STANDING RULES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE TERRITORY OF UTAH.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT.

RULE I. Unless otherwise ordered the Convention shall meet each day, except Sundays and holidays, at the hour of 10 o'clock a. m.

The President shall take the chair each day precisely at the hour to which the Convention shall have adjourned. He shall call to order and, except in the absence of a quorum, shall proceed to business in the manner prescribed by these rules.

RULE II He shall possess the powers and perform the duties herein prescribed, viz:

1. He shall preserve order and decorum, and in debate shall prevent personal reflections, and confine members to the question under discussion. When two or more members rise at the same time, he shall name the one entitled to the floor.

2. He shall decide all questions of order subject to appeal to the Convention. On every appeal he shall have the right in his place to assign his reasons for his decision. In case of such appeal no member shall speak more than once.

3. He shall appoint all committees except where the Convention shall otherwise order.

4. In case the president is absent or fails from any cause to take the chair at the appointed hour, the Convention shall appoint a president pro tempore.

5. When the Convention shall be ready to go into committee of the whole, he shall name a chairman to preside therein, subject to the right of committee to elect its own chairman.

6. He shall assign seats to authorized reporters of the press, who shall have the right to pass to and fro from such seats in entering or leaving the chamber. No reporter shall appear before any of the committees in advocacy of or in opposition to anything under discussion before such committees. A violation of this rule will be sufficient cause for the removal of such reporter. Removal for this cause shall be vested in the president.

7. He shall not be required to vote in ordinary proceedings, except where his vote could be decisive. In case of a tie vote, the question shall be lost. He shall have general control, except as provided by rule or law, of the chamber and of the corridors and passages in that part of the building assigned to the use of the Convention. In case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries, corridors, or passages, he shall have the power to order the same to be cleared, and may cause any person guilty of such disturbance or disorderly conduct to be brought before the bar of the Convention. In all such cases the members present may take such measures as they deem necessary to prevent a repetition of such misconduct by excluding the offending person from admission to the chamber thereafter, or imposing other penalties.

8. He shall also be ex-officio member and chairman of the committee on rules.

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

RULE III. The first business of each day's session shall be the reading of the journal of the preceding day and the correction of the same. The order of business shall then be as follows:

1st. Presentation of petitions, memorials.

2nd. Reports of the standing committees.

3rd. Reports of select committees.

4th. Introduction of ordinance and propositions for insertion in the Constitution.

5th. Unfinished business.

6th. Special orders.

7th. Third reading of the ordinance and propositions to be inserted in the Constitution.

8th. Motions and resolutions.

All ordinances and propositions for insertion in the Constitution shall be read in full once, and a second time by title. which shall be considered the second reading, and referred to the appropriate committee without debate.

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS.

RULE IV. Petitions, memorials, remonstrances and any other papers addressed to the Convention shall be presented by the president, or by any member in his place, read by their titles, unless otherwise ordered, and referred to the proper committee.

RULE V. Every member presenting a paper shall endorse the same; if a petition, memorial, remonstrance or communication in answer to a call for information, with a concise statement of its subject and his name; if a notice or resolution, with his name; if a proposition for insertion in the Constitution, with a statement of its title, his name, and, if taken from a constitution of any state, a reference thereto; if a proposition of any other kind for the consideration of the Convention, with a statement of its subject, the proposer's name, and the reference desired. A report of a committee must be endorsed with a statement of such report, together with the name of the committee making the same, and shall be signed by the chairman; a report by the minority of any committee shall be signed by the members rendering the same.

RULE VI. Every member who shall be within the bar of the Convention when a question is stated from the chair, shall vote thereon unless he is excused by the Convention, unless he be directly interested in the question; nor shall the roll of absentees be more than once called. The bar of the Convention shall be deemed to include the body of the Convention chamber.

RULE VII. Any member requesting to be excused from voting may make, when his name is called, a brief statement of the reasons for making such request, not exceeding two minutes in time; and the Convention, without debate, shall decide if it shall grant such request; but nothing in these rules contained shall abridge the right of any member to change his vote on any question previous to the announcement of the result. Any five members shall have the right to demand the yeas and nays upon any question before the result is announced. Any three members have the right to demand a call of the Convention, but if objection is made, the demand shall be sustained by one-fifth of the members present; and upon a call of the Convention the names of the members shall be called alphabetically, and the absentees noted upon the journal.

ORDER AND DECORUM.

RULE VIII. No member rising to debate, to give a notice, make a motion, or present a paper of any kind, shall proceed until he shall have addressed the president and been recognized by him as being entitled to the floor. While the president is putting a question or a count is being had, no member shall speak or leave his place; and while a member is speaking no member or person shall entertain any private discourse or pass between the member speaking and the chair.

RULE IX. When a motion to adjourn or for recess shall be carried, no member or officer shall leave his place until the adjournment or recess shall be declared by the president.

RULE X. No persons, except members of the Convention and the officers thereof shall be permitted within the secretary's desk, or the room set apart for the use of the secretary, during the session of the Convention, and no member or other person ,shall visit or remain by the secretary's table while the yeas and nays are being called, except officers of the Convention in the discharge of their duties.

