RULES, ETHICS, AND DECORUM, Summaries of Ethics

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RULES, ETHICS,

AND DECORUM

OF THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

BIENNIUM

Adopted January 11, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RULES, ETHICS, AND DECORUM OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• Decorum Rule # Begins on Page
  • Sergeant-at-Arms 2 - Clerk, Doorkeeper, Messenger, and
  • Decorum Therein 7 - Admission to the Chamber and Galleries and
• Committee Organization and Functioning 10 -
• Assignments, Appointments, and Placements 12 -
• Speaker's Powers and Duties. 19 -
• Protest and Appeal
• General Business and Order of Business 31 -
• Quorum and Absentees 45 -
• Introduction and Reading 48 -
  • in Committee 54 - Consideration of Bills and Resolutions
• Committee of the Whole House 60 -
• Debate 79 -
• Motions 87 -
• Commitment 90 -
• Tabling 93 -
• Indefinite Postponement 99 -
• Postponement 102 -
• Amendment 108 -
• Previous Question 121 -
• Voting 128 -
• Reconsideration 143 -
• Committees of Conference
• Enactment 147 -
• Adjournment 152 -
• Contests
• Pages
• Privileged Resolutions. 161 -
• Legislative Offices
• Ethics Committee 164 -
• Confidentiality of Certain Staff Services
• Emergency Procedures

1.9 Placards, stickers, signs, or other visual displays not approved by the Speaker are not permitted in the House Chamber. 1.10 When another member has the floor and is speaking, the members of the House shall refrain from private conversations with persons on the floor, or on cell phones, so as to preserve silence. 1.11 Except for emergency situations in which meetings of the House of Representatives are conducted through electronic means, there shall be no speaking into any telephonic device or any audible sounds emitting from any such device in the House of Representatives Chamber. However, members may use the messaging capabilities of such devices.

CLERK, DOORKEEPER, MESSENGER, AND SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

Rule 2. The Clerk of the House shall take an oath for the true and faithful discharge of the duties of the office, to the best of his or her knowledge and abilities, and shall be deemed to continue in office until a successor is elected. Rule 3. It shall be the duty of the Messenger to attend to the wants of the House while in session, to aid in the enforcement of order, under the direction of the Speaker, and to execute the demands of the House from time to time, together with all such processes issued under its authority, as may be directed to the Messenger by the Speaker. Rule 4. The Speaker may appoint a sergeant-at-arms for the House whose primary duties shall be to maintain order in the House chamber, the gallery, and the anterooms, lobbies, and halls adjacent to the House. As directed by the Speaker, any member or members of the Uniform Division or Executive Security Guard Division of the Department of Public Safety permanently assigned to special duty or personal security duty with the Speaker shall have full authority to maintain order in the House chamber, gallery, anterooms, lobbies, and halls adjacent to the House and to exercise any other authority granted to the sergeant-at-arms under these Rules, in cooperation with the officers and employees of the House and any other law enforcement personnel so empowered by the Speaker.

Rule 5. The Speaker shall have the power to suspend the sergeant-at-arms, the messenger, or the doorkeeper for misconduct or neglect of duty. The Speaker shall report any such suspension to the House within 24 hours thereafter for such action as the House may deem advisable. Rule 6. If the sergeant-at-arms, the doorkeeper, or the messenger dies or is unable to perform the duties of his or her office while in office, the Speaker shall appoint a successor who shall serve for the remainder of the term of office.

ADMISSION TO THE CHAMBER AND GALLERIES

AND DECORUM THEREIN

Rule 7. 7.1 No person shall be entitled to enter upon the floor of the House during the period beginning thirty (30) minutes before the House convenes and ending upon adjournment except (1) members and officers thereof, (2) members and officers of the Senate, (3) the Governor of the state, (4) staff members of the Office of Legislative Counsel, (5) staff members of the House Budget Office, (6) subject to Rule 7.3, members of the news media and their photographers, all of whom must bear proper credentials, and (7) such others to whom the Speaker has issued a pass and those the House may allow upon recommendation of the Committee on Rules. 7.2 Seats and spaces in the news media sections shall be assigned and designated by the Speaker. 7.3 After the devotion, only those members of the news media with proper credentials shall enter upon the floor of the House of Representatives. No interview shall be conducted on the floor of the House of Representatives while the House is in session. Reporters for print media and radio stations and television reporters when no cameraperson is present shall have access to the floor of the House of Representatives only to request that a member leave the floor for an interview. Following the request, reporters must leave the floor immediately.

