by Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles on the legislative rules that LegiSource is reposting during the 2020 legislative interim. This article was originally posted March 6, 2014, and has been edited as appropriate.

The legislator’s bill has passed the committee of reference, passed the Committee of the Whole on second reading, and is finally calendared for third reading and final passage. There are fewer third-reading rules to learn, but knowing these rules is crucial if the bill sponsor wants to ensure that the bill safely finishes its journey through the House or the Senate.

Voting on Third Reading

Art. V, section 22, Colorado Constitution
House Rules 20(a)(1) and 33(c) and (d)
Senate Rules 17(f)(1) and 25(b)

The state constitution and the legislative rules impose several requirements on the third reading process. Article V, section 22 of the Colorado Constitution requires that second and third reading take place on different days. For example, if a bill passes second reading on Monday, it cannot be considered on third reading until Tuesday at the earliest. Because of this requirement, it takes at least three days – from introduction in the first house through final passage in the second house – for the Colorado General Assembly to pass a bill. In the final three days of the regular legislative session, if a bill has not passed on second reading in the first house by the end of the 118^th day, the bill is considered dead because it cannot constitutionally pass by the end of the legislative session.

To pass on third reading, a majority of the elected members of the House and the Senate must approve the bill, and the third reading vote must be recorded in the House and Senate journals. This requirement leads to the Rule of 33, 18, and One: To pass, a bill must receive at least 33 aye votes in the House, 18 aye votes in the Senate, and the Governor’s approval, either explicit or implied.

The constitution and the rules of the House and the Senate also require that all substantial amendments to a bill must be printed and distributed to the legislators before the third reading vote. Both houses implement this requirement by creating the engrossed version of the bill that includes all of the amendments adopted on second reading in the first house and the revised version of the bill that includes all of the amendments adopted on second reading in the second house. When a chamber votes on a bill on third reading, it is voting to adopt the engrossed version or the revised version of the bill, depending on whether the third reading vote occurs in the first or second house.

Third reading consent calendar – Senate only

Senate Rule 25A(c) and (d)

In the Senate, if a bill passes on the second reading consent calendar, it is placed on the third reading consent calendar for consideration on the next day of actual session. A senator may object to having the bill on the consent calendar at any time before the bill passes on third reading, in which case the bill is removed from the consent calendar and placed on the third reading calendar for the next day of actual session.

Senators cannot substantially debate bills that are on the third reading consent calendar, and they will not consider substantive third reading amendments to any of these bills. The Senate takes a single vote on all of the bills on the third reading consent calendar, but each senator has the opportunity to vote no on each bill. The yes and no votes are recorded in the Senate journal separately for each bill.

The House does not use a consent calendar.

Third reading procedures

House Rules 13(d); 23(h)(3); 27(b); 27A(a) and (c); 29(k); and 33
Senate Rules 9(d); 11; 17(f)(15); 22A(b); 24A(a) and (c); 25(b), (k), and (m); and 31(f)

Decorum. When the House or the Senate is considering bills on third reading, a legislator may not introduce any visitors in the gallery or chambers. During third reading in the House, representatives cannot use electronic devices to send or receive voice or data communications, including emails, texts, and tweets. And it’s worth noting that senators and representatives cannot use cell phones for voice communications at any time in the Senate chambers or House chambers.

Motions. All of the bills on third reading are read by title only unless a legislator requests that the bill be read at length. On third reading, a legislator may move to:

• Strike the enacting clause of the bill, which kills the bill;
• Amend the bill, which requires the permission of a majority of the representatives or senators;
• Adopt the bill;
• Refer the bill back to a committee of reference;
• Lay the bill over for consideration on a later date; and
• In the House, refer the bill back to second reading for consideration of a substantial amendment to the bill.

Third reading amendments. To offer an amendment on third reading, a legislator must first move for permission to offer the amendment. If a majority of the representatives or senators grants permission by voting yes on the motion, then the legislator can move for the adoption of the third reading amendment. The votes on each third reading amendment are recorded in the House and Senate journals whether the amendment passes or fails.

On third reading, the House and the Senate typically consider only technical amendments to correct a drafting oversight or error. Sometimes, however, a legislator finds that he or she needs to substantially amend a bill on third reading. In the House, if a representative wants to offer a substantial amendment on third reading, he or she must move to refer the bill back to second reading to consider the amendment. Except during the last three days of the session, a substantive amendment is not in order on third reading in the House. In the Senate, a senator must have the amendment printed and placed on the desk of each senator, and the bill and amendment are laid over for consideration until the next day of actual session.

Limits on speaking. On third reading, the House and Senate rules limit the number of times and the length of time that legislators may speak on a question – in most cases an amendment or a bill. These rules are somewhat different for the House and the Senate.

In the House, most representatives may speak only twice on each bill or amendment. But the chairman of the committee of reference to which a bill was assigned and the representative who moves the bill or amendment may speak more than twice. Regardless of how many times a representative speaks, however, the representative cannot speak longer than a total of 10 minutes on each bill and each amendment.

In the Senate, most senators are also limited to speaking only twice on each bill, but the bill sponsor may speak more than twice. And each senator is limited to ten minutes each time he or she speaks on the bill.

Second house sponsors. Before a bill can be heard on third reading in the first house, the bill sponsor must designate a prime sponsor for the bill in the second house. The Chief Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate have forms that the legislators must complete and turn in to the House or Senate front desk before the bill can be heard on third reading.

