Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 1–Assemblymen
Perkins, Buckley and Hettrick

 

Joint Sponsors: Senators Raggio and Titus

 

FILE NUMBER..........

 

Assembly Concurrent RESOLUTION—Adopting the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly for the 20th Special Session of the Legislature.

 

    Resolved by the Assembly of the State of Nevada, the Senate Concurring, That the following Joint Rules of the Senate

and Assembly for the 20th Special Session of the Legislature are

 hereby adopted:

 

APPLICABILITY OF JOINT RULES

 

Rule No. 1.  Generally.

    The Joint Rules for the 20th Special Session of the Legislature

 are applicable only during the 20th Special Session of the

 Legislature.

 

CONFERENCE COMMITTEES

 

Rule No. 2.  Procedure Concerning.

    1.  In every case of an amendment of a bill, or joint or

 concurrent resolution, agreed to in one House, dissented from in

 the other, and not receded from by the one making the

 amendment, each House shall appoint a committee to confer with

 a like committee to be appointed by the other; and the committee

 so appointed shall meet publicly at a convenient hour to be agreed

 upon by their respective chairmen and announced publicly, and

 shall confer upon the differences between the two Houses as

 indicated by the amendments made in one and rejected in the

 other and report as early as convenient the result of their

 conference to their respective Houses. The report shall be made

 available to all members of both Houses. The whole subject

 matter embraced in the bill or resolution shall be considered by

 the committee, and it may recommend recession by either House,

 new amendments, new bills or resolutions, or other changes as it

 sees fit. New bills or resolutions so reported shall be treated as

 amendments unless the bills or resolutions are composed entirely

 of original matter, in which case they shall receive the treatment

 required in the respective Houses for original bills, or resolutions,

 as the case may be.

    2.  The report of a conference committee may be adopted by

 acclamation, and such action may be considered equivalent to the


adoption of amendments embodied therein. The report is not

subject to amendment. If either House refuses to adopt the report,

 or if the first conference committee has so recommended, a

 second conference committee may be appointed. No member who

 served on the first committee may be appointed to the second.

    3.  There shall be but two conference committees on any bill

 or resolution. A majority of the members of a conference

 committee from each House must be members who voted for the

 passage of the bill or resolution.

 

MESSAGES

 

Rule No. 3.  Procedure Concerning.

    1.  Proclamations by the Governor convening the Legislature

 in extra session shall, by direction of the presiding officer of each

 House, be read immediately after the convening thereof, filed and

 entered in full in the Journal of proceedings.

    2.  Whenever a message from the Governor is received, the

 Sergeant at Arms will announce: “Mr. President, or Mr. Speaker,

 the Secretary of the Governor is at the bar.” The Secretary will,

 upon being recognized by the presiding officer, announce: “Mr.

 President, or Mr. Speaker, a message from His Excellency, the

 Governor of Nevada, to the Honorable, the Senate or Assembly,”

 and hand same to the Sergeant at Arms for delivery to the

 Secretary of the Senate or Chief Clerk of the Assembly. The

 presiding officer will direct any message from the Governor to be

 received, read and entered in full in the Journal of proceedings.

    3.  Messages from the Senate to the Assembly shall be

 delivered by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary, and messages

 from the Assembly to the Senate shall be delivered by the Chief

 Clerk or Assistant Chief Clerk.

 

NOTICE OF FINAL ACTION

 

Rule No. 4.  Communications.

    Each House shall communicate its final action on any bill or

 resolution, or matter in which the other may be interested, by

 written notice. Each such notice sent by the Senate must be

 signed by the Secretary of the Senate, or a person designated by

 the Secretary. Each such notice sent by the Assembly must be

 signed by the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, or a person designated

 by the Chief Clerk.

 


BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

 

Rule No. 5.  Signature.

    Each enrolled bill or joint resolution shall be presented to the

 presiding officers of both Houses for signature. They shall, after

 an announcement of their intention to do so is made in open

 session, sign the bill or joint resolution and their signatures shall

 be followed by those of the Secretary of the Senate and Chief

 Clerk of the Assembly.

 

Rule No. 6.  Joint Sponsorship.

