2025 -- H 5036
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LC000534
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025
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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
AMENDING THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE YEARS
2023 AND 2024
Introduced By: Representatives Tanzi, and Cruz
Date Introduced: January 13, 2025
Referred To: House Rules
RESOLVED, That section (12) of the rules of the House of Representatives adopted by 1
the House of Representatives at its January session, A.D. 2023, entitled “House Resolution 2
Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the years 2023 and 2024”, be and the 3
same is hereby amended to read as follows: 4
(12)(a) Committees shall take into consideration all such petitions, resolves, bills, matters 5
or things as may be referred to them by the House with power to report by bill or otherwise; 6
provided, however, that committees shall, whenever possible, consider all bills of substantially 7
the same or of a similar nature at the same time in a manner that is otherwise in conformity with 8
these rules. 9
(1) Any bill filed before or after the 40th legislative day, but subsequent to the hearing of 10
a group of bills on the same subject matter pursuant to Rule 12(a), may or may not be assigned 11
for hearing if it appears from the subject matter that the issues presented would be substantially 12
similar to those matters already heard, even if a bill hearing request is filed pursuant to Rule 13
12(e). If heard, the chair of the committee may limit the testimony to those issues not addressed 14
in the previous bill hearing. 15
(b) A committee shall not consider any public bill or resolution not previously distributed 16
in print or electronically to its members except by a vote of the majority of the members of the 17
committee. 18
(c) The Chair of every committee shall post, in print and electronically, at least forty-19
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eight (48) hours prior to any committee meeting, a list by number and title of the bills and 1
resolutions to be heard at that meeting. Such postings shall be made electronically and on the 2
Legislative Data Bulletin Board. The electronic posting shall be considered the official date of the 3
posting. In the event that the electronic posting system is inoperable then the official posting shall 4
be posted on the Legislative Data Bulletin Board. The Chair shall limit such listings to the 5
number of bills or resolutions he or she reasonably expects can be taken up by the committee at 6
that meeting. Any bill or resolution so posted which the committee is not able to take up at the 7
stated meeting must be re-posted as stated above. Such postings shall be made electronically, and 8
on the Legislative Data bulletin board. Copies of all posted bills or resolutions shall be provided 9
in print or electronically to all committee members and principal sponsors. A committee shall not 10
hear any said bill or resolution without such notice except by the consent of a majority of its 11
members and with at least one (1) day's notification to the principal House sponsor. The sponsor 12
may, however, waive such one-day notification. The time requirements of this section shall not 13
apply to House bills returned from the Senate with amendment, or, after the 50th legislative day, 14
to any bill originating in the Senate. 15
(d) Every standing committee shall meet at least once weekly if any requests for hearings 16
on or consideration of bills or resolutions are pending before it. The right to be heard on any such 17
bill or resolution may be granted, upon written or electronic request, to the principal sponsor as 18
provided in these rules. No committee shall hear more than thirty (30) bills (exclusive of city and 19
town bills, corporate charter reinstatement bills, those to be placed on the consent calendar, and 20
duplicate senate bills that have previously passed) at any one (1) meeting. 21
(e) Upon receipt of a written request from the principal House sponsor of a bill or 22
resolution, a copy of which is to be given to the recording clerk of the committee, the committee 23
shall grant to said principal House sponsor a hearing on any said bill or resolution within thirty 24
(30) calendar days of the request, subject to Rule 12(a), and provided further, that said committee 25
shall grant to the principal House sponsor consideration of his or her bill or resolution prior to the 26
deadline for committee action on such bill or resolution, also subject to Rule 12(a). The principal 27
sponsor, with the concurrence of the Chair, may cancel a scheduled hearing with twenty-four (24) 28
hours’ notice to the Chair, which notice shall be posted electronically. The Chair may cancel a 29
bill hearing at any time, with the approval of the Speaker if in the Chair's discretion the bill is not 30
ready to be heard in the committee. A hearing postponed twice at the sponsor’s request need not 31
be re-scheduled, and shall also be subject to Rule 12(a). For the purpose of the rule, consideration 32
shall mean a majority vote on one (1) of the following: 33
(i) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House with a recommendation of 34
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passage; 1
(ii) a motion to report the bill or resolution as amended, or in substitute form, to the 2
House with a recommendation of passage; or 3
(iii) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House without recommendation; or 4
(iv) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House with a recommendation of no 5
passage; or 6
(v) a motion to report the bill or resolution to the House with a recommendation that it be 7
held for further study.; or 8
(vi) a motion to report the bill or resolution as introduced and unamended, amended, or in 9
substitute form, to the House with a recommendation of passage. 10
In the event of a tie vote on any of the motions specified in (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or, (v) or (vi) 11
hereof, the bill or resolution shall be lost. 12
The originals of bills or resolutions which have failed in committee shall be transmitted 13
by the committee clerks to the Secretary of State for the State Archives, with an appropriate 14
notation thereon at the time specified in R.I.G.L. 15
The originals of bills or resolutions which have passed out of committee pursuant to rule 16
12(e)(vi), shall be placed on the House calendar at the sole discretion of the Speaker. 17
(f) Committee Chairs shall bring reports of committee actions to the floor no later than 18