Cosponsors. Immediately after a bill passes on third reading, legislators may add their names as cosponsors of the bill or request that their names be removed as cosponsors.

Once a bill passes on third reading in the first house, the bill, including any amendments adopted on third reading, becomes the reengrossed bill and it is sent to the second house for consideration. When the bill passes on third reading in the second house, the bill, including any amendments adopted on third reading, becomes the rerevised bill. If the second house amends the bill, the rerevised bill is returned to the first house for consideration of the second house amendments. If the second house does not amend the bill, the bill is engrossed, signed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Clerk of the House, the President of the Senate, and the Secretary of the Senate, and sent to the Governor, who decides whether to sign the bill, veto the bill, or allow the bill to become law without a signature.

by Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles on the legislative rules that LegiSource is reposting during the 2020 legislative interim. This article was originally posted February 20, 2014, and has been edited as appropriate. We will post the fourth article in two weeks.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “committee of the whole” as “the whole membership of a legislative house sitting as a committee and operating under informal rules.” But just what are those rules and how informal are they?

Committee of the Whole

House Rule 32
Senate Rule 28

Second reading begins with a motion that the body resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole for consideration of either general orders or special orders. In the Senate, the motion may also be for consideration of general orders – consent calendar (see explanation below). When the motion passes, the Speaker of the House or the President steps down and selects a legislator to preside over the Committee of the Whole. The chair of the Committee of the Whole has all of the powers of the Speaker or the President that are necessary to conduct the business of the Committee. By rule in the House and by custom and practice in the Senate, the chair of the Committee of the Whole does not vote except to break a tie.

The procedural rules of the House and the Senate apply to the proceedings of the Committee of the Whole, except:

• A legislator may speak more than twice on the same subject;
• A legislator may not call for the ayes and noes, (i.e., a recorded vote), but a legislator may request a standing vote, known as a division, before the chair announces the outcome of the vote;
• There’s no appeal from a decision of the chair; and
• In the House, by rule, a motion for the previous question, which would cut off debate, and a motion for reconsideration are not in order. This also is true in the Senate, but by custom and practice, not by rule.

The Committee of the Whole may amend a bill, pass a bill, reject a bill, refer a bill to a committee of reference, or lay a bill over for consideration on another day. All votes taken by the Committee of the Whole are voice votes, unless a Representative or Senator calls for a division before the chair of the Committee of the Whole announces the vote. In that situation, the chair takes a standing vote, first of all those in favor of the amendment or bill, and second of all those opposed to the amendment or bill. The greater number standing carries the vote. Voice votes and votes taken on division are recorded only as pass or fail; the actual names or numbers of Representatives or Senators voting on each side are not recorded.

Consent Calendar – Senate only

Senate Rule 25A

The Senate can deal with several bills on second reading with a single vote by using the consent calendar. The consent calendar is used only for noncontroversial bills that do not require substantial debate or substantive floor amendments. The Majority Leader, after consulting with the Minority Leader, decides which bills are placed on the consent calendar, usually based on recommendations by committees of reference. Once a bill is placed on the consent calendar, if a Senator objects at the microphone to including the bill on the consent calendar, the bill is removed from the consent calendar and placed at the end of the general orders calendar for that day.

The Committee of the Whole considers the bills on the consent calendar just like the other bills, except there is no substantial debate or substantive floor amendments allowed on consent calendar bills, and the Committee of the Whole takes a single vote on the consent calendar, which adopts or rejects all of the consent calendar bills on second reading.

The House does not use a consent calendar.

Amendments in the House – Settled Questions

House Rules 28, 32(c), and 34

In the House, if the Committee of the Whole takes final action on a bill, an amendment, or a committee of reference report, either by adopting or rejecting it, the same Committee of the Whole cannot take a later action that would defeat or resurrect the same bill, amendment, or committee of reference report. This is known as the “settled question” rule, and it prevents the Committee of the Whole from amending the same language twice or from amending language that the Committee has already approved.

Because of the settled question rule, when a bill sponsor moves a bill in the House, he or she must first move the bill, then the first committee report, and then the second committee report, if there is one. The House will then consider any amendments to the second committee report before adopting or rejecting the report, then any amendments to the first committee report before adopting or rejecting the report, and finally any amendments to the bill before adopting or rejecting the bill. If a Representative has an amendment to the first committee report, and that report has already been adopted, the amendment is a settled question and the chair will likely rule that the amendment is out of order.

Each amendment must relate to the same subject as the original bill. If a Representative offers an amendment to a pending amendment or offers a substitute amendment to a pending amendment, the offered amendment must be germane to the subject of the pending amendment. For example, if a Representative offers an amendment to change the amount of a fee in the bill, another Representative cannot offer an amendment as a substitute to the pending amendment that would change the date on which the bill takes effect. But another Representative may offer a substitute amendment to the pending amendment to strike the fee requirement from the bill.

Each substantial amendment must be printed and distributed to the House members. In practice, this means that, if a Representative wants to offer an amendment that is longer than a page, the Representative must turn the amendment in to the Chief Clerk of the House no later than 4:30 p.m. the day before the bill is heard on second reading. During the Committee of the Whole, a Representative may move to lay a bill over so that the amendments that have been offered on the bill can be printed and distributed to the members.

An amendment to strike out the enacting clause of a bill takes precedence over any other motion relating to a bill. The amendment opens the question of passage of the bill to general debate and, if the amendment passes, the bill is dead.

