NY-CMS Senate Rules NY

Section 1. The Lieutenant Governor of the State shall be President of

the Senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein.

He or she shall appoint and designate the Officers of the Senate,

the chair, vice-chair and members of all committees and sub-committees,

except when the Senate shall otherwise order.

The Chair of the Committee on Rules shall be the Majority

Coalition Conference Leader with the greater number of Conference

members.

He or she shall appoint, in conjunction with the Speaker of the

Assembly and the Legislative Librarian, an Assistant Legislative

Librarian, to have charge and custody of all legislative documents, as

defined in this section, who shall be responsible for collecting,

numbering, indexing and retaining the same in the Legislative Library in

an area designated for such use by the Legislative Librarian. At least

two copies of all such documents shall be kept in such library at all

times and made available to Members of the Legislature and legislative

employees for public inspection and duplication during library hours.

The function of the Legislative Library is to serve the information

and research needs of Members of the Legislature and legislative staff

as defined by the Legislative Law. The services provided shall include

professional reference, access to standard commercial online databases

and the availability of records of the Library's holding on the

Legislative Retrieval System (LRS). The Library is charged with the

collection and custody of all Legislative and State documents as defined

by this section. Access to the collection shall be provided by the

Legislative Library State Documents (LLSD) database on LRS. Documents

may be retained in paper, microform, laser disk or any other medium

approved for archiving documents.

To effectuate the purposes of this section, the Assistant Legislative

Librarian in charge of legislative documents may request from any

committee, commission, task force or office of the Legislature, and the

same are authorized to provide, such assistance, services and data as

will enable such librarian to carry out his or her duties as prescribed

in this section.

For purposes of this section, the term legislative document shall mean

and include the Rules of the Senate, the Rules of the Assembly, reports

of the Legislature and reports of every legislative committee,

subcommittee, task force or other adjunct of the Legislature and all

reports and documents required by law or regulation to be submitted to

the Legislature by any department, board, bureau, commission or other

agency of the State.

The provisions of this section and paragraph ten of subdivision c of

section one of Rule I of the Assembly are intended to result in the

appointment of a single Assistant Legislative Librarian to serve both

Houses of the Legislature.

He or she shall represent the Senate, or engage legal

representation on behalf of the Senate, in any legal action or

proceeding involving the interpretation or effect of any law of the

federal, state or local government or the constitutionality thereof or

with regard to the enforcement or defense of any right, privilege or

prerogative of the Senate.

The Sergeant at Arms, under the jurisdiction of the Secretary,

shall be the security officer of the Senate, and, except when absent in

the discharge of his or her duties, shall be in constant attendance upon

the sessions of the Senate and shall assign Assistant Sergeants at Arms

to act as doorkeepers and, under the direction of the Presiding Officer,

aid in enforcing order on the floor of the Senate, in the lobbies, and

in the rooms adjoining the Senate Chamber, and also see that no person

remains on the floor unless entitled to the privileges of the same. He

or she shall also assist in maintaining order at hearings of the Senate

and in that part of the Capitol and Legislative Office Building assigned

to the use of the Senate and on sites in New York State where members

are conducting the business of the Senate and security is deemed

necessary by the Secretary.

The Official Stenographer or designee shall attend every session

of the Senate and take stenographic notes of the debates of the Senate.

He or she shall make a stenographic record of the proceedings and make

copies available to the Secretary of the Senate. In addition, the

Official Stenographer shall be responsible, under the direction of the

Secretary, for making a stenographic record of public hearings at the

request of the Standing Committee Chair or appointed officer and make

copies available to the Committee Chair and the Secretary.

Motions. a. When a question is before the Senate, only the

following motions shall be made by a Senator, and such motions shall

have precedence in the order here stated, viz.:

(1) For an adjournment.

(2) For a call of the Senate.

(3) For the previous question.

(4) To lay on the table.

(5) To postpone to a certain day.

(6) To commit to a standing committee.

(7) To commit to a select committee.

(8) To change calendar arrangement.

(9) To amend.

b. The motion to adjourn, or for a call of the Senate, or for the

previous question, or to lay on the table, shall be decided without

debate, and shall always be in order except as provided in Rules six,

eight and ten.

c. Except for the motions enumerated in subdivision a hereof, all

other motions shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the Presiding

Officer or any five Senators, delivered to the Secretary, and read

before the same shall be debated; and any motion may be withdrawn at any

time before decision or amendment.

d. A motion for the previous question, or a motion to postpone to a

certain day, or to commit, or refer to a standing or select committee,

until it is decided, shall preclude all debate of the main question.

e. A motion for the previous question shall only be in order when made

by the leaders of the respective conferences or their designee. The

"previous question" shall be put as follows: "Shall the main question

now be put before the house?" and until it is decided, shall preclude

all amendments or debate. When, on taking the previous question, the

Senate shall decide that the main question shall now be put, the main

question shall be put to an immediate vote. When, on taking the previous

question, the Senate shall decide that the main question shall not now

be put, the main question shall be considered as still remaining under

debate. The "main question" shall be the advancement or passage of the

bill, resolution or other matter under consideration. Such motion shall

require the affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators elected.

Reconsideration. a. When a question has once been put and

decided, it shall be in order for any Senator to move for the

reconsideration thereof; but no motion for the reconsideration of any

vote shall be in order after the bill, resolution, message, report,

amendment, nomination or motion, upon which the vote was taken, shall

have gone out of the possession of the Senate; nor shall any motion for

reconsideration be in order unless made on the same day on which the

vote was taken, or within the next three days of the actual session of

the Senate thereafter. Nor shall any question be reconsidered more than

once; but when a bill or resolution shall have been recalled from the

Assembly, a motion for reconsideration may be made at any time

thereafter while the same is in the possession of the Senate, and all

resolutions recalling a bill or resolution from the Assembly shall be

regarded as privileged. No vote shall be reconsidered upon either of the

following motions:

To adjourn.

To lay on the table.

b. The vote on the final passage of any bill appropriating moneys or

property, or creating, continuing, altering or removing any body politic

or corporate, shall not be reconsidered whenever any such bill shall be

lost, unless by a vote of a majority of all the Senators elected, but

all other bills, when the same shall have been lost, may be reconsidered

by a vote of a majority of all the Senators present and voting.

District Offices. All Senators will receive funds to maintain a

district office. Rents of district offices shall be based on a cost

formula of office rental costs of an equal class of commercial office

space based on the prevailing rent in the community where the Senator

chooses to have his or her district office. A Senator whose district has

geographic disparities such that traversing the district is a hardship

for his or her constituents, as determined by the Majority Coalition

Leaders, shall receive supplemental funding to maintain a satellite

office.

Allocation for Community Projects. Each conference shall receive

an allocation from any amounts to be awarded by the Senate for community

projects, capital spending, local assistance or other similar

allocations for member driven initiatives. The Majority Coalition shall

receive seventy-one percent of such funds and the Democratic Conference

shall receive twenty-nine percent of such funds; provided however that

such percentages shall increase or decrease to reflect any changes in

the membership of either the Majority Coalition or the Democratic

Conference.