    1.  A bill or resolution introduced by a committee of the

 Senate or Assembly may, at the direction of the chairman of the

 committee, set forth the name of a committee of the other House

 as a joint sponsor, if a majority of all members appointed to the

 committee of the other House votes in favor of becoming a joint

 sponsor of the bill or resolution. The name of the committee joint

 sponsor must be set forth on the face of the bill or resolution

 immediately below the date on which the bill or resolution is

 introduced.

    2.  The Legislative Counsel shall not cause to be printed the

 name of a committee as a joint sponsor on the face of a bill or

 resolution unless the chairman of the committee has signed his

 name next to the name of the committee on the colored back of

 the introductory copy of the bill or resolution that was submitted

 to the front desk of the House of origin or the statement required

 by subsection 4.

    3.  Upon introduction, any bill or resolution that sets forth the

 names of primary joint sponsors must be numbered in the same

 numerical sequence as other bills and resolutions of the same

 House of origin are numbered.

    4.  Once a bill or resolution has been introduced, a primary

 joint sponsor or nonprimary joint sponsor may only be added or

 removed by amendment of the bill or resolution. An amendment

 which proposes to add or remove a primary joint sponsormust not

 be considered by the House of origin of the amendment unless a

 statement requesting the addition or removal is attached to the

 copy of the amendment submitted to the front desk of the House

 of origin of the amendment. If the amendment proposes to add or

 remove a committee as a primary joint sponsor, the statement

 must be signed by the chairman of the committee. A copy of the

 statement must be transmitted to the Legislative Counsel if the

 amendment is adopted.


    5.  An amendment that proposes to add or remove a primary

joint sponsor may include additional proposals to change the

 substantive provisions of the bill or resolution or may be limited

 only to the proposal to add or remove a primary joint sponsor.

 

PRINTING

 

Rule No. 7.  Ordering and Distribution.

    Each House may order the printing of bills introduced, reports

 of its own committees, and other matter pertaining to that House

 only; but no other printing may be ordered except by a concurrent

 resolution passed by both Houses. Each Senator is entitled to the

 free distribution of four copies of each bill introduced in each

 House, and each Assemblyman to such a distribution of two

 copies. Additional copies of such bills may be distributed at a

 charge to the person to whom they are addressed. The amount

 charged for distribution of the additional copies must be

 determined by the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau to

 approximate the cost of handling and postage for the entire

 session.

 

RESOLUTIONS

 

Rule No. 8.  Types, Usage and Approval.

    1.  A joint resolution must be used to:

    (a) Propose an amendment to the Nevada Constitution.

    (b) Ratify a proposed amendment to the United States

 Constitution.

    (c) Address the President of the United States, Congress, either

 House or any committee or member of Congress, any department

 or agency of the Federal Government, or any other state of the

 Union.

    2.  A concurrent resolution must be used to:

    (a) Amend these joint rules.

    (b) Request the return from the Governor of an enrolled bill

 for further consideration.

    (c) Resolve that the return of a bill from one House to the

 other House is necessary and appropriate.

    (d) Express facts, principles, opinion and purposes of the

 Senate and Assembly.

    (e) Establish a joint committee of the two Houses.

    (f) Direct the Legislative Commission to conduct an interim

 study.

    3.  A concurrent resolution or a resolution of one House may

 be used to:


    (a) Memorialize a former member of the Legislature or other

notable or distinguished person upon his death.

    (b) Congratulate or commend any person or organization for a

 significant and meritorious accomplishment.

 

VETOES

 

Rule No. 9.  Special Order.

    Bills which have passed a previous Legislature, and which are

 transmitted to the Legislature next sitting, accompanied by a

 message or statement of the Governor’s disapproval, or veto of the

 same, shall become the subject of a special order; and when the

 special order for their consideration is reached and called, the

 said message or statement shall be read, together with the bill or

 bills so disposed or vetoed; and the message and bill shall be read

 in the Senate by the Secretary of the Senate and in the Assembly

 by the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, without interruption,

 consecutively, one following the other, and not upon separate

 occasions; and no such bill or message shall be referred to any

 committee, or otherwise acted upon, save as provided by law and

 custom; that is to say, that immediately following such reading

 the only question (except as hereinafter stated) which shall be put

 by the Chair is, “Shall the bill pass, notwithstanding the

 objections of the Governor?” It shall not be in order, at any time,

 to vote upon such vetoed bill without the same shall have first

 been read, from the first word of its title to and including the last

 word of its final section; and no motion shall be entertained after

 the Chair has stated the question save a motion for “The previous

 question,” but the merits of the bill itself may be debated.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Rule No. 10.  Limitations and Calculation of Duration.

