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I introduce this amendment to the UH the changes are as follows:

• Dissolves the Secretary Position
• Formalizes the Officers and Offices of the Underhusen. Officers may be any citizen of Wintreath.
• Allows the Speaker to create, amend, and dissolve Offices of the Underhusen at will.
• Allows the Speaker to appoint and dismiss any Officer of the Underhusen at will.
• Turns the Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore into Officers of the Underhusen, and sets limits on their ability to amend these positions, without amending the Procedural Rules
• Allows the Underhusen to, by a vote, establish, dissolve, and amend any Office of the Underhusen. Doing so enshrines each Office as a 'permanent office' that can only be changed by a vote of the Underhusen. (Dissolution is a bit different)
• Allows the Underhusen to, by a vote, appoint and dismiss any Officer of the Underhusen (including the Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore)
• Allows the Speaker to dismiss a Speaker Pro Tempore, but has safe-guards to ensure there is always a Speaker Pro Tempore.
• Changes the way the Speaker is selected.
  

The Law

Title
1. This act is to be cited as the Procedural Rules Officers Amendment.

Amendments
2. Section 2, Subsection A is stricken and considered null.
3. A new Section 13 is placed before the heading titled "Amendments of the Procedural Rules", and reads as follows:

The Speaker has the authority to create and dissolve Offices of the Underhusen at their will, and is to grant such officer positions a mandate. The Speaker has the authority to appoint or dismiss any citizen as an Officer of the Underhusen, and may title or style the Officer at the discretion of the Speaker. No Officer that is not an elected member of the Underhusen is empowered or allowed to cast a vote within the Underhusen.

4. Subsection A is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

The Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore of the Underhusen are to be Permanent Offices of the Underhusen, and the mandate and the positions can not be amended by the Speaker, amended by a vote of the Underhusen, nor may it be dissolved by the Speaker or dissolved by a vote of the Underhusen, outside of an amendment to this document. The Speaker may add additions onto the mandate of the Speaker or Speaker Pro Tempore, but may not restrict it past the mandate established by this document.

5. Subsection B is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

Any Skrifa may introduce a motion to create an Office of the Underhusen. The motion must outline the mandate of the Office of the Underhusen, as well as its title. Upon the motion being seconded, the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter. If the motion succeeds with a two-thirds (2/3rds) supermajority vote, then the officer position is created and is to be considered a Standing Office of the Underhusen. The Speaker must fill a Standing Office so long as it remains a Standing Office.

6. Subsection C is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

Any Skrifa may introduce a motion to amend an Office of the Underhusen. The motion must outline the changes to the mandate and/or to the title. Upon the motion being seconded, the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter. If the Office of the Underhusen is a Standing Office, then the vote must pass with a simple majority vote. If the Office of the Underhusen being amended is not a Standing Office, then the vote must pass with a two-thirds (2/3rds) supermajority vote. If the vote passes, the amendments are to be enacted. If the Office of the Underhusen in question is not a Standing Office, then the Office becomes a Standing Office.

7. Subsection D is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

Any Skrifa may introduce a motion to dissolve an Office of the Underhusen. The motion must name the Office being dissolved and the reason as to why. Upon the motion being seconded, the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter. If the Office of the Underhusen in question is a Standing Office, then the vote must pass with a simple majority vote. If the Office of the Underhusen in question is not a Standing Office of the Underhusen, then the vote must pass with a two-thirds (2/3rds) supermajority vote. If the vote passes, the Office is to be dissolved. If the Office is not a Standing Office, then the Office is to be prohibited from being reformed, and no office can hold that mandate for the duration of the session. If the Office is a Standing Office then the Office is simply dissolved, and the Speaker may create a new office with that mandate.

8. Subsection E is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

Any Skrifa may introduce a motion to appoint an Officer of the Underhusen. The motion must name the person nominated, and is to name the Office of the Underhusen they are being appointed to. After the motion is seconded, the matter goes to a vote. If the matter gets a simple majority vote in favor, the person is appointed to the position. Likewise, any Skrifa may introduce a motion to dismiss an Officer of the Underhusen. The motion must name the person to be dismissed, and the reason as to the dismissal. After the motion is seconded the matter goes to a vote. If the matter gets a simple majority vote in favor, the person is dismissed from the position, and a new person must be appointed. In a motion to appoint, the position must be vacant and not held by a citizen. Likewise, in a motion to dismiss, the position must be held by a citizen.

9. Subsection F is added to the new Section 13, which reads as follows:

No prohibition on a mandate for an Office of the Underhusen is to continue after the end of the session, without an amendment to this document. The Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore are to be dismissed automatically, and any extension to their mandate ends upon the start of a new session.

