Rule 7.6. Legislative instruments and other documents; introduction copies, printing; language indicators in bills; deadline for legislation requests
A. All legislative instruments shall be prepared for introduction by the staff of the Senate or the House of Representatives and shall be printed or typewritten and a total of three copies thereof presented to the Secretary at the time of introduction. If a legislative instrument presented for introduction has not been prepared by the staff of the Senate or the House of Representatives, the Secretary, prior to its introduction, shall inform the author of the requirements of this rule and shall transmit the instrument, on behalf of the author, to the Senate staff for preparation for introduction as required by this Paragraph.
B. If the constitution or laws require that public or other notice be given of intention to introduce a bill, evidence that notice has been given shall be attached to one of the copies presented at the time of introduction.
C. Every bill shall be printed upon introduction and shall be available for distribution to the members and to the public upon request.
D. Each Senate bill shall be printed as engrossed, together with a digest thereof as amended. The digest shall be prepared and furnished by the Senate staff.
E. (1) On the day on which a bill appears on the regular calendar for final passage, a copy thereof and any supplemental digest shall be placed in the Final Passage Book on the desk of each member. The bills shall be arranged as listed on the regular calendar, separately for Senate and House bills.
(2) On the day on which a resolution or concurrent resolution appears on the regular calendar to be adopted, the resolutions or concurrent resolutions shall be posted on the official legislative website, and shall be arranged as listed on the regular calendar, separately for Senate and House resolutions and concurrent resolutions. Resolutions and concurrent resolutions that pertain to notifying the House of Representatives or the governor that the Senate has convened or is ready to adjourn, or to the holding of a joint session of the legislature, shall be exempt from this requirement.
F. A copy of each bill which has been placed on the Subject to Call Calendar, and any supplemental digest thereof, shall be placed in the Subject to Call Book on the desk of each member, arranged in numerical order and separately for Senate bills and House bills.
G. No bill shall be considered on third reading and final passage until the requirements of this rule have been met.
H. Resolutions, reports, memorials, and petitions shall be printed only on the order of the Senate.
I.(1) To the extent practicable and where appropriate, bills any part of which propose to amend the existing law, shall be introduced in a format which includes both the existing law and the proposed new law, with the proposed new language in the text to be in boldface type and underscored, and all present law language and punctuation which is to be deleted shall be lined through.
(2) The following words, shall be printed on a bill to explain the method of identifying or indicating language deleted from existing law or additions to existing law and shall not constitute a part of the law under consideration: "Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law; words in boldface type and underscored are additions."
J. The inclusion of the language to be deleted and the above described indicators both of the deleted language and of new language, the digests and supplemental digests prepared pursuant to this Rule, and the inclusion of a keyword and summary prior to "An Act" by Senate staff are for information and guidance only and shall not constitute a part of the law proposed to be enacted.
K. During a regular session, a request for legislation that is to be introduced on the last day for introduction of matters having the effect of law shall be received by Senate Legislative Services staff not later than 6:00 p.m. on the day prior to the last day for introduction.
SR 3 of 1985 RS; SR 3 of 1989 1st EX; SR 3 of 1994 2nd EX; SR 7 of 1999 RS; SR 112 of 2004 RS; SR 20 of 2009 RS; SR 4 of 2011 RS.