No member shall hold conversation with another while a member is speaking in debate, or use electronic devices, including but not limited to personal computers, and telephonic devices, without leave of the Senate.

Every member, wishing to speak, shall notify the President. When the member is recognized to speak he shall rise and address the President, and when he has finished shall then sit down.

No member shall speak more than twice on the same question on the same day without leave of the Senate President.

More than one member wishing to speak at the same time, the President shall decide who shall speak first.

The President shall preserve decorum and order. If any member transgresses the rules of the Senate, the President shall, or any member may, call him to order in which case the member so called to order shall immediately cease and desist, and the Senate, if appealed to, shall decide the case. But if there is no appeal, the decision of the President shall be conclusive.

No member shall absent himself without permission from the Senate.

When any question is under debate, no motion shall be received but first, to adjourn; second, to lay upon the table; third, for the previous question; fourth, to postpone to a certain day; fifth, to commit; sixth, to amend; and seventh, to postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they are so arranged. Motions to adjourn, to lay upon the table, for the previous question, and to take from the table shall be decided without debate. Motions to postpone to a certain day shall be debatable both as to time and subject matter. No motion to postpone indefinitely, to postpone to a certain day, or to commit, being decided, shall be in order at the same stage of the bill or resolution, until after adjournment.

A question which is postponed indefinitely shall not be acted upon during the biennium except whenever two-thirds of the whole number of elected Senators shall on division taken, vote in favor thereof. Any bill which is indefinitely postponed shall not be reintroduced under cover of an amendment any bill, resolution, order, or committee of conference report. No motion to suspend this rule shall be permitted.

Any member may call for a division of the question when the sense will admit it. Unless otherwise specifically provided for, a majority of those present and voting shall be required to pass any vote.

When the reading of a paper or document is objected to by a member, the question shall be determined by a vote of the Senate; and without debate.

When the nays and yeas have been moved by a member and duly seconded by another member each member present shall declare his assent or dissent to the question, unless for special reason he be excused by the Senate. The names of the persons so making the motion and the second shall be recorded in the Journal. The President shall determine the order of the roll call. No member shall be required to vote in any case where he was not present when the question was put.

In case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct in the gallery, the President shall have the power to order the same to be cleared. The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may restrict attendance to the duly elected Senators.

Before any petition shall be received and read, a brief statement of the contents thereof shall be made by the member introducing the same.

All petitions, memorials and other papers addressed to the Senate and all bills and resolutions to be introduced in the Senate, shall be endorsed with the name of the Senator presenting them, and with the subject matter of the same. Every bill shall be marked on the first page "Senate Bill" and numbered serially; every joint resolution shall be marked "Senate Joint Resolution" and numbered serially; every concurrent resolution proposing a constitutional amendment shall be marked "Concurrent Resolution Proposing a Constitutional Amendment" and numbered serially; and every other concurrent resolution shall be marked "Senate Concurrent Resolution" and numbered serially, as each bill or resolution is introduced into the Senate.

All petitions, memorials and other papers addressed to the Senate and all bills and resolutions to be introduced into the Senate shall be delivered or caused to be delivered to the Office of Legislative Services, which in turn will submit it to the sponsor for his signature, and then to the Clerk by Legislative Services. If requested by the sponsor, a proposed bill, resolution or petition shall not be made public, except by the sponsor, until signed by the sponsor. During any adjournment the President may receive bills and resolutions for printing and for reference to committee, provided that no bill shall have a public hearing until it is formally introduced into the Senate printed and available for distribution. The President shall take up all bills and resolutions for introduction at the early session.

(i) The deadline for Committee of Conference report sign-off is June 18, 2003 at 3:00 p.m.

All resolutions which may require the signature of the Governor shall be treated in the same manner as bills.

Every bill shall have three readings in the Senate previous to its passage. The first and second readings shall be by title only which may be accomplished by a conglomerate resolution, after which the bill shall be referred by the President to the appropriate committee and shall be printed as provided in Rule 22, unless otherwise ordered by the Senate. No bill after it has been read a second time shall have a third reading until after adjournment from the early session. The time assigned for the third reading of bills and resolutions shall be in the late session unless otherwise ordered by the Senate. The orders of the day for the reading of bills shall hold for every succeeding day until disposed of.

After every bill shall have been read a second time, and referred by the President to the appropriate committee, the Clerk shall procure a sufficient number of copies, printed on paper of uniform size, for the use of the legislature, and cause the same to be distributed to the members, and when printed the bill shall be immediately delivered to the committee to which it shall have been referred. Bills received from the House shall be printed at the same stage of their procedure unless they have been printed in the House and copies distributed in the Senate, in which case any amendment made by the House shall be duplicated and distributed in the Senate.

No amendment shall be made but upon the second reading of a bill; and all amendments to bills and resolutions shall be in writing, with the name of the Senator and the district he represents, or in the case of a committee amendment the name of the committee that recommended it, thereon. No amendment to any bill shall be proposed or allowed at any time or by any source, including a committee of conference, except it be germane. Amendments shall have been reviewed by the Office of Legislative Services for form, construction, statutory and chapter reference.

(b) Any legislation creating a chapter study committee shall have membership limited to members of the General Court.

