House Resolution 5

(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Armstead)

[Introduced February 8, 2017; referred to the Committee on Rules.]

“Amending House Rules 63 and 84a, relating to the previous question and witnesses before committees.”

            Resolved by the House of Delegates:

            That House Rule 63 be amended to read as follows:

“Previous Question

63. When any question is before the House, any member who has not spoken on the question, when properly recognized, may move the previous question. Any demand for the previous question must be sustained by one tenth of the members present. If sustained, the motion for the previous question shall be put by the Speaker, without debate, in the form of “Shall the question on _________now be put?” If the motion for the previous question is adopted by a majority vote of members present, that question shall be put to a vote without further debate: Provided, That if the question is passage of the bill or adoption of a resolution, the Member recognized by the Speaker pursuant to Rule 34 to explain the bill or resolution shall be provided five minutes to close debate. If the question at issue is an amendment, the Member that is the lead sponsor of the amendment shall be provided three minutes to close debate.

When a member moves the previous question, he shall specifically state in his motion whether it shall apply to the main question and the amendments or to the amendment or amendments only. If the motion applies to the main question and the amendments, separate votes shall be taken on each pending amendment and the main question without further debate, except for the Member having the right to close on the question pursuant to this Rule.

The previous question shall not be admitted in the Committee of the Whole.”

And,

That House Rule 84a be amended to read as follows:

“Witnesses Before Committees

84a. Every committee of the House shall administer oaths to any witness person, except current members or employees of the West Virginia Legislature, appearing before the committee at any meeting, with the exception of a public hearing, or during the deliberations of any committee. If any witness to whom an oath has been administered shall refuse to answer a question put to such witness by any member of the committee, the committee may report such refusal to the House and upon motion duly made by any member of the House, the House may cause to be issued a subpoena to compel such witness to appear before the committee to give testimony. Upon appearance pursuant to subpoena the witness may be questioned by the chairman and any member of the committee.

The Clerk of the House, the chairman of the committee, and, in the absence of the chairman, the committee clerk or any member of the committee may administer the oath to the witness and may require that such oath be subscribed to by the witness. 

No committee shall invoke this rule unless in the judgment of a majority of members appointed to the committee special circumstances so require.”