SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 43

(By Senator Snyder)


Amending Joint Rule No. 3 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Delegates relating to conference committee membership requirements.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That Joint Rule No. 3 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Delegates be amended to read as follows:
Disagreement and Conference
3. (a) Whenever a measure of one house is amended in the other and the house in which it originated shall refuse to concur in the amendment, the house amending the measure may either insist or recede therefrom. But when a measure originating in one house is amended in the other, the house in which it originated may amend such amendment and a motion therefor shall take precedence of a motion to concur. If said house refuses to concur, the other house may either recede from or insist upon its amendment, and a motion to recede shall take precedence of a motion to insist. The motion to lay on the table or to postpone indefinitely shall not be in order in respect to the motion to recede from or to insist.
A motion to recede having failed shall be equivalent to the adoption of a motion to insist and shall be so entered upon the Journal. A motion to insist being decided in the negative shall be equivalent to the adoption of a motion to recede and shall be so entered upon the Journal. If the motion to insist prevails, the house so insisting shall request a committee of conference on the subject of disagreement, and shall appoint a committee therefor, which shall consist of members who voted on the prevailing side of the measure. The other house may thereupon appoint such committee. Unless a different number is agreed upon, such conference committee shall consist of five members from each house.
Such committee shall consider and report upon only the subject matter of the amendment or amendments which were in disagreement, with necessary consequential changes. The committee shall meet at a convenient time, to be agreed upon by their Chairmen, and upon notifying all conferees of the time and place of any such meeting, and having conferred freely, shall report to their respective houses the result of the conference. In case of agreement, the report shall be first made, with the papers referred accompanying it, to the house which refused to concur, and there acted upon; and such action, with the papers referred, shall be immediately reported by the Clerk to the other house. In case of disagreement, the papers shall remain with the house in which the measure originated. If an agreement is reached, the report shall be made and signed in duplicate by at least a majority of the conferees from each house, one of the duplicates being retained by the conferees of each house.
(b) With respect to any conference agreed to within the first fifty-one days of a regular session, the conference committee shall report to each house within seven days of agreement to conference or be discharged, except that upon a concurrent resolution duly adopted by a majority of those present and voting in each house, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Delegates may extend the conference not to exceed an additional three days. In no event shall a conference committee report to each house later than 6:00 P.M. on the sixtieth day.
With respect to any conference agreed to after the fifty-first day of a regular session, or any time during any extraordinary session, the conference committee shall report to each house within three days after agreement to conference or be discharged, except that such conference may be extended by concurrent resolution duly adopted by a majority of those present and voting in each house, for a period not to exceed one additional day. In no event shall a conference committee report to each house later than 6:00 P.M. on the sixtieth day.
Any conference committee which fails to report within the time limits established by this rule shall be deemed to be discharged, and the papers referred shall remain with the house in which the measure originated.
Any conference report shall, upon recognition by the presiding officer, be communicated to each house by its Clerk and made available to members of each house. Each house shall designate a location or office where copies of such report shall be made available. The Clerk shall communicate availability of conference reports by an announcement to the members of said house during the session. Such announcement can be made at any time upon recognition by the presiding officer, and the Clerk shall duly note the time of said announcement. Except as provided herein, the conference report shall lie over one day and shall not be considered in either house until at least the next day following, but thereafter it shall be proper to take up consideration of the conference report at any time otherwise permitted by the rules of such house whether or not such house met on the preceding day: Provided, That after the fifty-ninth day of any regular session or on any day of any extraordinary session a conference committee report may be considered the same day if availability of written copies of such report is communicated to that house while in session at least two hours prior to any consideration: Provided, however, That the conference report may be taken up for immediate consideration at any time by two-thirds vote of the members of that house present.
Nothing herein shall affect the right of the presiding officer of either house to appoint or discharge any conference committee as heretofore provided, such right to appoint and discharge such committee being subject to the rules of each respective house.
The provisions of subsection (b) above shall not apply to the budget bill.