Focus Report, Volume 76, Number 3, January 1999 Page: 7
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Page 7
House~ Researc~h Org~atin
Placing bills on the calendar by floor
motion
When a bill has been in a calendars committee for
30 calendar days, not counting the day it was
referred, any member may offer a motion on the
House floor to place the bill on a daily calendar or a
local, consent, and resolutions calendar, whichever is
applicable, without action by the calendars committee.
The motion must be seconded by at least five
members and adopted by majority vote. The motion is
debatable, with one mover and one opponent each
given three minutes to debate only the motion, not the
merits of the bill (Rule 6, sec. 21; Rule 7, sec. 2).
Order of Business
Constitutional order of business
The Texas Constitution requires the Legislature to
devote the first 30 days of each regular session
exclusively to certain work: the introduction of bills
and resolutions; emergency appropriations; Senate
confirmation of recess appointees; and emergency
matters submitted by the governor. During the second
30 days, committees are to hold hearings to consider
pending legislation and emergency matters. During the
ensuing 60 days, both houses may act on pending
legislation (Constitution Art. 3, sec. 5).
The Constitution allows each house to suspend the
order-of-business provision upon approval by four-
fifths of its membership. The House usually suspends
the constitutional order-of-business provision early in
each regular session. For the 1999 regular session, the
House by 143-0 suspended the provision on January 18
(HR 3 by Thompson). Senate rules require a four-
fifths vote of the members (25 votes) for floor
consideration of any but emergency and local bills
during the first 60 days of the regular session (Senate
Rules 7.08, 7.13). This rule usually is suspended on a
bill-by-bill basis.
Daily order of business
The rules specify the following order for daily
conduct of House business (Rule 6, sec. 1):
+ call to order by the speaker;
+ registration of members (100 needed for a quorum);+ invocation;
+ excuses for absent members (must be made by
another member);
+ first readings and referrals;
+ routine motions;
+ unfinished business;
+ postponed matters (bills postponed to a day
certain); and
+ consideration of calendars in order of priority.
This order may be modified by a House vote to
suspend the rule for a particular day.
Senate bill days. Wednesday and Thursday are
Senate bill days in the House. All Senate bills and
resolutions on the daily House calendar for those days
must be disposed of before any House bills and
resolutions may be considered, unless the Senate
gives its consent. Senate bills also may be considered
on other days, under suspension of the rules (Rule 6,
secs. 8-10).
Special orders. When members wish to debate
a particularly long bill-such as the general
appropriations bill-they may vote to suspend the
calendar system every day until action on the bill is
completed. This step takes a two-thirds vote of
approval and is called making the bill a "special
order." Only one special order may be pending at a
time unless three-fourths of the members present vote
otherwise. Consideration of special orders does not
take precedence over consideration of Senate bills on
Senate bill days (Rule 6, secs. 2-6, 9).
Floor Consideration
Debate on the House floor
The author of legislation or a member making a
motion has the right to open and close debate. Each
speech is limited to 20 minutes (Rule 5, sec. 27). All
other speakers may take up to 10 minutes. This limit
may be extended for an additional 10 minutes by a
majority vote, but further extensions require
unanimous consent. No extensions are permitted
during the last 10 days of a regular session or the
last five days of a special session (Rule 5, sec. 28).House Research Organization
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Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization. Focus Report, Volume 76, Number 3, January 1999, periodical, January 29, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth641010/m1/7/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.