Amendments in the Senate

Senate Rules 5 and 25(h)

In the Senate, to offer an amendment to a bill in the Committee of the Whole, a Senator must have the amendment typed and must turn it in to the Secretary of the Senate, who numbers each amendment in the order in which it is received.

The settled question rule does not exist in the Senate. The Committee of the Whole in the Senate can amend the same language in a bill multiple times, and the last amendment that the Committee adopts is the one that is enrolled into the bill for consideration on third reading.

When a Senator presents a bill to the Committee of the Whole, he or she moves the bill and then moves the first committee report and the committee either adopts or rejects the first committee report. If there are other committee reports, the bill sponsor moves each of those reports, and the Committee either adopts or rejects each report when it is moved. Then the Senators individually move their amendments, whether to one of the committee reports or to the bill, in the order that each amendment was turned in to the Secretary. The Committee must consider every amendment that is turned in to the Secretary unless the sponsoring Senator withdraws the amendment.

As in the House, an amendment to strike the enacting clause takes precedence over other amendments to a bill. Passage of an amendment to strike the enacting clause kills the bill.

Updated Fiscal Notes

House Rule 32A(c)
Senate Rule 25(e)

In the Senate, upon the request of five or more members, the legislative council staff will update the fiscal note for a bill that may have a significant effect on the revenues, expenditures, or fiscal liability of the state. If requested, the bill cannot pass on second reading until the fiscal note is updated.

In the House, a request for a revised fiscal note requires at least 10 Representatives. As in the Senate, once the updated fiscal note is requested, the bill cannot be considered on second reading until the updated fiscal note is prepared.

Committee of the Whole Report

House Rule 32
Senate Rules 17(e), 17(f)(1), 25(f), 28(e), and 28 (g)

Once the Committee of the Whole completes its work, a person – usually the majority leader – moves that the Committee rise and report. If the Committee isn’t actually done, but is taking a break and coming back on the same day or on the following day, the majority leader will move to rise and report progress and beg leave to sit again. Both motions are decided without debate. If the motion is to report progress and sit again, when the Committee returns, it resumes its work where it left off.

When the Committee of the Whole finishes and rises and reports, the actions the Committee took on every bill that it considered, including the amendments adopted on each bill, are summarized in the report of the Committee of the Whole. The person who chaired the Committee moves that the House or the Senate, as the case may be, adopt the report of the Committee of the Whole.

The report of the Committee of the Whole is similar to a report from any other committee – the body that adopts the report can amend it. In the case of the Committee of the Whole report, an amendment to the report reverses the action that the Committee took with regard to a bill or amendment. For example, a legislator may move to amend the Committee of the Whole report to show that a bill or amendment that the Committee passed did not pass. Or a legislator may move to amend the report to show that a bill or amendment that the Committee rejected did pass. In the Senate, a Senator may move an amendment to the Committee of the Whole report to show that an amendment that was not actually offered in the Committee of the Whole passed. The House will only consider amendments to the Committee of the Whole report that affect amendments on which the Committee voted.

Each amendment to the Committee of the Whole report and the report itself requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the elected members to pass: 33 votes in the House and 18 votes in the Senate. Each legislator’s vote on an amendment to the Committee of the Whole report and on the report itself is recorded. In the Senate, a Senator may request a recorded roll call vote on any individual bill that is included in the Committee of the Whole report.

Each bill that passes on second reading is then engrossed or revised and calendared for consideration on third reading. Engrossing, which occurs in the first house of introduction, and revising, which occurs in the second house of introduction, means that all of the amendments to the bill that are included in the adopted Committee of the Whole report are typed into the bill to create a new version of the bill: The engrossed version in the first house of introduction and the revised version in the second house of introduction. It is important to note that, after second reading, the operative version of a bill in the first house is the engrossed version, regardless of whether it was amended. Similarly, the operative version in the second house is the revised version, regardless of whether it was amended.

Reconsideration

House Rules 32 and 35(d)
Senate Rule 18

In the House, a Representative cannot move to reconsider a decision made by the Committee of the Whole. And an amendment to the Committee of the Whole report and adoption or rejection of the Committee of the Whole report and any bill included in the report are not subject to reconsideration.

In the Senate, a Senator cannot move to reconsider a decision made by the Committee of the Whole. However, a Senator can give notice of the intent to move to reconsider or move for immediate reconsideration of an action taken on an amendment to the Committee of the Whole report, the adoption or rejection of the Committee of the Whole report, or the adoption or rejection of a specific bill included in the Committee of the Whole report. For more information on reconsideration, see the LegiSource article: “The Four W’s and One H of Reconsideration of a Previous Vote.”

by Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles on the legislative rules that LegiSource is reposting during the 2020 legislative interim. This article was originally posted February 6, 2014, and has been edited as appropriate. We will post the third article in three weeks.

Following is a short overview of the more important committee procedural rules to help guide you through committee hearings. Except as specifically noted, the procedures described below apply to House and Senate committees.

Committee Quorum:
House Rule 25(i)(1) and (j)(10)
Senate Rule 22(b) and (n)
A quorum for a committee of reference in both the House and the Senate is a majority of the committee membership. A committee cannot take action on a bill or any other legislative matter unless a quorum is present. Passage of a bill, resolution, amendment, or motion requires approval of a majority of a quorum or a majority of those present and voting, whichever is greater.

