Rule 3.7. Duties of Secretary
A. The Secretary shall exercise the following general duties:
(1) Advise the officers and members of the Senate on parliamentary procedure and
the Senate rules when called upon to do so.
(2) Be responsible for the keeping of all bills, resolutions, joint resolutions, papers,
and records of the Senate and records of the proceedings and actions of the Senate.
(3) Insure compliance with Chapter 1, relative to use of Senate facilities.
(4) Arrange, number, and correct cross references in the Rules of Order of the
Senate following any amendment thereto; effect a consistent and orderly arrangement of
the rules; index the rules; exercise the same authorities, concurrently with the Clerk of the
House, with respect to the Joint Rules.
(5) Supervise and direct all Senate employees and report to the President the
failure of any employee or the Sergeant at Arms to perform his duties.
(6) Authenticate the Journal or any part thereof.
(7) Attest to the signature of the President on legislative instruments, writs,
warrants, and subpoenas, as provided in Senate Rule 7.11.
(8) Perform all other duties prescribed by law, by these rules, or by the Senate.
(9) Faithfully and promptly execute all orders of the Senate, the President, and the
legislature.
(10) In the engrossment or reengrossment of Senate legislative instruments:
(a) To renumber or redesignate numerical or alphabetical listings to create a
numerical or alphabetical sequence.
(b) To change reference numbers to agree with numbered Chapters and Sections.
(c) To substitute the proper chapter, section or other subdivision term for the terms
"this act", "the preceding Section", and the like.
(d) To delete figures where they are merely a repetition of written words and vice
versa.
(e) To change capitalization for the purpose of uniformity.
(f) To correct manifest punctuation and other typographical errors.
B. The Secretary shall exercise the following duties while the legislature is in
session:
(1) Maintain a Journal of the proceedings of the Senate and be responsible for its
accuracy and, for this purpose, he may make necessary corrections in the Journal.
(2) Record in the Journal daily the members present and those absent.
(3) Be responsible for all legislative instruments and documents in the custody of
the Senate, in passage from the Senate to the House, and in passage from the Senate to the
governor, and keep them in proper order.
(4) Maintain the calendars of bills, resolutions, and joint resolutions to be taken up
and acted upon by the Senate, as provided in Senate Rule 14.6.
(5) Cause legislative instruments to be printed and distributed, as required in
Senate Rule 7.6.
(6) Have enrolled all bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions originating
in the Senate which have passed both houses, the enrollment to incorporate into the
instrument all changes agreed upon by both houses, and he may have enrolled all Senate
Resolutions adopted by the Senate, including all amendments adopted thereto.
(7) Endorse all legislative instruments which are enrolled, attesting to the accuracy
of the enrollment thereof and to the signature of the President.
(8) Present legislative instruments of the Senate which have been signed by the
President, except Senate Resolutions, to the Speaker of the House for signature.
(9) Present legislative instruments of the Senate, signed by the President and the
Speaker of the House, to the governor.
(10) Keep a record, in the form of a receipt book, of all legislative instruments
presented to the governor and the time of delivery.
(11) Publish legislative or Senate calendars, as required by Senate Rule 14.6.
(12) Place on the desk of each member, prior to convening each day, an order of
the day for the Senate, consisting of a listing of the regular and special orders of business
for that day and an enumeration of each legislative instrument to be acted upon that day
within each order of business, including an enumeration of all legislative instruments
which are subject to call.
(13) Receive all reports of standing committees, as provided in Senate Rule 13.9,
including those to be recommitted as provided in Senate Rule 10.14.
(14) Place in the chamber, for the use of the membership, two copies of each bill
as introduced.
(15) Cause all legislative instruments which the Senate orders to be engrossed or
reengrossed to be typed so as to include all amendments which have been adopted at the
time of such order, as provided in Senate Rules 7.8 and 7.9, and technical corrections
authorized by Senate Rule 3.7(A)(10).
(16) Provide for the preparation and issuance of commendatory and congratulatory
instruments, as provided in Joint Rule 9.
C. The Secretary shall exercise the following additional duties while the Senate is
convened:
(1) State motions offered in the Senate, at the direction of the President, and read
motions presented in writing.
(2) Read the Journal daily, unless the reading is dispensed with by a majority of the
members present or the Journal is unavailable, as required by Senate Rule 14.5. The
Journal shall be made available only electronically to the members. No paper copies of
the Journal shall be distributed to a member unless the member specifically requests a
paper copy.
(3) Inform the Senate, whenever the motion for the previous question or the
motion for the previous question on the entire subject matter is offered, whether he has on
his desk amendments which members have handed him for the purpose of proposing
amendments to the instrument under debate, and name the authors of any such
amendments.
(4) Read petitions, memorials, communications, and other papers addressed to the
Senate during the appropriate order of business of the Morning Hour, as required in
Senate Rule 10.1.
(5) Number every legislative instrument in its regular order upon first reading, as
provided by Senate Rule 7.2.
(6) Endorse each legislative instrument with the action taken thereon, as provided
by Senate Rule 7.7.
(7) Refer to the Legislative Bureau all legislative matter intended to have the effect
of law, originating in the House, prior to third reading in the Senate, as provided in Senate
Rule 10.15 and Joint Rule No. 3.
(8) Announce the receipt of each veto message, as received from the governor, as
provided in Senate Rule 10.18.
(9) Call a member to preside in the absence of the President and President Pro
Tempore.
D. The Secretary shall exercise the following additional duties during the interim
between legislative sessions:
(1) Make available to the news media, to the public, and to registered lobbyists
notices of interim meetings of committees, as provided in Senate Rule 13.74.
(2) Prefile legislative instruments, and distribute copies thereof as provided in
Senate Rule 9.3.
(3) Upon petition of ten members of the Senate, transmit to each member a mail
ballot relative to the certification of disability or absence of the President, as provided in
Senate Rule 3.2.
(4) Retain the original and introduction copies of prefiled instruments, transmit
copies to the committee of reference, and reclaim copies therefrom, as provided in Senate
Rule 9.5.
(5) Repealed by SR 168 of 2014 RS, eff. August 1, 2014.
E. The Secretary shall only serve, whether in an official or unofficial capacity, on
the staff of any Senate standing committee when requested to do so by the President of
the Senate, the chairman, or a majority of the members of the committee. He shall assist
any senator individually requesting such assistance, whether on the floor or in committee
and shall carry out all of his duties required of him by the Rules of Order.
F. Any duty and any authority inherent in any such duty as provided in this Rule
may be suspended by the President of the Senate as provided in Senate Rule 3.3(33) and
the Secretary may be suspended from his duties, with or without pay, for a specified
period by the Senate by adoption of a resolution.
SR 18 of 1988 RS; SR 8 of 2004 1st EX; SR 168 of 2014 RS, eff. August 1, 2014.