HCR 11 – FINAL VERSION
2005 SESSION
09/01
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 11
A RESOLUTION establishing joint rules for committees of conference for the 2005 and 2006 sessions of the New Hampshire general court.
This house concurrent resolution establishes joint rules for committees of conference for the 2005 and 2006 sessions of the New Hampshire general court.
05-1075
09/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
A RESOLUTION establishing joint rules for committees of conference for the 2005 and 2006 sessions of the New Hampshire general court.
Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the general court of New Hampshire hereby declares that whenever there is any disagreement between the house and the senate on the content of any bill or resolution both bodies may agree separately to establish a committee of conference subject to the following joint rules:
(a) Except as provided below, the speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint 4 members to the conference committee and the president of the senate shall appoint 3 members to the conference committee.
(b) The committee of conference on the operating budget shall consist of 5 house members and 4 senate members.
(c) The number of members of the committee of conference on any bill may be increased or decreased if the president of the senate and the speaker of the house agree jointly.
(d) A unanimous vote by all members of the committee of conference shall be necessary for a report to the house and the senate by the committee of conference.
(e) A member of a committee of conference who has been removed and replaced with another member shall have his or her name appear on the committee of conference report with a strike-through showing the individual is no longer a member of the committee of conference.
(f) The first-named person from each body shall be the chairperson of the conferees from that body. In the house a committee of conference report analysis shall be prepared by the first-named house member on each conference committee and shall be printed in the house calendar. A committee of conference report may be placed on the house consent calendar only by a unanimous vote of all house conferees.
(g) The first-named person from the body where the bill or resolution in disagreement originated shall be the chairperson of that committee of conference and shall have the authority to call the time and place for the first meeting of the committee of conference on such bill or resolution.
(h) Any convening of more than 1/2 of the members of a committee of conference that includes at least one member of the house and one member of the senate shall be open to the public and all persons shall be permitted to attend.
(i) A convening of the house members of a committee of conference or of the senate members of a committee of conference is not subject to the open meeting requirement contained in (h).
(j) The sponsor of any bill or resolution referred to a committee of conference shall, upon his or her request, be granted an opportunity to address the committee of conference prior to action on the bill or resolution.
(k) A committee of conference may neither change the title of any bill submitted to the committee of conference nor add amendments which are not germane to the subject matter of the bill as originally submitted to the committee of conference. For the purposes of this rule, a non-germane amendment is any subject matter not contained in either the house or the senate version of the bill.
(l) Non-germane amendments, sections, and footnotes to either the general appropriation bill or the capital budget bill (except footnotes in explanation of the principal text of such bills or designating the use or restriction of any funds or portions thereof) are prohibited. The committee of conference on the general appropriation bill may propose new items for inclusion in the bill but no such item may be so included unless and until it is returned to both the senate and the house and adopted in identical form by a majority vote in each body.
(m) No action shall be taken in either body on any committee of conference report earlier than some subsequent day after the report has been delivered to the seats in the house or placed on the members’ desks in the senate.
(n) After a committee of conference report has been adopted by the first body, a message shall be transmitted to the second body which shall then act upon the report of the committee of conference.
Approved: May 5, 2005