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Original Legislation:
Passed Bill Link: https://www.cityrp.org/threads/parliamentary-procedure-act.121/
Final Vote: 6-0-0
Ratified: December 29, 2024
Amendments:
- Amended February 18, 2025 by the Speakership Amendment Act
- Amended May 23, 2025 by the Amendment to the Parliamentary Procedure Act
- Amended February 4, 2026, by the Orderly Parliament Act
- Amended March 9, 2026, by the Amendment to the Parliamentary Procedure Act
- Amended May 15, 2026, by the Resolutions Act
- Amended September 16, 2026, by the Parliamentary Debate Period Amendment Act
Author: Milk Crack MP
Sponsor: Milk Crack MP
1. Short Title and Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the "Parliamentary Procedure Act".
(b) This bill was authored by Prime Minister Milkcrack.
(c) This bill shall be enacted immediately.
2. Reasons
(a) The old act governing parliamentary procedure was written pre-constitution and contained redundant and atypical provisions.
3. Removals
(a) The Parliamentary Draft Legislation (Naming & Contents) Act will be repealed.
(b) The Parliamentary Establishment & Standards Act will be repealed.
4. Bill Formatting
(a) Inside the 'Bill Proposals' sub-forum, a thread called 'Template' shall be created, if it does not already exist.
(c) 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.
(d) A bill that seeks to amend an existing Act or the constitution must:
(f) Once a bill has received a majority in parliament and is signed into law, it can no longer be challenged for lack of formatting.
(g) 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
(a) A bill can be introduced by any member.
(b) Once this has been done the bill is proposed. If the author is a member of parliament, or the bill has a sponsor who is a member of parliament then they may notify the speaker to move the bill to debate. No other member of parliament may do so unless they have met said conditions.
6. Parliamentary Floor
(a) 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.
(b) Members may speak on the House Floor to:
(d) 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.
(e) The Speaker may authorize anyone to speak in the #Parliament-Floor channel if pertinent to parliamentary interest.
7. Parliamentary debate
(a) 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.
8. Parliamentary Voting
(a) 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.
(b) Where not otherwise specified by law, the voting period lasts 48 hours. The Speaker may extend the voting period by up to 24 cumulative hours if they publicly provide a reason for the extension. Where not otherwise specified by law, motions, non-binding memoranda and resolutions require a simple majority of votes to pass.
(c) 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 voting period ends.
(e) The outcome of any vote can be called and take effect earlier if no combination of pending or changeable votes can change the outcome. The outcome being called early does not end the voting period early.
(f) After casting a vote, members have 30 minutes or until the end of the voting period, whichever comes first, to change it if they wish, before the vote is considered final, even if the voting period has not yet closed.
9. Speaker
(a) 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.
(b) The speaker's duties include:
(d) If a member believes the speaker has made an error or acted in a partial way they may choose to override a decision made by the speaker with a simple majority motion requiring the support of at least two other members to be proposed.
(e) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the Speaker with the support of at least two other members.
10. Deputy Speaker
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
(c) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the deputy speaker with the support of at least two other members.
11. Speaker and deputy election
(a) This section will describe the process for electing the Speaker and deputy speaker.
(b) Prior to the opening of voting, a 24-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. Members of Parliament may nominate any MP or citizen. If no new nominations have been made within the last eight hours, any MP may motion to close nominations.
(c) 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.
(e) If during a given round the Members have voted such that a winner via simple majority or the candidate to be removed is already decided and no combination of pending or changeable votes can change the outcome, the overseeing Steward or (Deputy) Speaker may announce the result of the round early and proceed to the next step.
(f) If only one individual was nominated, only one round of voting will be held between the nominee and restarting the process. If the majority vote to restart the process or on a tie, this election will restart, beginning with the nomination period as described in subsection §11.b.
(g) If the position of Speaker or Deputy Speaker is vacant at any time while Parliament is in session, the election process for the vacant role must begin within 48 hours. If both the role of Speaker and Deputy Speaker are vacant, the election for Deputy Speaker, as well as the time limit to start it, shall be put on hold until the Speaker has been elected.
12. Presiding office
(a) The presiding office shall be tasked with aiding and assisting the speaker in discharging their duties.
(b) The presiding office is comprised of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and Clerks.
(c) The speaker may appoint Clerks with the approval of parliament. The speaker may dismiss these at will.
(e) Dissolution of Parliament also dissolves the Presiding office, dismissing the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and all Clerks.
13. Parliamentary Committees
(a) Committees are groups established by Parliament for one or more of the following purposes:
(c) Committee members are appointed or removed by a simple majority motion in the house
(d) Committee members must elect their chair internally, as the first order of business.
(g) All remaining Parliamentary committees are dissolved with Parliament.
(h) Committees with no remaining members are automatically dissolved.
