Texas House Rules 87Th Legislature 2021
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House Rules Manual 87th Legislature 2021 Copies of this publication have been distributed in compliance with the state depository law (Subchapter G, Chapter 441, Government Code) and are available for public use through the Texas State Publications Depository Program at the Texas State Library and other state depository libraries. An online version of this publication can be found at https://www.house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/hrrules.pdf. Additional copies of this publication may be obtained from House Document Distribution: By mail: P.O. Box 12128, Austin, TX 78711-2128 By phone: (512) 463-1144 By e-mail: [email protected] By online request form (legislative offices only): https://bilreq/House.aspx House Rules Manual House Rules of Procedure Housekeeping Resolution Government Code 87th Legislature Sharon Carter Hugh L. Brady PARLIAMENTARIANS AUSTIN 2021 This page intentionally left blank. TABLE OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Art. ............................................. Article Atty. Gen. Op. ........................... Texas Attorney General’s Opinion C.S. ............................................. Called (Special) Session Cannon ....................................... Cannon’s Precedents Ch. .............................................. Chapter Comm. ........................................ Committee Cong. .......................................... Congress, Congressional Cong. Rec. ................................ Congressional Record contra ......................................... Contradictory authority Deschler ...................................... Deschler’s, Deschler-Brown’s, Deschler-Brown-Johnson’s, and Deschler-Brown-Johnson-Sullivan’s Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives e.g. .............................................. For example et seq. ......................................... And the following H.C.R. ........................................ House Concurrent Resolution H.B. ............................................ House Bill H. Jour. ...................................... House Journal H.J.R. ......................................... House Joint Resolution H.R. ............................................ House Resolution; U.S. House of Representatives H.S.R. ......................................... House Simple Resolution Hinds .......................................... Hinds’ Precedents i.e. ............................................... that is Legis. .......................................... Legislature, Legislative Man. ............................................ Manual R. ................................................ Rule, Resolution S.B. ............................................. Senate Bill S.C.R. ......................................... Senate Concurrent Resolution S.J.R. .......................................... Senate Joint Resolution S.R. ............................................. Senate Resolution Sen. ............................................. Senate, Senator Sic ............................................... Mistake in original of quoted material S.W. (S.W.2d, S.W.3d) .............. Southwestern Reporter Tex. ............................................. Texas Tex. Const. ................................. Texas Constitution Wickham ..................................... Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives (2017 series) v OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE 87th Legislature 2021 Speaker ...............................................HON. DADE PHELAN Jefferson County Speaker pro tempore ........................HON. JOSEPH E. MOODY El Paso County Parliamentarians ...............................SHARON CARTER HUGH L. BRADY Chief Clerk .........................................ROBERT L. HANEY Committee Coordinator ...................STACEY G. NICCHIO Journal Clerk .....................................JENNIFER TEIGEN DORAN Voting Clerk .......................................SCOTTIE D. HAGEN Reading Clerk ....................................HALEY HILDERBRAN Sergeant-at-Arms ..............................MICHAEL BLACK Doorkeeper ........................................ANTHONY M. HESTER PARLIAMENTARIANS OF THE HOUSE COLLIER READ GRANBERRY ...........1915-1925 OVETA CULP ........................1925-1932 COLLIER READ GRANBERRY ...........1932-1933 THOS. M. YETT, JR. .................1933-1935 COLLIER READ GRANBERRY ...........1935-1939 WANDA WALTRIP ....................1939-1941 COLLIER READ GRANBERRY ...........1941-1954 (R.S.) JAMES T. SPARKS ....................1954-1955 (C.S.) COLLIER READ GRANBERRY ...........1955-1962 LEROY SAUL ........................1963-1965 ROBERT E. JOHNSON .................1965-1981 ROBERT I. KELLY ....................1981-2001 SHARON CARTER .....................2001-2003 STEVEN R. COLLINS ..................2003-2004 DENISE DAVIS ......................2004-2007 TERRENCE M. KEEL .................2007-2009 DENISE DAVIS ......................2009-2010 CHRISTOPHER A. GRIESEL .............2011-2019 SHARON CARTER .....................2019- HUGH L. BRADY .....................2019- vi DAILY ORDER OF BUSINESS As modified by Rule 16, § 17, and as activated for the 87th Legislature, Reg. Sess. 1. Call to order by the Speaker 2. Registration of Members 3.