Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk decided Thursday to limit the time permitted to conduct a legislative filibuster.
Scheer's decision followed on the heels of legislative approval Wednesday of a motion to leave current minority filibuster rights in place at least for another month. Â
Under the current rule, it takes the votes of at least 33 senators in the 49-member Legislature to end a filibuster.Â
The Speaker's new directive reduces the amount of time that can be consumed by debate before senators can attempt to end a filibuster with a cloture motion.
The new limits would be six hours at first-stage floor consideration, three hours during the second round and an hour and a half at the final state. Â
Prior to the change, those numbers were eight, four and two hours.Â
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A day earlier, the Legislature declared a truce in a session-long battle over efforts to diminish minority filibuster rights and cleared the way for consideration of bills that have backed up on the floor during the filibuster standoff.
Scheer said he might entertain a cloture motion prior to the newly imposed time limits depending on "the quality of debate" and the number of participants in the filibuster.
The changes in time that can be devoted to a filibuster come at a point when the Legislature already has consumed one-third of its 90-day session in wrangling over filibuster rights. Thursday marked its 31st legislative day.
"We're looking at a short session now," Scheer said during a brief interview an hour after he announced his decision.
At that point, he said, he had received "no complaints" from senators and he considered that a demonstration of support for the changes.
"My perception is we have set a floor, not a ceiling," he said. "Very contentious issues could go longer."