S-4077               _______________________________________________

                                   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8425

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Hayner and Sellar

Read first time 1/18/88.  Under suspension of rules, read second and third times and passed.

BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the State of Washington, the House of Representatives concurring, That the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fiftieth Legislature, adopted in 1987 be amended to read as follows:

                                                                   Free Conference Request

          Rule 8.  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 for the purpose of requesting the powers of free conference.  A report requesting the powers of free conference shall be made in the same manner as other reports of conference committees and shall set forth the proposed report of a free conference committee, including all amendments to the bill or resolution to be agreed upon by the free 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)) five of the six members of the committee ((appointed from each house)).

                                                                 Free Conference Committee

          Rule 9.  Upon request for free conference the power of free conference may be granted by the two houses to the same committee, to whom only the proposed free conference report may be committed, or the committee may be discharged and a new committee appointed with the power of conference, as defined in Joint Rule 6.  The report of the committee of free conference shall be acted upon in the same manner as provided for reports of conference committees.  The report of a free conference committee must have the signatures of ((a majority of the)) five of the six members of the committee ((appointed from each house)).