7.11 No member shall be recognized for the purpose of introducing visitors in the gallery except as authorized by the Speaker or by a previously adopted resolution. 7.12 Access to the floor of the House by non-members for the purpose of receiving special recognition shall be determined by a special subcommittee of the Committee on Rules. All requests for access to the floor for the purpose of special recognition must be submitted in writing to the Special Sub-Committee of the Committee on Rules at least seven (7) days prior to the day access is requested. Access to the floor for the purpose of special recognition shall only be allowed on the date, at the time, and in the manner ordered by the Special Sub-Committee. The Speaker at any time may grant special access to the floor of the House. 7.13 No person who is not a member of the House shall be recognized to speak unless such person shall have first been so invited by the adoption of a resolution on or before the previous day. Any person who has been invited to speak before the House as a result of the adoption of a resolution shall not address the House until the period after the conclusion of the third reading of bills and resolutions or immediately after the House reconvenes after any recess and prior to the transaction of any other business, except that the Speaker shall have the discretion to waive this restriction when warranted by the prominence of the person or the significance of the occasion.

Rule 8. 8.1 Applause, hisses, or other noises in the House chamber, in the gallery, or in the lobbies during any speech or legislative proceeding shall be promptly suppressed. Placards, displays, banners, and signs are prohibited and shall be removed promptly. 8.2 The use of cameras, video cameras, movie cameras, cell phone cameras, and similar devices on the floor of the House, in the gallery, or in the lobbies during any speech or legislative proceeding is prohibited unless expressly authorized by the Speaker. 8.3 The Speaker shall have the power to cause the gallery and lobbies of the House to be cleared by the messenger, sergeant at arms, doorkeepers, or any member or members of the Uniform Division or Executive Security Guard Division of the Department of Public Safety

permanently assigned to special duty in the House in case of disturbance or disorderly conduct therein. The Speaker shall have the power to cause any person so offending to be arrested and brought before the bar of the House in order to be dealt with for contempt of the House.

Rule 9. Reserved.

COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION

AND FUNCTIONING

Rule 10. 10.1 The Speaker shall appoint the following standing committees: (1) Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. (2) Appropriations. (3) Banks and Banking. (4) Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight. (5) Code Revision. (6) Creative Arts and Entertainment. (7) Defense and Veterans Affairs. (8) Economic Development and Tourism. (9) Education. (10) Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications. (11) Ethics. (12) Game, Fish, and Parks. (13) Governmental Affairs. (14) Health and Human Services. (15) Higher Education. (16) Human Relations and Aging.

Rule 11. 11.1 Members of all committees provided for in these rules shall be appointed by the Speaker or the Committee on Assignments. In the Speaker's discretion, the Speaker may create one or more subcommittees within any standing committee and constitute the membership thereof. 11.2 (a) Every member of the House shall be appointed to, and serve, on at least two standing committees of the House. (b) Any member of the House who is notified by the Speaker of the House that he or she is delinquent in the payment of any fee or fine imposed by the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission shall be ineligible to participate as a member of any committee for so long as the delinquency continues. Any member who disputes that he or she is delinquent or contends that his or her delinquency has been satisfied may appeal his or her suspension from the committees to the Committee on Ethics or may ask the committee for reinstatement upon a showing of satisfaction of the delinquency. Upon a determination by the Committee on Ethics that the member is not delinquent, the member's eligibility to serve on committees shall be reinstated. The Committee on Ethics, in its discretion, shall also be authorized to toll any suspension pending its own investigation and determination of delinquency. 11.3 The Speaker, the Speaker Pro Tempore, the Majority Leader, and the Majority Whip shall be ex officio members of all standing committees and subcommittees of the House and shall have a vote on all committees and subcommittees, except that the Speaker shall have no vote as an ex officio member except on the Committee on Rules. 11.4 The chairman and secretary of the Committee on Appropriations shall be an ex officio member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and the chairman and vice chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means shall be ex officio members of the Committee on Appropriations. The chairman of the Committee on Ethics shall be an ex officio member of the Committee on Judiciary. The chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary shall be an ex officio member of the Committee on the Judiciary, Non-civil. The chairman of the

