5
Dispatch → Meta → Reference
Legislation: A Guide!
Legislation: A guide for Candidates!Hi, you’ve decided to run for the Conch Kingdom legislature. What will you be doing?
As the primary expert and co-author of the recent laws establishing the legislature, let me go through them!
Links to laws in question:
1. The region must possess an Executive Branch.
i. This branch shall contain a Founder, a World Assembly Delegate, and at least three Ministers
ii. Members of the Executive Branch shall hold the responsibility of enforcing the laws of the region, acting on behalf of the region in all matters concerning foreign affairs, facilitating elections, managing recruitment and retention, planning events, curating roleplay-related resources, regulating its own procedures, and maintaining the regional code of law.
2. The region must possess a Legislative Branch.
i. This branch shall contain five representatives elected from among residents, by all residents.
ii. Congress shall hold the responsibility of electing a Speaker of the Legislature, and of passing legislation or amendments proposed by residents of Conch Kingdom.
Addition to the Article 2 shall read as such:
iii. A Prime Minister shall be responsible for serving as the region's Chief Executive, with the power to oversee the duties of the two aforementioned Ministers and any additional Ministers added after the ratification of this document; maintaining the regional code of law; and signing or vetoing bills or amendments passed by Congress.
§2. Legislative Branch
1. The region shall possess a legislature with the power to make additions and amendments to the code of laws. No other body or individual has this authority.
2. The legislature shall be known as Congress, and will have one chamber.
3. The Congress shall possess a Speaker, who shall preside over the Congress to see to it that all rules of Congress are followed and maintain a record of all of the Congress’s actions in a dispatch or series of dispatches.
i. The Speaker shall be chosen by the incoming Congressmen in an internal election immediately after the beginning of the legislative session.
4. The Congress must possess a Speaker pro-tempore of Congress, who will take over the duties of the Speaker if they can’t perform their duties for any reason.
i. The Speaker pro-tempore of Congress will be the most senior Congressman who is not the Speaker.
5. The Congress shall consist of five Representatives, who will debate bills and amendments.
Change all of Article 3 Section 3 to read as such:
1. Members of Congress may propose bills to be debated on the floor. During this time, bills may be modified or discarded. If a resident of the region has a bill to pass then they must send their proposal to a member of Congress.
2. After a reasonable time has passed for debate, the Speaker shall bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
3. Should the bill pass with a simple majority, it shall go to the Prime Minister to be signed into law or vetoed.
4. If vetoed by the Prime Minister, the Speaker may bring the bill back to the floor for a vote to override this veto. If a two-thirds majority of congress vote in favor the bill becomes law.
5. Bills shall go to vote for until all representatives have voted, or for twenty-four hours, whichever is shorter.
6. Congress shall not pass any ex-post facto law.
Change all of Article 3 Section 4 to read as such:
1. Any resident of the region can propose an amendment to the Conch Creed at anytime.
2. Residents who are not a member of Congress must submit their amendment to a member of Congress, who may then bring the amendment to the Speaker.
3. The Speaker shall put the amendment to the floor for debate.
4. After a reasonable time has passed for debate, the Speaker shall bring the amendment to the floor for a vote.
5. For the amendment to pass it must receive a two-thirds majority vote in favor.
6. If the amendment passes, the Speaker will inform that Prime Minister.
7. Should at least three residents petition for an amendment, with the support of one Senior Minister, the amendment shall be put to vote by popular referendum, without need of legislative procedure. It shall pass if two-thirds of voting residents have supported it.
8. Amendments shall go to vote, whether in Congress or via referendum, for seventy-two hours.
Changes starting at Article 3 Section 8 Subsection 5 Subsubsection ii
ii. Elections shall take place every three months for both branches.
iii. Polls shall be open to all residents and shall remain open for three days.
iv. If a resident is elected to multiple positions after the election has concluded, they may only take up one office. The remaining office or offices will be awarded to the candidate with the second-most votes. In the case of a resident winning a seat in the opposite branch of Government. The resident must resign from one office to start the term of another.
6. All legislative elections shall be administered as follows.
i. Voters shall rank candidates in order of their preference, as many as they should like to rank.
ii. If a candidate for Congress should have a share of the vote in excess of the fraction of one divided by the number of seats up for election, their remaining share of the vote shall be transferred to the next choice of their accumulated voters, and they will be given a seat.
iii. This process shall continue until all seats have been filled.
iv. Legislative elections shall first take place one month before regularly scheduled executive elections.
