BE IT RESOLVED, By the
House of Representatives of the state of Washington, the Senate concurring,
That the Joint Rules of the Fifty-Seventh Legislature be amended as follows:
JOINT
RULES
OF
THE SENATE AND THE
HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES
FIFTY‑SEVENTH
LEGISLATURE
((2001))
2002
JOINT RULE NO.
Rule 1Ethics.
Rule 2Prohibited
political activity.
Rule 3Employee
protection.
Rule 4Legislative
questionnaires.
Rule 5Sessions of
the legislature.
Rule 6Joint
session.
Rule 7Motions for
joint session.
Rule 8Business
limited.
Rule 9Joint
legislative committees.
Rule 10Joint
committee hearings.
Rule 11Joint and
concurrent resolutions: Memorials.
Rule 12Amendatory
bills.
Rule 13Bills, how
drawn.
Rule 14Amendments to
state Constitution: Action by legislature.
Rule 15Publicity of
proposed amendments to state Constitution.
Rule 16Initiative
petition before the legislature.
Rule 17Conference
committee.
Rule 18Failure to
agree.
Rule 19Report of
conference committee, how made out; whom returned to.
Rule 20Adoption of
reports.
Rule 21Messages
between the two houses.
Rule 22Bills to be
engrossed.
Rule 23Final action
on bills, how communicated.
Rule 24Enrolled
bills‑-Presiding officer to sign.
Rule 25Disposition
of enrolled bills
Rule 26Adjournment.
Rule 27Adjournment
sine die.
Rule 28Each house
judge of its own membership.
Rule 29Convening
special legislative sessions.
Rule 30Amendments
to joint rules.
Rule 31Joint rules
to apply for biennium.
Ethics
Rule 1. Legislators and legislative employees are
subject to the provisions of the Ethics in Public Service Act, chapter 42.52
RCW. The house of representatives and senate may impose disciplinary action
for violations of the act. Disciplinary actions for violation include: In the
case of a legislator, reprimand, censure, or expulsion, and when applicable,
restitution; and in the case of a legislative employee, reprimand, suspension,
or dismissal, and when applicable, restitution.
Prohibited
Political Activity
Rule 2. (1) A legislator shall not knowingly
solicit, directly or indirectly, a political contribution from a legislative
employee.
(2) A legislative
employee shall not knowingly solicit or accept contributions for any candidate
or political committee during working hours. At no time shall a legislative
employee directly or indirectly solicit a contribution from another legislative
employee for any legislative candidate, caucus political committee, or
leadership political committee, nor coerce another employee into making a
contribution to any candidate or political committee. No legislative employee,
as a condition of becoming or remaining employed, may directly or indirectly be
required to make any contribution to a political candidate, committee, or
party.
Employee
Protection
Rule 3. No retaliation shall be permitted against
any legislative employee for reporting in good faith the violation of any
policy or law.
Legislative
Questionnaires
Rule 4. (1) The use of public funds by a legislator
for questionnaires distributed by regular mail or electronic means is
authorized only if the following criteria are met:
(a) The
questionnaire is limited to soliciting opinions or facts relating to
legislative issues or studies;
(b) The
questionnaire is specifically authorized by the legislator and the identity of
the legislator sponsoring the questionnaire is disclosed on the questionnaire;
and
(c) The
questionnaire complies with all other pertinent statutes, rules, and policies,
including the restrictions in subsection (2) of this rule on when
questionnaires can be mailed.
(2)(a) During the
twelve-month period beginning on December 1st of the year before a general
election for a legislator's election to office and continuing through November
30th immediately after, mass mailing by regular or electronic means of a
questionnaire is allowed only if it is included in the identical newsletter to
constituents permitted at the beginning of a legislative session under RCW
42.52.185.
(b) In any year in
which a legislator is a candidate for another public office, no questionnaire
may be sponsored by or authorized on behalf of such legislator during the
period between June 1st and the general election of that year, or in the event
of a special election, during the period between sixty days before the election
or the date of the legislator's filing for the office, whichever occurs later,
and the special election.
(3) The use of
public funds by a legislative committee, for questionnaires distributed by
regular mail or electronic means, is authorized only if the following criteria
are met:
(a) The
questionnaire is limited to soliciting opinions or facts relating to
legislative issues or studies;
(b) The
questionnaire is authorized by the committee membership and the identity of the
committee sponsoring the questionnaire is disclosed on the questionnaire;
(c) The
questionnaire complies with all other pertinent statutes, rules, and policies;
and
(d) The
questionnaire is approved by the secretary of the senate or the chief clerk of
the house of representatives, as appropriate.