Committee on the Judiciary, Non-Civil shall be an ex officio member of the Committee on the Judiciary. Such ex officio members shall have a vote on such committees and their subcommittees. 11.5 The Speaker shall be authorized to appoint a chairman, a vice chairman, and a secretary for all standing committees and for all subcommittees created by the Speaker. 11.6 The Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the Minority Whip shall be members of the Committee on Rules. Each such leader must be certified as such by his or her party caucus chairman to the Speaker of the House and to the Clerk of the House. 11.7 If a member desires to change committees, such member may make a request to the Speaker. If a change can be accomplished, the Speaker is authorized to make such change. After the announcement of the standing committees, no other members shall be placed thereon if such placement will increase the number of members on any committee beyond the number approved by the Committee on Assignments; provided, however, when any members shall have been elected to fill a vacancy caused by death or otherwise, the Speaker may assign such members to such committees as the Speaker may see fit. The Speaker may fill any vacancy in the offices of chairman, vice chairman, or secretary at anytime a vacancy shall occur. 11.8 The Speaker, or the Committee on Assignments, may appoint one or more chairmen of subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations. Each such chairman of a subcommittee appointed shall be designated to preside over one of the following subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations: (1) Education. (2) Higher Education. (3) Health. (4) Human Resources. (5) Public Safety. (6) Economic Development.

chairman, or secretary of any standing or special committee or subcommittee in the House or any member appointed to the Committee on Rules.

Rule 13. 13.1 Each committee or subcommittee shall first meet upon the call of the chairman and perfect its organization. After the organizational meeting, each committee or subcommittee shall meet upon the call of its chairman. The vice chairman may call a meeting of the committee or subcommittee if the vice chairman obtains a certificate from the Speaker certifying that the chairman is incapacitated or if he or she is directed by the chairman to call the meeting to consider such measures as specified by the chairman. Each subcommittee shall be subject to the will of its parent standing committee and the officers thereof. 13.2 No bill shall be reported to the House until it has been acted upon by the standing committee, and all actions of any subcommittee shall be submitted to its parent standing committee.

Rule 14. 14.1 Except as otherwise provided in these Rules, all meetings of any committee or subcommittee of the House, including interim committees, shall be open to the public. By a majority vote of a quorum of a committee or subcommittee, a meeting may be closed to the public when the committee or subcommittee is (1) discussing the future acquisition of real estate, (2) discussing the appointment, employment, or dismissal of a public officer or employee or disciplinary action against such officer or employee, or (3) hearing complaints or charges brought against a public officer or employee, unless the officer or employee requests that the meeting be open to the public. 14.2 Inasmuch as the primary function of the Committee on Assignments is the assignment, appointment, and placement of individual members to various positions in order to effectively and efficiently operate the House of Representatives, and since such function will necessarily require discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of individual members,

which discussions are primarily made in the context of a personnel related matter, the meetings of this committee shall be considered confidential and shall not be open to members or the public.

Rule 15. When the House provides for the recording or transcribing of its proceedings during any of its sessions or the House or any committee or subcommittee thereof provides for the recording or transcribing of proceedings of such committee or subcommittee during any meeting thereof which is open to the public, copies of such recordings or transcriptions shall be made available to the public upon request and payment of the reasonable costs of supplying copies of such recordings or transcriptions, whether such recordings or transcriptions are written or typed or are audio, visual, or audio visual records of such proceedings.

Rule 16. 16.1 No standing or interim committee or subcommittee of the House of Representatives shall officially meet at any place within the state where any citizen of the state is denied admittance on the basis of religion, race, creed, nationality, or gender or on property belonging to any private club, organization, or association in which any citizen is denied membership or discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, creed, nationality, or gender. 16.2 When, as a result of an enemy attack or natural or manmade disaster or emergency, the Speaker authorizes such meetings, standing and interim committees and subcommittees of the House of Representatives may meet through electronic or virtual means under such conditions and procedures as the Speaker directs. When such meetings would be open to the public, such virtual or electronic meetings shall be made accessible to the public through such virtual or electronic means.

18.3 When local legislation has been favorably reported in accordance with Rule 18.2, such legislation shall be considered by the House under Rule 33.2(d). 18.4 No local bill or resolution referred to the committee shall be released to any person, including members of the House, except upon the condition that such person shall return the bill or resolution to the chairman of the Committee on Intragovernmental Coordination within six hours of the chairman's request to do so.

SPEAKER'S POWERS AND DUTIES

Rule 19. The Speaker shall preserve the order and decorum of the House, the gallery, and the adjacent lobbies, ante rooms, and halls of the House. In case of disturbance or disorderly conduct in any of these areas, the Speaker may cause the same to be cleared.

Rule 20. When two or more members rise at the same time, the Speaker shall name the member to be recognized.

Rule 21. The Speaker shall, in the Speaker's discretion, suspend irrelevant debate and command silence whenever the Speaker deems it necessary.

