FINAL COMMITTEE ACTION
At full committee meetings, reports on bills may be made by subcommittees. Bills are read for amendment in committees by section and members may offer germane amendments. Committee amendments are only proposals to change the bill as introduced and are subject to acceptance or rejection by the House itself.
A vote of committee members is taken to determine whether the full committee will report the bill favorably, adversely, or without recommendation. If the committee votes to report the bill favorably to the House, it may report the bill without amendments or may introduce and report a ‘‘clean bill’’. Committees may authorize the chairman to postpone votes in certain circumstances. If the committee has approved extensive amendments, the committee may decide to report the original bill with one ‘‘amendment in the nature of a substitute’’ consisting of all the amendments previously adopted, or may report a new bill incorporating those amendments, commonly known as a clean bill.
The new bill is introduced (usually by the chairman of the committee), and, after referral back to the committee, is reported favorably to the House by the committee. A committee may table a bill or not take action on it, thereby preventing further action on a bill. This makes adverse reports or reports without recommendation to the House by a committee unusual. The House also has the ability to discharge a bill from committee.
Generally, a majority of the committee or subcommittee
constitutes a quorum. A quorum is the number of members who must be present in
order for the committee to report. This ensures participation by both sides in
the action taken. However, a committee may vary the number of members necessary
for a quorum for certain actions. For example, a committee may fix the number of
its members, but not less than two, necessary for a quorum for taking testimony
and receiving evidence. Except for the Committees on Appropriations, the Budget,
and Ways and Means, a committee may fix the number of its members, but not less
than one-third, necessary for a quorum for taking certain other actions. The
absence of a quorum is subject to a point of order, an objection that the
proceedings are in violation of a rule of the committee or of the House, because
the required number of members are not present.