XI. DEBATE 55. When any member is about to speak in debate or deliver any matter to the Senate, he shall rise from his seat, and without advancing, with due respect, address "Mr. President," confining himself strictly to the point in debate, and avoiding all disrespectful language. 56. No member shall speak more than twice on the same subject, without leave of the Senate; nor more than once until every member choosing to speak shall have spoken. 57. No question shall be debated until it has been propounded by the President, and then the mover shall have a right to explain his views in preference to any Senator. 58. When the President is putting a question, any Senator who has not spoken before to the matter may speak to the question before the negative is put. 59. During any debate any Senator, though he has spoken to the matter, may rise and speak to the orders of the Senate if they be transgressed, in case the President do not; but if the President stand up at any time, he is first to be heard, and while he is up Senators must keep their seats. 60. No Senator shall be allowed to be interrupted while speaking, except on points of order, to correct erroneous statements or to answer any questions that may be propounded by the Senator speaking. 61. Motions to adjourn; lay on the table; for the pending question; for the previous question; to suspend the rules; to take from the table; to take up orders of the day; to close debate; to limit debate; to extend limit of debate; to read papers; to reconsider questions not debatable, shall not be debated; but upon a motion to suspend a rule, or to take from the table, to lay on the table, or to take up orders of the day, the mover shall be allowed five minutes to state the reasons for his motion, and one member opposed to the motion shall be allowed a like time to object. And when a question not debatable is before the Senate, all incidental questions arising after it is stated shall be decided and settled, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate; and the same rule shall apply to all incidental questions arising after any question is put to the house. XII. RECONSIDERATION 62. A question being once determined must stand as the judgment of the Senate and cannot during the same session be drawn again into debate. No motion to reconsider a question which has been decided, shall be entertained, unless it be made by a Senator voting with the prevailing side, nor unless made on the same day In which the vote was taken or within the two next days of actual session of the Senate thereafter; provided, however, that when any question is decided in the negative simply for the want of a majority of the whole Senate, any Senator who was absent from the city of Richmond or detained from his seat by sickness at the time of the vote sought to be reconsidered may move its reconsideration. XIII. PETITIONS 63. No petition of a private nature, having been once rejected, shall be acted on a second time, unless it be supported by new evidence; nor shall any such petition, after a third disallowance, be again acted on. The several clerks of committees shall keep alphabetical lists of all such petitions, specifying the session at which they were presented and the determination of the Senate thereon, and shall deliver the original petition to the Clerk of the Senate, to be preserved in his office. 64. No petition shall be received claiming a sum of money or praying the settlement of unliquidated accounts, unless it be accompanied with the certificate of disallowance from the Executive or Auditor containing the reason why it was rejected. 65. When any such petition, or bill founded on one, is rejected, such petition shall not be withdrawn; but the petitioner, or Senator presenting his petition, or any Senator from the county or corporation in which the petitioner resides, may, without leave, withdraw any document filed therewith; and a list of all documents so withdrawn shall be preserved by the clerk. All petitions not finally acted on may, with the accompanying documents, be in like manner withdrawn after the expiration of the session at which they were presented. 