14. Parliamentary memoranda
(a) Parliament or committees may issue non-binding memoranda by a simple majority. To clarify positions, give recommendations, or serve other purposes.
15. Suspension
(a) Failure to abide by Parliamentary rules can result in Suspension from Parliament at the (acting) Speaker’s discretion.
16. Quorum
(a) More than half of all Parliamentary seats must be filled for Parliament to function.
17. Recess
(a) The Speaker may recess Parliament for a total of no more than two weeks per term.
(b) During a recess, bills may be proposed, but not debated or called to vote.
(c) The beginning of all other types of votes, with the exception of a motion to end recess, is delayed until the end of recess.
(d) Any Member may motion to end an ongoing existing recess, so long as they have prior clearly stated support from two other Members.
(e) When a recess is called, all currently ongoing voting will finish normally. Debate will be paused until Parliament returns to session.
(f) The Speaker may end a recess at any time.
(g) Recess of Parliament applies to all Parliamentary committees, too.
18. Resolutions
(a) Parliament may pass non-binding resolutions to express opinions or make formal requests towards an individual, entity, or nation.
(b) Resolutions shall follow the same proposal, formatting, and voting processes as bills outlined in the Parliamentary Procedure Act.
Enactment: This Act comes into force immediately upon passage.
Passed Bill Link: https://www.cityrp.org/threads/parliamentary-procedure-act.121/
Final Vote: 6-0-0
Ratified: December 29, 2024
Amendments:
- Amended February 18, 2025 by the Speakership Amendment Act
- Amended May 23, 2025 by the Amendment to the Parliamentary Procedure Act
- Amended February 4, 2026, by the Orderly Parliament Act
- Amended March 9, 2026, by the Amendment to the Parliamentary Procedure Act
- Amended May 15, 2026, by the Resolutions Act
- Amended September 16, 2026, by the Parliamentary Debate Period Amendment Act
Author: Milk Crack MP
Sponsor: Milk Crack MP
Parliamentary Procedure Act1. Short Title and Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the "Parliamentary Procedure Act".
(b) This bill was authored by Prime Minister Milkcrack.
(c) This bill shall be enacted immediately.
2. Reasons
(a) The old act governing parliamentary procedure was written pre-constitution and contained redundant and atypical provisions.
3. Removals
(a) The Parliamentary Draft Legislation (Naming & Contents) Act will be repealed.
(b) The Parliamentary Establishment & Standards Act will be repealed.
4. Bill Formatting
(a) Inside the 'Bill Proposals' sub-forum, a thread called 'Template' shall be created, if it does not already exist.
(i) The bill Format can be edited and updated by a simple motion or a bill.
(b) Any newly proposed bill must generally adhere to the standards in the Template.(c) 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.
(d) A bill that seeks to amend an existing Act or the constitution must:
(i) Have removed text appear in red and bold.
(ii) Have added text appear in green and bold.
(iii) Have a link to the original act.
(iv) Start the "Bill to" section with 'to amend' followed by the act(s) it seeks to amend
(e) 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.(f) Once a bill has received a majority in parliament and is signed into law, it can no longer be challenged for lack of formatting.
(g) 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
(a) A bill can be introduced by any member.
(b) Once this has been done the bill is proposed. If the author is a member of parliament, or the bill has a sponsor who is a member of parliament then they may notify the speaker to move the bill to debate. No other member of parliament may do so unless they have met said conditions.
6. Parliamentary Floor
(a) 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.
(b) Members may speak on the House Floor to:
(i) Propose a motion
(ii) Raise a point of order
(iii) To ask questions addressed to cabinet members or heads of agencies about the government's business.
(c) Cabinet members and heads of agencies may speak on the House Floor to answer or clarify a question addressed to them or their government(d) 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.
(e) The Speaker may authorize anyone to speak in the #Parliament-Floor channel if pertinent to parliamentary interest.
7. Parliamentary debate
(a) 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.
(i) 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 Motion to Close Debate is invoked.
(ii) If no point of order to extend the debate is raised after 48 hours, the speaker will commence voting on the bill.
(b) Once debate opens, a bill’s wording may change only through an approved Motion to Amend.(i) A Motion to Amend may be filed in #Parliament-Floor during the debate period by identifying the bill, providing a link to the debate thread, and stating the exact changes sought. Within 24 hours of a valid Motion to Amend being filed, the Speaker shall update the debate thread to notify the Parliament of the motion. A Motion to Amend shall require a member to second the motion prior to the close of the debate period to be proposed for a vote.
(ii) A Motion to Amend requires a simple majority, except that a supermajority is required if the bill proposes a constitutional amendment either before or after the proposed changes. Whenever a Motion to Amend passes, the Speaker must publish the revised bill in its forum thread and notify MPs.
