WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK 1985-1986


in an amended form. The committee's decision is contained in a very brief
report to the house.
The following is a 1985 example of a committee report to the Assembly from
the Journal of the
Assembly, April 25, 1985:

        The committee on Highways reports and recommends:
        Assembly Bill 90
        Relating to license plates for antique motor vehicles.
        Adoption of assembly amendment 1:
        Ayes, (11) Noes: (0)
        Passage: Ayes: (11) Noes: (0)
        To committee on Rules.
                                                      CLETUS VANDERPERREN

                                                                        Chairperson

   Measures before a committee are to be taken up as soon as possible, with
the scheduling of
 committee hearings determined by the chairperson. A committee is allowed
a reasonable period
 of time to consider matters referred to it. After 21 days, any proposal
that has not been reported
 out of an Assembly committee may be withdrawn on a motion or petition by
majority vote of the
 Assembly. In the Senate, a proposal may be withdrawn from committee at any
time by majority
 vote, but if the attempt is unsuccessful, all subsequent motions to withdraw
the same proposal
 require a two-thirds vote.
   To Calendar. Both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature have adopted a procedure
for system-
atic calendar scheduling of proposals. In the Senate, all proposals reported
by standing commit-
tees are referred to the Committee on Senate Organization; in the Assembly,
they are referred to
the Committee on Rules. These two committees schedule all business for floor
debate.
   Second Reading. When a bill is reached on the calendar, it is given a
second reading by title.
The question before the house becomes: "Shall the proposal be ordered
engrossed and read a
third time?" At this state of the proceedings amendments to the bill
may be considered. Amend-
ments to a bill may be offered at any time prior to engrossment. A simple
amendment would
make changes in the bill, while a substitute amendment would completely replace
the original
bill. Before a vote is taken on the question of engrossment, the amendments
are debated and
voted on. Engrossment is the incorporating of all adopted amendments and
all approved techni-
cal corrections in a proposal in the house of origin. The rules of both houses
require reschedul-
ing of the proposal after engrossment. This would allow time for reconsideration
of the vote by
which the proposal was ordered engrossed. However, in many cases the rules
are suspended (by
unanimous consent or by a two-thirds vote) so that second reading and third
reading can occur
on the same legislative day.
  Third Reading. The purpose of the third reading is to make a final decision
on a proposal.
After third reading, the question becomes: "Shall the bill pass?"
The bill can again be debated at
this point, but it is not subject to amendment. The bill may be passed by
voice vote or by roll call
(in the Assembly an electric roll call machine is used); on some types of
proposals a roll call vote
is required.
  To Second House. If the bill passes, it is messaged to the other house,
where it goes through
substantially the same procedure as in the first house. However, in the second
house the bill is
often referred directly to the calendar instead of to a standing committee.
If the bill is concurred
in by the second house, whether with or without additional amendments, it
is messaged back to
the house of origin. If no amendments were added to the bill by the second
house, the first house
is ready to enroll it, that is, to direct the Legislative Reference Bureau
to prepare a clean copy of
the text agreed to by both houses.
  Amendments In The Second House. If the second house concurred with amendments,
these
must first be voted upon in the house of origin. If any amendments are rejected
or further
amended by the latter, the bill could again go back to the other house; or
a conference commit-
tee, made up of members representing each house, could be appointed to iron
out the differences


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