HRULE 2.10     

Rule 2.10. Clerk of the House; duties

            A. The duties of the Clerk while the legislature is in session shall include the following:

            (1) To maintain a Journal of the proceedings of the House and of the Committee of the Whole and be responsible for their accuracy, for which purpose he is authorized to make corrections in the Journals whenever necessary, and to record the members present and those absent in the daily Journals.

            (2) To maintain a calendar of action taken on each legislative instrument and to record daily the action taken on each such instrument for inclusion in the Calendar.

            (3) To be responsible for all legislative instruments and documents in the custody of the House or in passage from the House to the Senate and to keep them in proper order.

            (4) To maintain the calendars of bills, resolutions, and joint resolutions to be taken up and acted upon by the House.

            (5) To refer to the Legislative Bureau all legislative matter intended to have the effect of law, originating in the Senate, prior to third reading in the House, as provided in House Rule 8.19.

            (6) To cause legislative instruments to be printed and distributed as required in House Rules 7.2, 7.6, and 7.9.

            (7) To have enrolled all bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions originating in the House of Representatives which have passed both houses, said enrollment to include all changes agreed upon by both houses and any technical corrections pursuant to Subparagraph (14) of this Paragraph and to have enrolled all House Resolutions adopted by the House, including all amendments adopted thereto and any technical corrections made thereto pursuant to Subparagraph (14) of this Paragraph.

            (8) To endorse all legislative instruments which are enrolled, attesting to the accuracy of the enrollment thereof.

            (9) To present legislative instruments signed by the Speaker, except House Resolutions, to the President of the Senate for signature.

            (10) To keep a record of all legislative instruments presented to the governor and the time of the delivery of each to him.

            (11) To publish Legislative and House Calendars as required by House Rule 12.6.

            (12) To make available, electronically, prior to convening each day an order of the day for the House which shall consist of a listing of the regular and special orders of business of the House for that day; an enumeration of each legislative instrument to be acted upon that day in each such order of business; an enumeration of all legislative instruments for which a notice of intention to call from the calendar has been given in accordance with House Rule 8.20; and an enumeration of all legislative instruments which have been returned to the calendar. No hard copies of the order of the day shall be distributed to a member unless the member specifically requests a hard copy.

            (13) To receive all reports of standing committees as provided in House Rule 6.11, including those to be recommitted as provided in House Rule 6.8.

            (14) To cause all legislative instruments which the House orders to be engrossed or reengrossed to be typed so as to include and reflect all amendments which have been adopted at the time of such order, as provided in House Rule 7.8, and to make technical corrections in such legislative instruments and in legislative instruments originating in the House of Representatives upon enrollment as follows:

            (a) To number, designate, renumber, or rearrange, or redesignate items in a numerical or alphabetical listing to establish 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 or other proper citation 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 misspellings and manifest punctuation and other typographical errors.

            (15) To receive all requests and information from members of the House relative to congratulatory and commendatory certificates in accordance with Joint Rule 9.

            B. The duties of the Clerk while the House is convened shall include the following:

            (1) To state motions offered in the House, at the discretion of the Speaker, and to read motions presented in writing.

            (2) To read the Journal daily unless such reading is dispensed with by a majority of the members present or the Journal is unavailable, as required by House Rule 12.5. The Journal shall only be made available electronically to the members. No hard copies of the Journal shall be distributed to a member unless the member specifically requests a hard copy.

            (3) To inform the House as to whether or not he has amendments on his desk which members have handed him for the purpose of proposing to the instrument under debate, and to name the authors of any such amendments whenever the motion for the previous question, or the motion for the previous question on the entire subject matter is offered, as required by House Rule 9.10(C).

            (4) To present petitions, memorials, communications and other papers addressed to the House during the appropriate order of business of the Morning Hour as required in House Rule 8.7.

            (5) To number every legislative instrument in its regular order upon first reading, as required by House Rule 7.3.