(iii) Debate following a passed Motion to Amend shall continue for 24 hours or the remainder of the debate period at the time of the Motion to Amend's passage, whichever is longer, except if a closure motion has passed. If a closure motion has passed, the debate period shall not be extended by the passage of a Motion to amend.
(c) During the debate period, a bill may be withdrawn from the floor subject to the following:(i) A sponsor may unilaterally withdraw a bill by notice in #Parliament-Floor only if, with respect to that bill:
(1) neither a Motion to Amend nor Motion to Close Debate has been filed, or
(2) if no Motion to Amend nor Motion to Close Debate has passed and no such motion remains pending a vote.
(ii) A sponsor may file a Motion to Withdraw in #Parliament-Floor without a seconder.
(1) A Motion to Withdraw passes 24 hours after that notice unless any MP objects in #Parliament-Floor to the bill's withdrawal during that period.
(2) If an MP objects in #Parliament-Floor to the bill's withdrawal, a vote shall commence on the bill's withdrawal that shall require a simple majority to pass.
(d) A Motion to Close Debate is a motion that forcibly closes the debate period and moves a bill forward for voting. Upon passage of such a motion, the debate period shall close immediately. Any Motion to Amend a bill that received a second but had not been voted on prior to the closure of that bill's debate period shall be voted upon prior to the vote on the whole bill.8. Parliamentary Voting
(a) 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.
(b) Where not otherwise specified by law, the voting period lasts 48 hours. The Speaker may extend the voting period by up to 24 cumulative hours if they publicly provide a reason for the extension. Where not otherwise specified by law, motions, non-binding memoranda and resolutions require a simple majority of votes to pass.
(c) 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 voting period ends.
(i) If such a reminder is lacking a member who has not yet voted may raise a point to re-open the vote for 12 hours. Such a point of order must be within 24 hours of the vote closing, must be granted and cannot be made more than once for the same vote.
(d) Members can vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain(e) The outcome of any vote can be called and take effect earlier if no combination of pending or changeable votes can change the outcome. The outcome being called early does not end the voting period early.
(f) After casting a vote, members have 30 minutes or until the end of the voting period, whichever comes first, to change it if they wish, before the vote is considered final, even if the voting period has not yet closed.
9. Speaker
(a) 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.
(b) The speaker's duties include:
(i) Conducting and facilitating the parliamentary business including voting
(ii) Maintaining order and fairness in debates and the floor.
(iii) Enforcing the Parliamentary Procedure Act, Standing Orders, and general ethical standards in an impartial manner.
(c) The Speaker shall be subject to the same rules and afforded the same privileges as a regular member of parliament unless otherwise described by law.(d) If a member believes the speaker has made an error or acted in a partial way they may choose to override a decision made by the speaker with a simple majority motion requiring the support of at least two other members to be proposed.
(e) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the Speaker with the support of at least two other members.
(i) The Speaker has 12 hours to prepare a response unless a supermajority of the house agrees to move straight to voting.
(ii) The Parliamentary Steward or Deputy Speaker will oversee the motion process whichever is available first.
(f) A Speaker that is not a Member of Parliament may not vote on any bill, resolution, or other legislative proposal, including motions. Their position may be regulated by later acts or legislative procedure, and they are subject to the normal restrictions a Speaker has in addition to being unable to vote.10. Deputy Speaker
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
(c) A Vote of No Confidence may be initiated against the deputy speaker with the support of at least two other members.
(i) The Deputy Speaker has 12 hours to prepare a response unless a supermajority of the house agrees to move straight to voting.
(ii) The Parliamentary Steward or Speaker will oversee the motion process whichever is available first.
(d) If the Deputy Speaker is not a Member of Parliament, any restrictions imposed on non-MP Speakers apply to them as well.11. Speaker and deputy election
(a) This section will describe the process for electing the Speaker and deputy speaker.
(b) Prior to the opening of voting, a 24-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. Members of Parliament may nominate any MP or citizen. If no new nominations have been made within the last eight hours, any MP may motion to close nominations.
(c) 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.
(i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(d) If at the end of a round only one candidate remains, or if in any round a candidate receives a simple majority of parliament, they are declared the winner.(e) If during a given round the Members have voted such that a winner via simple majority or the candidate to be removed is already decided and no combination of pending or changeable votes can change the outcome, the overseeing Steward or (Deputy) Speaker may announce the result of the round early and proceed to the next step.
(f) If only one individual was nominated, only one round of voting will be held between the nominee and restarting the process. If the majority vote to restart the process or on a tie, this election will restart, beginning with the nomination period as described in subsection §11.b.
(g) If the position of Speaker or Deputy Speaker is vacant at any time while Parliament is in session, the election process for the vacant role must begin within 48 hours. If both the role of Speaker and Deputy Speaker are vacant, the election for Deputy Speaker, as well as the time limit to start it, shall be put on hold until the Speaker has been elected.
