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I. ATTENDANCE AND ADJOURNMENT.

1. No member shall absent himself from the service of the Senate without leave, unless he is sick or unable to attend.

2. A majority of senators shall be necessary to proceed to business; five may adjourn, and nine may order a call of the Senate, send for absentees, and make any order for their censure or discharge. On a call of the Senate, the doors shall not be closed against any senator until his name shall have been once enrolled.

3. The President shall take the chair every day precisely at the hour to which the Senate shall have adjourned on the preceding day; shall immediately call the Senate to order, and a quorum being present, shall cause the journal of the preceding day to be read. Any mistakes in the entries shall, upon motion, then be corrected, and being found correct, shall be signed by the President and the Clerk, and upon the last day of the session, the journal for that day being examined and found correct, shall be signed by the President and the Clerk, and the said journals, when so signed, shall be the authentic record of the proceedings of the Senate.

When the Senate adjourns each day every senator shall keep his seat until the President leaves his seat.

II. THE PRESIDENT.

4. If any question be put upon a bill or resolution, the President shall state the same without argument.

5. The President may call any senator to the chair, who shall exercise its functions for the time; but no senator, by virtue of such appointment, shall preside for a longer period than three days. 1

6. At the commencement of each session the Senate shall elect four pages, who shall receive for their services three dollars per day each.

III. THE CLERK.

7. The Clerk of the Senate shall not suffer any records or papers to be taken from the table or out of his custody by any person except a chairman of a committee; but he may deliver any bills or papers, directed to be printed, to the Superintendent of Public Printing, or to any senator, on taking his receipt for the same.

8. The journal of the Senate shall be daily drawn up by the clerk, and shall be read the succeeding day; it shall be printed under the supervision of the Clerk and delivered to the senators without delay.

9. The Clerk of the Senate shall appoint a first assistant clerk, a journal clerk, a reading clerk and four committee clerks, not more than one of whom shall be appointed from the same congressional district. The clerks so appointed shall remain in the capitol during the sessions of the Senate, and the committee clerks shall be assigned by the clerk for duty with the various standing committees, and shall perform any duties that the other committees may require, when not employed by their respective committees; and the Clerk of the Senate may also require said clerks, when not employed by the standing comittees, to assist in engrossing bills or aid him in the Senate chamber when necessary. The said clerks shall be removable by the Clerk of the Senate or by the committee of which they are clerks.

10. Before reading each bill, the clerk shall announce whether it is the first, second or third time of the reading of the bill.

11. The Clerks of the Senate and House of Delegates may interchange messages at such time between the hour of adjournment and that of meeting on the following day, so that the said messages may be read immediately after the orders of the day.

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12. The Clerk of the Senate shall, at each session, have printed and bound with the manual and rules, etc., the Constitution of Virginia for the use of the senators.

The Clerk shall hereafter be elected by the Senate for a term of four years.

IV. SERGEANT-AT-ARMS AND DOORKEEPER.

13. No Senator shall be taken into custody by the sergeant-at-arms on any complaint or breech of privileges until the matter is examined by the committee of privileges and election and reported to the Senate, unless by order of the Senate.

14. It shall be the duty of the doorkeeper of the Senate to preserve, in chronological or numerical order, a copy of every printed document distributed in the Senate, and to deliver the same at the close of the session to the Clerk of the Senate, whose duty it shall be to have them bound and preserved in his office for the use of this body.

15. The doorkeeper, or his assistant, shall be constantly at his post during the sessions of the Senate and shall permit no one to enter or remain upon the floor of the Senate during the session thereof, except members of the General Assembly, ex-members thereof, members and ex-members of Congress, State officers, ex-State officers and judges, officers and employees of the General Asembly, members of the late Constitution Convention, reporters of the proceedings of the Senate, members of the families of the senators and such persons as the presiding officer may deem worthy of such distinction and invite to a seat near the chair; provided, that the privilege hereby extended shall in no case be used to influence legislation in any manner whatsoever.

Whenever any person desires an interview with a senator or the Clerk of the Senate, the doorkeeper shall send a msssenger to him.

The doorkeeper, or his assistant, shall show all persons, not entitled to seats on the floor, to the gallery.

All seats on the north side of the door of the gallery, and the northern half of the seats on the south side of such door shall be set aside and used for whites, and the remainder by colored people. The front rows of the portions assigned to whites shall be especially reserved for ladies and their escorts, and the doorkeeper, or his assistant, shall see that this is done.

The sergeant-at-arms, door-keeper and assistant doorkeepers shall hereafter be elected by the Senate for a term of four years.

