§ 5 — Consideration of bills; requests by sponsor

§ 5. Consideration of bills; requests by sponsor. a. Each standing\ncommittee may consider any bill referred to it at any time if otherwise\nin conformity with these Rules. (1) In considering any bill, a standing\ncommittee may vote favorably, unfavorably or to hold the bill for\nfurther action and/or study, provided, however, that a motion to hold\nwhich fails shall not be deemed to satisfy a request for consideration.\nInsofar as may be practicable, each standing committee shall vote upon\nsuch bills in the order in which such requests are filed, provided,\nhowever, that a chairperson may schedule the consideration of bills\njointly if such bills deal with similar subject matter. Committees\nhaving original jurisdiction over bills upon which a request for\nconsideration has been filed shall schedule all such bills for committee\nconsideration by the third Tuesday in May of the second year of the term\nof the Assembly.\n (2) No bill shall be considered by a standing committee unless the\nfinal printed copy of the bill has been available to each member of the\ncommittee for at least seven days and copies thereof have been available\nto the general public and representatives of the news media for at least\nsuch period of time. A bill reported by a standing committee with\namendments shall not be deemed to be a new bill for the purposes of the\nprovisions of this subdivision requiring bills to be available for at\nleast seven days prior to consideration by a standing committee.\nProvided, however, that upon consent of a majority of the members of\nsuch committee, any bill which is not in compliance with the foregoing\nprovisions of this paragraph, may be transmitted to the Committee on\nRules for further action in accordance with the provisions of\nsubparagraph (b) of paragraph one of subdivision b of section ten of\nthis Rule.\n b. The sponsor of a bill referred to a standing committee may require\nthe committee to formally vote upon such bill by filing a request\ntherefor on an appropriate form to be furnished by the Office of Journal\nOperations. With respect to such request for consideration:\n (1) The clerk of each standing committee, upon receiving such a\nrequest must immediately issue a receipt therefor acknowledging the date\nand time of filing;\n (2) Requests for consideration may be submitted on bills that are\nprinted, as follows:\n (a) no later than the second Tuesday in April of the second year of\nthe term of the Assembly, except that after the second Tuesday in April\nof such second year through the first Tuesday in May each member may\nsubmit a total of five additional requests for consideration with a\ncommittee of original jurisdiction, and a copy of such additional\nrequest shall be filed by the Committee Clerk with the Committee on\nStanding Committees; and\n (b) in the case of a bill that is referred to a subsequent standing\ncommittee, such request shall be submitted within thirty days after such\nreferral;\n (3) Except with respect to bills referred to a standing committee\npursuant to the provisions of paragraph two of subdivision f of section\ntwo of Rule III, requests for consideration of any bill introduced by or\nat the request of a member may be made only once in any two-year term of\nthe Assembly;\n (4) Once a committee has acted pursuant to such request, such\ncommittee shall not be required, during such two-year term, to again\nconsider such bill or to consider any substantially duplicative bill\nintroduced by, or at the request of such member subsequent to the\nconsideration of such bill by the committee; and\n (5) With respect to a bill sponsored by the Committee on Rules at the\nrequest of a member, either the Committee or the member at whose request\nthe bill has been introduced may file a request for consideration.\n