HCR 6: Proposing amendments to the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature relating to presiding officers pro tempore; and providing for an effective date.
00HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 6 01 Proposing amendments to the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature 02 relating to presiding officers pro tempore; and providing for an effective date. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. Rule 1(b) of the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature is amended 05 to read: 06 (b) When the house by a majority vote of the full membership of the house 07 selects a temporary presiding officer, the temporary presiding officer assumes the chair 08 and the lieutenant governor withdraws. The temporary presiding officer then calls for 09 nominations for a permanent presiding officer and the nominee receiving a majority 10 vote of the full membership of the house becomes the permanent presiding officer for 11 the two-year duration of the legislature. If a permanent presiding officer is not elected 12 by the seventh legislative day, on the eighth legislative day the temporary presiding 13 officer shall again call for nominations for a permanent presiding officer from the 14 floor. A roll call vote shall be taken on the persons nominated. Election of a
01 permanent presiding officer requires a majority vote of the full membership of the 02 house. After assuming the chair, the permanent presiding officer calls for 03 nominations for a presiding officer pro tempore and the nominee receiving a 04 majority vote of the full membership of the house becomes the presiding officer 05 pro tempore for the two-year duration of the legislature. 06 * Sec. 2. Rule 1(e) of the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature is amended to 07 read: 08 (e) The permanent presiding officer shall announce, not later than the day 09 following election, the appointment of a Committee on Committees consisting of five 10 members including the permanent presiding officer and the presiding officer pro 11 tempore. The permanent presiding officer chairs the Committee on Committees. 12 The committee is responsible for nominating the members of the standing committees 13 as set out in Rule 20 and the member who is to chair each standing committee to serve 14 for the two-year duration of the legislature. The membership of each committee shall 15 total to an uneven number. On each standing committee the minority is entitled to the 16 number of seats that is proportional to the number of minority members compared to 17 the total house membership or to one seat, whichever is greater. In calculating the 18 number of seats the minority is entitled to, fractional numbers that represent the 19 minority proportional entitlement to a seat shall be ignored. The report of the 20 Committee on Committees is subject to approval by a majority vote of the full 21 membership of the house. For purposes of this subsection "minority" means a group 22 of members who have organized and elected a minority leader and who constitute at 23 least 25 percent of the total house membership. 24 * Sec. 3. Rule 4 of the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature is amended to read: 25 RULE 4. DUTIES OF THE PERMANENT PRESIDING OFFICER AND 26 THE PRESIDING OFFICER PRO TEMPORE. The permanent presiding officer 27 of each house has the duties set forth in section 575, MASON'S MANUAL OF 28 LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE, 1979 edition, when not inconsistent with these 29 Uniform Rules. In the absence of the permanent [REGULAR] presiding officer, the 30 [MAJORITY LEADER OF THE HOUSE SERVING EX OFFICIO AS] presiding 31 officer pro tempore shall preside and carry out the other duties of the permanent
01 presiding officer. However, while presiding, the permanent presiding officer or 02 the [; EXCEPT THAT THE REGULAR] presiding officer pro tempore may 03 temporarily relinquish the chair to any member. 04 * Sec. 4. Notwithstanding Rule 1(b) of the Uniform Rules, as amended by this resolution, 05 within 10 days after the effective date of this resolution, each house shall elect a presiding 06 officer pro tempore to serve for the duration of the Nineteenth Alaska State Legislature. 07 * Sec. 5. The amendments proposed by this resolution take effect immediately.