Joint Order, To Amend the Joint Rules To Provide for Leave To Withdraw

ORDERED, the House concurring, that the Joint Rules be amended by amending Joint Rule 310, subsection 2 to read:

2. Committee Reports. The report of the committee must include a recommendation. Recommendations that may be made are:

The  Except for Leave to Withdraw, the committee shall vote on all recommendations to be included in reports on a bill during a work session on that bill. When the committee recommendation is not unanimous, a minority report or reports are required. Except as provided in subsection 5, minority committee reports must be voted on at the same work session as the majority report on that bill. Notwithstanding subsection 5, a committee vote to report a bill out favorably must be taken based on written language before the committee at that time or on a motion describing the content of the report. After a committee vote, no substantive change may be made in the committee report unless motions to reconsider and to amend the report are approved at a committee work session. All reports on any legislative document must be submitted to the Legislature at the same time.

ORDERED, that the Joint Rules be amended by adding at the end of Joint Rule 310 a new subsection 6 to read:

6. Leave to Withdraw. A sponsor may request leave to withdraw that sponsor’s bill or resolve. The request may be granted only by the agreement of both chairs of the joint standing committee to which the bill or resolve was referred and only if the request is made prior to the public hearing on that bill or resolve. When a request for Leave to Withdraw has been granted by the chairs, the bill or resolve must be reported by the committee as Leave to Withdraw and placed in the legislative files and may be recalled only as provided in Joint Rule 404.