Chapter 6
House Floor Parliamentary Procedures

Part 1
General Requirements

HR4-6-101 Obtaining the floor in the House -- Remarks to be germane.
(1) A representative may speak to the subject under consideration if the representative is recognized by the presiding officer.
(2) Upon recognition by the presiding officer, the representative shall ensure that the representative’s remarks are germane to the subject under consideration.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-102 Motions on the floor -- General requirements and procedures.
(1)
(a) Except as provided in Subsections (2) and (3), a representative who is recognized by the presiding officer may make a motion.
(b) A second to the motion is not required.
(2)
(a) A representative may not speak to a matter and then make a motion unless the representative has:
(i) asked the presiding officer to allow the representative to reserve the right to make a motion; and
(ii) received permission to do so from the presiding officer.
(b) In speaking to the matter, the representative shall confine the representative’s remarks to the subject of the motion to be made.
(c) A representative may only reserve the right to make:
(i) a motion to amend the legislation being debated; or
(ii) a motion to substitute the legislation being debated.
(3) The presiding officer shall:
(a) restate each oral motion made by a representative; and
(b) ensure that each written motion made by a representative is available to any representative who requests a written copy.
(4) The representative who made a motion may withdraw it any time before the vote on the motion.

Amended by H.R. 4, 2013 General Session

HR4-6-103 Sponsor may open and close debate.
          When a piece of legislation is on a calendar and ready for debate, or after accepting a motion, the presiding officer shall:
(1) recognize the chief sponsor of the piece of legislation or of the motion and allow the chief sponsor to open and close debate on the legislation or motion; and
(2) allow the chief sponsor to close debate even if a motion to end debate has passed the House.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-104 Interruptions and questions.
(1) A representative may not interrupt or question another representative in debate without that representative’s consent.
(2)
(a) To obtain consent, the querying representative shall address the presiding officer and, upon recognition by the presiding officer, ask if the representative speaking will yield the floor to a question.
(b) If the representative speaking consents to yield the floor to a question, the presiding officer shall allow the querying representative to ask the question.
(c) If the representative speaking declines to yield the floor to a question, the presiding officer:
(i) shall inform the querying representative that the representative speaking has declined; and
(ii) may not allow the querying representative to ask a question.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-104.5 Yielding time -- Prohibition on motions.
(1) With the approval of the presiding officer, a representative who has the floor may yield all or part of the representative’s remaining time to another representative.
(2) A representative who has the floor as a result of time yielded from another representative may not make a motion.

Enacted by H.R. 4, 2013 General Session

HR4-6-105 Representatives not to speak more than twice -- Maximum speaking time -- Maximum time for debate on a piece of legislation.
(1)
(a) Without permission from the House, a representative may not speak more than twice on the same piece of legislation, substitute legislation, or amendment in any one debate on the same day and on the same reading of the legislation.
(b)
(i) Except as provided in Subsection (1)(b)(ii), the presiding officer may not grant a representative who has spoken once permission to speak again on the same piece of legislation or substitute if any representative who has not spoken wishes to speak.
(ii) The presiding officer may grant a representative who has spoken once permission to respond to a question if the representative consents to a request that the representative yield to a question under HR4-6-104.
(2) Sponsor presentation for a nonbinding resolution, as defined in HR3-2-405, is limited to a maximum of three minutes, or a shorter time as provided by rule.
(3) A representative may not speak longer than 10 minutes at any time, unless another representative yields that representative’s time to the representative who has the floor.
(4) Unless extended by a majority vote, the presiding officer may not allow the House to debate a piece of legislation for more than:
(a) eight hours, during the first 38 calendar days of an annual general session; and
(b) two hours during the last seven calendar days of an annual general session.

HR4-6-105.5 Prohibited references on the floor.
(1)During debate on the House floor, a representative may not:
(a)allude to or discuss what was done or said in committee in relation to the legislation under debate, except that a representative may allude to or discuss information contained on a House or Senate committee report;
(b)use a display, exhibit, demonstration, or prop, including an individual who is present on the House floor, to illustrate the representative’s remarks or to emphasize the representative’s position; or
(c)read from a written, prepared speech unless the representative, during the debate, receives permission from the presiding officer.
(2)During debate on the House floor, a representative may use notes when delivering a speech.
(3)
(a)Except as provided in Subsection (3)(b), when raising a matter of personal privilege on the House floor, a representative may not:
(i)use a display, exhibit, demonstration, or prop to illustrate the representative’s remarks or to emphasize the representative’s position; or
(ii)read from a written, prepared speech.
(b)A representative may engage in an act prohibited under Subsection (3)(a) if the representative receives permission from the presiding officer immediately after raising the matter of personal privilege.
(4)Nothing in this rule affects a representative’s ability to seek approval in accordance with HR1-4-302(13) to have material placed on the representatives’ desks.