Committee Meetings and Consideration of Bills:
House Rules 25(j)(1), (j)(1.5), (j)(6), and (j)(7) and 25A
Senate Rules 22(a), (e)(1), (i), and (j) and 22B
The responsibility for organizing and managing committee hearings lies mainly with the committee chairman, but the chairman of a House committee can delegate any duty or responsibility to the vice-chairman of the committee.

Time and Place of Committee Hearings
Each committee must meet at the times and places specified in the committee schedule, but a chairman can cancel a meeting by announcing the cancellation while the House or the Senate, whichever applies, is actually in session and before the meeting is scheduled to take place. In the Senate, if a committee is scheduled to meet upon adjournment, it will meet within 15 minutes after the Senate adjourns or recesses.

Special Meetings
A House committee may hold a special committee meeting on another day or at another place or time so long as the chairman announces the meeting as much in advance as possible and while the House is actually in session. Generally, a Senate committee may hold a special meeting only on the committee’s regularly scheduled meeting day. The chairman must announce the special meeting 24 hours in advance and while the Senate is actually in session. There is an exception during the last two weeks of session, or at any time with the President’s permission, that allows a Senate committee chairman to call a special meeting on a different day by announcing the meeting as much in advance as possible and while the Senate is actually in session.

Every Bill Must Get a Hearing and a Vote
Every bill that is assigned to a House committee must receive a hearing, consideration, and a vote on the merits at a scheduled committee meeting no later than the deadline for passage of bills out of committee. Although the Senate rules do not include this specific requirement,  article V, section 20 of the Colorado Constitution (commonly referred to as the “GAVEL Amendment”) requires that each measure assigned to a committee of reference receive consideration and a vote on the merits within appropriate deadlines.

Order of Business
The committee chairman sets the calendar for each meeting. But if a chairman holds a bill for seven or more days without calendaring it, the committee members can force the chairman to schedule the bill. A majority of the members of a Senate committee can simply request, at a regularly scheduled committee hearing, that the bill be scheduled for hearing. House committee members must submit to the chairman at a regularly scheduled committee hearing a petition signed by at least two-thirds of the committee members. A committee member can also force a hearing on a bill by making a motion to refer the bill to the committee of the whole when the bill is not on the committee’s calendar. In this case, the committee must consider the bill on its merits. In a House committee, if the motion to refer to the committee of the whole doesn’t pass, the bill is still pending before the committee for action.

Chairman’s Authority
During a House committee meeting, the chairman may limit testimony and discussion on a measure to the amount that he or she thinks is adequate to enable the committee to consider the measure on its merits. The House committee chairman may actually exclude testimony or discussion that he or she thinks is repetitious or irrelevant. The House committee chairman may ask a sergeant-at-arms to remove any person who disrupts the proceedings or endangers any person at a committee hearing.

Although the Senate rules do not directly address the powers of the committee chair to control procedures within a committee hearing, Mason’s Manual Legislative Procedure, the source for parliamentary procedures in the Senate, supports the authority of the Senate committee chairman to maintain order and decide all questions of order in committee hearings.

Motions, Voting, and Attendance
Only committee members can make motions, and, in the House, each motion must receive a second to be debated. Each committee member, including the committee chairman, must vote on every motion that comes before the committee, unless the committee member has an immediate personal or financial interest in the bill. But the committee chairman does not vote twice to break a tie vote. If a committee member misses three consecutive scheduled committee meetings without being excused, the chairman must report the member’s absence to the floor leader of the member’s party.

No Electronic Participation
Members of committees of reference must be physically present at a hearing to participate. Members are not allowed to participate by telephone or other electronic means.

Final Committee Action:
House Rule 25(j)(3) and (j)(9)
Senate Rule 22(f) and (m)
A committee must take a recorded, roll call vote to take action on proposed amendments if at least one committee member objects to the amendment and to take final action on a bill. All recorded votes are available for public inspection.

A committee takes final action on a bill by reporting the bill out of committee, with or without amendments, for consideration by the committee of the whole; referring the bill to another committee of reference, with or without amendments; or postponing the bill indefinitely. In reporting a bill for consideration by the committee of the whole, a Senate committee may recommend that the bill be placed on the consent calendar. A motion to postpone consideration of a bill for more than 30 days or until a date that’s later than the date for adjournment sine die is considered a motion to postpone indefinitely. A bill is also considered postponed indefinitely if a motion for final action on the bill dies on a tie vote, the deadline to report bills out of committee passes, and the bill doesn’t get delayed status.

Reconsideration:
House Rule 35(e) and (f)
Senate Rule 18(e), (f), and (g)
After a committee has decided a question, including taking final action on a bill, a member who voted on the prevailing side may move to reconsider the question. The procedures for reconsideration vary significantly between the House and the Senate.

In the House, if a motion for final action on a bill dies on a tie vote, the committee doesn’t actually make a decision, so the bill is still before the committee and subject to any further motions without the need to reconsider. But, if the motion does not concern final action on the bill and the motion dies on a tie vote, a member who votes “no” is considered to have voted on the prevailing side and may move to reconsider the committee’s decision. A motion to reconsider in committee requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the committee members, except in the last two days of session during which it requires only a majority vote. A member must make the motion to reconsider at the same meeting at which the decision is made or at the next committee meeting. But the committee cannot reconsider the decision after the committee report that includes the decision is signed by the committee chairman and delivered to the Chief Clerk of the House. A committee member cannot prevent delivery of the bill to the Chief Clerk by giving notice to reconsider.

