H.R. 3

1

HOUSE RULES RESOLUTION
2 2012 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Chief Sponsor: Wayne A. Harper
5
6 LONG TITLE
7 General Description:
8 This resolution amends the House rule that governs verbal amendments in House
9 standing committees.
10 Highlighted Provisions:
11 This resolution:
12 . increases the number of words that are permitted in a verbal amendment to
13 legislation being reviewed by a House standing committee; and
14 . provides that words or a set of words repeated in a similar context in the legislation
15 be counted only once when calculating the word limit.
16 Special Clauses:
17 None
18 Legislative Rules Affected:
19 AMENDS:
20 HR3-2-410
21
22 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the state of Utah:
23 Section 1. HR3-2-410 is amended to read:
24 HR3-2-410. Amending legislation -- Amendment must be germane.
25 (1) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (2), a committee member may, if recognized
26 by the standing committee chair while the committee is debating a piece of legislation, make a
27 motion to amend the legislation.

28 (b) (i) A committee member may [verbally propose an] propose a verbal amendment to
29 a piece of legislation if the amendment contains [15] 25 words or less.
30 (ii) If a word or set of words in the amendment are repeated in a similar context in
31 multiple places, that word or set of words shall only be counted once for the purpose of
32 determining the number of words in the amendment.
33 [(ii)] (iii) A committee member shall ensure that a proposed amendment containing
34 more than [15] 25 words is printed and distributed to the committee staff and all committee
35 members present before the amendment is proposed.
36 (2) (a) The committee member making the motion to amend shall ensure that the
37 amendment is germane to the subject of the original legislation under consideration.
38 (b) If a committee member believes that an amendment is not germane to the subject of
39 the original legislation, the committee member may raise a point of order alleging that the
40 amendment is not germane.
41 (c) The standing committee chair shall rule on the point of order by determining
42 whether or not the amendment is germane to the subject of the original legislation.





Legislative Review Note
as of 2-21-12 2:26 PM

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel