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Representative’s bid to reconsider mortgage-interest bill ruled out of order; bill is in Senate
Summary
Representative Johnson sought to suspend the rules and reconsider House Bill 908 — a measure he said would raise the state mortgage interest rate cap — but the clerk and presiding officer said the House no longer had possession of the bill because it was in the Senate, so the motion was out of order.
Representative Johnson asked the House to reconsider actions on House Bill 908, which he described on the floor as legislation that would raise the state's mortgage interest-rate cap from 8.6% to 11.5% and said had broader effect than members had realized. He moved to suspend the rules to reconsider the bill, arguing the change had not been explained in committee or on the floor and that the state faces a housing-affordability crisis.
Parliamentary response: The presiding officer and the clerk informed the chamber that the body no longer had possession of House Bill 908 because the bill had been transmitted to the Senate; as a result, the clerk ruled a motion to suspend the rules and take the bill up in the House out of order. Representative Johnson's motion was not adopted.
Why it matters: Representative Johnson framed his request as a substantive objection to raising interest-rate caps during an affordability crisis. The clerk's procedural ruling means any reconsideration would require action in the chamber that currently possesses the bill (the Senate), or recall under applicable rules.
Outcome: The motion to suspend rules and reconsider House Bill 908 was ruled out of order because the House did not possess the bill; no further action on the floor was taken.
