Information Standing Orders of Parliament

[MangoYoshi]

PARLIAMENT VOTE: 10-0-0

A
BILL
TO
Establish Standing Orders of the 1st Parliamentary Session​

1 - Standing Orders

1. These Standing Orders of Parliament will be enforced for the duration of the Parliament Session (A.P.001 §4(3)).
   1. Should the current session of Parliament be dissolved, these Standing Orders shall be nullified.
2. These rules govern the procedures of parliament, the rules of debate, and general decorum.
3. This bill may be amended at any point prior to nullification or the end of the Parliament session.

2 - Legislative Process

1. Proposed bills must be posted to both the StateCraft Forums (under Parliament > Chamber) and the StateCraft Discord (under #bills) by the Member of Parliament primarily sponsoring the bill with the tag Bill: Pending (A.P.001 §9(1)).
   1. Upon posting, the Speaker of Parliament must be notified in the #parliament-floor channel of the Parliament Discord.
   2. The Speaker of Parliament may have the co-sponsor of any proposed bill attest that they consent to legislation being introduced on their behalf as a co-sponsor (A.P.001 §18(1)).
   3. A motion to urgently consider the bill in question may be attached at the time of proposal, in which case the bill will not move further until the motion has passed or failed (A.P.001 §14(12)).
      1. A motion to urgently consider the bill may still be filed at any time during the legislative process.
2. Bills shall remain open for public comment on Discord for 24 hours after they are posted. The Speaker shall close the thread after the public comment period has elapsed.
   1. If a motion to urgently consider is passed during this period, the following stages of the legislative process shall occur concurrently with the public comment period, and the public comment period shall be closed after 12 hours (A.P.001 §14(12)).
   2. The Speaker or a Member of Parliament may motion to extend the public comment period if considerable debate is still being held.
3. Upon closure of the public comment period, the Speaker of Parliament shall post the bill in #bill-readings for reading and debate for a period of 48 hours (A.P.001 §9(2)(a)).
   1. At any point during reading and debate, a member may motion to skip reading (A.P.001 §14(9)).
   2. If a motion to skip reading passes, the Speaker of Parliament shall immediately close comments under the respective post.
   3. If a motion to urgently consider is passed, the reading and debate period shall immediately end (A.P.001 §14(12)).
   4. The Speaker of Parliament may “queue” legislation and postpone reading and debate if more than 3 (three) proposed bills are currently being debated.
4. The Speaker of Parliament shall put the bill up for vote after the reading and debate period has concluded (either through time expiring or motion to skip reading being passed) (A.P.001 §9(3)(a)).
   1. After 48 hours of being put up for vote, the voting shall close and the Speaker of Parliament will announce the results of the vote (A.P.001 §9(4)).
   2. If the bill is under urgent consideration, the voting period shall last 24 hours (A.P.001 §14(12)(b)(ii))
   3. Upon successful vote to pass a proposed bill, the speaker shall notify the Monarch and request Royal Assent through the #monarch channel.
   4. Members shall cast their vote by sending a single message in #parliament-voting, the message shall contain only one word/emote dictating Aye/Nay/Abstain.
      1. Should a member decide to change their vote, they shall strike-through the original message and mark it “DNA” on a new line (within the same message), they shall then post a second message with their updated vote, with a notification to the clerk that their vote has been updated.

3 - Standard Rules of Debate

1. These rules are to be followed at all times when discussing legislative acts in the #discussion-debate forum channel.
   1. #parliamentary-general shall not be used to discuss legislative acts in the reading and debate phase.
2. The first 12 hours of reading and debate are reserved for opening messages, of which each Member of Parliament may send 1 message stating whether they are for or against the bill, and their reasoning to do so.
   1. This period may be cut short if one of the following requirements are met:
      1. All members have given opening statements.
      2. A motion to close opening statements is made, requiring a super-majority to pass.
   2. Motions under urgent consideration are not subject to this requirement.
3. Members may continue debating if a point of order has been made, unless the Speaker deems it necessary to suspend debate, at which point the post will be temporarily closed to comment.

