A
BILL
To
Establish Standing Orders for the 23rd Congress
The people of DemocracyCraft, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:
1 - Election of the President of the Senate
(1) Nomination Period. The nomination period lasts 24 hours, or less with the consent of all Senators.
(a) The most Senior Senator is to assume the chair of the Senate and ask for those who wish to be elected President of the Senate to nominate themselves or others. The most senior Senator is to be the Senator who:
(i) Has served the most terms; or if equal
(ii) of the most terms and who has the largest popular vote; or if equal
(iii) by common agreement among them or by an informal Senate vote; and if still undecided
(iv) The president will serve in place of the Senior Senator.
(b) Should only one member be nominated then they shall be declared President of the Senate at the end of the nomination period.
(c) Should two or more members be nominated, all members are to vote for the President of the Senate in the voting period.
(2) Voting Period. The voting period lasts 24 hours, or less once a majority has been reached and declared by the President.
(a) The ballot is to be conducted through instant runoff voting.
(b) In the event of a tie, the Vice President will cast a tie-breaking vote.
(3) Announcement Period. The President will announce the winning Senator from the instant run-off as the President of the Senate.
(a) Once announced, the winning Senator is to assume the authority of the Presiding Officer of the Chamber.
(b) The Presiding Officer becomes the custodian of these Standing orders and calls the Senate to order.
2 - The President of the Senate
(1) The President of the Senate has the option to appoint a designee to temporarily assume some or all of the duties of the presiding officer for a specified duration or until relieved of the responsibility.
(2) Procedures for the removal of the Senate President are clearly outlined in the Constitution and the Legislative Standards Act.
3 - The Senate Floor
(1) The Senate Floor is accessible to senators 24 hours a day unless the Senate is in recess.
(2) Senators may speak on the Senate Floor for the following reasons:
(a) Proposing a motion
(b) Raising a point of order
(c) When recognised by the presiding officer to speak on a particular topic.
(3) The discord channel #Senate-Floor serves as the digital representation of the Senate floor. All relevant statements acknowledged during an in-game session on the Senate floor must be documented on the discord channel, except for those involved in a debate or exclusively related to an in-game event.
(4) Solely for legislative administration, the President of the Senate may authorize congressional staff to speak on the Senate floor as well.
(5) All votes on motions and points of order are conducted and recorded in the #Senate-Voting channel. Senators will also receive notifications when bills are up for a vote, within the same channel.
(a) Senators can choose to vote Aye, Nay or abstain. Any Senator abstaining on a motion must provide a reason.
(6) The current Senate-Floor channel will be re-named to the Senate-Voting channel and the Senate Announcement channel will be archived.
(7) A new channel will be created for the Senate Floor
4 - Commencing Debate
(1) Any bill that has successfully passed the House will be moved to the Senate on the forums with the prefix "Bill: Pending". The presiding officer will announce that debate has opened for the relevant bills.
(2) After a successfully proposed motion the presiding officer will announce that debate has opened for the relevant motion.
(3) Debate will take place on the Senate Floor.
(4) Members are automatically recognised to speak on the Senate Floor channel to debate on a topic under debate for one message every 6 hours. (5) The Presiding officer may recognise the members for more messages.
5 - Closing Debate
(1) After Debate has ended votation will begin as soon as possible.
(2) Unless otherwise prescribed in law, these are the following ways debate can be ended:
(a) All relevant members have been notified that the vote will take place at least 24 hours in advance and no members have objected.
(b) A motion to end debate(cloture) has succesfully been passed.
(c) The presiding officer has sent the item to a committee to be debated and the committee has voted to close debate.
6 - Special types of motions
(1) A motion to end debate also known as a cloture motion will override and close any ongoing debate, such a motion is not subject to debate.
(a) To speed up the votation process, if the subject of a cloture motion requires the same or a lower majority as the cloture motion, a clause can be added stating that the passage of the cloture motion constitutes the passage of the subject motion.
(2) A motion to end debate requires a simple majority if the following are all true, otherwise, it requires a supermajority:
(a) It has been more than 48 hours since the debate opened and there has been no discussion on the Senate floor on the item for over 6 hours.
(b) The item is not being debated in committee.
(3) A motion for leave is a motion to allow for a certain action to take place, which would otherwise not be consistent with the standing orders. Such a motion requires a supermajority.
7 - Recess
(1) The Presiding officer may move the Senate to recess for no more than 5 days with the approval of a supermajority of the Senate.
8 - In-game Hearings
(1) All hearings shall take place in-game unless deemed otherwise by the chair of the hearing.
