| R 238 |
| 2020 -- S 2846 Enacted 06/17/2020 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| AMENDING THE RULES OF THE SENATE FOR YEARS 2019-2020 |
| Introduced By: Senators Lombardi, McCaffrey, and Ruggerio |
| Date Introduced: May 26, 2020 |
| RESOLVED, That Section 10 of the rules for the Senate adopted by the Senate at its |
| January session, A.D. 2019, entitled "Senate Resolution Adopting Rules of the Senate for the |
| Years 2019-2020," be and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto the following rule: |
| 10.7.1 Voting by Proxy During Declared State of Emergency. |
| Notwithstanding any senate rule to the contrary, during any declared state of emergency |
| and while the senate is in session, a senator may request from the presiding officer permission to |
| vote by proxy on any bill or matter before the senate. The presiding officer shall, when deciding |
| to grant or deny the request, consider whether the senator making the request would face a |
| hardship in attending session, or, during a contagion, falls within a high-risk category as defined |
| by the Rhode Island Department of Health or an equivalent agency. If the presiding officer grants |
| a senator permission to vote by proxy, the presiding officer shall notify the secretary of the senate |
| of the decision to allow such vote by proxy. The secretary of the senate shall prepare a proxy(ies) |
| for each senator voting by proxy, in a form substantially as follows: The bill number or matter to |
| be voted on followed by a box to approve and a box to disapprove. The secretary of the senate |
| shall deliver the proxy(ies), by email or hand delivery, to each senator authorized to vote by |
| proxy. Any senator voting by proxy shall have their signature notarized and shall return the |
| notarized proxy(ies), by email or hand delivery, to the leader of their respective caucus. The |
| majority or minority leader shall forward the executed proxy(ies) to the secretary of the senate to |
| be recorded in the journal. |
| The right to vote by proxy shall cease on the date that the state of emergency is officially declared |
| over. |
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| LC005371 |
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