§ 1 — Powers and Duties

Section 1. Powers and Duties. The Speaker shall: a. take the chair\neach day at the hour to which the House adjourned;\n b. call the House to order, lead the Members of the Assembly in the\nPledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and,\nexcept in the absence of a quorum, proceed to business in the manner\nprescribed in these Rules; and\n c. possess the powers and perform the duties herein prescribed. The\nSpeaker:\n (1) shall preserve order and decorum, name the member entitled to the\nfloor when more than one member seeks to be recognized and, in debate,\nprevent personal reflections and confine members to the question under\ndiscussion;\n (2) shall decide all questions of order subject to appeal to the House\nand on every appeal shall have the right, from the Chair, to assign the\nreason for such decision; in case of such appeal no member shall speak\nmore than once, nor for more than 15 minutes;\n (3) shall appoint the chairpersons and members of all committees\nthereof, except where the House shall otherwise order;\n (4) shall create such sub-committees of each standing committee,\njointly with the chairperson of the standing committee, as may be deemed\nnecessary;\n (5) shall appoint the chairpersons and members of all sub-committees\nthereof, except where the House shall otherwise order;\n (6) may designate by an appointment in writing duly entered upon the\nJournal of the House, any member to perform the duties of the Chair for\na period not exceeding five consecutive legislative days, but for no\nlonger period, except by special consent of the House and the member so\ndesignated shall be, during the time designated, vested with all the\npowers and duties conferred by these rules and section 40 of the\nlegislative law;\n (7) shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings,\nexcept where such vote would be decisive;\n (8) shall be a member and Chairperson of the Committee on Rules;\n (9) shall appoint a Majority Leader, who shall be a member of the\nCommittee on Rules, and who, together with the Minority Leader, shall be\na member ex-officio of all other standing committees of the House, and\nentitled to the same rights and privileges as other members of said\ncommittees except the right to vote;\n (10) shall appoint such other officers as he or she deems necessary to\nthe conduct of the affairs of the Assembly;\n (11) may direct a standing committee to conduct any investigation\nwhich the Assembly or a committee thereof is authorized to conduct,\nprovided, however, that the Speaker may not so direct the Committee on\nOversight, Analysis and Investigation unless requested in writing by a\nmajority of the membership of such Committee;\n (12) shall execute the judgment of the House, without debate, in cases\nof adjudged breach of its privileges; and\n (13) may create such task forces of the Assembly as he or she may deem\nnecessary or advisable and shall appoint the chairperson and members of\neach such task force.\n (14) shall adopt rules and regulations, and take such other measures\nas may be necessary to provide for the establishment and maintenance of\na system of internal controls and a program of internal control review\nfor the Assembly in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Rule VII\nhereof.\n