9 - Passage of bills
(1) Should a bill pass the Senate it shall be sent to the President for assent.
10 - Rules of Debate
(1) All individuals may debate during a reading.
(2) Individuals are not to make personal attacks against anyone.
(3) Individuals are to contribute to the debate in a constructive and relevant fashion.
(4) Individuals are to cease speaking and resume their seat if directed to by the chair.
(5) Individuals are not to exhibit disorderly, inappropriate, or offensive conduct.
(6) Individuals are not to misrepresent a statement or viewpoint of another individual.
(7) Individuals are not to threaten other members.
(8) Individuals who voice chat during debate should be asked for consent of recording in the scenario an ingame session is being recorded.
11 - Points of Order
(1) All individuals may raise points of order. Points of order are to be considered immediately.
(2) The chair rules on points of order.
(3) Individuals are not to raise vexatious points of order.
(4) Points of order are matters between the individual raising them and the chair.
(5) Points of order may be made at any time even during recess and must be ruled on by the chair.
12 - Suspension of Individuals
(1) The chair may suspend an individual who acts against the wellbeing of the Commonwealth of Redmont from the service of the Senate until their conduct can be deemed proper by the chair. Suspension while votation is open results in an abstention for the individual suspended. If their vote is required for passage or failure of a bill, they may vote when they return.
(2) The chair must not use suspensions as a political tool and a suspension can be overturned with a majority vote of all Senators (excluding the suspended member).
13 - Adoption by the Congress
(1) Upon the passage of this bill in the Senate it shall come into force.
14 - Committees
(1) The Senators of this chamber may form Committees with House of Representative members in what shall be known as "Joint Committees".
(2) Every member of Congress shall be in every committee related to their chamber as long as it is mandated by the Legislative Standards Act.
(3) A Joint Committee is led by a chairperson, who is chosen by majority vote from the committee members. Individuals may nominate themselves during a 24-hour period prior to the election with an election taking place for 24 hours unless a candidate reaches majority vote during that duration.
(5) The House must also pass this section in the same language in their standing orders in order for this to take effect. If one chamber's Joint Committee of Congress standing order section is revised, then the current Joint Committee of Congress standing order section will continue to be in place until both can be revised to match each other.
(6) The Joint Committees of Congress are subject to all procedural law passed by the legislative branch except for the above sections, which can only be revised through revising the standing orders.
(7) All other information on Congressional Committees may be found in the Legislative Standards Act.
15- Chair code of conduct
(1) The Chair must present motions in the order proposed.
(2) The Chair must act appropriately.
(3) The Chair must make necessary motions public once passed.
(4) The chair must be accommodative of those who do not use voice chat and each event or proceeding must make all Senators feel comfortable in their environment to a reasonable degree.
(5) The Senators have a right to expect the chair to maintain the standing orders.
16- Press and Public Conferences
(1) Any Senator may request the Press Advisor of Congress for a press conference to be called.
(2) The Press Advisor should accept this request unless the request is deemed unreasonable and not practical. The Press Advisor will help coordinate and organise this conference and shall cooperate with the host of the conference.
(3) To aid the press industry, when a press conference is called, only select members of the press industry (approved through the Press Advisor under the directive of the chair of the chamber) will be able to attend these conferences.
(4) The press may be given 2 hours after the conference to distribute the news.
(5) If the matter is of great urgency to the public, the chair of the chamber could request a public conference to announce important votes and decisions. The Press Advisor would help coordinate this.
(6) Press and Public Conferences remain optional, however, if possible Senators should try to engage the player base through such political events.
17 - Established Committees
(1) The following Senate and Joint committees are established for this congressional term:
- Joint Legislative Oversight Committee
- Senate Judicial Oversight Committee
- Joint Economics Committee
- Senate Executive Oversight Committee
18 - Senate Confirmation Hearings
1) When the President (or President-Elect) nominates any player to a position in Cabinet or the Judicial a Senate Confirmation Hearing must be held.
2) The President of the Senate will then create a space for the Senators to ask the nominee question and for the nominee to respond.
3) In the event that no Senator has wishes to ask the nominee any questions, a senator can motion for a vote to skip the hearing. The vote must pass with a simple majority to skip the hearing.
4) After a hearing or motion to skip the hearing has ended, a vote will be held to confirm or reject the nominee.
5) Confirmation hearings will automatically close and proceed to vote following three days of no new questions or motions
19 - Amendments
(1) These Standing Orders can be amended at any time with the approval of the chamber (simple majority)
(2) These Standing Orders are extant, for the chamber, regardless of session, until otherwise amended.