Would voting to bring SJR 127 violate the House Rules of parliamentary procedure?
No. Actually, House Rule 53 allows the entire House, by vote of 2/3 of its members to “recall” a bill from a committee and place it on the calendar for consideration by the entire House of Representatives. In addition, House Rule 74 allows for any rule to be suspended or modified by a vote of 2/3 of the members. In other words, the rule that requires bills to be approved by a committee before they can be put on the calendar for consideration by the entire House of Representatives can be “suspended.” The rules are suspended many times during the session for a variety of reasons. One should ask whether, if recalling a bill from a committee or suspending the Rules were “destructive” to good order and process in the House, then why would these two rules exist. The fact is that sometimes the process does not work and some issues are so important that a small number of members should not prevent the entire body from considering something. That is why Rules 53 and 74 exist. • Will voting to b
