a member, and read by the Clerk, unless the committee otherwise order. Committees, Sessions of. 33. No committee shall sit during the sitting of the House, without leave. Of Standing Committees. 34. The following standing committees shall be appointed at the commencement of each session, unless otherwise ordered: A Committee of Constitutional Reform.* A Committee of Ways and Means. A Committee on Appropriations.* A Committee on the Judiciary System, (General.) A Committee on the Judiciary System, (Local.) A Committee on Municipal Corporations. A Committee on Mining. A Committee on Education. A Committee on Centennial Affairs.† A Committee on Insurance.† A Committee on Manufacturing.† A Committee on Accounts and Expenditures. A Committee on Vice and Immorality. A Committee on Military. A Committee on Elections. A Committee on Banks. A Committee on Corporations. A Committee on Counties and Townships. A Committee to Compare Bills. A Committee on Library. A Committee on Agriculture. A Committee on Railroads. A Committee on City Passenger Railroads. * Adopted session of 1874. + Adopted session of 1875. A Committee on Iron and Coal Companies. A Committee on Public Buildings. A Committee on Federal Relations.* A Committee on Retrenchment and Reform.† A Committee on Judicial Apportionment. A Committee on Legislative Apportionment. The committees on apportionment shall be appointed only at such times when apportionments are required to be made.‡ The Speaker is authorized to increase the number of members of the Standing Committee to not exceed twenty-one. OF BILLS. Introduction by Committee-Printing. 35. No bill shall be considered unless referred to a committee, returned therefrom and printed for the use of the members.§ Of Reading Bills-Not Twice on the Same Day-Printing of Amendments-Yeas and Nays on. 36. Every bill shall be read at length on three different days; all amendments made thereto shall be printed for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill; and no bill shall become a law unless on its final passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays. The names of the persons voting for and against the same shall be entered on the Journal, and a majority of the members elected be recorded thereon as voting in its favor.§ * Adopted session of 1862. When Bills not to be Reported. 37. No committee, either standing or select, shall report any bill for the action of the House, the passage of which is prohibited by the Constitution of the State,* as follows, viz: ARTICLE III. SECTION 7. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law authoriz ing the creation, extension or imparting of liens; regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards, boroughs or school districts; changing the names of persons or places; changing the venue in civil or criminal cases; authorizing the laying out, opening, altering or maintaining roads, highways, streets or alleys; relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating ferry or bridge companies, except for the erection of bridges crossing streams which form boundaries between this and any other State; vacating roads, town plats, streets or alleys; relating to cemeteries, graveyards, or public grounds not of the State; authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children; locating or changing county seats; erecting new counties or changing county lines; incorporating cities, towns or villages, or changing their charters; for the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing the place of voting; granting divorces; erecting new townships or boroughs; changing township lines, borough limits or school districts; creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers in counties, cities, boroughs, townships, election or school districts; changing the law of descent or succession; regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in, any judi * Changed session of 1875. cial proceeding or inquiry before courts, aldermen, justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbitrators, auditors, masters in chancery or other tribunals, or providing or changing methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcing of judgments, or prescribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate; regulating the fees, or extending the powers and duties of aldermen, justices of the peace, magistrates or constables; regulating the management of public schools, the building or repairing of school houses, and the raising of money for such purposes; fixing the rate of interest; affecting the estates of minors or persons under disability, except after due notice to all parties in interest, to be recited in the special enactment; remitting fines, penalties and forfeitures, or refunding moneys legally paid into the treasury; exempting property from taxation; regulating labor, trade, mining or manufacturing; creating corporations, or amending, renewing or extending the charters thereof; granting to any corporation, association or individual any special or exclusive privilege or immunity, or to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down a railroad track; nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such special or local law by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing local or special acts may be passed; nor shall any law be passed granting powers or privileges in any case where the granting of such powers and privileges shall have been provided for by general law, nor where the courts have jurisdiction to grant the same or give the relief asked for. Calendar of Bills. 38. All bills and joint resolutions reported affirmatively, shall be placed on the files and calendar in their numerical order, with the page and reference to the file where the same may be found. Separate files of Senate and House original, and amended bills, shall be placed upon the desks of the members by the sergeant-at-arms, and the same shall be regularly paged for reference; and on Wednesday of each week the Speaker shall, immediately after the reading of the journal, take up the calendar, and having announced such bills in their order, they shall be severally read at length, and considered in the committee of the whole House: Provided, That when the bill is reported to the House, either with or without amendments from the committee of the whole, the question shall be put to the House, will the House agree to the bill on first reading? Provided, That no bill shall be read or considered in committee of the whole, unless called up by a member: And provided further, That if reached and not called up for two successive weeks, it shall be dropped from the calendar by the Clerk, unless otherwise ordered by the House. The Clerk shall prepare, and place upon the desks of the members, a calendar of bills on first, second and third reading, for consideration in their order.* Call for Bill or other Subject. 39. On the call of a member for a bill or other subject, on the table of the House, the question shall be decided without debate or amendment. *Adopted session of 1874. Changed session of 1875. |