10. The second Section 13 is to be renumbered, and any subsequent sections are also to be renumbered. Any numbers related to sections after Section 13 refer to the renumbered sections.
11. Subsection F is added to Section 12, which reads as follows:

The Speaker Pro Tempore may be dismissed at the discretion of the Speaker, provided that the Speaker appoint a replacement within twenty-four (24) hours. The dismissed Speaker Pro Tempore remains in their position until a replacement is appointed. If no replacement is appointed within twenty-four (24) hours, then the Speaker Pro Tempore remains, and the Speaker may not dismiss the Speaker Pro Tempore for the remainder of that session, or until the Underhusen dismisses the Speaker Pro Tempore by a vote.

12. Subsection B is added to Section 11, which reads as follows:

All officers of the Underhusen are permitted to have a standing invitation to speak before the Underhusen

13. Section 17 is added which reads as follows:

The term "mandate" is defined within this document as: A statement or declaration outlining the duties, responsibilities, and authorities that an Office holds, and that which an Officer may have the entirety or any subset of such duties.

@Mathyland would you mind checking the now-revised amendment for grammar errors?

@Mathyland would you mind checking the now-revised amendment for grammar errors?

I will do so tomorrow.

@taulover I wasn't completely sure on some of the commas and minor details, but here's my list of errors:

grammar

• Stricken is misspelled in Section 2 as "striken"
• Subsection is misspelled in Section 3
• Permanent is misspelled in Section 7 (inside the amendment that added section 13 to the Procedural Rules
• In Sections 8 and 9, it should be "supermajority" as one word instead of two (I think)
• Permanent is misspelled again in Sections 8, 9, and 10
• Subsection is misspelled in Section 10
• Extension is misspelled in Section 12
• Position is misspelled in Section 14
• Section 3 still mentions the Monarch's nomination of the Speaker
• The amendment in Section 4 is missing a period
• "and the mandate and the positions can not be amended by the Speaker" the "be" in green should be added (Section 7)
  
• "Upon the motion being seconded, the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter" I believe that the green comma should be added (Section 8 )
  
• " the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter, if the motion succeeds with a two-thirds (2/3rds) super majority vote," The red comma should be replaced with either a semi-colon or a period (Section 8 )
  
• "If the Office of the Underhusen was established by the Speaker of the Underhusen, then the vote must pass with" The green comma should be added (Section 9)
  
• "If the vote passes, the amendments are to be enacted." The green comma should be added (Section 9)
  
• "simple-majority vote" I don't think the hyphen should be there (Section 9)
• "If the Office of the Underhusen was Speaker created" Maybe that should be "Speaker-created," but I'll have to see what Tau thinks
• "Upon the motion being seconded, the Underhusen is to hold a vote on the matter." The green comma should be added (Section 10)
  
• "If the Office of the Underhusen was established by the Speaker of the Underhusen, then the vote must pass with a two-thirds (2/3rds) supermajority vote." The green comma should be added (Section 10)
  
• "If the vote passes, the Office is to be dissolved." The green comma should be added (Section 10)
  
• "If the Office was Speaker created" Again, this might need a hyphen, but I'm not sure (Section 10)
• "Likewise, any Skrifa may introduce a motion" The green comma should be added (Section 11)
  
• "After the motion is seconded, the matter goes to a vote" The green comma should be added (Section 11)
  
• "If the matter gets a simple majority vote in favor, the person is dismissed from the position" The green comma should be added (Section 11)
  
• "In a motion to appoint position must be vacant and not held by a citizen, likewise in a motion to dismiss the position must be held by a citizen." I recommend this be reworded to: "In a motion to appoint, the position must be vacant and not held by a citizen. Likewise, in a motion to dismiss, the position must be held by a citizen." (Section 11)
• "provided that the Speaker appoint a replacement" "appoint" should be "appoints" (Section 14)
• "The dismissed Speaker Pro Tempore remains in their positin until" In the rest of the act, you used "his/her" instead of singular their, so I would recommend doing the same here (Section 14)
• "the Speaker Pro Tempore remains, and the Speaker" the green comma should be added (Section 14)
  

As for my opinion on this act itself, I think offices are a cool idea that are at least worth trying. Since Speaker selection isn't going to change, I don't have to worry about my opinion on that. I liked the details on what offices are permanent, what the Speaker can and can't do and what the rest of the Skrifa can do to balance the Speaker's power. Other than the grammar, it looks good.


(When typing out (Section 8 ), I originally didn't have that space, and it took it as the emoji )

EDIT: since Chanku has now removed two sections and the sections are renumbered, refer to my post in the Citizens Platform, which has not been updated when checking my corrections.

(Sorry to double post)

Section 4 isn't needed because Section 8 of the Procedural Rules already states "Following the nomination period, each Skrifa shall have one (1) vote for Speaker of the Underhusen" Also, Section 8 subsection B already exists in the Procedural Rules, so amending it gets rid of the section that says "The nomination and/or voting period may be shortened at the discretion of the Monarch if the relevant Underhusen session is shortened."