In the Senate, if a motion on a bill dies on a tie vote, a member who votes “no” is considered to have voted on the prevailing side and may move to reconsider the committee’s decision. A motion to reconsider in a Senate committee requires approval by a simple majority vote. At the same meeting at which the committee makes the decision, a member can make the motion to reconsider or give notice of his or her intent to reconsider at the next meeting, unless the next meeting is after the committee passage deadline and the bill does not have delayed status. If the member who gives notice does not move to reconsider at the next committee meeting, the notice is considered withdrawn. The measure remains in the committee until the next committee meeting if there is an outstanding notice to reconsider.

By Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: During the 2020 legislative interim, LegiSource will repost several articles on the legislative rules, which were originally posted during 2014 and 2015. We are posting the first article this week and will continue posting the articles approximately every other week through mid-December. This article was originally posted January 23, 2014.

One of the most challenging aspects of being a legislator is learning the legislative rules. Even if you are not a committee chair or serving in a leadership role, you need at least a general understanding of the legislative rules to be an effective legislator. The rules are at the heart of the legislative process. They are the framework that helps ensure that the legislature’s process for creating public policy is open, balanced, and efficient. A legislator’s facility with properly using the legislative rules can mean the difference between a bill signing ceremony and a vote to postpone indefinitely.

The legislative rules derive from several sources, and they are usually followed in this order of precedence:

1. The state constitution and judicial opinions interpreting it;
2. The rules adopted by the House of Representatives and the Senate;
3. The traditions of the House and the Senate, referred to as “custom and usage”;
4. Statutes that establish legislative procedures;
5. Adopted parliamentary manuals such as Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure; and
6. General parliamentary law.

It is important to remember, however, that House Rule 46 mandates that the Speaker of the House decides any issues that are not specifically covered in the House rules. Senate Rule 40 states that Mason’s Manual governs procedure in the Senate so long as it does not conflict with the Senate rules or the Joint Rules of the House and the Senate. The Senate President decides any matter not covered by the legislative rules or Mason’s Manual.

Obviously, there are many legislative rules, and it’s difficult to learn and remember all of them. You may want to start by learning the basic principles behind legislative procedure. Knowing the principles may help you understand and remember the purposes behind the rules, even if you can’t remember each specific rule. The introduction to Mason’s Manual sets forth these ten principles for group decision making:

1. The group must have the authority to take the action it is trying to take.
2. The group must meet to take action.
3. All members of the group must receive proper notice of the meeting.
4. A quorum must be present at the meeting.
5. There must be a question before the group that the group is authorized to decide.
6. There must be opportunity to debate the question.
7. The question must be decided by taking a vote.
8. For an action to be taken or a question decided, there must be a majority vote of the group.
9. There can be no fraud, trickery, or deception resulting in injury to any member.
10. To be valid, an action or decision by the group must not violate any applicable law or constitutional provision.

When a question about legislative process arises during a committee hearing or a floor debate or during procedures in the House or the Senate, the presiding officer decides the question. In a committee of reference, the chairperson of the committee decides the question. In a second-reading floor debate while the House or the Senate is sitting as the Committee of the Whole, the person chairing the Committee of the Whole decides the question. In the other cases, the Speaker decides the question for the House and the President decides for the Senate. A legislator can appeal the ruling of the presiding officer, but in Colorado, an appeal is seen as calling for a vote of no confidence in the presiding officer and is very rarely raised.

As you strive to master the legislative rules, you will no doubt have several questions. Fortunately, there are several persons you may ask for interpretations and advice. The Speaker, the President, the Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Chief Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate are your most likely advisors. You should also consider talking with your committee chair, the Legislative Council staff, and the staff of the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

While knowing these basic principles is helpful, there’s no substitute for learning the rules. Remember: If you don’t know the rules, you can’t play the game.

By Julie Pelegrin

LegiSource followers may recall that, toward the end of a regular legislative session, certain exceptions in the legislative rules take effect with the goal of expediting the process. These exceptions apply based on how many legislative days remain in the legislative session.

Article V, section 7 of the Colorado Constitution requires the General Assembly to meet annually in regular legislative session for no more than 120 calendar days. Normally, these legislative days are counted as consecutive calendar days, starting with the first day of the session, regardless of whether the House or the Senate actually convenes on a particular day. Because of this, it’s not hard to predict how many days are left in a regular legislative session.

This year, however, the session has been anything but regular. Based on the provisions of Joint Rule 44 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives, since last March when the Governor declared a state of disaster emergency caused by a public health emergency exposing a great number of people to disease, legislative days are no longer counted as consecutive calendar days. Instead, only those days on which the House or the Senate actually convenes count toward the 120-day limit.

So, if we are only counting the days on which the House or the Senate convenes, and they could decide to take a temporary adjournment, and they could decide to adjourn sine die early, how will we know when the rule exceptions apply? How can we reliably count the days? That’s what announcements are for.

Wednesday, June 10, was the 80^th legislative day of the session. On that date, there were as many as 40 days remaining on which the General Assembly could convene before they would be required to adjourn sine die. However, the Majority Leaders in both the Senate and the House have announced that, as of Wednesday, June 10, the legislature is in the final three days of the legislative session. This does not necessarily mean the General Assembly will adjourn sine die on Friday, June 12, but it means that the exceptions in the legislative rules that apply only during the last three and the last two days of the session are now in effect.