Sessions
of the Legislature
Rule 5. The sessions of the legislature shall be
held annually, convening at 12:00 o'clock noon on the second Monday of January
each year, as provided by RCW 44.04.010 in accordance with Art. 2, section 12
of the state Constitution.
Joint
Session
Rule 6. Whenever there shall be a joint session of
the two houses, the proceedings shall be entered at length upon the journal of
each house. The lieutenant governor or president of the senate shall preside
over such joint session, and the clerk of the house of representatives shall
act as the clerk thereof, except in the case of the joint session held for the
purpose of canvassing the votes of constitutional elective state officers, when
the speaker shall preside over such joint sessions. The lieutenant governor in
no case shall have the right to give the deciding vote.
Motions
for Joint Session
Rule 7. All motions for a joint session shall be
made by concurrent resolution to be introduced by the house in which such joint
session is to be held; and when an agreement has once been made, it shall not
be altered or annulled, except by concurrent resolution.
Business
Limited
Rule 8. No business shall be considered in joint
session other than that which may be agreed upon before the joint session is
called.
Joint
Legislative Committees
Rule 9. Joint legislative committees may be created
by concurrent resolution originating in either house and passed by a majority
vote of both houses.
Joint legislative
committees may have the powers of subpoena, the power to administer oaths, and
the power to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses in accordance
with the provisions of chapter 44.16 RCW. Before a joint legislative committee
may issue any process, the committee chairperson shall submit for approval of
both the executive rules committee of the house of representatives and the
rules committee of the senate, a statement of purpose setting forth the name or
names of those subject to process. The process shall not be issued prior to
approval by both the executive rules committee of the house of representatives
and the rules committee of the senate. The process shall be limited to the
named individuals.
Joint
Committee Hearings
Rule 10. All public hearings held by joint committees
or held jointly by house of representatives and senate standing committees
shall be scheduled in accordance with the public notice requirements of both
the senate and the house of representatives.
Joint and
Concurrent Resolutions; Memorials
Rule 11. All memorials and resolutions from the
legislature addressed to the President of the United States, to the Congress or
either house thereof, to any other branch of the Federal government, to any
other branch of state government, or to any unit of local government shall be
in the form of joint memorials. Proposed amendments to the state Constitution
shall be in the form of joint resolutions. Business between the two houses
such as joint sessions, amendments to redistricting plans submitted by a
redistricting commission created under chapter 44.05 RCW, adopting or amending
joint rules, creating or empowering joint committees, opening and closing
business of the legislature and all such related matters shall be in the form
of concurrent resolutions. Joint memorials, joint resolutions, and concurrent
resolutions, up to and including the signing thereof by the presiding officer
of each house, shall be subject to the rules governing the course of bills.
Concurrent resolutions may be adopted without a roll call. Concurrent
resolutions amending a redistricting plan submitted by a redistricting
commission, authorizing investigations or authorizing the expenditure or
allocation of any money must be adopted by roll call, and the yeas and nays
recorded in the journal. Concurrent resolutions amending a redistricting plan
as well as all amendments to those resolutions must be agreed to by two-thirds
of the members elected or appointed to each house.
Amendatory
Bills
Rule 12. All amendatory bills shall refer to the
section or sections of the official codes and statutes of Washington, and
supplements thereto and to the respective Session Laws, to be amended.
Bills,
How Drawn
Rule 13. Bills introduced in either house intended to
amend existing statutes shall have the words which are amendatory to such
existing statutes underlined. Any matter to be deleted from the existing
statutes shall be indicated by lining out such matter with a broken line and
enclosing the lined out material within double parentheses, and no bill shall
be printed or acted upon until the provisions of this rule shall have been
complied with.
New sections need not
be underlined but shall be designated "NEW SECTION." in upper case
type and such designation shall be underlined.
Sections of a bill that
repeal a prior enactment shall include the section caption accompanying the
section in the Revised Code of Washington.
No bill shall be
introduced by title only, and, in the event a bill is not complete, at least
section 1 shall be set forth in full before the bill may be accepted for
introduction.
Amendments to bills
will be acted upon in the manner provided in the Rules of the Senate and in the
Rules of the House of Representatives. No amendment to a bill shall be
considered which strikes the entire subject matter of a bill, and substitutes
in lieu thereof entirely new subject matter not germane to the original or
engrossed bill.