* Prayer 4. Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag 5. Pledge of Allegiance to the Texas Flag 6. Excuses for absent Members and officers 7. First Reading and referral to committee of filed bills Motions to introduce, when required 8. Requests to print bills and other papers Requests of committees for further time to consider referred matters All other routine motions and business not otherwise provided for in the Rules 9. Unfinished business 10. Third-reading Calendars of the House in priority order 11. Postponed matters in accordance with Rule 7, § 15 12. Second-reading Calendars of the House in priority order 13.* First Reading and referral to committee of filed bills Motions to introduce, when required * indicates items modified or added by Rule 16, § 17 REGULAR ORDER OF THE DAY (Priority Order of Calendars) Emergency Calendar Major State Calendar Constitutional Amendments Calendar General State Calendar Local, Consent, and Resolutions Calendar Resolutions Calendar Congratulatory and Memorial Resolutions Calendar PRIORITY BUSINESS DAYS Wednesdays and Thursdays Senate Bill Days vii This page intentionally left blank. FOREWORD BEING ELECTED SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE BY MY COLLEAGUES IS THE highest honor I could have ever imagined. It is also the most humbling—especially in times of such economic uncertainty and political and social division. Although the moment we are living in feels beyond comparison, history shows us that times like these are really nothing new. The House as an institution has survived the transition from republic to state, a multitude of wars, depressions and recessions—and yes, even pandemics not unlike the current one. Through turbulent times, the House has served to help bring stability to our state, our communities, and our fellow citizens by legislating with a common resolve: to provide a better life for Texans, their children, and their grandchildren. The key to the House’s stability was best explained by one of my predecessors, Speaker Billy Clayton. As he once told the 65th Legislature, the House is a “legislative system of compromise and refinement” that allows Members to speak to the major issues of the day. That legislative system is a direct result of the choices made by Members in adopting the House Rules—choices that balance the right of the majority to express its will and the right of the minority to be heard. Our rules also support one of the House’s most time-honored traditions: recognizing that each Member has “a post to fill and a constituency to represent,” as Speaker Clayton so plainly put it. The House Rules provide for each of us the framework of a job to do and the tools with which to do it—but only if we will use them in good faith and fair dealing. To borrow again from Speaker Clayton, “if our democratic system is to work, it must be achieved through public forum and debate.” As Speaker, it is my job to make sure the House remains a forum for civil, respectful, and productive debate to solve the issues before us. The rules guide me in this awesome task by providing standards for preserving order and decorum and ensuring the orderly transaction of business. I will apply them with an even hand that instills confidence in our proceedings—and in our decisions on behalf of the people of Texas. DADE PHELAN SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE February 2021 ix This page intentionally left blank. PREFACE THE GOALS OF ANY SYSTEM OF LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE ARE, AS EXPLAINED by Thomas Jefferson, the same: “accuracy in business, economy of time, order, uniformity, and impartiality.’’ It is with these goals in mind that the Speaker enforces, applies, and interprets the House Rules of Procedure. And it is with these goals in mind that the parliamentarians assist him in the execution of those duties conferred upon him by the Members of the House when they adopted the rules for this legislature. For the general principles governing the identification and use of precedents that guide our work as parliamentarians and are used in editing this manual, we direct the reader to the preface to the manual prepared for the 86th Legislature (2019), which is reprinted on the following page for easy reference. We continue the arrangement of annotations first explained in 2019. Following a particular rule, first are any explanatory notes found to be necessary or helpful;