V. COMMITTEES.

16. At the commencement of each session the following committees shall be elected:

I. A committee of privileges and elections, to consist of not less than seven nor more than eleven senators.

II. A committee of courts of justice, to consist of not less than seven nor more than thirteen senators.

III. A committee on general laws to consist of not less than seven nor more than thirteen senators.

IV. A committee on roads and internal navigation, to consist of not less than seven nor more than fifteen senators.

V. A committee on finance, to consist of not less than seven nor more than sixteen senators, at least one member of which shall be a member of the minority party of the Senate.

VI. A committee on public institutions and education, to consist of not less than seven nor more than fifteen senators.

VII. A committee on county, city and town organizations, to consist of not less than seven nor more than eleven senators.

VIII. A committee on agriculture, mining and manufacturing, to consist of not less than seven nor more than ten senators.

IX. A committee on fish and game, to consist of not less than seven nor more than eleven senators.

X. A committee on enrolled bills, to consist of not less than seven nor more than eleven senators.

XI. A committee on insurance and baking, to consist of not less than seven nor more than eleven senators. To the committee on insurance and banking shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning insurance and banking.

XII. A committee on executive nominations, to consist of five senators, to which shall be reported all nominations made by the Governor, which are subject to confirmation by the Senate, and which committee on executive nominations shall also act as a committee on the part of the Senate of the standing committee to consider nominations requiring the confirmation of the General Assembly.

XIII. There shall also be appointed a committee on moral and social welfare, to consist of eleven members.

The following committees shall consist of three senators, viz:

To examine the office of the clerk of the Senate.

On rules.

On the library.

On executive expenditures.

To examine the office of register of the land office.

To examine the bonds of public officers.

On the public printing.

There shall also be appointed by the Senate five memebers to serve upon the joint standing committee on special, private and local legislation, and two members to serve upon the joint standing auditing committee.

17. Regular standing committees of the Senate and its members upon the joint standing committees shall be elected by the Senate, unless the Senate direct otherwise, and the senator first named shall be the chairman, unless the committee direct otherwise. The majority of any committee shall constitute a quorum.

18. The several committees shall, in all cases, report whether other cases comprised within the principal of the matter referred may arise; and if a bill be ordered, it shall provide for all such cases, and upon any matter referred, the committee shall have power to report by bill.

19. Select committees shall consist of not less than three nor more than nine senators, unless the Senate direct otherwise.

20. The committee of privileges and elections shall examine the oaths taken by each senator and the certificate of election furnished by the proper officer, and report thereon to the Senate.

The committee of privileges and elections shall report in all cases of privileges or contested elections the principles and reasons on which their resolutions are founded.

21. The committee on courts of justice shall take into consideration such petitions and matters or things touching wrongs and remedies and judicial proceedings concerning the same as shall be presented or may come in question and be referred to them by the Senate, and report thereon, together with such propositions relative thereto as to them shall seem expedient.

22. To the committee on general laws shall be referred all resolutions and bills concerning the militia, private claims, propositions and grievances, and other matters of a general nature not properly referable to any other standing committee.

23. The committee on roads and internal navigation shall take into consideration all such petitions and matters or things relating to highways, public roads, railways, canals and waterways as shall be presented or may come in question and be referred to them by the Senate, and report thereon, together with such propositions relative thereto as to them shall seem expedient.

24. The committee on finance shall, at each session, examine into the indebtedness of the Commonwealth, the revenues and expenditures of the preceding year, and prepare an estimate of the expense of the succeeding year, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper, and shall also examine into the state and manner of administration of the literary fund, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper.

25. To the committee on public institutions and education shall be referred all bills and resolutions concerning education, the penitentiary, lunatic asylums, the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind, the armory and other public property at the seat of government. And it shall be the duty of the

said committee to examine at each session into the condition of the penitentiary, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper. Neither said committee nor a sub-committee thereof shall visit any public institution outside the city of Richmond without leave of the Senate first authorized and obtained.

26. To the committee on county, city and town organizations shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning the formation of any new county, or the organization of any city or town.

27. To the committee on agriculture, mining and manufacturing, shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning agriculture, manufac turing and mining, commerce and the mechanic arts, and also all matters relating to the department of labor.

28. To the committee on fish and game shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning the oyster industry of the State, surveys of the public waters of the State affecting said industry, and all matters relating to fish and game.

29. To the committee on insurance and banking shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning insurance and banking.

29 1-2. To the committee on moral and social welfare shall be referred all bills, resolutions and petitions concerning prohibition, alcoholic liquors, ardent spirits, wine, beer, cider and all mixtures thereof, gambling and commercialized vice.

