Senate rules

The permanent rules of the Washington Senate inform administrative operations and parliamentary procedures in Senate business, including committee meetings and floor sessions.

Preface

2023 Senate rules

Permanent rules of the Senate

68th Legislature

The Senate adopted its permanent rules in Senate Engrossed Senate Resolution No. 8601, on January 9, 2023. A subsequent revision was adopted in Senate Resolution No. 8606 on January 25, 2023

Sections

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SECTION III. RULES AND ORDER

Rule 15. Time of Convening

The senate shall convene at 10:00 a.m. each working day, unless adjourned to a different hour. The senate shall adjourn not later than 10:00 p.m. of each working day. The senate shall recess ninety minutes for lunch each working day. When reconvening on the same day the senate shall recess ninety minutes for dinner each working evening. This rule may be suspended by a majority.

Rule 16. Quorum

A majority of all members elected or appointed to the senate shall be necessary to constitute a quorum to do business. Less than a quorum may adjourn from day to day until a quorum can be had. (See Art. 2, Sec. 8, State Constitution.)

Rule 17. Order of Business

After the roll is called and journal read and approved, business shall be disposed of in the following order:

FIRST.	Reports of committees.
SECOND.	Motions for reconsideration.
THIRD.	Messages from the governor and other state officers.
FOURTH.	Messages from the house of representatives and concurrence and dispute motions.
FIFTH.	Introduction, first reading and reference of bills, joint memorials, joint resolutions and concurrent resolutions.
SIXTH.	Second reading of bills.
SEVENTH.	Third reading of bills.
EIGHTH.	Presentation of petitions, memorials and floor resolutions.
NINTH.	Presentation of motions.

The order of business established by this rule may be changed and any order of business already dealt with may be reverted or advanced to by a majority vote of those present.

All questions relating to the priority of business shall be decided without debate.

Messages from the governor, other state officers, and from the house of representatives may be considered at any time with the consent of the senate.

Rule 18. Special Order

The president shall call the senate to order at the hour fixed for the consideration of a special order, and announce that the special order is before the senate, which shall then be considered unless it is postponed by a majority vote of the members present, and any business before the senate at the time of the announcement of the special order shall take its regular position in the order of business, except that if a cutoff established by concurrent resolution occurs during the special order, the senate may complete the measure that was before the senate when consideration of the special order was commenced.

Rule 19. Unfinished Business

The unfinished business at the preceding adjournment shall have preference over all other matters, excepting special orders, and no motion or any other business shall be received without special leave of the senate until the former is disposed of.

Rule 20. Motions and Senate Floor Resolutions (How Presented)

1. No motion shall be entertained or debated until announced by the president and every motion shall be deemed to have been seconded. It shall be reduced to writing and read by the secretary, if desired by the president or any senator, before it shall be debated, and by the consent of the senate may be withdrawn before amendment or action.

2. The senate shall consider no more than one floor resolution per day in session: Provided, That this rule shall not apply to floor resolutions essential to the operation of the senate; and further Provided, That there shall be no limit on the number of floor resolutions considered on senate pro forma session days. Senate floor resolutions shall be acted upon in the same manner as motions. All senate floor resolutions shall be on the secretary's desk at least twenty-four hours prior to consideration. Members' names shall be added to the resolution only if the member signs the resolution, except by unanimous consent of the senate. Members shall have until thirty minutes after the senate is convened the following day the senate is in a regular or pro forma session to add or remove their names to the floor resolution. A motion may be made to close the period for signatures at an earlier time. If the senate is operating in a remote format under the authority of Senate Rule 70, an electronic or scanned signature is authorized in place of a physical signature.

Rule 21. Precedence of Motions

When a motion has been made and stated by the chair the following motions are in order, in the rank named:

PRIVILEGED MOTIONS

Adjourn, recess, or go at ease
Reconsider
Demand for call of the senate
Demand for roll call
Demand for division
Question of privilege
Orders of the day

INCIDENTAL MOTIONS

Points of order and appeal
Method of consideration
Suspend the rules
Reading papers
Withdraw a motion
Division of a question

SUBSIDIARY MOTIONS

1st Rank: To lay on the table

2nd Rank: For the previous question

3rd Rank: To postpone to a day certain
To commit or recommit
To postpone indefinitely

4th Rank: To amend

No motion to postpone to a day certain, to commit, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall again be allowed on the same day and at the same stage of the proceedings, and when a question has been postponed indefinitely it shall not again be introduced during the session.