Addition to Article V
Legislative Branch:
Speaker: Insert
Speaker pro-tempore: Insert
Representative: Insert
Representative: Insert
Representative: Insert
This amendment shall go into effect, if passed, on February 28, 2021.
Original content by Gibraltarica and Balan Bar, and created by Gibraltarica. Do not reproduce, in whole or in part, without explicit permission.
Amendment to Article 3, Section 1, subsections 2, 3, and 5:
2. The legislature shall be known as Congress and will have one chamber.
i. The Congress shall hold legislative sessions for no less than three months and no more than six months. Sessions shall be defined in length by the Congress at the beginning of each session, according to their bylaws.
3.The Congress shall possess a Speaker, who shall preside over the Congress to see to it that all rules of Congress are followed and maintain a record of all of the Congress’s actions in a dispatch or series of dispatches.
i. The Speaker shall be chosen by the incoming Congressmen in an internal election immediately after the beginning of the legislative session. The Speaker shall be a current, seat-holding member of the Congress in good standing.
ii. The Speaker, in the nature of his position, will surrender his right to vote on amendments and bills; he may not participate in debates in any capacity aside from exercising his duties as Speaker. The Speaker may, in the case of ties, exercise the extraordinary power of tie-breaking on that bill. This shall not apply to any Speaker pro-tempore while acting as Speaker.
5. The Congress shall consist of six representatives, who will debate bills and amendments.
Addition to Article 3, Section 5:
6. The Congress shall have the power to impeach their own members, in addition to Votes of No Confidence. Members may only be impeached upon suspicion of their commission of high crimes or misdemeanors, disorderly conduct, inactivity, or upon the termination of their residency lasting more than twenty-four hours.
i. Should Congress vote unanimously for impeachment, the Speaker will issue a punishment in accordance with the crime committed. Should the Speaker be unable to execute this power, the Speaker Pro Tempore will issue a punishment.
ii. Members who are accused of crimes may not vote on any bill, amendment, or motion until their impeachment has been dismissed or they have been removed.
iii. The Speaker may, upon impeachment, suspend the membership of the impeached for up to two weeks, remove the member from their seat, and/or remove and bar the member from membership in Congress for a period of time or permanently.
iv. Impeachment votes may take place only once during each legislative cycle against a member. Impeachment votes may target two members.
v. Should Congress impeach the Speaker, the Speaker pro-tempore will act in the role of Speaker.
Amendment to Article 3, Section 8, Subsection 5:
ii. Elections shall take place every three months for the executive branch.
Amendment to Article 3, Section 8, Subsection 6:
ii. If a candidate for Congress should have a share of the vote in excess of the fraction of one divided by the number of seats up for election, their remaining share of the vote shall be transferred to the next choice of their accumulated voters, and they will be given a seat. Should none of the candidates, after this process, have a majority, the candidate with the least votes shall be eliminated. In the case of a tie at any point, the casting of lots shall determine the outcome.
iv. Legislative elections shall take place every month, with two seats being elected each month.
v. Seats shall proceed in order, two seats every month until all seats have been cycled.
vi. For the sake of simplicity, the seats shall be designated, by number, one through six by the Prime Minister, after the first election cycle. This clause shall become void after the first election.
Addition of Article 3, Section 8, Subsection 7:
7. Any vacancies caused by resignations or removals of representatives shall be filled in the next scheduled by-election, in addition to the two seats up for election.
i. Seats filled due to a vacancy shall resume their given election cycle, as prescribed in Article 3, Section 8, Subsection 6, sentence v.
Addition to Article V:
Legislative Branch:
Speaker: Insert
Speaker pro-tempore: Insert
Representative: Insert
Representative: Insert
Representative: Insert
Representative: Insert
Original content by New Jaedonstan and Gibraltarica. Do not reproduce, in whole or in part, without explicit permission.
