Amendment #4 to H2019

Discharge petitions

Mr. Hecht of Watertown moves to amend the order in Rule 28 by inserting after paragraph (6) the following paragraph:- (6A) As an alternative procedure to that provided under the provisions of the rule, if forty members of the House sign a petition seeking to discharge the House committee on Ways and Means, the House committee on Bills in the Third Reading, and the House committee on Rules from further consideration of a legislative matter, the question placed before the House at the next formal session shall be: “Shall the committee be discharged and the bill placed in the Orders of the Day?”  Debate on the question shall be limited to 30 minutes and no member may speak for more than two minutes, with the exception of one principal sponsor of the bill and the chair of the committee to be discharged, each of whom may speak for ten minutes.  If the question is approved by a majority of House members present and voting, the committee shall be discharged from further consideration of the legislative matter specified in the petition and the House Clerk shall place the matter in the Orders of the Day for the next calendar day that the House is meeting.