12. Presiding office
(a) The presiding office shall be tasked with aiding and assisting the speaker in discharging their duties.
(b) The presiding office is comprised of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and Clerks.
(c) The speaker may appoint Clerks with the approval of parliament. The speaker may dismiss these at will.
(i) Clerks will have a salary set by the Speaker, which must not exceed the salary of Members of Parliament.
(d) The Speaker may grant additional remuneration with the approval of the parliament, sought via a motion from the Speaker.(e) Dissolution of Parliament also dissolves the Presiding office, dismissing the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and all Clerks.
13. Parliamentary Committees
(a) Committees are groups established by Parliament for one or more of the following purposes:
(i) Examine issues.
(ii) Draft legislation.
(iii) Oversee government activities.
(b) Committees may be established or dissolved by a simple majority motion in the house.(c) Committee members are appointed or removed by a simple majority motion in the house
(d) Committee members must elect their chair internally, as the first order of business.
(i) This election will be held by the (acting) Speaker, and follows the same rules and procedures as Speaker election, except with committee members voting, instead of MPs.
(ii) In the event of a successful majority motion by committee members to this effect, the (acting) Speaker may dismiss the current chair and restart the chair election process.
(iii) If the chair ceases to be a member of the committee for any reason, the (acting) Speaker is obligated to dismiss the chair and restart the chair election process.
(e) If an individual should fail to respond to committee inquiry during a hearing within 48 hours of being pinged with questions, with a reminder ping having been given at least 24 hours after having been pinged the first time, a committee member may motion to vote to hold the individual or entity in contempt.(i) If a committee votes to hold an individual or entity in contempt, a new motion shall be opened to vote in Parliament on whether the individual/entity should be held in contempt. The result will take effect upon a majority in favor of one side or the other
(f) If an individual should fail to respond to a formal Parliamentary inquiry made through a majority-approved motion of Parliament within 48 hours of being pinged with or directly sent the inquiry, with a reminder ping or direct message having been given at least 24 hours after providing the initial inquiry, any Member of Parliament may make a motion to vote to hold the individual or entity in contempt.(g) All remaining Parliamentary committees are dissolved with Parliament.
(h) Committees with no remaining members are automatically dissolved.
14. Parliamentary memoranda
(a) Parliament or committees may issue non-binding memoranda by a simple majority. To clarify positions, give recommendations, or serve other purposes.
15. Suspension
(a) Failure to abide by Parliamentary rules can result in Suspension from Parliament at the (acting) Speaker’s discretion.
(i) Suspensions must be no longer than 24 hours per infraction.
(ii) Suspensions must be announced within 48 hours of an infraction.
(iii) Members will have their vote discounted if they are suspended at any point during the period that a vote is open.
(iv) Suspended Members may not participate in votes which overlap their suspension by any amount of time.
(v) Suspended Members may not take part in debates during their suspension period.
(vi) Suspended Members are allowed to participate in votes of no-confidence against the Speaker or Deputy Speaker.
(vii) Suspension ends early if the (Deputy) Speaker who issued it lifts it or loses a vote of no confidence. If the Suspension was issued by the Deputy Speaker, it can also be lifted by the Speaker.
16. Quorum
(a) More than half of all Parliamentary seats must be filled for Parliament to function.
(i) Seats with suspended Members still count as a filled seat.
(ii) Empty seats due to resignations or criminal expulsions will not be counted toward the total number of seats, unless a by election has been officially announced.
(iii) Seats whose Member is on Parliamentary Leave of Absence do not count as filled, unless they appointed a proxy voter.
(b) If the current Parliament has been permanently incapacitated due to not having enough members to satisfy the quorum, the Prime Minister must, as soon as possible, request from the Crown either the early dissolution of Parliament or a by-election for all vacant seats.
(c) When Parliament is dissolved for any reason, any ongoing or scheduled by-elections are cancelled in favor of the general election.17. Recess
(a) The Speaker may recess Parliament for a total of no more than two weeks per term.
(b) During a recess, bills may be proposed, but not debated or called to vote.
(c) The beginning of all other types of votes, with the exception of a motion to end recess, is delayed until the end of recess.
(d) Any Member may motion to end an ongoing existing recess, so long as they have prior clearly stated support from two other Members.
(e) When a recess is called, all currently ongoing voting will finish normally. Debate will be paused until Parliament returns to session.
(f) The Speaker may end a recess at any time.
(g) Recess of Parliament applies to all Parliamentary committees, too.
18. Resolutions
(a) Parliament may pass non-binding resolutions to express opinions or make formal requests towards an individual, entity, or nation.
(b) Resolutions shall follow the same proposal, formatting, and voting processes as bills outlined in the Parliamentary Procedure Act.
Enactment: This Act comes into force immediately upon passage.
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