4 - Rules for In-Person Sessions

1. In-person sessions are attended by the Speaker, and members of their Office; the Clerk; Members of Parliament; a Sergeant-at-Arms; and guests of the Chamber invited by the Speaker.
   1. The Speaker's presence is required to preside over the session.
   2. The Clerk’s presence is required to record the proceedings, unless such duties are assumed by the Speaker.
   3. The Sergeant-at-Arms's presence is required to maintain the security of the chamber.
      1. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall be a member of the Ministry of Justice with powers of detention, chosen by the Minister of Justice with consent from the Office of the Speaker.
   4. Members of Parliament and invited guests may attend at their own discretion.
2. In-person sessions shall be open to the public.
   1. Members of the public shall be restricted to the viewing gallery above the chamber. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall have the authority to escort unauthorized persons from the floor of the chamber.
3. The Speaker shall have the authority to call the session to order, send it to recess, and adjourn it.
   1. Before the Speaker may adjourn the session, all matters before the House must be addressed, either by resolving them or moving to postpone their consideration to another time.
4. The agenda for the session shall be prepared in advance by the Office of the Speaker, in consultation with the party leaders.
   1. The agenda shall be made known to the public at least 24 hours in advance of the session.
   2. The first order of business for every session shall be for the Clerk to read the agenda to the chamber. Following this reading, the Speaker shall permit members to move to amend the agenda. The agenda may not be amended at any other point.
5. Members must be recognized by the Speaker in order to speak during debates.
   1. Any member who wishes to be recognized may stand up to signal their desire to speak.
      1. Members seeking recognition to bring a point of order must also wear their Point of Order Hat, which shall be provided to them by the Clerk before the start of the session.
   2. The Speaker shall recognize one of the standing members. All other members shall immediately sit back down. Once a member has been recognized, only that member is permitted to stand for the duration of their speech.
   3. When the recognized member concludes their speech, they shall immediately sit back down, and the Speaker shall seek to recognize another member.
   4. The Speaker may set a reasonable time limit for members’ speeches to expedite debate. The same time limit shall apply to all members.
6. Following a successful motion to end debate, the chamber will vote on the matter under consideration. The procedure for voting during in-person sessions is as follows:
   1. The Speaker announces the vote on the matter under consideration by the chamber. The Clerk records the start of the vote.
   2. The Speaker calls on all members who wish to vote “aye” to stand. The Clerk records the name of each member who stands as voting “aye”.
   3. The Speaker calls on all members who wish to vote “nay” to stand. The Clerk records the name of each member who stands as voting “nay”.
   4. The Speaker calls on all members who wish to abstain to stand. The Clerk records the name of each member who stands as abstaining from the vote.
   5. The Clerk tallies the vote and reports the final tally privately to the Speaker. The Speaker then announces the final tally and the result of the vote.

5 - Decorum

1. The following standards of decorum are to be observed by all members at all times in spaces where chamber business is conducted:
   1. Members shall participate in all chamber business in good faith.
   2. Members shall treat each other with respect. There shall be zero tolerance for personal attacks against any person by any member.
   3. Members shall keep their remarks germane to the matter under consideration.
   4. Members shall not speak out of turn or disrupt the business of the chamber.
   5. Members shall address their comments to the Speaker, and shall address other members indirectly, if possible. (e.g. “Dartanboy, what are you doing to stop the heat death of the universe?” is wrong; “Speaker, what is the Prime Minister doing to stop the heat death of the universe?” is right)
2. The following additional standards of decorum are to be observed by all members during in-person debates:
   1. The member who is recognized by the Speaker shall not be interrupted by any other member.
   2. Members recognized by the Speaker shall take care to speak concisely in consideration for other members who seek recognition from the Speaker.
3. The Speaker shall have the authority to enforce rules and decorum.
   1. If a member breaches rules or decorum, the Speaker may call the member to order and issue a formal warning.
   2. The Speaker may require a member to rescind or amend a comment, in whole or in part, which violates standards of decorum.
      1. If a comment must be rescinded in Discord, the member shall edit the message to be struck out in whole.
      2. If a comment must be amended in Discord, the member shall edit their original message to strike it out in whole, and then reply to the message with the original message containing amendments.
   3. If a member repeatedly breaches rules or decorum, the Speaker may suspend the member’s participation in the business of the chamber by revoking their permission to send messages in the relevant channels for not more than 12 hours.
      1. During an in-person session, the Speaker may order the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the member from the floor of the chamber for the remainder of the session.

6 - Points of Order

1. A point of order is a request made by a member to the Speaker for a ruling relating to the rules of the chamber.
2. Members may raise a point of order at any time during chamber business.
3. The Speaker may confer privately with the Parliamentarian for assistance on the point of order before delivering their ruling.

7 - Hearings

1. The Speaker may schedule hearings without a motion if the hearing is required by law.
2. Motions to hold hearings may be brought to the speaker, requiring a simple majority.
   1. Subpoenas are to be issued to members by the clerk of parliament, enforceable by the Ministry of Justice.

8 - Miscellaneous Orders of the Session

1. The following discord channels of the Parliament Discord shall be made readable by all citizens, with archives to be kept on the forums by the Office of the Speaker.
   1. #parliament-announcements
   2. #suggestions
   3. #parliament-voting
   4. #parliament-floor
   5. #bill-readings
   6. #discussion-debate
   7. #parliament-general
   8. #speakers-office
   9. #speaker-elections
   10. #monarch
2. The Speaker of Parliament may create new channels at their discretion as needed for the daily function of parliament.
3. Members of Parliament may request a courtesy review by the Office of the Speaker of a drafted bill/resolution/statement prior to beginning the legislative process (A.P.001 §6(2)(c)).
   1. This review may cover formatting, wording, grammatical structure, and conflicts with other legislation.
   2. The review will be conducted in an impartial manner, and suggestions made by the Office of the Speaker shall be non-binding.
4. The Office of the Speaker shall post notice of a hearing no later than 24 hours prior to the beginning of a hearing.
   1. In-game hearings shall be coordinated by the Speaker of the Office to ensure all interested parties may attend.
5. The Speaker shall requisition 1 mace, and 1 shield (containing the flag of Alexandria) for use during in-game sessions.
6. The Speaker’s Ship is only to be used by the Speaker during in-game sessions of Parliament