New Jersey-2014-AR165-Introduced

An Assembly Resolution to amend Rule 2:2 of the permanent Rules of the General Assembly concerning quorum.

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Rule 2.2 is amended to read as follows:

2:2 Quorum.

a. Forty-one or more members shall constitute a quorum.

b. To consider bills or resolutions on final reading, reenactment or veto override, forty-one or more members of the General Assembly must be personally present. No member's vote on a bill or resolution on final reading, reenactment, or veto override, shall be counted unless the member is personally present.

c. At meetings of the General Assembly where bills or resolutions are not being considered on final reading, reenactment, or veto override, a member shall be included in determining a quorum in either of the following manners:

(1) By a member's personal presence at the meeting of the General Assembly and responding to the quorum call; or

(2) By a member's personal communication with the Office of the Clerk, by communication equipment providing visual or voice identification of the member, using communication equipment and procedures determined in writing by the Speaker, authorizing the Clerk to include the member in determining a quorum.

d. A quorum must be determined as in subsection c. during the span of four hours prior to and four hours after the time of the quorum call as scheduled by the Speaker. The Speaker may expand that time for good cause. Once included in the quorum, the member is not required to remain at the meeting of the General Assembly or in contact with the Office of the Clerk by means of communication equipment in order for a quorum to be determined and the meeting to continue until adjournment. By authorizing the Clerk to include the member in determining a quorum, the member authorizes staff to so indicate on the voting board.

2. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This resolution amends the Rules of the General Assembly to modernize procedures for establishing a quorum for the purpose of conducting routine business of the house, which specifically excludes final action on legislation. The purpose of the resolution is to recognize the common use of communication technology that did not exist in 1947 when the current Constitution was adopted. It also preserves important democratic values enshrined in the Constitution and the Rules of the General Assembly, such as providing proper notice to legislators and the public, maintaining transparency in the legislative process, requiring the direct consent of legislators for the conduct of legislative business and implementing procedures that encourage adherence to the rules and avoidance of technical violations.

The resolution makes two changes to the manner in which a quorum is established for the purpose of allowing conduct of routine business of the house: it allows a member of the General Assembly to consent by phone, video or similar communication equipment to the conduct of business; and requires that members have at least eight hours to answer the quorum call, either in person or by using such communication equipment.

Specifically, the resolution amends Rule 2:2 to recognize and account for the decades-long practice of the General Assembly to organize its work such that some meeting days are devoted primarily to holding votes by the full body, and other meeting days during which committee activity and other routine business of the Assembly is conducted. First, the resolution creates a new subsection b. affirming that forty-one or more members must be personally present to establish a quorum on days when bills or resolutions are to be voted on final reading, reenactment, or veto override. The meaning of "personally present" is unchanged from the historic interpretation that the member must be in the State House at the time. This preserves the traditional standard for "voting session days."

Second, the resolution creates a modern standard for establishing a quorum on all other days when no votes are to be taken by the full body on bills or resolutions on final reading, reenactment or veto override, but actions by committees and other official business are to be recorded. The resolution creates a new subsection c. that allows a member to consent to the conduct of such routine business in one of two ways: the first is the traditional response to a quorum call by a member present in the State House as recorded by the Clerk; the second is by a member's personal communication with the Office of the Clerk using communication equipment that provides visual or voice identification of the member. The Speaker will determine in writing what communication equipment and procedures may be used. The use of communication equipment to participate in public meetings is authorized by the "Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act," and this resolution draws on the experience of that law to modernize the Rules of the Assembly.

The resolution specifies that, when bills or resolutions are not being considered a final reading, reenactment, or veto override, a quorum may be established and continue until adjournment without members remaining in the State House after responding to the quorum call, or remaining in contact via communication equipment. This ensures that each response to the quorum call will remain valid while members attend committee meetings or after members have communicated to the Clerk's staff their consent for the conduct of routine business.