    1.  In calculating the permissible duration of an adjournment

 for 3 days or less, the day of adjournment must not be counted but

 the day of the next meeting must be counted, and Sunday must

 not be counted.

    2.  The Legislature may adjourn for more than 3 days by

 motion based on mutual consent of the houses or by concurrent

 resolution. One or more such adjournments may be taken to

 permit a committee or the Legislative Counsel Bureau to prepare

 the matters respectively entrusted to them for the consideration of

 the Legislature as a whole.

 


EXPENDITURES FROM THE LEGISLATIVE FUND

 

Rule No. 11.  Manner of authorization.

    Except for routine salary, travel, equipment and operating

 expenses, no expenditures shall be made from the Legislative

 Fund without the authority of a concurrent resolution regularly

 adopted by the Senate and Assembly.

 

RECORDS OF COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS

 

Rule No. 12.  Duties of Secretary of Committees and Director.

    1.  Each committee shall cause a record to be made of the

 proceedings of its meetings.

    2.  The secretary of a committee shall:

    (a) Label each record with the date, time and place of the

 meeting and also indicate on the label the numerical sequence in

 which the record was made;

    (b) Keep the records in chronological order; and

    (c) Deposit the records immediately following the final

 adjournment of the Special Session of the Legislature with the

 Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

    3.  The Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau shall:

    (a) Index the records;

    (b) Make the records available for accessing by any person

 during office hours under such reasonable conditions as he may

 deem necessary;

    (c) Maintain a log as a public record containing the date, time,

 name and address of any person accessing any of the records and

 identifying the records accessed; and

    (d) Retain the records for two bienniums and at the end of that

 period keep some form or copy of the record in any manner he

 deems reasonable to ensure access to the record in the foreseeable

 future.

 

LIMITATIONS ON REQUESTS FOR

DRAFTING OF LEGISLATIVE MEASURES

 

Rule No. 13.  Germaneness Required for Amendments.

    1.  The Legislative Counsel shall not honor a request for the

 drafting of an amendment to a bill or resolution if the subject

 matter of the amendment is independent of, and not specifically

 related and properly connected to, the subject that is expressed in

 the title of the bill or resolution.

    2.  For the purposes of this Rule, an amendment is

 independent of, and not specifically related and properly

 connected to, the subject that is expressed in the title of a bill or


resolution if the amendment relates only to the general, single

subject that is expressed in that title and not to the specific whole

 subject matter embraced in the bill or resolution.

 

CONTINUATION OF LEADERSHIP OF THE SENATE

AND ASSEMBLY DURING THE INTERIM

BETWEEN SESSIONS

 

Rule No. 14.  Tenure and Performance of Statutory Duties.

    1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3, the

 tenure of the President Pro Tem, Majority Leader and Minority

 Leader of the Senate and the Speaker, Speaker Pro Tem, Majority

 Floor Leader and Minority Floor Leader of the Assembly extends

 during the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature.

    2.  The Senators designated to be the President Pro Tem,

 Majority Leader and Minority Leader for the next succeeding

 regular session shall perform any statutory duty required in the

 period between the time of their designation after the general

 election and the organization of the next succeeding regular

 session of the Legislature if the Senator formerly holding the

 respective position is no longer a Legislator.

    3.  The Assemblymen designated to be the Speaker, Speaker

 Pro Tem, Majority Floor Leader and Minority Floor Leader for

 the next succeeding regular session shall perform any statutory

 duty required in the period between the time of their designation

 after the general election and the organization of the next

 succeeding regular session.

 

POLICY AND PROCEDURES REGARDING

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

 

Rule No. 15.  Maintenance of Working Environment;

 Procedure for Filing, Investigating and Taking Remedial Action

 on Complaints.

    1.  The Legislature hereby declares its intention to maintain a

 working environment which is free from sexual harassment. This

 policy applies to all Legislators and lobbyists. Each member and

 lobbyist is responsible to conduct himself or herself in a manner

 which will ensure that others are able to work in such an

 environment.

    2.  In accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, for the

 purposes of this rule, “sexual harassment” means unwelcome

 sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or

 physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

    (a) Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or

 implicitly a term or condition of a person’s employment;


    (b) Submission to or rejection of such conduct by a person is

used as the basis for employment decisions affecting the person;

 or

    (c) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably

 interfering with a person’s work performance or creating an

 intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.