RULE XI. No member shall speak more than once on the same question until every member desiring to speak on such question shall have spoken, nor more than twice on any question, without leave of the Convention; provided, the mover of any question, or the chairman of any committee reporting the matter under consideration, may, upon giving notice thereof, speak last.

RULE XII. If any member in speaking or otherwise transgress the rules of the Convention, the president shall, or any member may, call him to order, in which case the member so called to order shall immediately sit down, and shall not rise unless to explain or proceed in order. The president shall decide all points of order, which decisions may be appealed from.

RULE XIII. All questions relating to the priority of one question or subject matter over another under the same order of business, or a postponement of any special order or the suspension of any rule, shall be decided without debate.

RULE XIV. All questions of order as they shall occur, with the decisions thereon, shall be entered in the journal.

STANDING COMMITTEES.

RULE XV. The president shall appoint the following standing committees, to report upon the subjects named, and such other matters as may be referred to them, viz:

1. Rules and methods of procedure, to consist of five members including the president, who shall be chairman.

2. Federal relations, to consist of seven members.

3. Preamble and declaration of rights, to consist of eleven members.

4. Legislative, to consist of fifteen members.

5. Judiciary, to consist of fifteen members.

6. Executive, to consist of fifteen members.

7. Elections and rights of suffrage, to consist of fifteen members.

8. Apportionment and boundaries, to consist of twenty-six members, one from each county.

9. Education and school lands, to consist of eleven members.

10. Public buildings and state institutions, to consist of eleven members.

11. Water rights, irrigation, agriculture, to consist of fifteen members.

12. Municipal corporations, to consist of nine members.

13. Corporations other than municipal, to consist of fifteen members.

14. Public lands, to consist of seven members.

15. Revenue, taxation, and public debt, to consist of fifteen members.

16. Salaries of public officers, to consist of nine members.

17. Mines and mining, to consist of fifteen members.

18. Labor and arbitration, to consist of seven members.

19. Printing, to consist of three members.

20. Militia, to consist of five members,

21. Manufactures and commerce, to consist of seven members.

22. Ordinances, to consist of seven members.

23. Schedule and future amendments, miscellaneous, to consist of nine members.

24. Accounts and expenses, to consist of three members.

25. Engrossment and enrollment, to consist of five members.

26. Compilation and arrangement, to consist of five members.

RULE XVI. The several committees shall consider and report without unnecessary delay upon the respective matters referred to them. All propositions for insertion in the Constitution shall be reported by the committees, cleanly engrossed, without rider, inter-lineation or defacement.

RULE XVII. It shall be the duty of the committee on printing to examine and report all questions of printing referred to them; to examine from time to time and ascertain whether the prices charged for printing and the quantities and qualities furnished are in conformity to the orders of the Convention and to the conditions fixed by it; to ascertain and report the number of copies to be printed and how distributed, and to report to the Convention from time to time any measures they may deem useful for the economical and proper management of the Convention printing.

RULE XVIII. It shall be the duty of {85} the committee on account and expenses to inquire into the expenditures of the Convention, and whether the same are being or have been made in conformity with the law and the orders of the Convention, and whether proper vouchers exist for the same; and whether the funds provided for the purpose are economically applied, and to report from time to time such regulations as may conduce to economy and secure the faithful disbursement of the moneys appropriated by law.

RULE XIX. Every ordinance, proposition, or other matter reported by any committee for insertion in the Constitution, shall, without further orders, be printed and referred to the committee of the whole.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

RULE XX. The same rules shall be observed in committee of the whole as in the Convention, so far as the same are applicable, except that the previous question shall not apply, nor the yeas and nays be taken; nor a limit be made as to the number of times speaking. A motion to rise and report progress shall be in order at any stage, and shall be decided without debate, but a motion to rise is not in order until each section and the title have been considered, unless the limit of time has expired.

RULE XXI. There shall be a special calendar for the committee of the whole, on which shall be placed all propositions and other matters which by order of the Convention or under these rules are referred to such committee. Every proposition shall be considered and acted upon in the committee of the whole in its order upon the calendar. In committee of the whole propositions shall be read by the chairman and considered item by item, unless otherwise directed by the committee, leaving the preambles, if any, last to be considered. The body of the propositions shall not be defaced, or interlined, but amendments shall' be noted by the chairman

or secretary upon a separate piece of paper or rider, and so reported to the Convention. Every proposition or other matter reported from the committee of the whole for the third reading by the Convention, shall be placed upon the Convention calendar, and be considered and acted upon under that order of business.

COMPILATION AND ARRANGEMENT.

RULE XXII. As soon as any entire proposition for incorporation in the Constitution shall have been disposed of, such proposition, if agreed to by the Convention, shall be referred to the committee on compilation and arrangement, to be by that committee embodied in the Constitution. The committee shall have full power to revise the language used in the various propositions and to arrange the same so as to be clearly expressive of the sense of the Convention, and to make the instrument complete and consistent within itself. The committee having completed its revising, shall report all the articles of the Constitution to the Convention, when it shall be fully read, and when it is thus read the question shall be on the whole Constitution, so revised and amended, and if the same shall be decided in the affirmative the Constitution as a whole shall be carefully enrolled under the supervision of the committee on engrossment and enrollment, and signed by the president and members of the Convention.

