Suspending
and Changing Rules
Unless otherwise
specified in another rule, any rule of the House, which is not required by the
Constitution, may be temporarily suspended at any time for a specific purpose
only by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to the House by a roll call
vote.
A motion to suspend
the rules may not be laid on the table, postponed, committed or amended and may
be debated by the majority leader, the minority leader, the maker of the
motion, the maker of the amendment under consideration and the prime sponsor of
the bill under consideration.
A brief description
of the underlying bill or amendment shall be given whenever a member moves to
suspend the rules of the House in order to consider such bill or amendment.
The existing rules
of the House shall not be changed, added to, modified or deleted except by
written resolution and the same approved by a majority vote of the members
elected to the House by a roll call vote.
Except where such
resolution originates with the Committee on Rules, no resolution proposing any
change, addition, modification or deletion to existing House rules shall be
considered until such resolution has been referred to the Committee on Rules,
reported therefrom, printed, filed on the desk of each member and placed on the
calendar.
Any proposed change,
addition, modification or deletion offered by a member on the floor of the
House to such resolution shall be considered, in effect, a change, addition,
modification or deletion to existing House rules and shall require for approval
a majority vote of the members by a roll call vote.
