RULES AND RULINGS: DAILY SESSIONS


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    obtained the floor for the purpose of making a motion or raising a question
which is not
    debatable.
      (g) Calling for a special order of business [A.Rule 32].
      (2) At the conclusion of any interruption under sub. (1), the floor
returns to the inter-
    rupted member unless the question on which the member was speaking is
no longer
    before the assembly.
    To call for a division of the question while the Assembly debates an
Assem-
bly amendment has also been held an authorized interruption. During the
debate on the 1983-85 budget (Assembly Journal 6/17/83, page 270):
      Representative Johnson asked unanimous consent for a division of assembly
amend-
    ment 6 to assembly amendment 4 to Senate Bill 83. Granted.
      Representative T. Thompson rose to the point of order that the request
for a division
    was not proper because Representative Johnson did not have the floor
and was inter-
    rupting a speaker.
      The speaker took the point of order under advisement. [Intervening
business
    omitted.]
      The speaker [Loftus] ruled Representative Johnson's request for a division
of assem-
    bly amendment 6 to assembly amendment 4 to Senate Bill 83, while another
member was
    speaking, proper under section 92 [2., (j)] of Mason's Legislative Manual.
    Among the rules of debate most helpful to the members of the Wisconsin
Legislature are the inventories of motions and requests in order during de-
bate. Assembly Rule 95, "definitions", explains how these terms
are tradi-
tionally used in deliberations on the floor. Although the rule applies directly
only to the Assembly, for most cases it describes also the procedures of
the
Senate; for the rest, the differences are clearly apparent from the context.
   The rule defines a "request" as a "proposed action which
does not require
a vote because: a) unanimous consent has been asked for; b) the action is
required if there are sufficient seconds; or c) the presiding officer has
the au-
thority to take or order the action requested". A "motion",
on the other
hand, calls for a "proposed action requiring assembly approval by a
vote".
Motions can be "'privileged", "incidental", '"subsidiary"
or ""main", and
would be taken up in that order:
      PRIVILEGED MOTIONS AND REQUESTS: A group of motions and requests relating
to
    basic questions concerning the meetings, organization, rules, rights
and duties of the
    assembly and having the highest precedence for consideration. Privileged
motions and
    requests take precedence over incidental, subsidiary and main questions.
      INCIDENTAL MOTIONS AND REQUESTS: A group of motions and requests which
gener-
    ally relate to the proceedings, procedures and subsidiary questions during
debate, and
    which must be disposed of before proceeding to the main question under
consideration.
    Incidental questions have lower precedence than privileged questions
but higher prece-
    dence than subsidiary and main motions.
       SUBSIDIARY MOTIONS: A group of motions which change, or delay or accelerate
the
    consideration of a proposal before the assembly. Subsidiary motions have
lower prece-
    dence than privileged and incidental questions but higher precedence
than main
    motions.
       MAIN MOTIONS AND QUESTIONS: The final affirmative question concerning
a proposal
    during any stage of its consideration or any motion made or question
raised when no
    other matter is before the assembly. Main questions have lower precedence
than privi-
    leged, incidental and subsidiary questions.
    Two rules (S.Rule 63; A.Rule 65) include a ranking, by precedence, of
the
motions in order during debate. The procedures of the 2 houses are quite