Focus Report, Volume 76, Number 3, January 1999 Page: 6
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Placement on a calendar for floor
consideration
Once a bill is reported from committee, it may be
considered by the House on second reading only if it
is placed on a calendar for floor consideration. Bills
may be placed on a calendar by either the Calendars
Committee or the Local and Consent Calendars
Committee or through a motion adopted by the House.
Within 30 days after a bill has been referred to one
of the calendars committees, the committee must vote
on whether to place the bill on a calendar for floor
consideration. If a calendars committee votes not to
place a bill on a calendar, the committee is not
precluded from voting later to place that bill on a
calendar. All requirements applicable to substantive
committees, including advance notice of meetings,
opening all meetings to the public, press, and other
members, and requiring a quorum and a record vote
to take action, apply specifically to the calendars
committees. No motion is in order that would prevent
a calendars committee from placing a bill on a calendar
(Rule 6, sec. 20; Rule 4, sec. 25).
If the Local and Consent Calendars Committee
decides that a bill or resolution does not belong on the
Local, Consent, and Resolutions Calendar, it forwards the
legislation to the Calendars Committee (Rule 6, sec. 22).
The Calendars Committee may place a bill on one
of three daily calendars for floor consideration:
Emergency, Major State, or General State. Joint
resolutions proposing amendments to the Texas
Constitution or ratification of proposed amendments to
the U.S. Constitution are placed on the Constitutional
Amendments Calendar (Rule 6, sec. 7).
Bills placed on the Emergency Calendar (including
tax bills and the general appropriations bill) are
considered first, in the order in which they appear on
the daily calendar. Next in order are measures placed
on the Major State Calendar, the Constitutional
Amendments Calendar, the General State Calendar, and
the Resolutions Calendar. The Calendars Committee
may make exceptions to the order in which calendars
are considered (Rule 6, secs. 7, 15). Within a calendar,
bills on third reading have precedence over bills on
second reading (Rule 6, secs. 15, 25; Rule 8, sec. 17).
Daily calendars
For bills and resolutions referred to the Calendars
Committee, only those that appear on a daily calendarthat is distributed in advance to House members may
be considered on the floor. Once a measure appears
on a printed daily calendar, it retains its place in the
lineup of measures set for consideration and cannot be
displaced by any other measure (Rule 6, sec. 17).
However, the Calendars Committee may move up
consideration of a bill by placing it on a different
calendar with a higher priority, such as by moving a
bill on the General State Calendar to the Major State
Calendar.
A measure may not be considered unless it appears on
a daily calendar that was distributed to each member's
mailbox at least 36 hours in advance-24 hours during
special sessions-of the scheduled consideration on that
calendar. A Local, Consent, and Resolutions Calendar
must be distributed at least 48 hours in advance of
consideration (Rule 6, secs. 13, 16).
Supplemental daily calendars may be distributed up
to two hours before that day's session. Supplemental
calendars include bills passed to third reading the
previous legislative day, bills that were on the previous
day's calendar but were not considered, bills that were
on an earlier day's calendar but were postponed, and
bills previously laid on the table subject to call for
which notice of consideration was filed. Bills on the
daily calendar eligible for consideration also are
incorporated into the supplemental calendar. The time
that the calendars are distributed must be stamped on
the original copies (Rule 6, sec. 16).
For a bill to be considered on second reading, a
printed copy must have been placed in each
member's mailbox at least 36 hours in advance, 24
hours during special sessions. The general
appropriations bill must be placed in the members'
mailboxes at least 168 hours before second reading
consideration, 72 hours during a special session (Rule
8, sec. 14).
Rules for floor consideration
The Calendars Committee may propose special rules
for floor consideration of bills on the daily calendar.
This provision most often has been used in recent
sessions to limit amendments to the general
appropriations bill by requiring that any amendment
adding money to an item also propose a corresponding
decrease in another item. A proposed rule may be
considered by the House any time after it has been
distributed to the members and before consideration of
the affected bill. The rule cannot be amended and
must be approved by a majority vote of the members
present to be effective (Rule 6, sec. 16(f)).0
House Research Organization
Page 6
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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/m1/6/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.