2. The First Session of the Congress shall be presided over by the Speaker Pro-Tempore until the Speaker is elected.
3. The First Session of the Congress shall begin with the election of the Speaker:
i. Candidates for the Legislature may nominate one candidate each for election to the position of Speaker, to be considered immediately upon the election of those individuals.
ii. The nominations shall be closed upon the conclusion of the election.
iii. The Speaker Pro-Tempore of Congress shall present the valid nominations as such:
“Here are the certified nominations for Speaker of Congress, as presented below, per Section 3, Subsection 3 of the Initial Legislative Administration Act.”, followed by the presentation of the nominations.
iv. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall allow Legislators to rank as many nominees as they should like for the election, and present their vote publicly.
v. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall count the first choices of the Legislators, and should no majority be reached, he shall strike out the nominees with the least votes, or in the case of a tie for the votes such that all candidates have an equal number of first votes, he shall strike out at random one of the options, and shall then count the second choices of the struck votes, and shall assign those votes as equal to the first votes for the appropriate second choices. This shall continue to the third choice, et cetera, until a majority of votes is reached.
vi. Should there be no valid nominations, nominations by Legislators of Legislators shall be reopened for twenty-four hours by the Speaker Pro-Tempore as such:
“There are no valid nominations for Speaker of Congress, as such, nominations shall be reopened until this time tomorrow. Nominations may be presented by Legislators below.”
vii. Should there be only one candidate considered by valid nomination, the nominee shall be elected immediately as Speaker.
viii. When the Speaker is elected, his election shall be acknowledged by the Speaker Pro-Tempore as such:
“The Congress of Conch Kingdom, per Section 3, Subsection 8 of the Initial Legislative Administration Act, elects [Legislator] as Speaker. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall now proceed to administer the oath of office.”
xi. When the Speaker is announced, he shall be administered this oath by the Speaker Pro-Tempore:
“I do solemnly swear to administer and preside over the Congress of Conch Kingdom faithfully.”
4. The Seniority of Legislators shall be determined as such:
1. Firstly, whoever has had the longest time as Prime Minister.
2. Secondly, whoever has had the longest time as Minister of Domestic Affairs.
3. Thirdly, whoever has had the longest time as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
4. Fourthly, whoever has had the longest consecutive residency in Conch Kingdom.
5. The Speaker shall proceed immediately to move for passage of a bill of procedure for the Congress as such upon his election:
“I hereby open the floor for the presentation of any bills that are candidates for the bill of procedure for the Congress, and only for such bills.”
i. Legislators shall then present their bills for the procedure.
ii. If only one such bill shall be presented within twelve hours, the Speaker shall bring it to vote, unless it is still under discussion.
iii. If two bills are under consideration, the Speaker shall nominate one, and discussion shall begin immediately on it.
iv. Discussion shall end on the bill after no more than twenty-four hours
v. A vote lasting twenty-four hours shall begin immediately thereafter.
vi. This shall repeat until a bill of procedure is passed.
6. This bill shall be nullified upon the passage of a sufficient document of procedure regarding the election of Speaker and determination of Seniority by The Congress.
Section 1: Your duties: An Overview
Your duties in the legislature will be to write laws, propose them, debate on them, and vote on them.
Your first day in office will be a simple one: you will be presented with nominees for the Speaker, who will lead Congress in normal sessions, by the Speaker Pro-Tempore. You will vote on the nominees, unless there is only one, in which case he will be immediately elected.
The Speaker shall then proceed to request the bringing forth of founding bills of procedure. Here is currently the only draft of a proposal, written by Free Azell and I:
LIN: GIB 1
CIN: C.R. 1.1
Date Passed: 1/22/2021
Author: Gibraltarica
Congressional Sponsor: Gibraltarica
Category: Bill of Congressional Procedure
The author has given explicit permission for the reproduction of the text of this bill by Congress.
The Congressmen
§1. The Speaker
1. The First Session of the Legislature shall begin with the election of the Speaker:
i. Candidates for the Legislature may nominate one other candidate each (not including themselves) for election to the position of Speaker, to be considered immediately upon the election of those individuals.
ii. The nominations shall be closed upon the conclusion of the election.
iii. The Speaker Pro-Tempore of Congress shall present the valid nominations as such:
“Here are the certified nominations for Speaker of Congress, as presented below, per Article I Section 1, Subsection 1, Subsubsection iii of The Congressional Regulations Code.”, followed by the presentation of the nominations.
iv. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall allow Legislators to rank as many nominees as they should like for the election, and present their vote publicly.
i. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall count the first choices of the Legislators, and should no majority be reached, he shall strike out the nominees with the least votes, or in the case of a tie for the votes such that all candidates have an equal number of first votes, he shall strike out at random one of the options, and shall then count the second choices of the struck votes, and shall assign those votes as equal to the first votes for the appropriate second choices. This shall continue to the third choice, et cetera, until a majority of votes is reached.
