Rule 6. Legislation.

(a) Introduction. If the President or a majority of the Council refuse to schedule introduction of proposed legislation by a Councilmember, the Councilmember must give the President at least 2 weeks written notice of the Councilmember’s intention to introduce legislation at a future legislative session. After notice, introduction must be allowed. Neither consent of the President nor a motion to amend the agenda is required. All legislation must be in writing and must substantially comply with the drafting guidelines and format requirements of the Montgomery County Plain Language Drafting Manual.

(b) Requested legislation. A Councilmember who introduces legislation may direct that the legislation indicate that it was introduced on request of a certain public official or body.

(c) Reading. At introduction, the bill is read only by number and short title. At final action, the bill is read only by number and short title unless:

(1) 2 Councilmembers request a reading of the entire bill; and

(2) a copy of the bill as it would be enacted, with all adopted amendments, is not available to each Councilmember.

(d) Amendment. Amendments to legislation that are to be the subject of an advertisement and a public hearing must be proposed in legislative session, and must be reduced to writing before the advertisement is published.

(e) Copies. The President must prepare sufficient copies of legislation for distribution to Councilmembers, the news media, and the public.

(f) Expiration. Unless the Council enacts, defeats or withdraws a bill, the bill expires 18 months after introduction. A bill that is otherwise pending does not expire at the end of a Council term. A majority of the Council at a legislative session may extend the expiration date of a bill for a specified period of time. The President must inform all Councilmembers in writing of the pending expiration of a bill at least one month in advance.

(g) Withdrawal. A motion to withdraw a bill must be made by an original sponsor of the bill during legislative session. A bill is withdrawn upon the majority vote of the Council.

(h) Voting. The Council must vote by roll call to enact, defeat, or withdraw a bill. If no Councilmember objects, the Council may enact more than one bill by a single combined roll call vote.

(i) Expiration of a law. The Council Clerk must annually circulate to each Councilmember and the County Executive a list of each provision of the County Code that has a fixed expiration date and submit the list for publication in the County Register. The Clerk also must inform each Councilmember and the County Executive in writing of the pending expiration of a law or a significant provision of a law 14 months before the law or provision is scheduled to expire.

(j) Committee amendments. If a Council Committee to which a bill was referred recommends that the bill be enacted with amendments, the Council must first consider the bill as amended by the Committee. The motion on the floor is the Committee’s motion to enact the bill as amended by the Committee. At that point a Councilmember may move to amend the Committee bill, including a motion to enact the bill as originally introduced, remand the bill to the same or another Committee, or take any other action regarding the bill.

(k) Expedited legislation. A bill that has been introduced as, or amended to be, expedited legislation, but received only 5 affirmative votes to enact it, has without further amendment been enacted as ordinary legislation, and the Council Clerk must revise the bill to delete any indicia of expedited legislation. (Res. No. 11-54; Res. No. 11-1368, § 4; Res. No. 11-1574; Res. No. 12-83; Res. No. 13-49; Res. No. 13-1061; Res. No. 16-59; Res. No. 17-40; Res. No. 18-49.)