            (6) To endorse each legislative instrument with the action taken thereon, as required by House Rule 7.7.

            (7) To announce the receipt of each veto message as received from the governor as provided in House Rule 8.28.

            (8) To call a member to preside in the absence of the Speaker or Speaker Pro Tempore, as provided in House Rule 2.6.

            (9) To announce the committee reference for prefiled instruments which have been referred to committee prior to the session on the day of introduction, as required by House Rule 7.2.

            (10) To announce on the day of introduction any committee report for prefiled instruments which have been reported by committee prior to the session as provided by House Rule 6.11 which has not been published in the Interim Calendar.

            C. The duties of the Clerk during the interim between legislative sessions shall include the following:

            (1) To make available to the news media, to the public and to registered lobbyists notices of interim meetings of committees as provided in House Rule 14.24.

            (2) To prefile legislative instruments and distribute copies thereof as provided in House Rules 7.2 and 7.6.

            (3) Upon petition of ten members of the House, to transmit to each member a mail ballot relative to the certification of the disability or absence of the Speaker as provided in House Rule 2.8(4).

            (4) To prescribe the form for income reports and to receive income reports from each member of the House of Representatives, as provided in House Rule 4.8.

            (5) To retain the original and introduction copies of prefiled instruments, to transmit copies to the committee of reference and reclaim copies therefrom, as provided in House Rule 7.2(C).

            (6) To enter committee reports on prefiled instruments in the Interim Calendar, as provided in House Rule 12.7.

            (7) To make available all prefiled instruments upon request and to transmit such copies to House members, as provided in House Rule 7.6(B).

            (8) To maintain and distribute an Interim Calendar, as provided in House Rule 12.7.

            D. The duties of the Clerk throughout the year shall include the following:

            (1) To act as parliamentarian of the House of Representatives and to advise the officers and members of the House on parliamentary procedure and the rules of the House when called upon to do so.

            (2) To be responsible for the keeping of all bills, resolutions and joint resolutions, papers and records of the House of Representatives and records of the proceedings and actions of the House.

            (3) To insure compliance with House Rule 1.1 relative to use of the House Chamber.

            (4) To arrange, number and correct cross-references in the Rules of Order of the House of Representatives, following any amendment thereto; to effect a consistent and orderly arrangement of the rules; to exercise the same authorities, concurrently with the Secretary of the Senate, with respect to the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives.

            (5) Repealed by HR 13, 2020 R.S., eff. May 31, 2020.

            (6) To attest to the signature of the Speaker on legislative instruments, writs, warrants, and subpoenas, as provided in House Rule 7.13.

            (7) To ensure the timely receipt by each member of all material required by rule or law to be transmitted by the clerk to the membership by the United States Postal Service, including, if necessary, sending duplicate materials by facsimile transmission, electronic mail, commercial delivery, or any other reasonable means at his disposal, or combination thereof to accomplish this duty and, if necessary, contacting a member by telephone or other means if the clerk has reason to believe that the member has not received the material.

            (8) To perform all other duties prescribed by law.

            (9) To faithfully and promptly execute all orders of the House.

            (10) To periodically revise, subject to the approval of the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs, the list of the customs, usages, and practices affecting legislative procedure of the House of Representatives.

            Mason's Manual: Sec. 405 and 584

            HR 3, 1973; HR 8, 1974; HR 1, 1988 2nd Ex. Sess.; HR 19, 1997, eff. April 11, 1997; HR 45, 1998, eff. May 20, 1998; HR 3, 1999; HR 9, 2000 1st Ex. Sess.; HR 1, 2005, eff. April 25, 2005, until Jan. 14, 2008; HR 4, 2006 2nd Ex. Sess., eff. Dec. 13, 2006; HR 76, 2007, eff. June 27, 2007; HR 16, 2008 1st Ex. Sess., eff. Feb. 22, 2008; HR 6, 2013, eff. May 30, 2013; HR 13, 2020, eff. May 31, 2020.