AR1 - Adopts the Standing Rules of the Assembly for the 83rd Session of the Legislature. (BDR R-980)

- 83rd Session (2025) Assembly Resolution No. 1–Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections FILE NUMBER.......... ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION—Adopting the Standing Rules of the Assembly for the 83rd Session of the Legislature. RESOLVED BY THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, That the Assembly Standing Rules are hereby adopted for the 83rd Session of the Legislature as follows: I. OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES DUTIES OF OFFICERS Rule No. 1. Speaker of the Assembly. 1. All officers of the Assembly are subordinate to the Speaker in all that relates to the prompt, efficient and correct discharge of their official duties under the Speaker’s supervision. 2. Possessing the powers and performing the duties described in this Rule, the Speaker shall: (a) Take the chair at the hour to which the Assembly stands adjourned, call the members to order, and upon the appearance of a quorum, proceed to business. (b) In the event an emergency occurs during a regular or special session of the Legislature which requires a meeting of the Assembly, call the members back to order before the hour to which the Assembly had adjourned. (c) Preserve order and decorum and have general direction of the Chamber of the Assembly and the approaches thereto. In the event of any disturbance or disorderly conduct therein, order the same to be cleared. (d) Decide all questions of order, subject to a member’s right to appeal to the Assembly. On appeal from such decisions, the Speaker has the right, in the Speaker’s place, to assign the reason for the decision. (e) Have the right to name any member to perform the duties of the Chair, but such substitution must not extend beyond one legislative day. (f) Have the power to accredit the persons who act as representatives of the news media and assign them seats. (g) Sign all bills and resolutions passed by the Legislature as provided by law. (h) Sign all subpoenas issued by the Assembly. – 2 – - 83rd Session (2025) (i) Receive all messages and communications from other departments of the government and announce them to the Assembly. (j) Represent the Assembly, declare its will and in all things obey its commands. (k) Vote on final passage of a bill or adoption of a resolution, but the Speaker shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings except where the Speaker’s vote would be decisive. In all yea and nay votes, the Speaker’s name must be called last. (l) Appoint committees during the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature for any proper purpose, including, without limitation, taking testimony, compelling the attendance of witnesses, punishing persons or entities for contempt and reporting findings to the next session of the Legislature. 3. If a vacancy occurs in the office of Speaker, through death, resignation or disability of the Speaker, the Speaker Pro Tempore shall temporarily and for the period of vacancy or disability conduct the necessary business of the Assembly. 4. If a permanent vacancy occurs in the office of Speaker, the Assembly shall select a new Speaker. 5. This Rule shall remain in full force and effect throughout the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature and until new Standing Rules of the Assembly are adopted as part of the organization of a newly-constituted Assembly at the commencement of a session. Rule No. 2. Continuation of Leadership and Standing Rules of the Assembly During the Interim Between Regular Sessions. 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2, 3 and 4, the tenure of the Speaker, Speaker Pro Tempore, Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the Assembly extends during the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature. 2. The Assemblymembers designated to be the Speaker, Speaker Pro Tempore, Majority Leader and Minority Leader for the next succeeding regular session shall perform any duty required of that officer by the Standing Rules of the Assembly and the Nevada Revised Statutes in the period between the time of their designation after the general election and the organization of the next succeeding regular session. 3. The Assemblymember designated to be the Speaker and the Assemblymember designated to be the Minority Leader for the next succeeding regular session shall appoint the regular and – 3 – - 83rd Session (2025) alternate members to the Select Committee on Ethics as set forth in Assembly Standing Rule No. 23. 4. The Assemblymember designated to be the Speaker for the next succeeding regular session shall: (a) Determine the start time of the Assembly’s organizational session. (b) Have the right to name any person to call the Assembly to order and preside over the Assembly’s organizational session until a presiding officer is elected. (c) Refer prefiled bills and resolutions to committee, subject to ratification by a majority vote of the members of the Assembly once the Assembly is organized and ready for business. 