v. Should there be no valid nominations, nominations by Legislators of Legislators shall be reopened for twenty-four hours by the Speaker Pro-Tempore as such:
“There are no valid nominations for Speaker of Congress, as such, nominations shall be reopened until this time tomorrow. Nominations may be presented by Legislators below.”
vi. Should there be only one valid nomination, the nominee shall be elected immediately as Speaker.
vii. When the Speaker is elected, his election shall be acknowledged by the Speaker Pro-Tempore as such:
“The Congress of Conch Kingdom, per Article I, Section 1, Subsection 1, Subsubsection vii of the The Congressional Regulations Code, elects [Legislator] as Speaker. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall now proceed to administer the oath of office.”
viii. When the Speaker is announced, he shall be administered this oath by the Speaker Pro-Tempore:
“I do solemnly swear to administer and preside over the Congress of Conch Kingdom faithfully.”
ix. Should the office of Speaker ever become vacant, nominations may be made by Legislators for his replacement in otherwise the same manner as prescribed by law.
2. The Speaker shall, after his election, notify the Prime Minister of his election.
3. The Speaker shall notify the Prime Minister and the Speaker Pro-Tempore of any leaves of absence he should take.
4. The Speaker shall regulate all debate and discussion of bills, the presentation of bills to vote, and the enforcement of the code of conduct.
i. The Speaker shall recognize a motion as such:
“The Honorable Member’s motion is recognized.”
ii. The Speaker shall deny a motion as such:
“The Honorable Member’s motion is denied.”
iii. The Speaker shall table a motion as such:
“The Honorable Member’s motion is tabled for [x] hours.”
iv. The Speaker shall recognize a member of government from outside the congress to speak as such:
“The [position] of Conch Kingdom is recognized.”
v. The Speaker shall recognize all other persons to speak as such:
“[Person] is recognized.”
5. The Speaker shall, after a bill’s vote is tallied, announce the result as such:
“The ayes have [x] votes, the nays have [x] votes, and [x] Honorable Members have announced their presence. The [ayes/nays] have it.”
6. The Speaker shall record all legislation passed, and the results of all votes, in the Archives of Congress.
7. The Speaker shall have the authority to convene Congress.
8. The Speaker shall have the authority to dismiss Congress, but never before all motions and votes have been properly addressed.
9. Acting Speakers who are not the Speaker Proper shall retain their voting rights unless otherwise prescribed by the Conch Creed.
§2. Seniority and the Speaker Pro-Tempore
1. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall be chosen by default as soon as the election for Congress has concluded.
2. The Speaker Pro-Tempore shall serve as Acting Speaker in the absence of the Speaker.
3. Should the Speaker be inactive for more than one day while Congress is in convention, the Speaker Pro-Tempore shall serve as Acting Speaker until his return.
3. Seniority shall be established as such, in order of weight of consideration:
Longest time in the Legislature
Longest time as Prime Minister
Longest time as Minister of Domestic Affairs
Longest time as Minister of Foreign Affairs
Longest consecutive residency in Conch Kingdom
4. In the Conch Creed, the legislators not in the position of Speaker or Speaker Pro Tempore shall be listed in order of seniority.
§3. Impeachment
1. A bill of impeachment may be registered with the Speaker, who shall have the authority to dismiss it unless he is the individual impeached, then it shall fall to the Speaker Pro-Tempore, and if he is also impeached, then the next most senior Congressman, who shall then act as speaker for the duration of the proceedings.
2. Bills of impeachment shall include the charges levied and the suggested punishment for the Speaker to execute.
3. The impeachment trial shall proceed as follows:
i. The Speaker shall say the following:
"The (Acting) Speaker of Congress recognizes a motion bring to presentation a bill to Impeach [Legislator], member of the Congress of Conch Kingdom for the reason outlined: [reasons]. Debate shall last no more than forty-eight hours on the bill, and all other current motions are tabled until at least seventy-two hours hereafter."
ii. All motions not related to the impeachment shall be tabled for the duration of the impeachment proceedings.
iii. Debate shall last no more than forty-eight hours.
iv. Immediately following debate, a vote shall be conducted lasting twenty-four hours.
v. Upon the conclusion of the proceedings, should all members voting have voted for the Impeachment, the Acting Speaker shall read out the following:
"The Congress of Conch Kingdom hereby impeaches [Legislator] for [reasons]. I prescribe the following punishment:[punishment]."
