House mulls removal of reconsideration vote

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There’s discussion in the House of Representatives about removing the provision for a reconsideration vote from House rules.
House rules are drawn up by the membership of the House to govern the conduct of lawmakers and procedures for House sessions and hearings.
Currently, if a bill is rejected, a motion for reconsideration can be made that same day to bring up the bill again for another vote in the future.
Vice Speaker Fetu Fetui said during Tuesday’s House session that it is time to remove the reconsideration vote from House rules because of incidents that have happened in the past.
He told Speaker Savali that they held a hearing on the issue and were advised by the Legislative Counsel, Nathaniel Savali that the reconsideration vote was intended to apply to bills that are defeated.
However, the reconsideration rule has now been applied to confirmation votes. The Vice Speaker pressed that the House should revert back to using the reconsideration vote only for its original intent.
He referred to the confirmation of the former Attorney General Mitizie Jessop Taase in which the House voted more than two times to reject the nomination and then finally approved her. He said this drew a lot of criticism towards lawmakers and the Speaker.
Fetu said he is not bringing this up now to target new directors coming up for Fono confirmation but it’s something that the House needs to address.
The Speaker advised that the House Rules Committee which Fetu chairs should review the rules and report their recommendations to the House for discussion and vote. In the meantime, the House is using the rules from the previous legislature for its proceedings.