5. The Assembly Standing Rules set forth herein shall remain in full force and effect throughout the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature and until new Standing Rules of the Assembly are adopted as part of the organization of a newly- constituted Assembly at the commencement of a session, unless a conflict exists with a rule adopted by the Assembly for a special session occurring between regular sessions. Rule No. 3. Chief Clerk. 1. The Chief Clerk is elected by the Assembly and is responsible to the Speaker. 2. The Chief Clerk shall recruit, select, train and supervise all attaches employed to assist with the work of the Assembly. 3. The Chief Clerk shall administer the daily business of the Assembly. 4. The Chief Clerk shall adopt such administrative policies as the Chief Clerk deems necessary to carry out the business of the Assembly. 5. The Speaker and the Chief Clerk are authorized to make any necessary corrections and additions to the final journal, history and committee minutes of the Assembly. 6. At the direction of the Speaker or Speaker Designate, the Chief Clerk shall attest and affix the seal of the Assembly to all writs, warrants, subpoenas and formal documents issued by the Assembly. 7. The Chief Clerk shall have custody of all bills, resolutions, petitions, papers and other documents, including, without limitation, matters referred to the committees of the Assembly. – 4 – - 83rd Session (2025) Rule No. 4. Reserved. Rule No. 5. Reserved. Rule No. 6. Reserved. The next rule is 10. II. SESSIONS AND MEETINGS Rule No. 10. Time of Meeting. The Assembly shall meet each day at 11:30 a.m., unless the Assembly adjourns to some other hour. Rule No. 11. Open Meetings. All meetings of the Assembly and its committees must be open to the public. Rule No. 12. Convening of the Assembly between Legislative Sessions. 1. The Assembly may be convened at any time between sessions of the Legislature upon a petition signed by a majority of the members elected to the Assembly to consider and take action on any matter that is solely and exclusively within the constitutional or inherent powers of the Assembly, including, without limitation, any matter that may be considered and acted on by the Assembly pursuant to its plenary and exclusive constitutional powers under Article 4, Section 6 of the Nevada Constitution or pursuant to its inherent powers of institutional self-protection and self-preservation to govern, control and regulate its membership and its internal organization, affairs and management. 2. A petition convening the Assembly pursuant to this Rule must specify the matter that will be considered or acted on by the Assembly, indicate a date for the Assembly to convene and be transmitted to the Chief Clerk of the Assembly. Upon receipt of one or more substantially similar petitions signed, in the aggregate, by a majority of the members elected to the Assembly, the Chief Clerk shall notify all members of the Assembly that the Assembly will be convened pursuant to this Rule and the date on which the Assembly will be convened. 3. The Assembly hereby finds and declares that: – 5 – - 83rd Session (2025) (a) The Nevada Constitution invests each House of the Legislature with certain plenary and exclusive constitutional powers which may be exercised only by that House and which cannot be usurped, infringed or impaired by the other House or by any other branch of Nevada’s State Government. (Heller v. Legislature, 120 Nev. 456 (2004); Commission on Ethics v. Hardy, 125 Nev. 285 (2009); Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure §§ 2-3 & 560-564 (2010) (Mason’s Manual)) (b) Article 4, Section 6 of the Nevada Constitution invests each House with plenary and exclusive constitutional powers to govern, control and regulate its membership and its internal organization, affairs and management, expressly providing that: “Each House shall judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members, choose its own officers (except the President of the Senate), determine the rules of its proceedings and may punish its members for disorderly conduct, and with the concurrence of two thirds of all the members elected, expel a member.” (c) In addition to its plenary and exclusive constitutional powers, each House possesses certain inherent powers of institutional self-protection and self-preservation to govern, control and regulate its membership and its internal organization, affairs and management. (In re Chapman, 166 U.S. 661, 668 (1897); Mason’s Manual § 2; Luther S. Cushing, Elements of the Law & Practice of Legislative Assemblies § 533 (1856) (Cushing’s Legislative Assemblies)) (d) The inherent powers