Those exceptions are:

Last 3 days of session:

• House Rule 25 (j) (3); Senate Rule 22 (f): Each House committee chairperson must submit committee reports to the House front desk as soon as possible after the committee acts on a bill. No more waiting for two or three days to turn in the report. This requirement—to submit the committee report as soon as possible—actually applies to Senate committee chairs in the last 10 days of session. See Senate Rule 22(f). And during these last 10 days, at the request of the Senate Majority Leader or President, the chairman must submit the committee report immediately. If that doesn’t happen within 24 hours after the request, the committee staff person is required to submit the report to the Senate front desk on the chairman’s behalf.
• House Rule 36 (d); Senate Rule 26 (a): The House and the Senate can consider the amendments made in the second house without waiting for each legislator in the first house to receive a copy of the rerevised bill and for the notice of consideration to be printed in the calendar.
• House Rule 36 (d); Senate Rule 26 (b): Legislators can vote on conference committee reports as soon as the reports are turned in to their respective front desks—even if the report has not been distributed to the members and has not been calendared for consideration. The usual practice, however, is to try to distribute copies of conference committee reports to legislators before the vote.
• House Rule 35 (a): Throughout most of the session, a Representative may give notice of the intention to move to reconsider a question. In this case, the Representative has until noon on the next day of actual session to move to reconsider. However, during the last three days of session, a member may not give notice of intention to reconsider.
• Senate Rule 18 (d): Throughout most of the session, a Senator may give notice of reconsideration, and the Secretary of the Senate must hold the bill for which the notice was given for up to two days of actual session. During the last three days of session, however, this rule is suspended, and a Senator cannot hold up a bill by giving notice to reconsider.
• House Rule 33 (b.5): Usually, the House rules only allow technical amendments on third reading; offering a substantial amendment on third reading may result in the bill being referred back to second reading. During the last three days of session, however, a Representative may offer a substantial amendment to a bill on third reading.

Last 2 Days of Session:

• House Rule 35 (b) and (e): A motion to reconsider in the House usually requires a 2/3 vote to pass. In the last two days of session, however, a motion to reconsider – in a House committee or in the full House – requires only a majority vote.

And there are a couple of additional rule changes that have apparently been in effect for some time:

Last 5 Days of Session:

• Joint Rule 7: One day after a bill is assigned to a conference committee, a majority of either house may demand a conference committee report, and the committee must deliver the report before the close of the legislative day during which the demand is made. If a bill has been assigned to a conference committee at any time during the session and the committee hasn’t turned in a report, the committee must report the bill out within these last five days of session.

Last two weeks:

• Senate Rule 22 (a)(2): During the final two weeks of a legislative session, allows a Senate committee chairman to schedule a committee hearing on a day other than the usual day the committee meets.

We still do not know exactly the date on which the General Assembly will finally adjourn this year’s legislative session, we can reliably assume it’s getting close….

by Darren Thornberry & Patti Dahlberg

Now that you’ve met most of the bill deadlines set by rule, it’s time to consider taking care of a few pesky bill limits and deadlines that aren’t quite working for you this year. The five-bill limit and the filing date deadlines imposed by Joint Rules 23 and 24 were implemented to keep bills and other legislative work moving through the legislative process in a timely manner. But these rules also allow some bills to be exempted from these bill limits and deadlines. In a perfect session, a legislator might need only five bills to accomplish what he or she wants to see done in a session; and, of course, these bills would sail through all readings and committees and meet all deadlines with ease. The Governor’s desk would groan under the weight of so much gleaming legislation so early in session!

We can dream!

However, sometimes five bills just aren’t enough. Or a bill is submitted after a request deadline. Or a bill is more complex than expected. Or, after introduction, a bill simply needs more time to meet the remaining deadlines. When any of these situations occur, a legislator needs to obtain delayed bill authorization for the bill to be drafted or to continue through the legislative process. Delayed authorization is needed when:

• A legislator submits a bill request after the bill request deadline, the bill request exceeds the legislator’s five-bill limit, or the legislator is being added as a joint prime sponsor to a bill in the first house. Any of these circumstances will cause the legislator to exceed the five bill-limit. This requires a waiver of one or more “bill limits” (and possibly bill deadline dates).
• A bill request requires additional time for drafting, necessitating a waiver of one or more “bill deadlines”.
• An introduced bill is not scheduled for a hearing or final vote in time to meet the committee or final passage deadline. This requires a waiver of one or more “bill deadlines”.

The process for obtaining “delayed” or “late” bill authorization starts with the Speaker’s or the President’s office.  A legislator must request permission for delayed status for a bill from the House or Senate Committee on Delayed Bills (i.e., Leadership).  At the beginning of the legislative session, House and Senate Leadership designate a specific process for legislators to follow when requesting delayed bill authorization and the leadership staff who will be able to answer questions on the process. The Speaker or President’s staff should be able to provide this information.