Amendments to State
Constitution; Action by Legislature
Rule 14. Amendments to the state Constitution may be
proposed in either branch of the legislature by joint resolution; and if the
same shall be agreed to by two‑thirds of the members elected to each of
the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their
respective journals with the ayes and nays thereon. (Const., art. 23, sec. 1.)
Publicity of
Proposed Amendments to State Constitution
Rule 15. The legislature shall provide methods of
publicity of all laws or parts of laws, and amendments to the Constitution
referred to the people with arguments for and against the laws and amendments
so referred, so that each voter of the state shall receive the publication as
soon as possible before the election at which they are to be voted upon. (Const.,
art. 2, sec. 1e.)
Initiative
Petition Before the Legislature
Rule 16. Initiative petitions filed with the secretary
of state not less than ten days before any regular session of the legislature
shall take precedence over all other measures in the legislature except
appropriation bills and shall be either enacted or rejected without change or
amendment by the legislature before the end of such regular session. Upon
certification from the secretary of state that an initiative to the legislature
has received sufficient valid signatures, the secretary of state shall submit
certified copies of the said initiative to the state senate and the house of
representatives. Upon receipt of said initiative, each body of the legislature
through its presiding officers shall refer the certified copies of the
initiative to a proper committee.
Upon receipt of a
committee report on an initiative to the legislature, each house shall treat
the measure in the same manner as bills, memorials and resolutions, except that
initiatives cannot be placed on the calendar for amendment. After the action
of each body has been recorded on the final passage or any other action by
resolution or otherwise which may refer the initiative to the people has been
recorded, the president and secretary of the senate and the speaker and chief
clerk of the house of representatives will certify, each for its own body, to
the secretary of state the action taken. (Const., art. 2, sec. 1a.)
Conference
Committee
Rule 17. (1) In every case of difference between the
two houses, upon any subject of legislation, either house may request a
conference and appoint a committee for that purpose, and the other house may
grant the request for a conference and appoint a committee to confer. ((The
senate shall appoint a committee of three with two members from the majority
caucus and one from the minority caucus. The house of representatives shall
appoint a committee of four with two members from each political caucus.)) The
presiding officer of each house shall appoint on each conference committee
three members, selecting them so as to represent, in each case, the majority
and minority positions to the extent possible as relates to the subject matter,
and the majority and minority caucuses. The committees, at the earliest
possible hour, shall confer upon the differences between the two houses
indicated by the amendment or amendments adopted in one house and rejected in
the other.
(2) Conference
committee deliberations shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the
provisions of Senate Rule 45(3) and House Rule 24(8) applicable to
deliberations of standing committees.
(3) Public notice of
a conference committee meeting shall be given by the secretary of the senate,
for house bills, and the chief clerk of the house of representatives, for
senate bills, prior to the convening of the meeting as follows:
(a) By posting a
written notice in the following locations:
(i) The office of
the secretary or clerk, as appropriate;
(ii) Near the doors
of the appropriate chamber;
(iii) The legislative
bill room; or
(iv) The public
legislative message center;
(b) By announcing
meetings during sessions of the senate and house of representatives; or
(c) By posting
meeting notices on the legislature's electronic mail system.
(4) The papers shall
be left with the conferees of the house of representatives if a senate bill,
and with the conferees of the senate, if a house bill, and the holders of the
papers shall first present the report of the committee to their house. Every
report of a conference committee must have the signatures of a majority of the
conference committee members of each house. Conference committee reports must
be signed at a meeting duly convened by the chief clerk of the house of
representatives for senate bills or the secretary of the senate for house
bills.
Failure
to Agree
Rule 18. In case of failure of the conferees to agree
on matters directly at issue between the two houses, the committee may in
addition consider new proposed items within the scope and object of the bill in
conference. A report proposing new items shall include all amendments to the
bill or resolution agreed upon by the conference committee. The proposed
report may be in the form of a new bill or resolution and such report must have
the signatures of a majority of the members of the committee appointed from each
house.
Report of
Conference Committee, How
Made
Out; Whom Returned to
Rule 19. The conference committee shall submit the
bill as amended together with three signed copies of its report to the house of
representatives if a senate bill, and to the senate, if a house bill. A copy
of the report shall be placed upon the desk of each member of the legislature
at the time the report is received by this house. If this house acts to
approve the report and pass the bill as amended, it shall then transmit its
action, the bill, and two copies of the report to the other house.
