View Topic

Title

1. This Act shall be titled the Second Omnibus Procedural Rules of the Underhusen Amendment Act.

Underhusen Procedure

2. Section 2 shall be amended to read:

2. Any Skrifa may introduce proposals to the Underhusen after the selection of the Speaker.
(a) At the beginning of each term, the Speaker must designate one Skrifa as Secretary of the Underhusen. The Secretary shall have the responsibility of posting newly introduced proposals to the Citizens' Platform. The Speaker may not designate themselves or the Speaker Pro Tempore as the Secretary.

Section 3(d) shall be incorporated into section 3(c), and section 3 shall be amended to read:

3. Any proposal introduced into the Underhusen must be considered by the Underhusen for a minimum of two days before a motion to vote or table can be made.  If no motion has been made after five days, Skrifa must enter a motion to vote, table, or extend discussion.
(a) Any Skrifa other than the Speaker may motion to expedite at any time after a proposal has been introduced.  If the motion receives a second, the bill will proceed to a vote no later than 24 hours after it has received a second.
(b) A motion to extend debate may include a time period designated by the Skrifa who makes the motion, but it may not shorter than 4 hours or longer than 7 days. Should no time period be given or should the time period be shorter or longer than what is allowed, the extension will be 48 hours.
(c) If a motion to table a proposal passes, the proposal will be tabled.  Should a Skrifa wish to revive debate or bring the proposal to a vote, they must motion to revive discussion or motion to vote.  If either motion passes, the Underhusen shall follow normal procedure for discussion or voting.
 For a motion to pass, a majority of Skrifa must support the motion. After a motion to table receives a second, the Speaker shall hold a vote to determine who is in favour of a proposal being tabled, and who is not. The Speaker may not vote on a motion to table except in the event of a tie.

Section 4 shall be brought in line with the new uniformed format, but the content shall remain unchanged:

4. Any Skrifa other than the Speaker may motion to vote on any proposal once the two-day debate period has expired.  The Speaker shall open the vote no later than five days after the motion to vote has passed.
(a) The Speaker shall notify the Citizens of Wintreath whenever a proposal comes to a vote.

Section 5 shall shall be amended to read:

5. Once brought to a vote, a proposal shall remain at vote for seven days or until the requisite number of Skrifa have voted in favor of or against a proposal.
(a) In the event of a vote being tied, the bill shall be passed directly to the Overhusen for a vote.

Section 6 shall be amended to read:

6. Underhusen representatives may cast one of the following votes on proposals at vote:
(a) Aye, indicating that the representative is voting in favor of the proposal;
(b) Nay, indicating that the representative is voting against the proposal;
(c) Abstain, indicating that the representative is voting neither in favor of nor against the proposal but wishes his or her vote to be recorded.
(d) "Abstain" votes shall not be considered when determining whether a bill has passed, tied, or failed.  Only "Aye" and "Nay" votes shall be considered.

Section 7 shall merely be reformatted to the new uniform:

7. In accordance with Section 9 of the Fundamental Laws, the Underhusen may override a veto by the Overhusen.
(a) In order to override the veto, the bill must be reintroduced to the floor in accordance with Section 3.
(b) If the bill receives a two-thirds supermajority vote, the Overhusen veto shall be overruled, and the bill passed as law.

Section 8 shall be amended to read as follows:

8. At the Conclusion of each election, the Monarch shall immediately open a poll within the halls of the Underhusen, where Skrifa will have 48 hours to stand as a candidate for Speaker of the Underhusen. Following the 48 hour period, all Skrifa may cast one vote for their choice for Speaker of the Underhusen. The poll will remain open for 48 hours or until all elected Skrifa have voted and no tie for doing so has occurred. The Speaker shall be chosen by a majority vote.
(a) The time period may be shortened at the discretion of the Monarch for any reason other than a Recall.
(b) Should there only be one candidate running that one candidate is to be speaker at the end of the nomination period. There shall be no voting period in this instance.

The Speaker of the Underhusen

Section 9 shall be left unchanged:

9. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to bring matters before the Underhusen to a vote within the parameters established by Section 4 of this Act.

Section 10 will merely be brought in line with the new uniformed format:

10. The Speaker will close voting after seven days, or if enough votes have been cast to decide the outcome of the proposal.
(a) In order for a proposal to pass (excluding amendments to the Fundamental Laws), the number of "Aye" votes cast during the voting period must exceed the number of "Nay" votes.
(b) After closing a vote, the Speaker shall decide the outcome of the vote according to the above criteria and notify the Citizens of Wintreath with the result.
(c)  The Speaker may close a vote, but leave the record open to allow other Skrifa to record their votes.  Votes cast after the vote has been closed will not affect the result of the vote.

Section 11 shall be amended to read:

11. The Speaker of the Underhusen shall have the power to invite any citizen to speak before the Underhusen for any duration that he or she deems necessary.
(a) All members of the Royal Family shall have a standing invitation to speak before the Underhusen.

Section 12 shall be amended to read:

12. The Speaker of the Underhusen shall have the power to appoint a Speaker Pro Tempore from among the representatives of the Underhusen who shall, during a temporary absence of the Speaker of the Assembly, take all powers and responsibilities given to the Speaker.
(a) The Speaker Pro Tempore shall assume all of the responsibilities of the Speaker as listed in relevant law, and shall be subject to the same constitutional and statutory restraints placed upon the Speaker.
(b) Any Skrifa may make a motion to empower the Speaker pro tempore in the event that the Speaker of the Assembly is absent without notice for longer than five days. Such a motion shall be brought to a vote by the Speaker pro tempore immediately upon being seconded by another representative.
(c) The Speaker pro tempore shall cease to preside over the Underhusen upon the return of the Speaker of the Assembly.
(d) In the absence of both the Speaker of the Assembly and the Speaker Pro Tempore, the Underhusen may decide on a temporary Speaker Pro Tempore from its number by process of a majority vote.
(e) The Speaker must select a Speaker Pro Tempore within one week of being elected. Should the Speaker fail to select a Speaker Pro Tempore, the Speaker Pro Tempore will automatically be the candidate who received the second most amount of votes during the election of the Speaker. Should an election with more than one candidate end in a tie for second place, the Speaker must choose one of the candidates. If the speaker fails to do so the Monarch has to choose a Speaker Pro Tempore out of the tied candidates. Should an election have no other candidates in for Speaker, then a Speaker Pro Tempore will be chosen at random from the members of the Underhusen, excluding the Speaker.

Section 13 shall be amended to read:

13. The Speaker of the Underhusen shall maintain a link to all amendments to the Procedural Rules of the Underhusen.

Section 14 shall be amended to read:

14. The Speaker of the Underhusen shall keep an easily accessible archive of all former and current votes, and all Citizens shall have access to this archive.

Original text by Laurentus, copied in whole from the archives.

As per request discussion on this has been re-opened.

I think this is a decent proposal and that we should pass it.

I concur with the aforestated opinion. 

Laurentus did mention that some of this would be a bit out of date. I'm not sure what exactly it is and I would try to find out but alas, I do not have the time.

Due to my absence, I am forgoing the regularly mandated times on this one, and considering this to have been posted recently, if no activity is mentioned here, it will be returned to the archives.

So with that said, does anyone have a comment, recommendation or change in mind for this? Or anything else for that matter?

I will also ask anyone with any motions on this act to put those motions... into motion But seriously, yeah, anyone want anything done with this?

I will moving this back to the archive after today unless anyone has any further opinions on it?