66. No petition shall be read in the Senate unless particularly requested by some Senator, but every Senator presenting one shall announce the name of the petitioner, nature of the application, and whether, in his opinion, a similar application had been before made by said petitioner. He shall also endorse on the back of the petition his own name as a pledge that it is drawn in respectful language; whereupon it shall be delivered to the Clerk, by whom it shall be laid before the proper committee. XIV 67. Any rules of the Senate may, except where otherwise provided by the Constitution of the State of Virginia, be suspended by a vote of two-thirds of the members elect. XV. CONSTRUCTION OF RULES 68. In the construction of the foregoing rules, reference shall first be had to Jefferson's Manual and the Digest of the Rules of the Congress of the United States. XVI. 69. All committee meetings shall be held in public and a recorded vote of members upon each measure shall be taken and the number voting for or against reported on the bill; provided, however, that executive sessions may be held at the discretion of the committee upon a recorded vote. A message was received from the House of Delegates, by MR. SMITH, of Alexandria, who informed the Senate that the House of Delegates had organized and was ready to proceed to business. The President appointed MR. HOLT to inform the House of Delegates that the Senate is organized and ready to proceed to business. A message was received from the House of Delegates, by MR. BREWER, who informed the Senate that the House of Delegates had passed the following resolution: Resolved by the House of Delegates (the Senate concurring), That a committee be appointed, composed of five on the part of the House of Delegates and three on the part of the Senate, to notify the Governor that the General Assembly of Virginia is duly organized, and ready to receive any communication that he may desire to make; which was taken up and agreed to. MR. HOLT was ordered to inform the House of Delegates thereof. The President appointed MESSRS. HOLT, BUCHANAN and DENNY, as a committee on the part of the Senate to notify the Governor that the General Assembly is duly organized and ready to receive any communication he may desire to make. Subsequently the committee, through its chairman, MR. HOLT, reported that they had performed the duty assigned to them and that the Governor desired to address a joint assembly of the legislature. A message was received from the House of Delegates, by MR. SMITH, of Alexandria, who informed the Senate that the House of Delegates had passed the following joint resolution; in which they request the concurrence of the Senate: Resolved by the House of Delegates (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly meet this day at 1:05 p. m., in joint session to receive the Governor of Virginia and such communications as he may desire to make, and that the rules for the government of the Senate and House of Delegates, when convened in joint assembly for such purposes, shall be as follows: 1. At the hour fixed for the meeting of the joint assembly, accompanied by the President and Clerk of the Senate, the Senators shall proceed to the hall of the House of Delegates and shall be received by the Delegates standing. Appropriate seats shall be assigned to the Senators by the sergeant-at-arms of the House. The Speaker of the House shall assign an appropriate seat for the President of the Senate. 2. The Speaker of the House shall be President of the joint assembly. In case it shall be necessary for him to vacate the chair, his place shall be taken by the President of the Senate, or in his absence, by such member of the joint assembly as the Speaker may designate. 3. The Clerk of the House shall be clerk of the joint assembly, and shall be assisted by the Clerk of the Senate. He shall enter the proceedings of the joint assembly in the Journal of the House, and shall certify a copy of the same to the Clerk of the Senate, who shall enter the same on the Journal of the Senate. 4. The sergeant-at-arms, the doorkeepers and pages of the House shall act as such for the joint assembly. 5. The rules of the House of Delegates, so far as practicable, shall be the rules of the joint assembly. In calling the roll of the joint assembly, the names of the Senators shall be called first, in alphabetical order, then the names of the Delegates in like order, except that the name of the Speaker of the House shall be called last. 7. If, when the joint assembly meets, it shall be ascertained that a majority of each house is not present, the joint assembly may take measures to secure the attendance of absentees, or adjourn to a succeeding day, as a majority of those present may determine. 8. When the joint assembly adjourns, the Senators, accompanied by the President and Clerk of the Senate, shall return to their chamber, and the business of the House shall be proceeded with in the same order as when it was interrupted by the entrance of the Senators; which was taken up and agreed to. MR. HOLT was ordered to inform the House of Delegates thereof. The hour of 1:05 p. m., having arrived, being the time fixed by the joint resolution to receive the Governor of Virginia, the Senate repaired to the hall of the House of Delegates and was received by the Delegates standing. The roll of the Senate was called, and the following Senators answered to their names: Messrs. Ames, Ball, Barksdale, Barron, Beaty, Booker, Buchanan, Connor, Crockett, Denny, Downing, Early, East, Ferguson, Garrett, Goode, Gunn, Haddon, Holladay, Holt, Jeffreys, Johnson, Kendig, Lambeth, Layman, Lesner, Mills, Noell, Rogers, Smith, W. Worth, Jr., Stubbs, Swank, Thompson, Vaughan, Wickham, Willis