of each House are considered “so essential to the authority of a legislative assembly, that it cannot well exist without them; and they are consequently entitled to be regarded as belonging to every such assembly as a necessary incident.” (Cushing’s Legislative Assemblies § 533) (e) The inherent powers of each House authorize it to take all necessary and proper institutional actions that are “recognized by the common parliamentary law.” (Cushing’s Legislative Assemblies § 684) (f) Thus, it is well established that each House is “vested with all the powers and privileges which are necessary and incidental to a free and unobstructed exercise of its appropriate functions. These powers and privileges are derived not from the Constitution; on the contrary, they arise from the very creation of a legislative body, and are founded upon the principle of self-preservation.” (Ex parte McCarthy, 29 Cal. 395, 403 (1866)) The next rule is 20. – 6 – - 83rd Session (2025) III. DECORUM AND DEBATE Rule No. 20. Points of Order. If any member, in speaking or otherwise, transgresses the rules of the Assembly, the Speaker shall, or any member may, call to order, in which case the member so called to order shall immediately sit down, unless permitted to explain; and if called to order by a member, such member shall immediately state the point of order. If the point of order be sustained by the presiding officer, the member shall not be allowed to proceed; but if it be not sustained, then the member shall be permitted to go on. Every such decision from the presiding officer shall be subject to an appeal to the House; but no discussion of the question of order shall be allowed unless an appeal be taken from the decision of the presiding officer. Rule No. 21. Portable Electronic Communication Devices. 1. A person who is within the Assembly Chambers shall not engage in a telephone conversation via the use of a portable telephone. 2. Before entering the Assembly Chambers, any person who possesses a portable electronic communication device, such as a pager or telephone, that emits an audible alert, such as a ringing or beeping sound, to signal an incoming message or call, shall turn the audible alert off. A device that contains a nonaudible alert, such as a silent vibration, may be operated in a nonaudible manner within the Assembly Chambers. Rule No. 22. Reserved. Rule No. 23. Select Committee on Ethics; Legislative Ethics. 1. The Select Committee on Ethics consists of: (a) Two members of the Assembly appointed by the Speaker from the majority political party; (b) One member of the Assembly appointed by the Minority Leader from the minority political party; and (c) Three qualified electors of the State, two of whom are appointed by the Speaker and one who is appointed by the Minority Leader, and none of whom is a present member of the Legislature or employed by the State of Nevada. 2. The Speaker shall appoint the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee. The Vice Chair shall serve as the acting Chair if the – 7 – - 83rd Session (2025) Chair is unable to serve for any reason during the consideration of a specific question. 3. The Speaker shall appoint an alternate member with the qualifications set forth in paragraph (a) of subsection 1 and an alternate member with the qualifications set forth in paragraph (c) of subsection 1. The Minority Leader shall appoint an alternate member with the qualifications set forth in paragraph (b) of subsection 1 and an alternate member with the qualifications set forth in paragraph (c) of subsection 1. If a member of the Committee is unable to serve for any reason during the consideration of a specific question, the alternate appointed with the qualifications from the same paragraph in subsection 1 shall serve as a member of the Committee during the consideration of the specific question. 4. A member of the Committee is disqualified to serve during the consideration of a specific question if: (a) The member is the requester of advice concerning the question of ethics or conflict of interest, or the member is the subject of the complaint concerning the specific question; or (b) A reasonable person in the member’s situation could not exercise independent judgment on the matter in question. 5. The members of the Committee shall perform any duty required in the period between the time of their appointment after the general election and the organization of the next succeeding regular session, or until the Speaker or the Speaker Designate or the Minority Leader or Minority Leader Designate appoint new members to the Committee, whichever occurs first. 6. The tenure of the members of the Committee shall extend during the interim between regular sessions of the Legislature. 7. The Committee: (a) May hear requests brought by members of the Assembly for advice on sp [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]