GENERAL RULES.

RULE XXIII. The final vote agreeing to each proposition, and upon agreeing to the instrument as a whole, shall be taken by the yeas and nays, and no such proposition shall be considered as agreed to, nor the instrument as a whole, except a majority of the delegates elected vote therefor.

RULE XXIV. Equivalent motions, resolutions; or amendments thereto, shall not be entertained. If any question contains several distinct propositions, it shall be divided by the chair at the request of any member; but a motion to strike out and insert, shall be indivisible. When a question is under debate, no motion shall be received but to adjourn, to lie on the table, for the previous question, to postpone to a day certain, to commit or amend, to postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they are arranged, and no motion to postpone to a certain time, to commit, or postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall be again allowed at the same stage of the proposition.

RULE XXV. When a blank is to be filled and different sums or times shall be proposed the question shall be first taken on the highest sum and longest time.

RULE XXVI. All proposed action touching the rules and order of business, shall be referred, as of course, to the committee on rules. Such committee may sit during the session of the Convention without special leave, and report at any time upon rules, or order of business, so referred to them. It will be in order to call up for consideration at any time a report from the committee on rules. No other committee shall sit during the session of the Convention without special leave.

RULE XXVII. A majority of the delegates elected to the Convention shall constitute a quorum. In all cases of absence of members during the sessions, the members present may take such measures as they may deem necessary to secure the presence of absentees, and may inflict such penalty as they may deem just upon those who, on being called on for that purpose, shall not render sufficient excuse for their absence. No proposition or other matter shall be inserted in the Constitution, unless by the assent of a majority of the members elected to the Convention.

RULE XXVIII. The previous question shall be as follows:

Shall the main question be now put? And until it is decided, shall preclude all amendments or debates. When the Convention shall decide that the main question shall not now be put, the main question shall be considered as still remaining under debate. The main question shall be on the passage of a proposition for insertion in the Constitution, resolution or other matter under consideration; but when amendments thereto are pending, the question shall first be taken upon such amendments in their order.

RULE XXIX. Except as otherwise by these rules specifically provided, Roberts' Rules of Order shall be the rule of decision of parliamentary questions.

OFFICERS OF THE CONVENTION.

RULE XXX. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep the journals of each day's proceedings, which shall be printed and laid on the table of members on the succeeding day. He shall prepare and post on the bulletin board in the hall of the Convention, on the morning of each day, a calendar of the orders and business of the day, for the Convention, and a like calendar for the committee of the whole. All appointments of officers and employes [sic] shall be entered on the journal of the Convention with the date of appointment.

RULE XXXI. It shall be the duty of the stenographer of the Convention to be present at every session of the Convention. He shall take stenographic notes of the debates in the Convention and in committee of the whole, and with reasonable dispatch shall furnish copy of the debates written out in long hand, and file the same with the secretary.

RULE XXXII. At a reasonable time, to be determined by the Convention, at least five days before final adjournment, the committee on engrossment and enrollment shall be instructed to accurately engross and enroll the Constitution, and the same shall be reported by said committee to the Convention, and read through therein, and submitted to a final vote prior to its final adjournment. Upon such reading no amendments shall be permitted.

RULE XXXIII. The sergeant-at-arms shall, under the direction of the committee on printing, receive from the printer all matter printed for the use of the Convention, and cause the same to be distributed to the members immediately after reception by him; under the direction of the president, he shall enforce the rules of the Convention. He shall procure a bulletin board of suitable dimensions, to be placed by him under the direction of the president in some convenient place in the chamber.

CONVENTION CHAMBER AND PRIVILEGES OF ADMISSION TO THE FLOOR.

RULE XXXIV. The following classes of persons besides officers and members of the Convention shall be entitled to admission to the floor of the Convention, during the sessions thereof, viz:

1. The governor, secretary, auditor; treasurer, and ex-governors.

2. The justices of the supreme court, and ex-justices thereof:

3. The delegate to Congress and ex-delegates.

4. Members of the Utah commission.

5. Reporters for the press, as provided by these rules.

6. Ladies.

No other person shall be admitted to the floor during the sessions of the Convention unless the Convention shall otherwise order.

RULE XXXV. No reporter of a newspaper or other person who is interested in pending or contemplated constitutional enactment, or who is employed by or receives any compensation from any corporation except a newspaper, news, or press association, shall be admitted or entitled to the privileges of the floor of the Convention.

RULE XXXVI. The doors of the Convention shall be kept open to the public during all its sessions.

RULE XXXVII. The standing rules of the Convention and the regular orders of business shall not be suspended or interrupted unless by a vote of two-thirds of the delegates present.

RULE XXXVIII. Every proposition to change, alter, or add to the standing rules of the Convention shall be referred to the committee on rules without debate; and every report thereon, from said committee, shall lie over one day before action thereon.

• Standing Rules of the Constitutional Convention of the Territory of Utah (introduced on 1895-03-11 14:00:00 - CREATE - e697094) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]
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