and Woodson-37. There were thirty-seven Senators present. The roll of the House of Delegates was called, and the following Delegates answered to their names: Messrs. Adams, Allman, Barton, Bear, Bird, George T., Bird, W. W., Bolling, Bolton, Booker, Boschen, Bowles, Boyd, E. T., Boyd, I. C., Breneman, Brewer, Brown, Bruce, Carter, Cato, Coiner, Cole, Coleman, Davis, Diggs, Doosing, Dovell, Fain, Folkes, Fuller, Gary, George, Gordon, Graham, Graves, Hailey, Hall, Hamner, Hanes, Harman, Hicks, Horner, Jeffreys, Jesse, Johnson, Jones, C. A., Jones, E. B., Jones, J. P., Jordan, Keezell, Kelly, Lyon, Malbon, Mason, Massenburg, Milstead, Moffett, Moore, Nickles, Page, Parker, R. R., Parker, W. A., Pierce, Price, Ramey, Rew, Rodgers, Saunders, Savedge, Sebrell, Shepherd, Shrader, Sinclair, Smith, C. H., Smith, H. T., Smith, J. S., Snead, Speers, Stickley, Taylor, Topping, Vellines, Waller, Warren, C. R., Warren, Geo. M., Warren, L. E., Watkins, Watts, Weeks, Wesson, Williams, Witten, Wood, Wright, E. H., Wright, J. W., Wright, W. A., Young, and Mr. Speaker-98. There were ninety-eight Delegates present. MR. DENNY offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the Speaker appoint a committee of three, composed of two Delegates and one Senator, to notify the Governor that the joint assembly is duly organized and ready to receive any communication he may desire to make; which was agreed to. The Speaker appointed MESSRS. DENNY, BROWN and REW the committee. The committee subsequently presented the Governor, who was formally received by the joint assembly. The Governor addressed the joint assembly as follows: (The Governor's address is printed as House Document No. 1.) Ordered that 5,000 extra copies of House Document No. 1 be printed. MR. GUNN offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the commission appointed by act approved March 25, 1926, to suggest amendments to the Constitution of Virginia, be invited to address the joint assembly on Thursday, March 17, at 12:15 p. m., and that the Clerk of the joint assembly transmit a copy of this resolution to the chairman of the said commission; which was agreed to. On motion of MR. GUNN, the joint assembly adjourned sine die. Whereupon the Senators repaired to their chamber. I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the Journal of the House of Delegates in relation to the address of the Governor to the joint assembly March 16, 1927. JNO. W. WILLIAMS, MR. HOLT offered the following resolution: Resolved by the Senate, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby authorized to employ an additional clerk, to receive the same salary of the desk clerks, the same to be paid out of the contingent and incidental expenses of the Senate; which was agreed to. MR. MILLS, by leave, presented the following resolution: Resolved, That a committee of five shall be appointed by the President of the Senate who shall be charged with the duty of preparing and presenting to the Senate suitable memorials in memory of our deceased colleagues, Honorable W. W. Workman and Honorable E. B. White; which was taken up and agreed to. The President appointed MESSRS. MILLS, CONNOR, FERGUSON, WOODSON and GUNN, a committee to execute the provisions of the foregoing resolution. The President laid before the Senate the report of the Commission appointed by the Governor upon the Consolidation and Simplification of Government; which is printed as Senate Document No. 1, together with the report of the Bureau of Municipal Research accompanying the same; which is printed as Senate Document No. 2; both of which were referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice. The President laid before the Senate the report of the Commission to Suggest Amendments to the Constitution of Virginia, authorized by act approved March 25, 1926; which is printed as House Document No. 2; which was referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice. MR. BUCHANAN, by leave, presented S. B. No. 1. A bill to reorganize the administration of the State Government in order to secure better service, and through co-ordination and consolidation, to promote economy and efficiency in the work of the Government; to create and establish or continue certain departments, divisions, offices, officers, and other agencis, and to prescribe their powers and duties; to abolish certain offices, boards, commissions and other agencies, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act to the extent of such inconsistency; which was taken up, ordered to be printed and referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice. On motion of MR. HOLT, the Senate adjourned until tomorrow at 12 M. O. V. HANGER, JUNIUS E. WEST, Clerk of the Senate. |