30. The committee to examine the clerk's office shall see that all papers belonging thereto are properly filed, labelled and put away in the presses, and that the books belonging to the office are chronologically arranged, and shall make an annual report thereof to the Senate.

31. The president of the Senate, the president pro tempore, and chairman of the committee on privileges and elections shall constitute a standing committee on rules, to whom all resolutions amending or altering the rules of the Senate shall be referred; and said committee shall report such amendments to said rules as in their judgment are necessary and proper.

VI. ORDER OF BUSINESS.

32. After reading the journal, one hour, to be called the "morning hour”, shall be devoted as follows:

I. To dispose of communications from the House of Delegates and the executive.

II. To receive reports from standing committees (for which purpose they shall be called by the clerk).

III. To receive reports from select committees.

IV. To receive resolutions, petitions and bills, on leave.

33. At the expiration of the morning hour the Senate shall proceed to the consideration of the calendar, as follows:

I. The unfinished business of the preceding day.

II. Bills and resolutions in the order in which they stand on the calendar. 34. When a bill or resolution of the House of Delegates is passed or rejected by the Senate, it shall remain under the control of the Senate for the space of two days, and the fact of the passage or rejection, with the bill or resolution, shall then be communicated to the House of Delegates, unless otherwise ordered.

35. All bills or other business originating in the Senate shall be dispatched in the order in which they are introduced, and all bills and resolutions sent from the House of Delegates shall be dispatched in the order in which they are sent, unless in either case the Senate direct otherwise.

36. No law shall be enacted except by bill. Every bill, upon its introduction, shall be referred to the appropriate committee, and no bill shall become a law until it has been:

First. Referred to a committee of the Senate, considered by such committee in session, and reported;

Second. Printed by the house in which it originated prior to its passage;

and,

Third. Read at length on three different calendar days in each house;

Fourth. A yea and nay vote has been taken in each house upon its final passage, the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal, and a majority of those voting, which shall include at least twofifths of the members elected to each house, has been recorded in the affirmative.

And only in the manner required in sub-division four of this section shall an amendment to a bill by the House of Delegates be concurred in by the Senate, or a conference report be adopted by the Senate, or a committee discharged from the consideration of a bill for the Senate to consider the same as if reported; provided, that the printing and reading, or either, required in sub-divisions two and three of this section, may be dispensed with in a bill to codify the laws of the State, and in any case of emergency by a vote of fourfifths of the members voting, taken by the yeas and nays, the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal; and provided further, that no bill which creates or establishes a new office or which creates, continues or revives a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money, or property, or releases, discharges or com mutes any claim or demand of the State, or which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall be passed except by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to the Senate, the vote to be by the yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against entered on the journal. Every law imposing, continuing or reviving a tax shall specifically state such tax, and no law shall be construed as so stating such tax where it requires a reference to any other law or any other tax. The presiding officer of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate, in open session, sign every bill that has been passed by both houses and duly enrolled. Immediately before this is done, all other business being suspended, the title of the bill shall be publicly read. The fact of signing shall be entered on the journal. Before reference to a committee, any special, private or local bill shall be referred to and considered by the joint standing committee on special, private and local legislation, and returned to the Senate with a statement in writing whether the object of the bill can be accomplished under general law or by court proceeding; whereupon the bill, with the accompanying statement, shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the Senate, and shall take the course provided by section fifty of the Constitution of Virginia. The joint committee may be discharged from the consideration of a bill by the Senate, when said bill originated in the Senate, in the manner provided in section fifty of the Constitution of Virginia for the discharge of other committees. 37. Bills and resolutions originating in the House of Delegates, and not requiring immediate action shall be read at length. the first time when received and referred to their appropriate committees, unless the Senate direct otherwise.

38. No bill reported from a committee of the Senate shall be recommitted or amended until it has been twice read, nor shall any bill be amended after its third reading, except by the unanimous consent of the Senate.

39. Joint resolutions originating in the Senate shall lie on the table one day at least, unless otherwise ordered.

40. The yeas and nays on any question shall, at the desire of five senators, be entered on the journal. After the yeas and nays shall have been taken, and before they are counted or entered on the journal, the clerk shall read over the names of those who voted in the affirmative and of those who voted in the negative, at which time any senator shall have the right to correct any mistake committed in enrolling his name.

41. Upon the determination of a question, any senator may enter his protest upon the journal, with the consent of one-third of the senators present; and on the question, "Shall the protest be entered on the journal," no privileged motion shall be in order except to adjourn.

42. Whenever the Senate proceeds to consider any nominations of the Governor, which are subject to the choice or ratification of the Senate, the

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