AMENDMENT BY SUBSTITUTE HOW MADE. 56. No bill or resolution shall be amended by substitute, otherwise than by striking out all after the enacting or resolving clause, and inserting the substitute without an enacting or resolving clause. And whenever a bill is amended in a manner that requires a change in the title of the bill, the title shall be amended to correspond with the amended bill at the same time. RULES AND ORDERS OF THE ASSEMBLY. MEETING, QUORUM, PRIVILEGES, ETC. 1. The hour for the meeting of the assembly shall be at ten o'clock A. M., unless a different hour shall be prescribed by resolution. 2. Before proceeding to business, the roll of the members elected to the assembly shall be called, and the names of those present and absent shall be entered on the journal. A majority of all the members elected must be present to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; a smaller number, however, can adjourn from time to time, and shall have power to compel the attendance of the absent members. 3. No member or officer of the assembly, unless from illness or other cause he shall be unable to attend, shall absent himself from the sessions of the assembly during an entire day, without first having obtained leave of absence; and no one shall be entitled to draw pay while absent more than one entire day, without leave, except he be confined by sickness at the seat of government. 4. Contestants for seats shall have the privileges of the house until their respective cases are disposed of; the privileges to extend only so far as access to the assembly chamber, during the time occupied in settling the contest. WHO MAY BE ADMITTED TO THE FLOOR. the 5. Persons of the following classes, and no others, shall be admitted to the floor of the house during the sessions thereof, viz: The governor and lieutenant governor; members of the senate; state officers; the regents of the university; members of congress; judges of the supreme and other courts; ex-members of the Wisconsin legislature; all editors of newspapers within the state, and reporters for the press; such other persons as the speaker may invite. DISTURBANCE IN LOBBY. 6. Whenever any disturbance or disorderly conduct shall occur in the lobby or gallery, the speaker (or the chairman of the committee of the whole) shall have power to cause the same to be cleared of all persons, except members and officers of the assembly. READING NEWSPAPERS AND SMOKING PROHIBITED. 7. No member or officer of the assembly shall be permitted to read newspapers within the bar of the house while the assembly is in session; nor shall any person be permitted to smoke in the assembly room at any time. OF THE OFFICERS. 8. The assembly shall elect, viva voce, one of its members as presiding officer, who shall be styled SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY, and he shall hold his office during one session. DUTIES OF SPEAKER. 9. It shall be the general duty of the speaker— To open the session, at the time to which the assembly is adjourned, by taking the chair and calling the members to order; To announce the business before the assembly in the order in which it is to be acted upon; To receive and submit, in the proper manner, all motions and propositions presented by the members; To put to vote all questions which are regularly moved, or which necessarily arise in the course of proceedings, and to announce the result; To restrain the members, when engaged in debate, within the rules of order; To enforce on all occasions the observance of order and decorum among the members; To inform the assembly, when necessary, or when referred to for the purpose in a point of order or practice; To authenticate, by his signature, when necessary, all the acts, orders, and proceedings of the assembly; To name the members-when directed to do so in a particular case, or when it is a part of his general duty by these rules-who are to serve on committees; and in general; To represent and stand for the assembly, declaring its will, and in all things obeying its commands. 10. The speaker shall preserve order and decorum; may speak to points of order in preference to others, rising from his seat for that purpose; and he shall decide questions of order, subject to an appeal to the assembly by any member, on which appeal no member shall speak more than once, unless by leave of the assembly. On an appeal being taken, the question shall be: "Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the assembly?" Which question, and the action of the assembly thereon, shall be entered on the journal. 11. The speaker may call a member to the chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment. 12. In the absence of the speaker, the assembly shall elect a speaker pro tempore, whose office shall cease on the return of the speaker. 