STATE OF NEW YORK

IN SENATE

JANUARY 12, 1925.

RULES OF THE SENATE

(Adopted January 12, 1925)

Order of Business

1. President to take the chair; journal to be read.

Order of business.

Committee on Rules, report of.

Of the President

2. (1) To decide questions of order.

(2) To assign doorkeepers to their respective duties and stations.

(3) To certify passage of all bills.

Of the Temporary President

3. In the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, Temporary President to act. Name committees.

Of the Clerk

4. (1) To have journals printed and placed on file.

(2) To furnish, daily, printed list of general orders; to see that all bills are acted upon in order in which reported; calendar.

(3) To present bills originating in Senate to Governor, and to enter on journals. To transmit bills to Assembly.

(4) To designate reporters.

Of the Sergeant-at-Arms

5. To be in attendance on the Senate, to preserve order.

Of the Rights and Duties of Senators

6. (1) Assignment of seats.

(2) Relative to presentation of petitions, reports, resolutions, etc.
(3) To preserve order while journals or public papers are being read.
(4) Debate; Senators to address the President, and not to proceed until
recognized; limitation; President to decide who is entitled to floor.
(5) Within bar of Senate when question is stated, to vote, unless, etc.
(6) Wishing to be excused from voting, may make brief statement.
(7) and (8) Absentees to be sent for.

Committees and their Duties

7. Standing committees.

8. On printed and engrossed bills, to examine all bills, resolutions, etc., and report as correctly printed or engrossed before third reading.

9. On revision, duties of.

10. Reports of committees on bills; proceedings when not considered at time of making.

Of General Orders and Special Orders

11. What to constitute the general orders; business of; how taken up. 12. Special orders.

Of the Committee of the Whole

13. Rules to be observed in; may strike out enacting clause in bills, and if report is agreed to by Senate, bill to be deemed rejected.

14. Bills, committed to, to be read through by sections; amendments not offered in, not in order except by unanimous consent.

15. Motion to rise and report progress always in order.

Of Bills

16. How introduced.

17. Proceedings when reported by committee of the whole, when report rejected.

18. To receive three readings; not to be amended or committed until twice read; not to be read a third time out of its order; resolutions proposing amendments to Constitution to be treated as bills, to be acted on in committee of the whole.

19. Or resolution amending Constitution, after ordered to a third reading, may not be amended, except, etc.

20. Two-thirds bills.

21. Question on final passage to be taken by ayes and nays; final question to be taken immediately after third reading.

22. To be printed in order of introduction; to be reprinted if amended; if amending existing law, new matter to be underscored; old matter eliminated to be enclosed in brackets.

23. When final vote on, may be reconsidered.

24. To retain place when quorum not present.

Of Motions and their Precedence

25. When question is before Senate, no motion to be received, except, etc.; motion to adjourn or lay on the table to be decided without debate;

motion to discharge; motion to suspend rules.

26. When to be reduced to writing; when may be withdrawn.

27. When questions to be divided.

28. Certain motions to preclude debate on main question.

29. Filling of blanks; question, how taken.

30. Reconsideration; recalled bills.

31. Concurrent resolutions.

32. Closing debate.

33. Of a quorum.

34. Priority of business.

Of Closing Debate

Of Questions of Order

35. When reading of paper is called for and objected to, to be decided without debate.

36. Senator called to order; to take his seat; when may proceed; words objected to to be taken down in writing.

37. Divisions; when names to be entered alphabetically on journal; Senators to vote unless excused.

Of Executive Sessions

38. When Senate shall go into; doors to be closed, etc.; secrecy to be observed. 39. Proceedings in, to be kept in separate journal.

40. Nominations in, how referred.

Miscellaneous Provisions

41. Superintendent of documents to place documents and bills on files; postmaster to see that mails are punctually delivered.