Actually, Section 3 isn't needed either because it states something that's already in the Procedural Rules and mentions the Monarch selection of the Speaker, which is an idea you removed.

And since we're in no rush, and we need to fix these grammar errors, I motion to extend debate 48 hours.

(Sorry to double post)

Section 4 isn't needed because Section 8 of the Procedural Rules already states "Following the nomination period, each Skrifa shall have one (1) vote for Speaker of the Underhusen" Also, Section 8 subsection B already exists in the Procedural Rules, so amending it gets rid of the section that says "The nomination and/or voting period may be shortened at the discretion of the Monarch if the relevant Underhusen session is shortened."

Actually, Section 3 isn't needed either because it states something that's already in the Procedural Rules and mentions the Monarch selection of the Speaker, which is an idea you removed.

And since we're in no rush, and we need to fix these grammar errors, I motion to extend debate 48 hours.

I second this motion, however to clarify, I would like to state the amendments dealing with Section 8 of the Procedural Rules was something I forgot to remove when I stripped the Speaker selection amendment. I forgot I actually had those as well, so yeah, my bad.

EDIT: Also added in some of the changes Mathyland suggested, however I clarified things and Offices formed by a vote of the Underhusen are considered Standing Offices now. This removes some ambiguity that might have arisen. Also funnily enough, you didn't point out a rather obvious misspelling of position

Motion to extend debate passes.

EDIT: Motion to extend debate is redundant because we have not yet reached the five-day maximum initial debate period, and will not reach the end of the five-day period for over 48 hours.

I second this motion, however to clarify, I would like to state the amendments dealing with Section 8 of the Procedural Rules was something I forgot to remove when I stripped the Speaker selection amendment. I forgot I actually had those as well, so yeah, my bad.

EDIT: Also added in some of the changes Mathyland suggested, however I clarified things and Offices formed by a vote of the Underhusen are considered Standing Offices now. This removes some ambiguity that might have arisen. Also funnily enough, you didn't point out a rather obvious misspelling of position

Some thoughts (quotes from Mathy included for context and/or response):

You might want to more clearly define what a Standing Office is. Currently, the only explanation I can find is that "The Speaker must fill an Office of the Underhusen created in this manner." However, even here it is unclear whether this refers to all Standing Offices, or only the ones directly created (rather than ones amended) by the Underhusen. It is also a bit unclear whether the Office needs to be filled until it is dissolved or merely for the duration of the term.

Mandate is sometimes capitalized, and sometimes not. Perhaps uncapitalize all of them, since most of them seem to be in the lowercase already.

The document also doesn't seem to define what a mandate is in this context.

"simple-majority vote" I don't think the hyphen should be there (Section 9)

Some parts of the law read "simple majority vote," while others read "simple-majority vote." It may be a good idea to only use one for consistency. I've only ever seen the term without the hyphen before, so I would second Mathy and suggest that.

"provided that the Speaker appoint a replacement" "appoint" should be "appoints" (Section 14)

Not necessarily, "appoint" may be more correct because the clause is in subjunctive mood. That said, "appoints" isn't really incorrect, especially since the subjunctive is often ignored in English.

"The dismissed Speaker Pro Tempore remains in their positin until" In the rest of the act, you used "his/her" instead of singular their, so I would recommend doing the same here (Section 14)

The Procedural Rules currently uses singular they in part of its provisions, so it may be good to also use "their" here for the sake of consistency.

I have clarified that clause a bit further, and included a definition for Mandate within the procedural rules. I've also made some of the changes suggested

I have clarified that clause a bit further, and included a definition for Mandate within the procedural rules. I've also made some of the changes suggested

Hmm, you made all the previous "Mandate"s lowercase, but then added your new definition in uppercase.

Otherwise looks good to me.

I have clarified that clause a bit further, and included a definition for Mandate within the procedural rules. I've also made some of the changes suggested

Hmm, you made all the previous "Mandate"s lowercase, but then added your new definition in uppercase.

Otherwise looks good to me.

To be fair that was purposeful in that instance. I capitalized it due to the fact that it is being defined. Yes it is slightly nonstandard however, capitalization itself rarely is.

I have clarified that clause a bit further, and included a definition for Mandate within the procedural rules. I've also made some of the changes suggested

Hmm, you made all the previous "Mandate"s lowercase, but then added your new definition in uppercase.

Otherwise looks good to me.

To be fair that was purposeful in that instance. I capitalized it due to the fact that it is being defined. Yes it is slightly nonstandard however, capitalization itself rarely is.

Wouldn't that be in quotation marks instead?

Usually when I see capitalized definitions (for instance in legal contracts), it's because the term itself is capitalized throughout the document.

If there exists no standing objections, I motion to vote.

Chanku has motioned to vote. Do we have a second?

@Mathyland @Doc

I second.

Motion to vote passes.