When a bill is reported favorably with an amendment, the report of the committee shall state the amendment, and then recite the section of the bill in full as amended. The amendment shall be printed in the calendar of the Journal on the date that the report is listed for action. If no action is taken on that day, then the amendment shall be printed on the day to which the bill has been referred. All bills reported shall be retained by the clerk and shall not be finally acted upon until the following legislative day, and a list of such bills with the report thereon shall be published in the Journal for the day on which action shall be taken.

Every bill and joint resolution appropriating money, which has been referred to another committee and favorably accepted by the Senate, shall be committed to the Finance Committee for review. If any such bills have been referred jointly to the Finance Committee and another standing committee, the Finance Committee may report separately and a further public hearing may be held at the discretion of the Finance Committee. All bills appropriating money, which are referred directly to the Finance Committee shall have a hearing.

All warrants, subpoenas and other processes issued by order of the Senate shall be under the hand and seal of the President attested by the Clerk.

All committees of the Senate, including Senate members on committees of conference, shall consist of members of both parties as nearly equal as possible, provided that on all committees, both parties shall be represented. The President shall appoint the members of all committees, after consulting with the minority leader.

The standing committees of the Senate shall be as follows: The Committee on Finance, Committee on Capital Budget, Committee on Ways & Means, Committee on Banks, Committee on (present Economic Development) Energy and Economic Development, Committee on Education, Committee on Environment, Committee on Executive Departments & Administration, Committee on Wildlife & Recreation, Committee on Insurance, Committee on Internal Affairs, Committee on Interstate Cooperation, Committee on Judiciary, Committee on Public Affairs, Committee on Public Institutions Health & Human Services, Committee on Rules & Enrolled Bills, and the Committee on Transportation.

Messages shall be sent to the House of Representatives by the Clerk of the Senate.

Messages from the Governor or House of Representatives may be received at all times, except when the Senate is engaged in putting the question, in calling the yeas and nays, or in counting the ballots.

All questions shall be put by the President, and each member of the Senate present shall signify his assent or dissent by voting yea or nay, or shall abstain from voting by reason of a conflict pursuant to rule 42. If the President doubts, or a division is called for, the Senate shall divide. Those in the affirmative on the question shall first rise from their seats and stand until they be counted. The President shall rise and state the decision of the Senate.

No person except members of the Senate and its officers, the Governor, Council members, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and its officers and clerks, shall be admitted to the floor of the Senate while the Senate is in session, except by the invitation of the President, or some member with the President’s consent.

The Senate shall adjourn to meet on the subsequent legislative day for the early session at the time mentioned in the adjournment motion. The late session shall immediately follow the early session unless the Senate shall otherwise order.

No standing rule of the Senate shall be suspended unless two-thirds of the members present and voting vote in favor thereof. This rule shall not apply to Senate Rule 9.

No rule shall be rescinded unless two days notice of the motion has been given and two-thirds of those present and voting vote therefore.

The Senate may resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole at any time on motion made for that purpose; and in forming a Committee of the Whole, the President shall leave the chair, and appoint a chairperson to preside in committee.

The President when performing the duties of the Chair may, at any time, name any member to perform the duties of the Chair.

The staff of the Senate shall be comprised of a clerk, an assistant clerk, a sergeant-at-arms, and a doorkeeper who are to be elected by the Senate, and such other personnel as the President shall appoint. The President shall define the duties of all members of the Senate staff which are not fixed by statute or otherwise ordered by the Senate.

Each member of the staff of the Senate shall be available on call to carry out the work of the Senate.

The committees shall promptly consider and report on all matters referred to them. The President may authorize such committees having a heavy load of investigation, re-drafting, research or amendments to meet as needed on non-legislative days during the legislative session. The Clerk of the Senate shall prepare a list by number, title and sponsor of all Senate bills and resolutions in committee which have not been acted upon within one week before the deadline established for the transfer of bills and resolutions from the Senate to the House of Representatives, and he/she shall distribute this list to every member of the Senate as soon as it is prepared.

In all instances every member shall act in conformance with the duly adopted Ethical Guidelines and Opinions of the New Hampshire General Court.

Action on the floor of a report of the Committee on Finance or a Committee of Conference on either the general appropriations (budget) bill or the capital budget bill, shall not be taken by the Senate, until said report has been available from the Senate Clerk twenty-four hours in advance, in written form. Nongermane amendments and footnotes to such bills (except footnotes in explanation of the principal text of such bills or designating the use or restriction of any funds or portions thereof) are prohibited and shall not be allowed under any circumstances.

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE: A Senator may, as a matter of personal privilege, defend his/her position on a bill, his/her integrity, his/her record, or his/her conduct, against unfair or unwarranted criticism, or may speak of an issue which relates to his/her rights, privileges or conveniences as a Senator; provided, however, the matters raised under personal privilege shall not be subject to questioning, answer, or debate, by another Senator. Personal Privilege remarks may be included in the Daily Journal if requested by the Senator, and in the Permanent Journal by vote of the Senate. A Senator may speak on other matters of his/her choosing and in such cases may be subject to questioning and/or answer according to the Rules of the Senate.

Any appeal from the ruling of the presiding officer shall be decided by majority vote of the members present and voting.

No new motion shall be admitted under color of amendment as a substitute for the motion under debate.