Procedural Rules of the Underhusen Amendment VII
1. Title
1.1 This act shall be titled the "Procedural Rules of the Underhusen Amendment VII".
2. Amendments
2.1 This act shall amend The Procedural Rules of the Underhusen Act to read as follows:
Title
1. This Act shall be cited as the Omnibus Procedural Rules of the Underhusen Amendment Act.
Underhusen Procedure
2. Any Underhusen representative may introduce legislation into the Underhusen.
3. Any legislative or non-legislative proposal introduced into the Underhusen will automatically be open for debate for 2 days. At the conclusion of this time period, a representative may either motion to Extend Debate, motion to table, or motion to vote. The motions must be seconded before being passed
(a) In matters of urgency, this two day period may be waived if the Speaker of the Assembly makes a motion to expedite and the motion is seconded by a Underhusen Representative.
(b) A motion to Extend Debate may include a time period shorter or longer than 48 hours, but is not shorter than 4 hours and is not longer than 1 weeks, should no time period be given or should the time period be shorter or longer than what is allowed, the extension shall be 48 hours.
4. Any Underhusen representative may motion to vote on any legislative or non-legislative proposal.
(a) A proposal shall proceed to a vote no more than five days after a motion to vote is seconded by another representative.
(b) The Speaker of the Assembly may not motion to vote or second a motion to vote.
5. Once brought to a vote, a proposal shall remain at vote for seven days or until the requisite number of Underhusen representatives have voted in favor of or against the proposal.
(a) In the event that a vote is tied, the bill will be passed directly to the Overhusen for a vote.
6. Underhusen representatives may cast one of the following votes on proposals before the Underhusen:
(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 or against the proposal but wishes his or her vote to be recorded.
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.
8.At the Conclusion of each election, the Monarch shall immediately open poll within the halls of the Underhusen, where prospective candidates will have 48 hours to stand as a candidate for Speaker of the Underhusen. Following the 48 hour period, all Skrifa may have one vote 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 popularity vote.
(a)The time period may be shortened by the descretion of the Monarch if there is a tie vote for the Underhusen or the time that the Skrifa have office is shortened 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 Assembly
9. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to set an agenda for the Underhusen at the beginning of his or her term and to revise this agenda throughout the term.
10. 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(a) of this Act.
11. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to close votes and declare the official outcome of votes on matters before the Underhusen within the parameters established by Section 5 of this Act.
(a) The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to leave voting open for votes to the record after official voting has closed.
12. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to invite any citizen to speak before the Underhusen for any duration that he or she deems necessary during the term.
(a) All members of the Royal Family shall have a standing invitation to speak before the Underhusen.
13. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to determine procedure related to any matter that is not covered by this Act at his or her discretion.
14. The Speaker of the Assembly 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, preside over the Underhusen.
(a) The Speaker pro tempore, whenever he or she is presiding over the Underhusen, shall be subject to all constitutional and statutory constraints placed upon the Speaker of the Assembly.
(b) Any Underhusen representative 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 then the Speaker Pro Tempore is the candidate that got the second most amount of votes, in the election of the Speaker; should there have been an election with more than one candidate then, in the event of a tie for second place, the Speaker must choose one of the candidates. If the speaker fails to do so the monarch is to choose a Speaker Pro Tempore out of the tied candidates. Furthermore should there have been no other candidates in the election of the speaker, then one will be chosen at random from the members of the Underhusen, excluding the Speaker.
15. Sunshine Policy
(a) Members of The Underhusen shall adhere to a Sunshine Policy upon passage of this Act.
(b) All topics which are debated and/or voted on in The Underhusen shall be made public at the end of each term of the elected Skrifa.
Amendments of the Procedural Rules
16. The Speaker of the Underhusen, or Speaker Pro Tempore if he/she is in use, shall maintain a link to all amendments to these Procedural Rules of the Underhusen.
17. The Speaker of the Underhusen, or Speaker Pro Tempore if he/she is in use, shall keep an easily accessible archive of all former and current votes in a way that he/she chooses that all citizens shall have access to.
Definitions
18. Sunshine Policy shall be defined as "a policy where discussions or documents that were initially kept confidential, be released to the public."
Okay, rather than go about it exactly as previous amendments did, I prefer to go about it this way. I don't know why. I realize it would be easier the other way, but whatever. That's how I roll.
Anyways, I went the route of an amendment. I feel that's the way we should go about this. I haven't worked up an amendmnet for The Overhusen yet because I want to see how this one goes over first. Not to mention that if we do go for an amendment, it would have to be done as 2 separate acts since they deal in different parts of The Storting.
The only changes are that 2 new sections were added and the sections dealing in Amendments were renumbered appropriately.