42. Senate post-office and document room to be open.

43. Alteration suspending or rescinding of rules.

44. Claims before, reported adversely upon, papers relative to, to remain on files of Senate, unless, etc.

45. Resolutions for expenditure of moneys must be decided by a majority vote. 46. Call of the Senate.

47. Admissions to floor of Senate chamber.

48. Employees and others not to solicit subscriptions.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

1. The President shall take the chair at the hour to which the Senate shall have adjourned and, a quorum being present, the Journal of the preceding day shall be read, to the end that any mistakes therein may be corrected. After the reading and approving of the Journal the order of business shall be as follows:

1. The presentation of petitions.
2. Introduction of bills.

3. Messages from the Assembly.
4. Messages from the Governor.
5. Reports of standing committees.
6. Reports of select committees.

7. Communications and reports from State officers.
8. Motions and resolutions.

9. Third reading of bills.. 10. Special orders.

11. General orders.

Messages from the Governor and Assembly, communications and reports from State officers, reports from the Committee on Privileges and Elections involving the right of a Senator to his seat, and reports from the Committee on Engrossed Bills, on Revision and on Rules shall be received at any time.

The Committee on Rules may sit at any time; the reception and consideration of its report shall always be in order, debate on its adoption shall not exceed one hour, one-half hour for and one-half hour against, such time to be allotted by the Temporary President and minority leader, and no other motion, except a motion by the Temporary President for a call of the Senate, to adjourn or to recess, shall be in order until the vote of the Senate is had thereon.

OF THE PRESIDENT

2. (1) The President shall preserve order and decorum; in case of disturbance or disorderly conduct in the lobby or galleries, he may cause the same to be cleared; he shall decide all questions of order, subject to appeal to the Senate. On every appeal he shall have the right, in his place, to assign his reasons for his decision. When the Senate shall be ready to go into committee of the whole, he shall name a chairman to preside therein.

(2) He shall assign to the doorkeepers their respective duties and stations.

(3) Immediately upon the final passage of any bill by the Senate, he shall certify that the same has been duly passed, with the date thereof, together with the fact whether passed as a majority, three-fifths or two-thirds bill, as required by the Constitution and Laws of the State, and deliver said bill to the Clerk.

OF THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT

3. The Temporary President, when acting as President, shall be invested with all the powers and duties conferred by these rules upon the President.

He shall appoint all committees, except when the Senate shall otherwise order.

OF THE CLERK

4. (1) It shall be the duty of the Clerk to have the Journal of each day's proceedings printed, and copies thereof placed on the files of the President, Senators and reporters within three days after approval by the Senate.

(2) He shall also furnish each Senator daily with a printed list of the general orders, which shall be kept on file by the Superintendent of Documents, in the same

as other

documents, and he shall also prepare a daily calendar of all bills, engrossed or printed, for a final reading, and place and keep the same, together with printed copies of such bills, on the desk of each Senator; he shall see that all bills shall be acted upon by the Senate in the order in which they are reported and stand upon the calendar, unless otherwise ordered by two-thirds of the Senate.

(3) He shall present to the Governor, and enter upon the Journals, such bills as shall have originated in the Senate and been passed by both Houses. He shall, subject to the rules of the Senate, transmit to the Assembly all bills or concurrent resolutions which have passed the Senate.

(4) He shall designate the persons entitled to admission to the floor as reporters for the public press, not exceeding thirty-five in number, and may revoke any such designations, but no person shall be entitled to the privileges of the floor of the Senate as a legislative reporter of a newspaper who is interested in pending or contemplated legislation, or who is employed or receives compensation for influencing legislation.

OF THE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

5. The Sergeant-at-Arms, except when absent in the discharge of his duties, shall be in constant attendance upon the sessions of the Senate, and, under the direction of the President, aid in enforcing order on the floor of the Senate, in the lobbies, and in the rooms adjoining the Senate Chamber, and also see that no person remains on the floor unless entitled to the privileges of the same.