Adoption
of Reports
Rule 20. No floor vote may be taken on any conference
committee report without a distribution to all members of a summary of
additions, changes, and deletions made by the conference committee with a
reference in each instance to the page and line number or numbers in the report
containing said additions, changes, or deletions. The clerk and the secretary
shall place the reports on the desks of the members as soon as possible.
Each house shall have
twenty-four hours from the time of proper receipt, by the chief clerk of the
house of representatives and the secretary of the senate, and by distribution
to the desks of the members before considering reports from a conference
committee which has proposed new items within the scope and object of the bill
in conference.
The foregoing provision
relating to twenty-four hour intervals may be suspended by the senate or the
house of representatives by two-thirds vote of the members present, and such
suspension shall apply only to the house voting to suspend this provision.
The report must be
voted upon in its entirety and cannot be amended. The report of a conference
committee may be adopted by acclamation.
Passage of a bill as
amended by conference report shall be by roll call and ayes and nays shall be
entered on the journals of the respective house. Passage requires a
constitutional majority in both houses, except in the case of constitutional
amendments, which require a two-thirds vote.
Messages
Between the Two Houses
Rule 21. Messages from the senate to the house of
representatives shall be delivered by the secretary or the secretary's
designee, and messages from the house of representatives to the senate shall be
delivered by the chief clerk or the chief clerk's designee.
Bills
to be Engrossed
Rule 22. Any bill amended in the house of its origin
shall be engrossed before being transmitted to the other house. The secretary
or clerk of the receiving house, as the case may be, may waive the right to
receive an engrossed bill.
Final
Action on Bills, How Communicated
Rule 23. Each house shall communicate its final action
on any bill or resolution, or matter in which the other may be interested, in
writing, signed by the secretary or clerk of the house from which such notice
is sent.
Enrolled
Bills - Presiding Officer to Sign
Rule 24. After a bill shall have passed both houses
and all amendments have been engrossed therein, it shall be signed by the
presiding officer of each house in open session, first in the house in which it
originated. The secretary of the senate or the chief clerk of the house of
representatives shall present the original bill to the governor for signature.
Disposition
of Enrolled Bills
Rule 25. Whenever any bill shall have passed both
houses, the house transmitting the bill in its final form to the governor shall
also file with the secretary of state a copy of the bill together with the
history of such bill up to the time of transmission to the governor.
Adjournment
Rule 26. Neither house shall adjourn for more than
three days, nor to any place other than that in which they may be sitting,
without the consent of the other. (Const., art. 2, sec. 11.)
Adjournment
Sine Die
Rule 27. Adjournment sine die shall be made only by
concurrent resolution.
Each House
Judge of Its Own Membership
Rule 28. Each house of the legislature is the judge of
the qualifications and election of its members, and shall try all contested
elections of its members in such manner as it may direct. (Const., art. 2, sec.
8.)
Convening
Special Legislative Sessions
Rule 29. The legislature may convene a special
legislative session as follows:
(1) A resolution
calling for convening a special legislative session shall set forth the date
and time for convening the session, the duration of the session which shall not
exceed thirty days, together with the purpose or purposes for which such
session is called. Members of the house of representatives or senate may
present a proposed resolution for the convening of a special legislative
session to the committee on rules of their respective houses.
(2) The authority to
place a resolution convening a special legislative session before the
legislature is vested in the committee on rules of the house of representatives
and the committee on rules of the senate.
(3) Upon a majority
vote of both the committee on rules of the house of representatives and the
committee on rules of the senate in favor of a resolution convening a special
legislative session, a vote of the house of representatives and senate shall be
taken on such resolution.
(4) The chief clerk
of the house of representatives and the secretary of the senate shall conduct
the vote on the resolution by written ballot of the members of their respective
houses under such procedures as may be ordered by the committee on rules of
their house. The results of such vote shall be transmitted to the members of
the legislature and shall be a public record and shall be entered upon the
journal of the house of representatives and senate at the convening of the next
legislative session.
(5) If two‑thirds
of the members elected or appointed to each house vote in favor of the
resolution, then a special legislative session shall be convened in accordance
with the resolution. (Const., art. 2, sec. 12.)
Amendments
to Joint Rules
Rule 30. These joint rules may be amended by
concurrent resolution agreed to by a majority of the members of each house,
provided one day's notice be given of the motion thereof.
Joint
Rules to Apply for Biennium
Rule
31. The permanent joint rules
adopted by the legislature shall govern any session called during the same
legislative biennium.
