Rescinded Parliamentary Rules Act

[Ryan_88]

Parliamentary Rules Act

A
Bill
To

Set standing rules for Parliament

The Parliament of Stratham enacts:

Section 1. Short Title

(1) This Act is the Parliamentary Rules Act.

Section 2. Commencement

(1) All Provision(s) shall come into effect upon passage after the passage of the Bill Amendment Act.

Section 3. Reasoning

(1) Parliament lacks organization when it comes to the passage of bills and hearings.

Section 4. Organization of Committees

(1) Parliament may create, remove, and amend committees with a simple majority vote.
(a) This may be done so through a Motion to create a committee, remove a committee, or amend a committee.

(2) Members of Parliament must serve on at least 1 committee when applicable.

(3) Each committee must have a minimum of 3 members and a maximum of 5.

Section 5. Committee Rules

(1) Each committee shall have a Chairman who shall preside over all committee hearings.
(a) The Chairman shall be elected by Parliament with a majority vote (4/7).

(2) The Chairman must select a ranking member of the committee.
(a) The ranking member shall preside over hearings when the chairman is unable to.
(b) The Chairman shall have the same powers as the Speaker while presiding in their respective committees.
(c) The Chairman may be removed by Parliament with a supermajority vote (6/7).

(3) Parliament may motion to remove a member from a committee that must reach a supermajority vote to pass.

(4) Members of Parliament may not be the Chairman or ranking member of more than 1 committee.

Section 6. Motions

(1) Motion to Amend Legislation
(a) This motion shall allow for the amendment of a bill during the voting period. If the motion passes, voting shall cease and the bill will be amended and voting shall begin again.

(2) Motion to Rescind
(a) This motion allows for any legislation to be rescinded and must be used before the voting period begins.

(3) Motion to recess
(a) This motion shall immediately put a hearing to recess for a period of no longer than 30 minutes.

(4) Motion to adjourn
(a) This motion shall immediately end a hearing.

(5) Motion to strike
(a) This motion shall allow for the language of a bill to be stricken.

(6) Motion to appeal the decision of the Chair
(a) This motion shall allow for the decision of the Chairperson to be appealed.

(7) Motion to amend rules
(a) This motion shall allow for the amendment of this bill.

(8) Motion to fast-track
(a) This motion shall allow for a bill to forgo the 24 hour wait period before voting.

(9) Motion to override veto
(a) This motion shall allow for parliament to overturn a Prime Ministerial veto on bills only.

(10) All motions above must reach a majority vote in order to pass.

Section 7. Subpoenas

(1) Parliament may require testimony and attendance of witnesses and subjects of hearings.

(2) Parliament may also subpoena records and documents

(3) The Chairperson with consent of other MPs may issue a charge of contempt of parliament to anyone for failure to comply with a subpoena.
(a) Contempt of Parliament shall be defined as “Disrupting Parliamentary proceedings, refusing to comply with a subpoena within a certain timeframe, or refusing to answer lawful questions.”
(b) Contempt of Parliament shall be punished with 10 minutes of jail time and a 250kr fine.
(c) Parliament must make a compromise with the subpoenaed individual to find a certain time that works best.

Section 8. Amendment of this bill

(1) Any MP may motion for the amendment of the rules with a proposal of new rules.


Authored by Ryan_88 on behalf of the people.

 

[Cherub54321]

This bill is hereby VETOED and not granted Prime Ministerial Assent.

After discussions with the speaker of parliament, there are several issues which need to be addressed:

- There is no need for the part about the motion to override a veto, as this is addressed in the constitution, and this adds additional uncertainty to the process as in the constitution it states that a supermajority is needed, whereas in this bill it only states a majority.
- The motions are unclear as to if they applies to the whole parliament or committees, for example the motion to amend legislation is presumably the whole parliament, but the motion for adjourn would be for committees as they are in charge of hearings.
- There needs to be a failsafe added in to the power of subpoenas, where people being subpoenaed can appeal before a judge before any action is taken.

 

[FreddBear]

Parliament hereby Overrides the Prime Minister's veto.​

On 6/4/2023 at 10:27pm (CST) Parliament filed a motion to override the Prime Minister's veto on the above act. As of writing this the motion has gained the 2/3 supermajority required to pass and the above bill is hereby passed into law.