Leadership reviews all requests for delayed bill authorization and may request additional information from sponsors before deciding whether to grant approval. In both the House and the Senate, the approval process has two steps. If, as step one, Leadership initially grants approval, leadership staff notifies the Office of Legislative Services (OLLS) that Leadership has granted preliminary approval. This gives preliminary approval on the request to add a legislator as a joint-prime sponsor, to draft a new bill, to continue to draft a bill that is already being drafted but is unable to meet its introduction deadline, or, for bills that have been introduced and now need additional deadlines waived, to allow the bill to remain on the calendar in its current position. Upon receipt of preliminary approval, the OLLS creates the official delayed bill letter according to Leadership’s directions regarding the limits and deadlines waived, including any specified deadline dates, for signature by the applicable Committee on Delayed Bills. To complete the second step of the process, at least two of the three members of the applicable Committee on Delayed Bills must sign the official delayed bill letter before delayed status is considered approved and the bill can be introduced or, if already introduced, continue through the legislative process.

Bills that need any type of delayed bill authorization can’t move to the next step in the legislative process until official delayed bill authorization is granted in the form of the official signed letter.  Once Leadership signs the official letter, the letter is attached to the bill so that at every subsequent step during the process it is easily ascertained that the bill has delayed bill approval and, if new deadline dates are specified, what those new deadline dates are.

By Julie Pelegrin

(A previous version of this article was posted on April 30, 2015, as “The Race is On to the End of the Session: Automatic Rule Changes Pick Up the Pace”.)

On May 4, legislators, legislative staff, lobbyists, and capitol reporters can all hit the snooze button and roll over for another hour of sleep. But between now and then, there are several amendments to read, bills to consider, and differences to resolve. To help ensure that both houses can complete their work by midnight on May 3, the legislative rules automatically speed up or suspend certain procedural requirements in the last few days of the session.

Last 5 Days of Session:

• Joint Rule 7: One day after a bill is assigned to a conference committee, a majority of either house may demand a conference committee report, and the committee must deliver the report before the close of the legislative day during which the demand is made. If a bill has been assigned to a conference committee at any time during the session and the committee hasn’t turned in a report, the committee must report the bill out within these last five days of session.

Last 3 Days of Session:

• House Rule 25 (j)(3); Senate Rule 22 (f): Each House committee chairperson must submit committee reports to the House front desk as soon as possible after the committee acts on a bill. No more waiting for two or three days to turn in the report. This requirement—to submit the committee report as soon as possible—actually applies to Senate committee chairs in the last 10 days of session. And during these last 10 days, at the request of the Senate Majority Leader or President, the chairman must submit the committee report immediately. If that doesn’t happen within 24 hours after the request, the committee staff person is required to submit the report to the Senate front desk on the chairman’s behalf.
• House Rule 36 (d); Senate Rule 26 (a): The House and the Senate can consider the amendments made in the second house without waiting for each legislator in the first house to receive a copy of the rerevised bill and for the notice of consideration to be printed in the calendar.
• House Rule 36 (d); Senate Rule 26 (b): Legislators can vote on conference committee reports as soon as the reports are turned in to their respective front desks—even if the report has not been distributed to the members and has not been calendared for consideration. The usual practice, however, is to try to distribute copies of conference committee reports to legislators before the vote.
• House Rule 35 (a): Throughout most of the session, a Representative may give notice of the intention to move to reconsider a question. In this case, the Representative has until noon on the next day of actual session to move to reconsider. However, during the last three days of session, a member may not give notice of intention to reconsider.
• Senate Rule 18 (d): Throughout most of the session, a Senator may give notice of reconsideration, and the Secretary of the Senate will hold the bill for which the notice was given for up to two days of actual session. During the last three days of session, however, this rule is suspended, and a Senator cannot hold up a bill by giving notice to reconsider.
• House Rule 33 (b.5): Usually, the House rules only allow technical amendments on third reading; offering a substantial amendment on third reading may result in the bill being referred back to second reading. During the last three days of session, however, a Representative may offer a substantial amendment to a bill on third reading.

Last 2 Days of Session:

• House Rule 35 (b) and (e): A motion to reconsider usually requires a 2/3 vote to pass. In the last two days of session, however, a motion to reconsider – in a House committee or in the full House – requires only a majority vote.

Before the 117th legislative day, the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate may announce that the House or the Senate, respectively, is in the last three days of the legislative session. This does not mean that either the House or the Senate will adjourn sine die before the 120th legislative day, but it does trigger the rule changes that apply in the last three and last two days of session.

Digest of Bills

With these expedited procedures, bills will probably be moving quickly. If you find yourself wondering which bills passed and what they do, you’ll want to check the digest of bills. The Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) annually publishes the digest, which contains a summary of each bill enacted during the legislative session, organized by subject matter. The OLLS will publish a preliminary digest by May 2 that will include all of the bills that have passed and been signed by the Governor or allowed to become law by that date. The OLLS will publish the final digest once the 30-day period for Governor action is passed. Copies of the preliminary and final digest will be available in Room 091 in the Capitol basement and posted on the OLLS website.

by Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on March 29, 2018. It has been updated for this posting.

With just a few weeks left in the 2019 legislative session, a legislator’s thoughts turn to…conference committees!

So far this session, the House and the Senate have sent just five bills to conference committee. But there are still more than 300 bills pending in the House and the Senate for this session; chances are good, the number of conference committees will increase. So now seems like a good time for a quick refresher course on the ins and outs of conference committee procedure.

For a bill to go to the Governor, it must pass both the House and the Senate in exactly the same form. If the second house amends a bill, it cannot go to the Governor for signature unless the first house accepts, or “concurs in,” the second house amendments and readopts the bill or unless both houses form a conference committee to create a report that resolves the differences between the two versions.

