VA-ALERT: Will the Senate violate its own rules?

[OakRidgeStars]

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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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ACTION ITEM BELOW:

According to public statements in the newspaper, the Senate Courts of
Justices "special" committee will "take care" of some gun bills that
some Democratic Senators don't want to vote on for political reasons.

If anti-gun Senator Marsh is hoping that the full committee can avoid
a vote on bills from the subcommittee, he has a problem: the Senate
Rules require that subcommittees report bills to the full committee:

"20 (h). The Chair of any Committee may appoint subcommittees to
consider a particular bill or resolution or to consider matters
relative to a portion of the work of the Committee. Such subcommittees
***shall*** make recommendations to the Committee. The Chair of the
full Committee shall be an ex officio member of all subcommittees and
entitled to vote, but shall not be counted as a member for purposes of
a quorum. All subcommittees shall be governed by the Rules of the
Senate. "

The House does allow subcommittees to kill bills, but the House Rules
grants them that discretionary power:

"Rule 18. The several standing committees shall consider and report on
matters specially referred to them and, whenever practicable, suggest
such legislation as may be germane to the duties of the committee. The
chairman shall have discretion to determine when, and if, legislation
shall be heard before the committee. The chairman, at his discretion,
may refer legislation for consideration to a subcommittee. If referred
to a subcommittee, the legislation shall be considered by the
subcommittee. ***If the subcommittee does not recommend such
legislation by a majority vote, the chairman need not consider the
legislation in the full committee.*** It shall be the duty of each
committee to inquire into the condition and administration of the laws
relating to the subjects which it has in its charge; to investigate
the conduct and look to the responsibility of all public officers and
agents concerned; and to suggest such measures as will correct abuses,
protect the public interests, and promote the public welfare."

So, now the question we will soon have the answer to: will the Senate
Courts of Justice committee and its Special subcommittee obey the
Rules of the Senate or violate them?

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Here are the links to the Senate and House Rules:

Senate

http://hodcap.state.va.us/publications/SenateRules.pdf

House

http://hodcap.state.va.us/publications/ ... esText.pdf


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ACTION ITEM

Let's all contact the members of the Senate Courts of Justice
Committee and urge them to make sure that the Senate's Rules are obeyed:

** Corrected Email address for the whole committee:

scojc@vcdl.org


Subject: Obey Senate Rules!


Message:

Senator Marsh stated in the Roanoke Times on Monday, March 1, that the
Senate Courts of Justice Special Subcommittee could kill bills without
the full committee taking a vote. The Senate's own rules are clear -
20(h) states, "...Such subcommittees SHALL make recommendations to the
Committee." (emphasis added)

I urge the full committee to follow its own rules and its own history
and vote on all the bills that are under consideration by the Special
(or any other) Subcommittee.

Ignoring the Senate's Rules will make a mockery out of the Senate and
the Committee.

--

Let's Roll!



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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]

[Username]

A light in the darkness friends! This had me quite disheartened as of late, as I thought the end was nigh for the rest of the gun bills!

[wrt81]

Has anyone been able to send to the "scoj@cvdl.org" address? I've tried multiple times from different e-mail accounts and it keeps coming back as undeliverable.

[wrt81]

Has anyone been able to send to the "scoj@cvdl.org" address? I've tried multiple times from different e-mail accounts and it keeps coming back as undeliverable.

worked for me... Try scoj@vcdl.org

Ah, that was a typo on my part in my first post. I did send it to scoj@vcdl.org originally.

It looks like there is some sort of issue as the VCDL just sent out an alert confirming there are problems with it and they're working on it.

[ClintK]

The original email address was incorrect. Please use scojc@vcdl.org .

[OakRidgeStars]

Problem fixed --- Hit it!

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I had missed one letter in the email address.

Here is the email information again, with corrected email address
(sorry):


ACTION ITEM

Let's all contact the members of the Senate Courts of Justice
Committee and urge them to make sure that the Senate's Rules are obeyed:

Email address for the whole committee:

scojc@vcdl.org


Subject: Obey Senate Rules!


Message:

Senator Marsh stated in the Roanoke Times on Monday, March 1, that the
Senate Courts of Justice Special Subcommittee could kill bills without
the full committee taking a vote. The Senate's own rules are clear -
20(h) states, "...Such subcommittees SHALL make recommendations to the
Committee." (emphasis added)

I urge the full committee to follow its own rules and its own history
and vote on all the bills that are under consideration by the Special
(or any other) Subcommittee.

Ignoring the Senate's Rules will make a mockery out of the Senate and
the Committee.