conference committee that has authority to meet | ||
| while the house is in session shall be so designated on each roll | ||
| call or registration for which that member is excused. | ||
| (d) Unless the house excuses the payment of the fine by a | ||
| majority vote, each member who is absent without leave during a call | ||
| of the house is liable to the house for a fine in the amount of $500 | ||
| for each calendar day of absence, exclusive of the day on which the | ||
| call was ordered and the day of the member's return to the hall of | ||
| the house. | ||
| (e) The Committee on House Administration shall notify a | ||
| member of the total amount of fines for which payment is not | ||
| excused. A member must pay the amount stated in the committee's | ||
| notice by making payment of that amount to the House Business Office | ||
| not later than the third business day of the first calendar month | ||
| after the date of the committee's notice. If a member does not make | ||
| full payment as required by this subsection, the committee shall | ||
| direct the House Business Office to reduce the amount of the monthly | ||
| credit to the member's operating account established under the | ||
| housekeeping resolution by 30 percent in each month that any amount | ||
| of a fine remains due and owing. When a member has made full payment | ||
| as required by this subsection, the committee shall direct the | ||
| House Business Office to restore the impounded funds to the | ||
| member's operating account subject to any limitations on the | ||
| carrying forward of unexpended funds established by the | ||
| housekeeping resolution. | ||
| SECTION 4. Rule 5, Section 8, 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. For purposes of this | ||
| subsection, the following are not considered to be business: | ||
| (1) receipt of messages from the governor and senate | ||
| under Rule 13, Sections 1 and 2; | ||
| (2) the signing of measures by the speaker in the | ||
| presence of the house under Rule 1, Section 13; and | ||
| (3) the referral of proposed legislation to committee | ||
| by the speaker under Rule 1, Section 4. | ||
| (c) In discharging a member under Subsection (a), the house | ||
| may: | ||
| (1) refuse to excuse payment of the fine imposed under | ||
| Section 3(d); | ||
| (2) reprimand the member; | ||
| (3) censure the member; | ||
| (4) revoke the speaker's designation of the member as | ||
| chair of a standing, select, or interim committee; or | ||
| (5) stay the imposition of any penalty. | ||
| (d) The house may not impose a penalty under Subsection | ||
| (c)(4) unless the member has been absent without leave for the | ||
| purpose of impeding the action of the house for more than two | ||
| calendar days, exclusive of the day the call was ordered and the day | ||
| of the member's return to the hall of the house. | ||
| (e) Before action is taken by the house under Subsection | ||
| (c)(4), the matter shall be referred to the Committee on House | ||
| Administration for investigation and report. A report issued under | ||
| this subsection shall not be considered by the house until a printed | ||
| copy of the report has been provided to each member of the house at | ||
| least 24 hours before consideration. | ||
| (f) When filling a vacancy in the position of chair of a | ||
| committee that results from a penalty imposed under Subsection | ||
| (c)(4), the speaker must designate the new chair from the existing | ||
| membership of the committee. | ||