Legislative Proceedings
§1. Structure of Bills
1. Bills shall be presented in dispatch format.
2. Bills shall be presented in appropriately legible format, in such as form as bills have taken under the precedent of the Conch Creed’s format.
3. Subdivisions of bills shall be referred to as such:
i. The first level of division shall be referred to, for bills numbering more than twenty-five total clauses, as ‘Article’
ii. The first level of division for bills numbering twenty-five or less total clauses, and the second level of division for bills numbering more than twenty-five total clauses, shall be referred to as ‘Section’
iii. Every subdivision of sections shall be referred to as subsections, and the divisions thereafter as subsubsections, etc.
4. Bills shall require a clear operative clause or clauses.
5. Bills shall require the following items included prior to the operative clauses.
i. A classification be included among the following types of bills:
Petition to the Executive (including a specification of which Senior Minister(s) it is addressed to)
Petition to the Delegate
Petition to the Monarch
Bill of Impeachment
Constitutional Amendment
Operative Legislation
Legislative Amendment
Override of a Premieral Veto
Bill of Commendation
Bill of Condemnation
Bill of Congressional Procedure
ii. A note of who the authors of the bill are
iii. Consent for the government of Conch Kingdom to reproduce the bills
iv. A serial identification number, assigned by the legislator the bill is presented to
v. The signature of the legislator presenting the bill
6. The minutiae of the structure of bills shall be regulated by the Speaker, and all bills shall be subject to his affirmation that they are indeed regular in form before being submitted as a motion.
§2. Presentation of Bills
1. Bills shall be presented by a legislator.
2. Should a resident present a bill to a legislator, the legislator shall review the bill within twenty-four hours of presentation to confirm it is regular in form as described in Article II Section I of The Congressional Code of Procedure (barring an assigned number), valid, not unconstitutional, and competently and consistently written.
i. Should the legislator decide it is lacking in one or more of these qualities, he shall reject the bill, state the reason for rejection, recommend corrections and permit the submitter to resubmit the bill once upon corrections.
ii. Should the legislator decide it is lacking in none of these qualities, and he desires to present it, he shall assign the bill a number determined as such: the prefix assigned to the legislator, followed by the order in which it was presented to the legislator.
iii. The legislator may decide he does not wish to present it, and reject the bill outright.
3. The legislator shall then submit the bill to the Speaker, and notify him of a pending motion for presentation on the bill.
4. The Speaker shall keep a register of all pending bills from legislators, and shall, upon a bill’s presentation, assign it to become a Congressional Resolution, with a number in the order that the bill was presented to the floor in the current Congress, preceded by the cardinal number of Congress.
i. The Speaker shall respond to the motion to present immediately upon the bill being next in line to be presented.
ii. The Speaker shall not deny a motion to present, nor table the motion by more than three days.
5. The Speaker shall hear debate on the bill for up to three days.
6. After a motion to vote is presented and recognized by the Speaker, or after the three days have expired, the Speaker shall hold a vote on the motion lasting twenty-four hours.
i. In the case of Constitutional Amendments, this vote shall last seventy-two hours.
7. The Speaker shall tally the votes, and shall respond to the result as such:
i. If the bill is an internal matter of Congress, then the Speaker shall enact the bill given the ayes have the majority.
ii. If the bill is a matter requiring the Prime Minister’s approval, then the Speaker shall present it promptly to him.
iii. If the bill is a Constitutional Amendment, if the ayes have a two-thirds majority, then the Speaker shall inform the Prime Minister of its passage and of the necessity of an amendment to the Conch Creed.
8. If it passes in Congress, the Speaker shall record the bill in a new dispatch, replacing the legislator’s serial number with the Congressional Resolution number, and adding to the document the date of the bill's passage. This dispatch shall be linked to, along with all other legislation, in a central document managed by the current speaker.
9. Should the passed legislation require the approval of the Prime Minister, the Speaker shall note if it passed, was vetoed, or is pending approval.
i. Should a bill have been considered by the Prime Minister for more than three days without his response after the communication of the bill to him, it shall be considered vetoed.
10. The votes on all Congressional Resolutions, along with their number and the bill title, and the date of the vote's conclusion, shall be recorded in the central document.
11. Should legislation modify any existing legislation, the modified original text of the bills shall be crossed out, and replaced with the new text.