    3.  Each person subject to these rules must exercise his own

 good judgment to avoid engaging in conduct that may be

 perceived by others as sexual harassment. The following

 noninclusive list provides illustrations of conduct that the

 Legislature deems to be inappropriate:

    (a) Verbal conduct such as epithets, derogatory comments,

 slurs or unwanted sexual advances, invitations or comments;

    (b) Visual conduct such as derogatory posters, photography,

 cartoons, drawings or gestures;

    (c) Physical conduct such as unwanted touching, blocking

 normal movement or interfering with the work directed at a

 person because of his sex;

    (d) Threats and demands to submit to sexual requests to keep a

 person’s job or avoid some other loss, and offers of employment

 benefits in return for sexual favors; and

    (e) Retaliation for opposing, reporting or threatening to report

 sexual harassment, or for participating in an investigation,

 proceeding or hearing conducted by the Legislature or the

 Nevada Equal Rights Commission or the federal Equal

 Employment Opportunity Commission,

when submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or

 implicitly a term or condition of a person’s employment or

 submission to or rejection of such conduct by a person is used as

 the basis for employment decisions affecting the person or such

 conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering

 with a person’s work performance or creating an intimidating,

 hostile or offensive working environment.

    4.  A person may have a claim of sexual harassment even if he

 has not lost a job or some other economic benefit. Conduct that

 impairs a person’s ability to work or his emotional well-being at

 work constitutes sexual harassment.

    5.  If a Legislator believes he is being sexually harassed on the

 job, he may file a written complaint with:

    (a) The Speaker of the Assembly;

    (b) The Majority Leader of the Senate; or

    (c) The Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, if the

 complaint involves the conduct of the Speaker of the Assembly or

 the Majority Leader of the Senate.


The complaint must include the details of the incident or

incidents, the names of the persons involved and the names of any

 witnesses.

    6.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 7, the Speaker

 of the Assembly or the Majority Leader of the Senate, as

 appropriate, shall refer a complaint received pursuant to

 subsection 5 to a committee consisting of Legislators of the same

 House. A complaint against a lobbyist may be referred to a

 committee in either House.

    7.  If the complaint involves the conduct of the Speaker of the

 Assembly or the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Director of

the Legislative Counsel Bureau shall refer the complaint to the

 Committee on Elections, Procedures and Ethics of the Assembly

 or the Committee of the Whole of the Senate, as appropriate. If

 the Speaker of the Assembly or the Majority Leader of the Senate

 is a member of one of these committees, the Speaker or the

 Majority Leader, as the case may be, shall not participate in the

 investigation and resolution of the complaint.

    8.  The committee to which the complaint is referred shall

 immediately conduct a confidential and discreet investigation of

 the complaint. As a part of the investigation, the committee shall

 notify the accused of the allegations. The committee shall

 facilitate a meeting between the complainant and the accused to

 allow a discussion of the matter, if both agree. If the parties do

 not agree to such a meeting, the committee shall request

 statements regarding the complaint from each of the parties.

 Either party may request a hearing before the committee. The

 committee shall make its determination and inform the

 complainant and the accused of its determination as soon as

 practicable after it has completed its investigation.

    9.  If the investigation reveals that sexual harassment has

 occurred, the Legislature will take appropriate disciplinary or

 remedial action, or both. The committee shall inform the

 complainant of any action taken. The Legislature will also take

 any action necessary to deter any future harassment.

    10.  The Legislature will not retaliate against a person who

 files a complaint and will not knowingly permit any retaliation by

 the person’s supervisors or coworkers.

    11.  The Legislature encourages a person to report any

 incident of sexual harassment immediately so that the complaint

 can be quickly and fairly resolved.

    12.  Action taken by a complainant pursuant to this rule does

 not prohibit the complainant from also filing a complaint of

 sexual harassment with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission or

 the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.


    13.  All Legislators and lobbyists are responsible for adhering

to the provisions of this policy. The prohibitions against engaging

 in sexual harassment and the protections against becoming a

 victim of sexual harassment set forth in this policy apply to

 employees, Legislators, lobbyists, vendors, contractors, customers

 and visitors to the Legislature.

    14.  This policy does not create any enforceable legal rights in

 any person.

 

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