Bills
Referred to Committees
No bill shall be
considered unless referred to a committee, printed for the use of the members
and returned there from.
(Constitution, Article III, Section
2).
RULE
19 (a)
Fiscal
Notes
(1) No bill,
except a General Appropriation bill or any amendments thereto, which may
require an expenditure of Commonwealth funds or funds of any political
subdivision or which may entail a loss of revenues overall, or to any
separately established fund shall be given third consideration reading on the
calendar until it has first been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a
fiscal note, provided however that the Rules Committee may by an affirmative
vote of three-quarters of the entire membership to which such committee is entitled:
(a) Waive the
recommittal to the Appropriations Committee and provide that the fiscal note be
attached to the bill while on the active calendar. The providing of such note
shall be a priority item for the Appropriations Committee; or
(b)
Waive the necessity of a fiscal note on any bill which it deems to have a de
minimis fiscal impact or which merely authorizes, rather than mandates, an
increase in expenditures or an action that would result in a loss of revenue.
(2) Nothing herein
shall preclude any member from moving, at the proper time, the recommittal of
any bill to the Appropriations Committee for a fiscal note.
(3) The
Appropriations Committee shall be limited in its consideration of any such bill
to the fiscal aspects of the bill and shall not consider the substantive merits
of the bill nor refuse to report any such bill from committee for reasons other
than fiscal aspects. The fiscal note shall accompany the bill and provide the
following information in connection with the Commonwealth and its political
subdivisions:
(a)
The designation of the fund out of which the appropriation providing for
expenditures under the bill shall be made;
(b)
The probable cost of the bill for the fiscal year of its enactment;
(c)
A projected cost estimate of the program for each of the five succeeding fiscal
years;
(d)
The fiscal history of the program for which expenditures are to be made;
(e)
The probable loss of revenue from the bill for the fiscal year of its
enactment;
(f)
A projected loss of revenue estimate from the bill for each of the five
succeeding fiscal years;
(g)
The line item, if any, of the General Fund, special fund or other account out
of which expenditures or losses of Commonwealth funds shall occur as a result
of the bill;
(h)
The recommendation, if any, of the Appropriations Committee and the reasons
therefor relative to the passage or defeat of the bill; and
(i)
A reference to the source of the data from which the foregoing fiscal
information was obtained, and an explanation of the basis upon which it is
computed.
(4) No bill which
may result in an increase in the expenditure of Commonwealth funds shall be
given third consideration reading on the calendar until the Appropriations
Committee has certified that provision has been made to appropriate funds equal
to such increased expenditure. Whenever the Appropriations Committee cannot so
certify, the bill shall be returned to the committee from which it was last
reported for further consideration and/or amendment.
(5) No amendment
to a bill, concurrences in Senate amendments, or adoption of a conference
report which may result in an increase in the expenditure of Commonwealth funds
or those of a political subdivision or which may entail a loss of revenues in
addition to that originally provided for in the bill prior to the proposed
changes nor any bill requiring a fiscal note for which re-referral to the
Appropriations Committee has been waived by the Rules Committee shall be voted
upon until a fiscal note is available for distribution to the members with
respect to such changes or to such bill showing the fiscal effect of the
changes with respect to the bill, and containing the information set forth by
subsection (3) of this rule.
(6) When an
amendment or certificate is timely filed with the amendment clerk under Rule
21, the amendment or certificate shall be forwarded to the Appropriations
Committee. Upon receipt of an amendment, the Appropriations Committee shall
automatically prepare a fiscal note.
(7) In obtaining
the information required by these rules, the Appropriations Committee may
utilize the services of the Office of the Budget and any other State agency as
may be necessary.
(8) Any bill
proposing any change relative to the retirement system of the Commonwealth or
any political subdivision thereof, funded in whole or in part out of the public
funds of the Commonwealth or any political subdivision, shall have attached to
it an actuarial note. Except for the provisions pertaining to the content of
fiscal notes as set forth in paragraphs (a) through (i) of subsection (3), all
the provisions pertaining to and procedures required of bills containing fiscal
notes, shall, where applicable, also be required for bills containing actuarial
note. The actuarial note shall contain a brief explanatory statement or note
which shall include a reliable estimate of the financial and actuarial effect
of the proposed change in any such retirement system.
RULE
19 (b)
General Appropriation Bill and Non-Preferred Bills
This rule shall
apply to all amendments offered to the General Appropriation Bill for each
proposed fiscal year including any amendments offered to or for supplemental
appropriations to prior fiscal years contained within the General Appropriation
Bill, and shall also apply to all amendments offered to any non-preferred
appropriation bill for the same fiscal year.
Any amendment
offered on the floor of the House to the General Appropriation Bill that
proposes to increase spending of State dollars for the Commonwealth's proposed
fiscal year or prior fiscal years above the levels contained in the General
Appropriation Bill as reported from the Appropriations Committee plus any
aggregate if certified each year by the Appropriations Committee shall not be
in order and may not be considered unless the same amendment contains
sufficient reductions in line items of that General Appropriation Bill so that
the amendment offered does not result in a net increase in the total proposed
spending contained within the General Appropriation Bill plus any aggregate if
certified by the Appropriations Committee.
Any amendment
offered on the floor of the House to any non-preferred appropriation bill that
proposes to increase spending of State dollars for the current fiscal year
above the levels contained in that non-preferred appropriation bill as reported
from the Appropriations Committee shall not be in order and may not be
considered unless the same amendment contains sufficient reductions in that
non-preferred appropriation bill so that the amendment offered does not result
in a net increase in the total proposed spending contained within that
non-preferred appropriation bill.
In order to be
considered, amendments to the General Appropriation Bill must be submitted to
the Office of the Chief Clerk by 2:00 P.M. of the Monday of the week prior to
the scheduled vote of the General Appropriation Bill. The Appropriations
Committee for special and proper reason and by majority vote, may waive this
deadline. Members shall be notified of the scheduled vote on the General
Appropriation
Bill no later than 4:30 P.M. of the
Wednesday preceding the above noted Monday on which the amendments must be
filed to the Bill. Rule 21 of the Rules of the House, insofar as it applies to
the filing deadline for amendments and notice requirements for the voting
schedule for the General Appropriation Bill, shall not apply to this rule. Rule
21 shall, however, apply to the non-preferred appropriation bills.
If the amendment
cannot be submitted in accordance with the provision of the previous paragraph
because it is still being prepared by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the
member must, by 2:00 P.M. on the Monday of the week prior to the scheduled
vote, provide the Office of the Chief Clerk with a statement, prepared by the
member containing the factual content and exact amounts of increases and
decreases in line items which would be proposed in the amendment, along with
certification from the Legislative Reference Bureau that the amendment was
submitted to the Legislative Reference Bureau prior to 2:00 P.M. on the
aforementioned Monday. This filing deadline does not apply to amendments to any
non-preferred appropriation bill.
Debate on any
debatable question related to the General Appropriation Bill or a nonpreferred
appropriation bill shall be limited to five minutes each time a member is
recognized. On the bill a sponsor of an amendment shall be entitled to be
recognized twice, a maker of a debatable motion shall be entitled to be
recognized twice, any other members shall be entitled to be recognized once.
This rule may be
temporarily suspended only by two-thirds vote of the members elected to the
House by a roll call vote.