Rule 22. The Speaker shall vote in all cases of election by the House. In other cases the Speaker shall not vote unless the House shall be equally divided or unless the Speaker's vote, if given to the minority, will make the division equal. In case of such equal division, the question shall be lost. But in all cases where a fixed constitutional vote is required to pass the matter under consideration and the matter lacks only one vote to pass, the Speaker shall vote; and the Speaker's vote shall be counted the same as that of any other member.

Rule 23. All questions as to the priority of business to be acted on shall be decided by the Speaker without debate.

Rule 24. At any time the Speaker may order the roll called on any question and take the vote by yeas and nays unless otherwise ordered by the House.

Rule 25. The Speaker shall assign seats in the House Chamber to the members.

Rule 26. The Speaker of the House shall administer the oaths required of the subordinate officers of the House.

Rule 27. During a day's session, the Speaker or Speaker Pro Tempore when acting as Speaker may name any member to perform the duties of the chair during any part of that day. Whenever the Speaker is not presiding, the Speaker may be recognized at any desk.

Rule 28. Whenever, from any cause, the Speaker is absent at the beginning of a daily session, the Speaker Pro Tempore shall preside. If both are absent, the Clerk of the House shall call the House to order and shall preside until the election of an acting Speaker Pro Tempore. Such election shall be the first business of the House. The acting Speaker Pro Tempore thus elected shall preside until the return of one of the first named officers, at which time his or her functions shall cease.

Rule 29. 29.1 If the Speaker Pro Tempore becomes Speaker pursuant to the provisions of Article III, Section III, Paragraph II(b) of the Constitution of the State of Georgia of 1983, the procedure provided in this rule for the election of a Speaker shall be followed. 29.2 The Speaker Pro Tempore shall call an election to be held within 120 days after he or she becomes Speaker. Such election shall be held on a date and at a time to be designated by the Speaker Pro Tempore who has become the Speaker. If the Speaker Pro Tempore becomes Speaker at a time when there are 120 days or less remaining in the two-year term, the Speaker Pro Tempore shall continue to serve as Speaker until the convening of the

(11) First and second readings and reference of Senate bills and resolutions. (12) Unfinished business of previous session. (13) Orders of the day. (14) Senate amendments to House bills and resolutions and reports of conference committees. (15) Motions to reconsider. (16) Morning Orders. (17) (A) When applicable, third reading of resolutions on the uncontested resolutions calendar; and (B) Other bills and resolutions for third reading. (18) Evening Orders

Rule 32. It shall be the duty of the Committee on Information and Audits to read the journal of each day's proceedings and report to the House that the same is correct. The reports of the Committee on Information and Audits may be made at any time.

Rule 33. 33.1 The Committee on Rules shall arrange and fix the calendar for each day's business of each regular session of the General Assembly. Copies of such calendar shall be printed and made available to the members of the House as quickly as is practicable following the setting of the calendar. 33.2 In arranging and fixing the calendar for each day's business, the Committee on Rules is authorized to place on each measure to come before the House any of the following special rules: (a) Open Rule - Germane amendments may be offered in accordance with the provisions of these Rules.

(b) Modified Open Rule - Germane amendments may be offered subject only to an overall time limit on the amendment process, and a requirement that the amendments be preprinted and placed upon the desk one hour prior to debate. (c) Modified Structured Rule - Germane amendments may be offered after being approved by the Committee on Rules. This rule may preclude amendments to a particular portion of the bill, although other parts of the bill may be open to amendment. (d) Structured Rule - No amendments may be offered. There is a strong presumption against Structured Rules. If any measure passed by the House pursuant to a Structured Rule is amended in the Senate it shall be considered disagreed to when it returns from the Senate, except that the author of the House measure, with the concurrence of the Speaker, may move to accept the House measure as amended by the Senate, or as otherwise allowed in Rules 118 and 119. 33.3 At all times the Committee on Rules may designate a day certain and may set a time limit for floor debate on any measure. 33.4 The provisions of Rule 33.2 shall not apply with respect to a minor or technical amendment. The determination of whether an amendment is a minor or technical amendment shall be according to the judgment of the Speaker of the House, subject to appeal to the body. 33.5 Rule 33.2 shall not apply with respect to amendments to privileged resolutions. 33.6 For purposes of these Rules a substitute shall be treated as an amendment; and in order to be eligible for consideration by the House a substitute will only be permitted in accordance with the terms of any special rule applicable to the measure. 33.7 The Committee on Rules may also recommit any measure back to the committee from whence it came, or on its own motion, amend the same, only with minor and technical amendments as described in Rule 33.4.