Chapter 21 - Committees of the whole

143 Appointment of committee

  1. A committee of the whole shall be appointed by a resolution that the Senate resolve itself into a committee of the whole, immediately or at a future time.
  2. When an order of the day is read for the Senate to resolve itself into a committee of the whole the President shall leave the chair without putting any question, and the Senate then resolve itself into committee, unless on notice an instruction to the committee is proposed.

144 Proceedings in committee

  1. A committee shall consider only the matters referred to it by the Senate.
  2. A question in committee shall be decided in the same manner as in the Senate.
  3. A motion contradictory of a previous decision of a committee shall not be entertained in the same committee.
  4. A motion for the previous question may not be made in committee.
  5. In committee senators may speak more than once to the same question, and, when a question has been proposed from the chair, shall confine themselves to that question.
  6. Motions that the question be now put and that the chair report progress and ask leave to sit again shall be moved without discussion and immediately put and determined, but neither of those motions shall be repeated within 15 minutes after either of them has been moved.
  7. Except as otherwise provided by the standing orders, the same rules of the conduct of senators and of debate, procedure, and the conduct of business shall be observed in committee as in the Senate, the Chair of Committees being invested with the same authority as the President for the preservation of order, but disorder in a committee may be censured only by the Senate, on receiving a report.

145 Objection to chair's ruling

If objection is taken to a decision of the Chair of Committees, such objection must be stated at once in writing. The chair shall then leave the chair, and the Senate resume. The matter having been laid before the President, and senators having addressed themselves to it, shall be disposed of, and the proceedings in committee shall be resumed where they were interrupted.

146 President to resume chair

  1. If sudden disorder arises in committee, the President shall resume the chair.
  2. The President shall resume the chair at the time for doing anything which the Senate has ordered to be done at a stated time.

147 Quorum

  1. The quorum in committee of the whole shall be the same as for the Senate.
  2. If notice is taken of the absence of a quorum in committee, the chair shall count the committee, and if after the bells have been rung for 4 minutes a quorum is not formed, or if it appears on a division (by which division no decision shall be taken to have been arrived at) that a quorum is not present, the chair shall leave the chair and report to the Senate.
  3. If the proceedings of a committee are interrupted by lack of a quorum and consequent adjournment of the Senate, the resumption of the committee shall be an order of the day for the next day of sitting, and when the order is called on the proceedings shall be resumed at the point where they were interrupted.

148 Report of committee

  1. When all matters referred to a committee have been considered, the chair shall be directed to report to the Senate, and when the consideration of those matters has not been concluded, the chair may be directed to report progress and ask leave to sit again.
  2. A motion may be made at any time during the proceedings of a committee that the chair report progress and ask leave to sit again.
  3. Resolutions reported from a committee may be agreed to or disagreed to by the Senate, or agreed to with amendments, recommitted to the committee, or the further consideration of them postponed.