Amended by H.R. 7, 2026 General Session

HR4-6-106 Order of action.
          If a representative makes a motion to amend or substitute legislation during debate on third reading, the presiding officer shall ensure that the House debates and passes or defeats the motion to amend or substitute before allowing debate and action on the legislation itself.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-107 Substitute motions.
(1)A representative may, upon recognition by the presiding officer, make a substitute motion, which, if adopted by vote of a majority of the House, disposes of the original motion.
(2)If the substitute motion is not adopted, the original motion is revived.
(3)A representative may not make a substitute motion if:
(a)another substitute motion is pending; or
(b)a privileged motion is pending.

Amended by 1st Sub. H.R. 1, 2025 General Session

HR4-6-108 Dividing a motion or question.
(1)
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (1)(b)(i), if a motion or a question in debate contains several points, a representative may ask to have the question divided for purposes of the vote.
(b)
(i) A motion to strike out and insert is not subject to division.
(ii) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(b)(i), the rejection of a motion to strike out and insert one proposition does not preclude a motion to strike out and insert a different proposition.
(2) The request to divide must clearly state how the motion or question is to be divided.
(3)
(a) The presiding officer shall determine how many divisions may be made to any motion or question.
(b) The House may seek to overrule the chair’s decision only once.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-109 Motions in order during debate.
(1)
(a)When a motion or question is being debated, the presiding officer may not accept any other motion except a motion:
(i)to adjourn, which is nondebatable;
(ii)to determine the time at which to adjourn, which is debatable;
(iii)to recess or saunter, which is nondebatable;
(iv)to end debate (call the previous question), which is nondebatable and requires a two-thirds vote to pass;
(v)to refer to a committee, which is debatable;
(vi)to limit debate, which is debatable;
(vii)to postpone to a time certain, which is debatable;
(viii)to circle, which is debatable;
(ix)to strike the enacting clause, which is debatable;
(x)to substitute, which is debatable; or
(xi)to amend, which is debatable.
(b)Points of order and appeals of the decision of the presiding officer are not motions and are always in order.
(c)The presiding officer shall grant priority to the motions listed in Subsection (1)(a) according to the order in which they are listed in that rule.
(2)
(a)If an amendment or substitute to a piece of legislation has been proposed and is under consideration by the House, the presiding officer shall treat a motion to end debate (call the previous question) as directed only toward the amendment or substitute.
(b)If no motion to amend or substitute a piece of legislation has been made, the chair shall treat a motion to end debate (call the previous question) as directed toward action on the legislation itself.
(3)If a motion to postpone a piece of legislation to a day certain or a motion to return a piece of legislation to the House Rules committee is defeated, a representative may not make the same motion on the same piece of legislation during the same reading of the legislation.
(4)When a motion to refer to committee, to postpone to a time certain, or to circle is made, the presiding officer may not allow consideration of amendments or debate on the main question.
(5)During a roll call, no motion or other business is in order except for a call of the House, until after the announcement of the result of the vote.

Amended by H.R. 5, 2025 General Session

HR4-6-110 Privileged motions.
(1)A privileged motion:
(a)is non-debatable;
(b)is not a substitute motion; and
(c)subject to HR4-6-109, takes precedence over a non-privileged motion.
(2)If a privileged motion is requested while another privileged motion is pending, the presiding officer shall grant priority to privileged motions in the following order:
(a)to adjourn;
(b)to recess;
(c)to end debate (call the previous question); or
(d)to extend the time for debate.
(3)The presiding officer shall decide all points of order arising from one of the above privileged motions without debate.

Amended by 1st Sub. H.R. 1, 2025 General Session

Part 2
Specific Motions

HR4-6-201 Motion to adjourn.
          A motion to adjourn is always in order except:
(1) when a vote is being taken;
(2) when a previous motion to adjourn has been defeated and no intervening business has been transacted; or
(3) when another representative has the floor.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session

HR4-6-202 Motion to circle.
(1) A motion to circle legislation holds the legislation in place on the calendar.
(2)
(a) A motion to circle preserves all amendments to the legislation already adopted by the House.
(b) A motion to circle extinguishes all amendments pending at the time that the motion is made.
(3) Legislation that has been circled may only be uncircled by:
(a) the chief House sponsor of the legislation; or
(b) the representative designated by the chief Senate sponsor to be the House floor sponsor of the legislation.
(4) When a motion to uncircle is made:
(a) amendments already adopted by the House are part of the legislation; and
(b) any pending motions to amend at the time the legislation was circled are extinguished and a new motion to amend must be made in order to revive them.
(5) A motion to circle and a motion to uncircle require a majority vote to pass.

HR4-6-203 Motion to strike the enacting clause.
(1) When a motion to strike the enacting clause passes by a constitutional majority, the bill from which the enacting clause was stricken is dead and may not be revived.
(2) Nothing in this rule precludes a representative from introducing a new bill identical to the bill whose enacting clause was struck.

Enacted by H.R. 3, 2010 General Session