HLS 15RS-338 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 30
BY REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD
HOUSE/RULES: Provides relative to the Committee on Appropriations
1 A RESOLUTION
2To amend and readopt House Rules 6.2 and 6.4(A), (B), (C), and (D) of the Rules of Order
3 of the House of Representatives and to adopt House Rule 6.4(G) of the Rules of
4 Order of the House of Representatives to provide relative to the composition of the
5 Committee on Appropriations and the selection of its officers.
6 BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana
7that House Rules 6.2 and 6.4(A), (B), (C), and (D) of the Rules of Order of the House of
8Representatives are hereby amended and readopted and House Rule 6.4(G) of the Rules of
9Order of the House of Representatives is hereby adopted to read as follows:
10 Rule 6.2. Chairman and Vice Chairman
11 The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint a chairman and
12 a vice chairman for each standing committee except the Committee on
13 Appropriations.
14 * * *
15 Rule 6.4. Committee on Appropriations; subcommittees
16 A. Appropriations. The Committee on Appropriations shall be composed
17 of twenty-five twenty-one members, of whom eighteen six shall be appointed by the
18 Speaker and seven fifteen shall be elected, both as provided herein. Of the eighteen
19 appointed members, one member shall be a resident of each of the Public Service
20 Commission districts respectively, one member shall be a resident of each of the
21 congressional districts respectively, and The six appointed members shall be
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1 appointed from the state at large on the first day of the organizational session of the
2 legislature. Of the seven elected members, one member shall be a resident of each
3 of the congressional districts respectively. The fifteen elected members shall be
4 elected from the respective Public Service Commission districts in the manner
5 provided in this Rule. Three members shall be elected from each Public Service
6 Commission district.
7 B. The seven elected members shall be elected in the following manner:
8 (1) The election shall be held after the general election for members of the
9 House of Representatives from among the members-elect.
10 (2) Each member-elect shall be eligible to be a candidate from the
11 congressional Public Service Commission district within which the member-elect
12 resides at the time the election is held.
13 (3) Within five days after the promulgation of the official returns of each
14 general election for members of the House of Representatives, the Clerk shall
15 transmit to each member-elect a notice of candidacy form and a letter outlining the
16 procedure for the election of members of the committee.
17 (4) Each member-elect who wishes to be a candidate for membership on the
18 committee shall sign and date the notice of candidacy and shall return it to the Clerk
19 within ten days after the notice of candidacy was transmitted by the Clerk.
20 (5) Within three days after the final day for the receipt of the notice of
21 candidacy, the Clerk shall transmit to each member-elect the written ballot listing the
22 candidates from the congressional Public Service Commission district within which
23 the member-elect resides.
24 (6) The ballots shall be prepared separately by congressional districts Public
25 Service Commission district and shall list the name and address of each
26 member-elect who has declared himself to be a candidate from the respective
27 districts district. The ballot shall contain the name of the member-elect to whom it
28 is to be transmitted.
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1 (7) Each member-elect shall mark the ballot with his choice for one three of
2 the candidates, shall sign and date the ballot, and shall return the ballot to the Clerk
3 within fifteen days after the ballot was transmitted by the Clerk.
4 (8) No ballot received by the Clerk after five o'clock p.m. on the fifteenth
5 day after the date on which the ballots were transmitted shall be counted, but the day
6 and time received shall be marked on each ballot received after such time, and the
7 ballot shall be marked "Invalid". However, prior to five o'clock p.m. on the fifteenth
8 day after the date on which the ballots were transmitted, a member-elect may
9 withdraw his ballot or change his vote upon his written request.
10 (9) Ballots which are not signed or on which the signature is not the normal
11 customary signature of the member-elect shall be void.
12 (10) Each candidate who receives a majority of the In each Public Service
13 Commission district, the three candidates who receive the greater number of votes
14 cast by the members-elect voting in his or her congressional district as compared to
15 the number of votes cast for each other candidate shall be elected to the committee.
16 (11) If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in a congressional
17 district, the Clerk shall conduct a run-off election between the two candidates who
18 receive the highest number of votes. The If two or more candidates receive the same
19 number of votes and, as a result thereof, more than three candidates would be elected
20 from a Public Service Commission district, the Clerk shall conduct run-off elections
21 as necessary until three candidates from the district are elected to the committee. A
22 run-off election shall be conducted in the same manner as the original election.
23 (12) The candidate receiving the highest number of votes in the run-off
24 election shall be elected to the committee.
25 (13) If the run-off election results in a tie vote, the two candidates shall cast
26 lots under the supervision of the Clerk to determine which candidate shall be elected
27 to the committee.
28 (14) (12) On or before the twentieth day after the date on which the ballots
29 were transmitted, the Clerk shall open and tabulate the vote by congressional Public
30 Service Commission district. Prior to the tabulation, the Clerk shall hold all ballots
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1 unopened and shall not disclose the contents to any person until the day when the
2 ballots are opened and tabulated. No ballot shall be deemed invalid if inadvertently
3 opened in processing.
