Bill: In Voting Parliamentary Procedure Act

[MilkCrack]

A
BILL
TO
Establish parliamentary procedure​

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This bill shall be referred to as the "Parliamentary Procedure Act".
(2) This bill was authored by Prime Minister Milkcrack.
(3) This bill shall be enacted immediately.
(4) Upon passage this bill will be placed directly under the Legislative Section on the forums

2 - Reasons
(1) The old act governing parliamentary procedure was written pre-constitution and contained redundant and atypical provisions.

3 - Removals
(1) The Parliamentary Draft Legislation (Naming & Contents) Act will be repealed.
(2) The Parliamentary Establishment & Standards Act will be repealed.


4- Bill Formatting
(1) Underneath the placement of this bill in article 1.4, a new thread will be created called bill format.
(a) The bill Format can be edited and updated by a simple motion or a bill.
(2) Any newly proposed bill must generally adhere to the standards in the "Bill Format".
(3) The official title of a bill must reflect its general scope. Whereas the "Bill to" section will give a more detailed description of what the bill sets out to do.
(4) A bill that seeks to amend an existing Act or the constitution must:
(a) Have removed text appear in red and bold.
(b) Have added text appear in green and bold.
(c) Have a link to the original act.
(d) Start the "Bill to" section with 'to amend' followed by the act(s) it seeks to amend
(5) The Speaker shall be tasked with making sure bills adhere to the standards set out in this section and may reject or amend bills if necessary.
(6) Once a bill has received a majority in parliament and is signed into law, it can no longer be challenged for lack of formatting.
(7) The speaker may add a formatting amendment to an existing act, to ensure compliance with the formatting rules, such an amendment may not alter any substantive content of the act and all changes must be well documented in the thread.

5 - Proposing Bills
(1) A bill can be introduced by any member.
(2) To propose a bill a member must post the bill in the bill Proposals section under the Parliament section on the forums and make a post in #bill-review on the main discord, with a link to the bill
(3) Once this has been done the bill is proposed and they can notify the speaker to open debate.

6 - Parliamentary Floor
(1) A Discord channel named #Parliament-Floor, shall be created within the Queen's Parliament discord for parliamentary use, accessible to all members of Parliament 24 hours a day. This channel shall be open for viewing to the public.
(2) Members may speak on the House Floor to:
(a) Propose a motion
(b) Raise a point of order
(c) To ask questions addressed to ministers about the government's business.
(3) Ministers may speak on the House Floor to answer or clarify a question addressed to them or their government
(4) The #Parliament-Floor channel serves as the digital representation of the House. Official in-game motions and points of order must be documented there, excluding content specific to debate or an in-game event.
(5) The Speaker may authorize anyone to speak in the #Parliament-Floor channel if pertinent to parliamentary interest.

7 - Parliamentary debate
(1) Any bill that is introduced will be considered by the house as soon as the speaker opens the debate. Once the debate has opened members will be notified by the speaker.
(2) At any time during debate any members may raise a point of order, to keep debating a bill. That bill will be in debate until a cloture motion is invoked.
(3) If no point of order to extend the debate is raised after 48 hours, the speaker will commence voting on the bill.
(4) A cloture motion is any motion that seeks to move a bill in the debate stage to voting, such a motion requires a seconding member to be proposed and a simple majority to pass.

8 - Parliamentary Voting
(1) A separate Discord channel named #Parliament-voting will be created within the Queen's parliament discord for recording votes on motions and bills. Notifications for active votes will be issued in this channel. This channel shall be open for viewing to the public.
(2) Once voting commences non-urgent bills or motions will remain open for voting for a period of 48 hours.
(3) After 12 hours since the opening of voting members who have not yet voted are entitled to a reminder from the presiding office at least 12 hours before the bill is set to close.
(a) If such a reminder is lacking a member who has not yet voted may raise a point to re-open the vote to include their vote. Such a point of order must be within 24 hours of the vote closing and must be granted.
(4) Members can vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain
(5) A motion or a bill can include a passage that declares it urgent or can be made urgent with another motion. Such a motion or bill can be called before the closing of voting if the required amount of members have cast their vote such that any additional votes can not change the outcome of whether that motion passes or fails.

9 - Speaker
(1) The Speaker shall be elected at the start of each parliamentary term or when a vacancy arises. Such an election will be hosted by the steward of the house and follows the process described in this act.
(2) The speaker's duties include:
(a) Conducting and facilitating the parliamentary business including voting
(b) Maintaining order and fairness in debates and the floor.
(c) Enforcing the Parliamentary Procedure Act, Standing Orders, and general ethical standards.
(3) The Speaker will relinquish any party affiliation during office and will refrain from voting on any motions or bills unless to break a tie.
(4) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the Speaker with the support of at least two other members.
(a) The Speaker has 12 hours to prepare a response unless a supermajority of the house agrees to move straight to voting.
(b) The Parliamentary Steward or Deputy Speaker will oversee the motion process whichever is available first.

10 - Deputy Speaker
(1) The deputy speaker shall be elected at the start of each parliamentary term after the speaker has been elected or when a vacancy arises. Such an election will be hosted by the Speaker of the House. And follows the process described in the act.
(2) The deputy shall assist the speaker in their duties when they are indisposed or take over as temporary acting speaker when the position is vacant.
(3) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the deputy speaker with the support of at least two other members.
(a) The Depuy-speaker has 12 hours to prepare a response unless a supermajority of the house agrees to move straight to voting.
(b) The Parliamentary Steward or Speaker will oversee the motion process whichever is available first.

11 - Speaker and deputy election
(1) This section will describe the process for electing the Speaker and deputy speaker.
(2) Prior to the opening of voting, a 48-hour period will commence during which eligible candidates will be able to declare their intent to run. Such a period can be shortened if all eligible candidates have declared their intention to run or not.
(3) Once the declaration period has ended The first round of voting will commence. A round of voting will last 36 hours or until all members have cast their vote for a candidate.
(a) If no candidate manages to obtain the majority of all votes cast in the first round. The candidate with the least votes is removed from the ballot and another round of voting commences.
(b) In the event of a tie between the candidates with the least votes, another round of voting will be held. If the tie persists in the new round the candidate to remove from the ballot is decided by random chance between the tied candidates.
(4) If at the end of a round, a candidate has obtained the majority of all votes cast in that round. Or at any point has reached a majority, such that no additional votes could change the outcome of the election. This candidate is declared the winner.

12 - Presiding office
(1) The presiding office shall be tasked with aiding and assisting the speaker in discharging their duties.
(2) The presiding office is comprised, of The Speaker, The deputy speaker and any other staff appointed to it under Article 11.3
(3) The speaker may appoint staff to the presiding officer's office, with the approval of parliament. The speaker may dismiss these at will.
(a) Such a position will have a salary of $20/15min.
(4) The speaker may grant additional remuneration with the approval of the parliament

13 - Parliamentary Committees
(1) Committees are sub-groups of parliament established for one or more of the following purposes:
(a) Examine issues.
(b) Draft legislation.
(c) Oversee government activities.
(2) Committees may be established or dissolved by a simple majority motion in the house.
(3) Committee members are appointed or removed by a simple majority motion in the house
(4) Committee members shall elect their chair internally.

14 - Parliamentary memoranda
(1) Parliament or committees may issue non-binding memoranda by a simple majority. To clarify positions, give recommendations, or serve other purposes.