12. Should legislation appropriately become law, it shall be marked as such by the Speaker.
i. Should any law be repealed in full, it shall be marked as "repealed" by the Speaker.
13. Upon the passage of a bill by Congress, the Speaker shall sign it. Upon its approval by the Prime Minister, he shall sign it.
i. Should a vetoed bill be overridden, the Speaker shall also sign a statement on the bill that the bill was overridden.
§3. Legislative Motions and Amendments
1. The follow motions may be recognized or instigated by the Speaker:
i. Motion to adjourn
ii. Motion to adjourn until a certain day and time
iii. Motion to present
iv. Motion to amend
v. Motion to vote
vi. Motion to debate
2. Under any of the following conditions, a legislative amendment for a bill either presented or in the queue for presentation may be proposed:
i. That the Speaker and the Co-sponsor agree that it is valid, constitutional, and necessary
ii. That the Speaker and the author (or in the case of multiple authors, all authors) agree that it is valid, constitutional, and necessary
iii. That a majority of the Congress agree that it is necessary, as signified by co-motion on a motion to amend
3. The motion for amendment shall require submission of a dispatch to the speaker that includes:
i. The identifying number of the bill to be amended
ii. The proposed modifications, including the subdivisions of the bill to be cut out, added, or revised, with the revisions and additions included below
iii. The signatures of the appropriate parties as is outlined in Article II, Section 3, Subsection 2 of the Congressional Code of Procedure
4. The Speaker shall recognize or deny all motions on the floor pertaining to a bill before it is put to vote.
§4. Location and Schedule of Legislative Procedure
1. All motions and general procedure shall occur in the #round_table channel on the Augustin Alliance discord.
2. When a bill is brought to vote, the dispatch containing the bill must be linked in #round_table, and must also be presented by the speaker on the Regional Message Board with a notification that a vote is being had on the bill.
3. The result of all votes must also be presented on the RMB.
4. The Speaker shall convene congress for as long as is necessary to conduct business.
5. The Speaker may dismiss congress after three days in convention.
6. The Speaker may not dismiss congress for more than seven consecutive days.
7. The Speaker may not dismiss congress while a bill is at vote, while a vote is still being tallied, or while a bill is being debated.
8. The Speaker must permit for the discussion of and/or voting on at least two bills a day while Congress is in convention.
9. The Speaker shall, upon his election, release a tentative schedule for Congress’ session, and all edits to said schedule that involve the extension of conventions by more than two days, the cancellation of conventions, or an early start to conventions, shall require public notification at least two days in advance of the impact of the changes.
10. The Prime Minister may convene Congress at any time it is dismissed, with twenty-four hours notice, in periods of sufficient emergency.
11. The Legislature shall not infringe on the right of the Executive to use the #round_table discord channel.
12. The Legislature shall be dismissed or remain dismissed on the day of the Congressional elections, and shall remain dismissed until the elections have concluded.
Code of Conduct and Forbidden Bills
§1. Code of Conduct
1. Legislators shall act respectfully towards all members of government in #round_table.
2. Legislators shall faithfully execute their duties under the law.
3. Legislators shall vote regularly.
4. Legislators shall participate regularly in discussions about bills.
5. Legislators shall not breach conduct of NationStates, Discord, or of the region.
6. Legislators shall be diligent in receiving legislation from and communicating about legislation with their constituents.
§2. Reprimandation
1. Legislators may be subject to reprimand if they are in breach of the Code of Conduct.
2. Reprimand may include revocation of speaking privileges in #round_table, being barred from presenting legislation, a mandate for an apology, a warning, a motion for removal, or a petition to the Prime Minister for banishment.
3. Reprimands shall not be excessively harsh.
§3. Forbidden Bills
1. Bills preventing any branch of government from carrying out their legal duty are forbidden.
2. Bills of attainder are forbidden.
3. Bills of constitutional review are forbidden.
4. Ex-post facto bills are forbidden.
5. Bills that subpoena residents are forbidden.
6. Bills of multiple different purviews are forbidden.
7. If the Speaker believes that any bill or motion to amend violates these tenets, he shall note the bill or motion as discarded and shall not pursue further action with regard to it.
Margin of Passage: 5 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Announcements of Presence
Executive Approval Status: Pending Approval by Prime Minister
Legal Status: Not Yet Law.