13. The speaker shall vote on a call of the yeas and nays, and his name shall be recorded with those of the other members. DUTIES OF THE CLERK. 14. A CHIEF CLERK shall be elected at the commencement of each session, to hold his office at the pleasure of the assembly; he shall keep a correct journal of the daily proceedings of the body, and perform such other duties as may be assigned to him; he shall superintend the recording of the journals of proceedings; the engrossing, enrolling, transcribing and copying of bills, resolutions, etc; shall permit no records or papers belonging to the assembly to be taken out of his custody, otherwise than in the regular course of business; shall report any missing papers to the notice of the speaker; and generally shall perform, under the direction of the speaker, all duties pertaining to his office as clerk, and shall be responsible for the official acts of his assistants. 15. The chief clerk shall appoint one assistant to aid in the performance of his duties at the desk, and he shall be styled the journal clerk. He shall also appoint the necessary corps of assistants to act as book-keeper, engrossing and enrolling clerks. CHIEF CLERK MAY CORRECT CERTAIN ERRORS. 66 16. The chief clerk and his engrossing clerks, in all proper cases, shall corect any mere clerical error in any assembly bill, memorial or resolution, such as errors in orthography, or the use of one word for another, as affect for "effect," previous for "previously, are for "is," banks for bank," and the like; and, also, all mistakes in numbering the sections and references thereto, whether such errors occur in the original bill, or are caused by amendments made thereto. It shall also be competent for the chief clerk, at any time before the passage of any assembly bill, to insert therein an enact.. ing clause," when such clause has evidently been omitted through mistake or inadvertance. But no corrections other than such as are authorized by this rule, shall be made at any time by the clerk or his assistants, unless upon the order of the assembly. On questions of orthography, Webster's Unabridged Dictionary shall be taken as the standard. ACTS, ETC., TO BE SIGNED BY SPEAKER AND CLERK. 17. All acts, addresses and resolutions shall be signed by the speaker, and all writs, warrants and subpoenas issued by order of the assembly, shall be under his hand and seal, and attested by the clerk. DUTIES OF THE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS. 18. A SERGEANT-AT-ARMS shall be elected at the commencement of each session, to hold his office at the pleasure of the assembly. It shall be his duty to execute all orders of the speaker or assembly, and to perform all the duties they may assign to him, connected with the police and good order of the assembly chamber; exercise a supervision over the ingress and egress of all persons to to and from the chamber; to see that messages, etc., are promptly executed; that the requisite fires are kept up during the appropriate season; that the hall is properly ventilated, and is open for the use of the members of the assembly from 8 A. M. until 10 P. M., and to perform all other services pertaining to the post of sergeant-at arms. COMMITTEES. 19. The standing committees of the assembly shall consist of five members each, except the committee on railroads, which shall consist of nine members, and shall be as follows: 1. On the judiciary. 2. On state affairs. 3. On federal relations. 4. On militia. 5. On ways and means. 6. On banks and banking. 7. On incorporations. 8. On railroads. 9. On internal improvements. 10. On state prison. 11. On charitable and benevolent institutions. 12. On medical societies and medical colleges. 13. On town and county organizations. 14. On assessment and collection of taxes. 15. On roads, bridges and ferries. 16. On expiration and re-enactment of laws.. 17. On education. 18. On school and university lands. 19. On swamp and overflowed lands. 20. On agriculture. 21. On lumber and manufactures. 22. On mining and smelting. 27. On enrolled bills. 20. The following committees shall be joint committees, and shall be constituted as follows: 1. On claims-*Five from assembly; two from senate. 2. On public printing-+Three from assembly; two from senate. 3. On local legislation-‡Three from assembly; two from senate. 21. Select or special committees may be raised on motion or by resolution, designating the number and object, and, unless otherwise ordered, shall be appointed by the speaker. MAJORITY AND MINORITY REPORTS. 22. In case all the members of any committee required or entitled to report on any subject referred to them cannot agree upon a report, the majority and minority of such committee may each make *See secs. 18 to 22, inclusive, of chap. 9, R. S., page 122. |