There is a third option, but it can be risky. A legislator can move for the first house to adhere to its position (i.e., refuse to consider any changes to the bill proposed by the second house). At that point, the second house can choose to recede from its changes and adopt the version of the bill that the first house passed. However, the second house can also choose to adhere to its position (i.e. refuse to consider adopting the first house’s version of the bill). Most often, when the first house adheres to its position and refuses to discuss a compromise, the second house also adheres. If this happens, the bill is dead.

But, let’s assume that the bill sponsor moves to reject the second house amendments and request the formation of a conference committee. The conference committee consists of three persons appointed from each house: Two majority party members and one minority party member. The Speaker and the President will each appoint the two majority members from their respective houses, and the Minority Leaders will each appoint the minority members from their respective houses. In most cases, the bill sponsors in both houses are appointed to the conference committee, and the bill sponsors can submit their preferences for the other members they would like to see appointed to the conference committee from their respective houses.

The conference committee’s report can address any of the differences between the two versions of the bill. But, if the conference committee wants to address language that was not changed by the second house or address an issue that fits within the bill title, but was not included in either version of the bill, the bill sponsors must ask their respective chambers for permission “to go beyond the scope of the differences” between the two versions. Sometimes, the bill sponsors will ask for this permission at the same time that they request a conference committee; more often they do not. The conference committee members can discuss changes that are outside the scope of the differences before they ask for this permission, but the members cannot sign the committee report until both houses have granted the committee permission to go beyond the scope of the differences.

The date, time, and location for all conference committee meetings are printed in the House and Senate calendars. After agreeing on wording changes to resolve the differences, the committee may adopt the committee report conceptually or, if the bill drafter prepared the report in advance of the meeting, may adopt the committee report as written. For the report to pass, a majority of the conference committee members from each house (i.e. two House members and two Senate members) must approve the report. Following adoption of the report, the committee members who voted to approve the report sign it. A committee member who voted against the report and any committee member who missed the meeting may also choose to sign the report.

Once the report is signed and turned in to the front desk of the House and the Senate, the house that agreed to go to conference committee, usually the second house, acts first on the report. Usually, the second house adopts the report and readopts the bill as amended by the conference committee report. Then the first house also adopts the report and readopts the bill. At that point, the bill is enrolled and sent to the Governor.

However, either house may choose to adhere to its position, recede from its position, or reject the conference committee report and ask that a second conference committee be formed. Assuming both houses agree to a second conference committee, they will appoint the members of the second conference committee, which may be the same as the first conference committee, and the committee will meet again and attempt to come to another agreement. Only two conference committees can be appointed for a bill. If either house rejects the committee report of the second conference committee, one of the houses will have to recede and adopt the other house’s version, or the bill is dead.

This article describes how conference committees usually work. The OLLS has prepared charts for the House and Senate that explain the possible actions, in addition to adopting a conference committee report, that each house may take in resolving differences between the houses. If you are interested in reading the legislative rules on conference committees, you can find them at House Rule 36, Senate Rule 19, and Joint Rules 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

According to Joint Rule 24 (b)(1)(A), every legislator is allowed to submit five bill requests each session. These five bill requests are in addition to any appropriation, committee-approved, or sunset bills that a legislator may choose to carry and must be submitted by the bill request deadlines. But in order to keep these five bill requests, a legislator’s bill requests must also meet specific bill filing deadlines.

Filing bills and introduction deadlines.

Bill requests may be forfeited if the request does not meet specific filing deadlines.*  Prior to the start of each session, a legislator must decide which of his or her bill requests will be his or her “prefile” bill (to be filed and ready for introduction on the first day of session).  And, of course, which two bill requests will meet the other early bill introduction deadline. At some point at the start of session, a legislator must also decide which two bills will meet the regular bill deadlines.
The filing deadline for prefile bills is normally five days prior to the start of session. This year, however, the prefile deadline is Friday, December 28, 2018. Each legislator must have one bill delivered to the front desk of the House or the Senate by this date or consider one of his or her bill requests as forfeited.*

The House and Senate early and regular deadlines for filing bills for introduction vary by chamber:

Bill Orders

A legislator’s “bill order” is the order in which his or her bills are filed for introduction. Joint Rule 23 (a) says that a legislator should choose his or her prefile bill and two early bills from the three requests made by the early bill request deadlines. This year the early request deadlines were Monday, November 26, 2018, for returning General Assembly members and Monday, December 10, 2018, for those members newly elected this year. The rule also allows a legislator to choose a bill request submitted after this early request deadline to meet the early bill introduction deadlines if needed.

A legislator’s early bill requests usually are filed as his or her early bills because these requests are submitted earlier and, therefore, are more likely to be further along in the drafting process than a bill request submitted later. But sometimes an early bill request may be more complicated than expected. In this case, the legislator may choose a relatively simple “regular” bill request (i.e., a request submitted after the early deadlines in November and December) to be one of his or her bills filed with the House or Senate in time to meet an “early” bill filing deadline, leaving the legislator with more time to work on the more complicated bill request.

The Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) encourages legislators to designate their prefile bill and other early bills (i.e., the bill order) as soon as possible in early December so that the OLLS can prioritize the drafting on these bills accordingly. If the OLLS does not have a legislator’s bill order on record, we will contact the legislator for this information and will continue contacting the legislator until the information is received.

*  A legislator can ask for permission from the House or Senate Committee on Delayed Bills, whichever is appropriate, to submit additional bill requests or to waive a bill deadline to a different date.