Signature of Legislator: [Insert Signature Here]
Signature of Speaker: [Insert Signature Here]
Signature of Prime Minister: [Insert Signature Here]
Once the bill of procedure is adequately discussed and modified, it will be voted on. After that, the normal legislative session begins. Here’s some things to look out for in the first session, assuming the passage of the proposal previously mentioned.
Section Two: Types of Bills
Here are all the types of Bills that can be proposed by you or a resident!
Petition to the Executive (including a specification of which Senior Minister(s) it is addressed to)
-A plea to the executive branch for action (e.g. the Prime Minister, MoDA, MoFA)
Petition to the Delegate
-A plea to the Delegate for action
Petition to the Monarch
-A plea to the Monarch for action
Bill of Impeachment
-A bill removing a member or members of Congress from their post
Constitutional Amendment
-A bill changing the Conch Creed
Operative Legislation
-Normal legislation, like you might see elsewhere
Legislative Amendment
-An amendment of existing operative legislation (should not be confused with a motion to amend)
Override of a Premieral Veto
-A reintroduction of an existing bill
Bill of Commendation
-A bill commending a resident, foreigner, organization, or region
Bill of Condemnation
-A bill condemning a resident, foreigner, organization, or region
Bill of Congressional Procedure
-A bill outlining internal congressional procedure
Section Three: How a Bill Becomes Law
Bills are presented either by citizens to legislators, or by legislators themselves. As a legislator, here is what you must do when a citizen presents you a bill (even if you are that citizen!):
You must confirm it is regular in form, per the procedure bill I mentioned (I can help you with this, if you are confused), and that it is constitutional (I can also help you with this), and competently and consistently written.
If it lacks in any of these qualities, you must state what is wrong with it, and tell the citizen what is wrong. You must do this within 24 hours of being presented to you.
If you don’t want to present the bill, you may tell the citizen that, but you must do it within 24 hours.
If you do want to present it, and you find it is consistent, constitutional, regular in form, and competently written, you must seal and identify the bill as such by creating a new dispatch with the bill’s text in it (using this template bill dispatch as an example).
Add a Legislative Identification Number (LIN) at the top of the bill, as such: your assigned prefix (The Speaker will give this to you), followed by which number of bill this is you have presented
Add a link to your nation at the top where you are asked for the congressional sponsor.
Add your signature at the bottom. This can be as simple as your nation name, or you can use an online signature maker (if you need help inserting this into a dispatch, let me know)
After that, present it to the speaker in #round_table in Discord.
After that, it’s out of your hands! It now goes to the Speaker. The Speaker will notify you of the bill’s order in the queue, and its new Congressional Resolution Number. This is called a “motion to present”
Once the bill is next in line to be presented, and its turn comes up, the Speaker must do one of two things immediately: table the motion (delay debate on it and return to it later), or subject it to debate immediately.
Debate may last up to three days. There may be a motion to amend your bill, which may be assented to either by you and the speaker, the author and the speaker, or a majority of Congress. In this case, the Speaker will change his version of the bill to reflect the amendment. Be sure if you are the amending party, you include your signature on a motion to amend.
After that, your bill will have 24 hours at vote, so be sure to vote on all resolutions! You will be asked to vote via poll.
If your bill passes the necessary threshold (usually a simple majority), the Speaker will declare it passed, and will send it to the Prime Minister for his approval.
If the Prime Minister vetoes the bill (does not approve of it), it will return to Congress and may be overridden (passed anyways) with a two-thirds majority. If he does approve of it, your bill is a law!
Section Four: Where, and when?
All votes, debate, and procedure occur in #round_table in the AA discord.
You will be given a calendar of days you are expected to be active in the legislature for the next month by the Speaker after his election. Expect to be voting on stuff, discussing, and debating!
Section Five: What special motions can you make as legislator?
You can, in addition to previously mentioned motions: Move to vote on a bill, move to debate a bill for additional time, move to adjourn Congress. The speaker must recognize these for them to pass.
Section Six: What are expectations for conduct?
Here is the mentioned code of conduct:
Legislators shall act respectfully towards all members of government in #round_table.
Legislators shall faithfully execute their duties under the law.
Legislators shall vote regularly.
Legislators shall participate regularly in discussions about bills.
Legislators shall not breach conduct of NationStates, Discord, or of the region.
Legislators shall be diligent in receiving legislation from and communicating about legislation with their constituents.
If you breach this code of conduct, you may be reprimanded.
Any further questions? Just ask me!