4 (15) (13) The tabulation of the results of the election in each congressional
5 Public Service Commission district shall indicate by name the candidate for whom
6 each member-elect voted and the name of each member-elect who did not vote or
7 whose ballots were ballot was invalid because not signed by the member-elect in
8 accord with Subparagraph (9) hereof. The Clerk shall sign each of the tabulation
9 sheets.
10 (16) (14) The Clerk shall promulgate the returns of the elections within three
11 days after the date on which the ballots were opened and the votes tabulated.
12 Promulgation shall be accomplished by transmitting a copy of the tabulation sheets
13 to each member-elect. The vote in each election as tabulated by the Clerk shall be
14 recorded in the Journal.
15 (17) (15) The notices of candidacy returned by the members-elect and the
16 ballots cast by the members-elect shall be public record.
17 C. Vacancies in the membership of the Appropriations Committee shall be
18 filled in the manner of the original appointment or election as the case may be. In
19 the case of a vacancy in the position of an elected member, the vacancy election shall
20 be held from the Public Service Commission district as it existed at the time of the
21 original election.
22 D. Any elected member of the committee may be removed by a majority of
23 those members who reside in the congressional Public Service Commission district
24 from which the member was originally elected.
25 (1) Removal shall be accomplished by delivery to the Speaker of an affidavit
26 signed by a majority of those members who reside in a congressional Public Service
27 Commission district expressing their intent to remove an elected member.
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1 (2) Upon receipt of the affidavit, the Speaker shall declare a vacancy in the
2 membership of the committee and direct the Clerk to conduct an election to fill the
3 vacant position.
4 * * *
5 G, The elected member of the Committee on Appropriations with the most
6 years of service as a member of the House, and if necessary to distinguish members
7 with the same service in the House, on the Committee on Appropriations, shall call
8 a meeting of the Committee on Appropriations to be held during the organizational
9 session of the legislature. At this meeting, the members of the committee shall elect
10 a chairman and a vice chairman from among the members of the committee. The
11 member with the most years of service as a member of the House, and if applicable,
12 on the Committee on Appropriations, shall preside over the meeting until a chairman
13 is elected, unless the member with the most years of service is a candidate to be
14 elected as chairman or vice chairman of the committee, then the next most senior
15 member who is not a candidate shall preside over the meeting until a chairman is
16 elected.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall become effective on
18November 21, 2015, for the purpose of the election of members to the Committee on
19Appropriations for the term of office beginning on January 11, 2016, and for purpose of
20calling the meeting of the committee during the 2016 Organizational Session of the
21Legislature of Louisiana as provided in this Resolution, and shall become effective for all
22purposes on January 11, 2016.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 30 Original 2015 Regular Session Richard
Abstract: Provides that the Committee on Appropriations is comprised of 21 members, six
appointed and 15 elected members. Provides that the Speaker appoints six members
from the state at large. For the 15 elected members, provides that three are elected
from each of the five PSC districts. Provides that the members of the committee
elect the chairman and vice chairman of the committee.
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Present House Rule provides that the Committee on Appropriations is comprised of 25
members, seven elected (one each by the members residing in each congressional district,
respectively) and 18 appointed by the Speaker. Of the appointed members, one of the
appointed members shall be a resident of each of the Public Service Commission districts
respectively, one of the appointed members shall be a resident of each of the congressional
districts respectively, and six members shall be appointed from the state at large.
Proposed House Rule provides instead that the committee is comprised of 21 members, 15
elected and six appointed by the Speaker. The six appointed members shall be appointed
from the state at large and shall be appointed on the first day of the organizational session
of the legislature. Of the 15 elected members, three shall be residents of and elected by the
members residing in each Public Service Commission district respectively. Further specifies
that in the case of a vacancy of an elected member, the vacancy election shall be held from
the Public Service Commission district as it existed at the time of the original election.
Present House Rule provides that the Speaker shall appoint a chairman and a vice chairman
for each standing committee. Proposed House Rule excepts the Committee on
Appropriations and provides instead that the members of the committee shall elect a
chairman and a vice chairman from among the members of the committee. Specifies that
the elected member of the committee with the most years of service as a member of the
House, and in the case of equal service, on the committee, shall call a meeting to be held
during the organizational session of the legislature. Specifies that the member with the most
years of service as a member of the House, and if applicable, on the committee, shall preside
over the meeting until a chairman is elected, unless the member with the most years of
service is a candidate to be elected as chairman or vice chairman of the committee, then the
next most senior member who is not a candidate shall preside over the meeting until a
chairman is elected.
Effective Nov. 21, 2015, for election and other specified purposes; effective for all purposes
on Jan. 11, 2016.
(Amends House Rules 6.2 and 6.4(A), (B), (C), and (D); Adds House Rule 6.4(G))
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