two (2) weeks following the committee votes thereon, provided that this shall not apply to the 19
Committee on Finance, nor shall it apply to bills being held for further study under subdivision 20
(e)(v). A committee member may move reconsideration of any vote taken under Rule 12(e)(i)-(iv) 21
so long as the bill or resolution which was the subject of the vote remains in the possession of the 22
committee and that the motion is made by a member voting in the majority. A motion to 23
reconsider in committee shall not be debated. 24
Bills or resolutions concerning appropriations, revenue or expenditures shall not be 25
subject to the above time limits. 26
(g) In the event a committee fails to afford consideration to any bill or resolution within 27
the prescribed time where such consideration has been properly requested, and where no other 28
exceptions or considerations apply by the rules herein, the principal sponsor may report such 29
failure in writing to the Speaker of the House and the Speaker thereupon may order the immediate 30
discharge of the bill or resolution from a committee to the House floor. 31
(h) All bills or resolutions reported from committee shall be placed on the calendar or, 32
pursuant to the restrictions of these rules, on the consent calendar for the required period of time 33
according to these rules before House consideration. Bills and resolutions reported from 34
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committees and received by the Clerk of the House prior to the convening of the session on a 1
given legislative day shall be deemed to have been received, and therefore in order to be placed 2
upon the appropriate calendar, as of that day. Bills and resolutions so received after the convening 3
of the session on a given legislative day shall be deemed to have been received, and therefore in 4
order to be placed upon the appropriate calendar, on the next legislative day and shall be 5
considered a part of that day’s business. 6
House Rule 12(e) regarding the necessity to hold a hearing at the sponsor’s request 7
through 12(h) pertaining to the timing of placing a bill onto the floor calendar shall not apply to 8
any bill or resolution which shall have originated in the Senate. 9
(i) No public bill or resolution which originated in the House shall be considered by a 10
House committee unless the committee has held a hearing on that bill or resolution by April 11, 11
2023 (for the 2023 session) and on or before April 10, 2024 (for the 2024 session), and 12
thereafter the committees of the House shall not consider public bills or resolutions except those 13
which have been acted upon by the Senate and transmitted by the Senate to the House of 14
Representatives, provided however, that the committee on finance may hear and consider such 15
House bills, acts or resolutions as it deems to have a fiscal impact after April 11, 2023 (for the 16
2023 session) and after April 10, 2024 (for the 2024 session), except as provided in section (j) 17
hereof, and provided further, that each other House committee may complete consideration of not 18
more than three (3) House bills or resolutions after such date, on which such committee had not 19
been able to complete action, upon approval by the Speaker of a written request from the Chair. 20
All such requests must be filed with the Clerk of the House no later than April 11, 2023 (for the 21
2023 session) and on or before April 10, 2024 (for the 2024 session). The provisions of this 22
paragraph shall not apply to House bills of which Senate duplicates have passed the House. 23
(j) No House bill which relates to an individual's pension or retirement shall be accepted 24
as a committee report from the committee on finance unless it shall have been considered by the 25
committee on or before April 11, 2023 (for the 2023 session) and on or before April 10, 2024 26
(for the 2024 session), and shall have been heard in the committee no later than one (1) week 27
prior to that date. 28
(k) Transfers –The Speaker or the Speaker’s designee may direct the transfer of a bill or 29
resolution from one committee to another at any time. The committee receiving the transferred 30
bill or resolution must comply with the posting and time requirements of this section. 31
(l) Members of a committee shall, if present, cast a vote on legislation before the 32
committee, unless prior to the discussion of the bill and vote, the member has recused in 33
accordance with the provisions of the Code of Ethics, RIGL §36-14-6. The member shall sign a 34
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recusal form, and the Clerk of the Committee shall note the member's recusal on the bill vote 1
sheet. 2
(m) Any proposed committee amendment to a bill, in a substitute amended bill format, 3
shall be posted in print and electronically by the chair of the committee hearing the bill at least 4
twenty-four (24) hours prior to its committee consideration. Such postings shall be made on the 5
legislative data bulletin board and electronically. The electronic posting shall be considered the 6
official date of the posting. In the event that the electronic posting system is inoperable, then the 7
official posting shall be posted on the legislative data bulletin board. The chair of the committee 8
may waive this twenty-four (24) hours posting requirement, if he or she deems the proposed 9
amendment either technical, grammatical, or not substantive or substantial in nature. This section 10
shall not apply to the budget bill. 11
(n) Any member, with respect to three (3) bills, shall be permitted to require that the chair 12
of any committee, after conducting a hearing on a bill which the member was the sponsor and has 13
been subsequently held for further study, either: 14
(1) Authorize a substitute bill at the request of the bill's sponsor; or 15
(2) Require the committee to conduct a vote on whether the bill may be sent to the House 16
floor for a vote at the request of the bill's sponsor. Any bill voted out of committee pursuant to 17
this subsection may be held and be subject to placement on the floor calendar by the Speaker. 18
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EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
AMENDING THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE YEARS
2023 AND 2024
***
This resolution would amend the House Rules to enable any member to have up to three 1
(3) bills that are held for further study either substituted in committee or allowed to have a 2
committee vote for placement on the floor calendar exclusively at the discretion of the Speaker. 3
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