A motion to lay an amendment on the table shall not carry the main question with it unless so specified in the motion to table.

At no time shall the senate entertain a Question of Consideration.

Rule 22. Voting

1. In all cases of election by the senate, the votes shall be taken by yeas and nays, and no senator or other person shall remain by the secretary's desk while the roll is being called or the votes are being counted. No senator shall be allowed to vote except when within the bar of the senate, or upon any question upon which he or she is in any way personally or directly interested, nor be allowed to explain a vote or discuss the question while the yeas and nays are being called, nor change a vote after the result has been announced. A member of the senate voting remotely is considered in attendance within the bar of the senate if the member is participating in the session through a remote access program established by the secretary of the senate as provided in Senate Rule 70. (See also Art. 2, Secs. 27 and 30, State Constitution.)

2. A member not voting by reason of personal or direct interest, or by reason of an excused absence, or a member having inadvertently voted contrary to the member's intent, may explain the reason for not voting or the member's intended vote by a brief statement not to exceed fifty words in the journal.

3. The yeas and nays shall be taken when called for by one-sixth of all the senators present, and every senator within the bar of the senate shall vote unless excused by the unanimous vote of the members present, except as provided for in Senate Rule 7, subsection 4, and the votes shall be entered upon the journal. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 21, State Constitution.)

When once begun the roll call may not be interrupted for any purpose other than to move a call of the senate. (See also Senate Rule 24.)

4. A senator having been absent during roll call may ask to have his or her name called. Such a request must be made before the result of the roll call has been announced by the president. If, during a roll call vote, the vote of a member participating remotely is unable to be taken due to connectivity issues, the member shall be automatically excused. The member may request in writing that their vote be reflected in the senate journal, though it will not count towards the final roll call.

5. The passage of a bill or action on a question is lost by a tie vote, but when a vote of the senate is equally divided, the lieutenant governor, when presiding, shall have the deciding vote on questions as provided for in the state Constitution. (See also Art. 2, Secs. 10 and 22, State Constitution.)

6. The order of the names on the roll call shall be alphabetical by last name.

7. All votes in a committee shall be recorded, and the record shall be preserved as prescribed by the secretary of the senate. One-sixth of the committee may demand an oral roll call.

8. If a member of the majority is going to be absent due to a health matter or other emergency, then a member of the minority may publicly announce on the floor of the senate that he or she will cast votes as he or she believes the absent member would have voted in order to avoid results that would only occur because of the unanticipated absence.

Rule 23. Announcement of Vote

The announcement of all votes shall be made by the president.

Rule 24. Call of the Senate

Although a roll call is in progress, a call of the senate may be moved by three senators, and if carried by a majority of all present the secretary shall call the roll, after which the names of the absentees shall again be called. The doors shall then be locked and the sergeant at arms directed to take into custody all who may be absent without leave, and all the senators so taken into custody shall be presented at the bar of the senate for such action as the senate may deem proper.

Rule 25. One Subject in a Bill

No bill shall embrace more than one subject and that shall be expressed in the title. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 19, State Constitution.)

Rule 26. No Amendment by Mere Reference to Title of Act

No act shall ever be revised or amended by mere reference to its title, but the act revised or the section amended shall be set forth at full length. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 37, State Constitution.)

Rule 27. Reading of Papers

When the reading of any paper is called for, and is objected to by any senator, it shall be determined by a vote of the senate, without debate.

Any and all copies of reproductions of newspaper or magazine editorials, articles or cartoons or publications or material of any nature distributed to senators' desks must bear the name of at least one senator granting permission for the distribution. This shall not apply to materials normally distributed by the secretary of the senate or the majority or minority caucuses.

Rule 28. Comparing Enrolled and Engrossed Bills

Any senator shall have the right to compare an enrolled bill with the engrossed bill and may note any objections in the Journal.

1st Rank:	To lay on the table
2nd Rank:	For the previous question
3rd Rank:	To postpone to a day certain To commit or recommit To postpone indefinitely
4th Rank:	To amend