Join the new world

Authors: Addaway and Sir Humphrey Appleby
Adopte😛 18th February 2016

Aim: To set out how Congress intends to run its internal affairs and legislative process.

a.The passage of this bill will repeal the Congressional Procedure Act (2015)
b.The passage of this bill will trigger a new Speaker Election and Committee Election.

Part 1 - Discussion and Communication

a. Congress shall maintain two mass PMs including all members, Government

b. Ministers and the Dictator. These messages are to be used to share links to articles relating to the Government or Congress, and for the discussion of sensitive proposals.

c. All non-sensitive business will be discussed in in-game articles, of which one will be opened every forty-eight hours.

d. To be included in these articles is: all public proposals (bills, laws & motions), citizenship applicant information, links to government updates and a general legislative report that includes details of voting turnouts.

e. All are guaranteed the right to join in the discussion on the basis of mutual respect and participation


Part 2 - The Speaker

a. Congress will select one of its number to become the ‘Speaker.’

b. The Speaker will be elected by a first past the post vote of fellow congress members. Congress Members will have 24hrs to nominate themselves in the event of a Speaker election being triggered. A 24hr vote will then follow, administered by the Dictator.

c. The Speaker will remain in office until he leaves Congress, resigns the position, or loses a motion of no confidence.

d. The Speaker will be charged with ensuring that all procedure set out in Part 1 is carried out, either by himself or a nominated deputy.

e. The Speaker must act impartially towards other Congress Members in official Congressional Channels, which is defined as the group PMs and the official discussion articles. Impartially is defined as not being motivated by any kind of personal bias.

f. The Speaker may appoint up to two other congress members as deputies, who can act in the name of the Speaker with all powers if authorised by the Speaker to do so.


Part 3 - The Legislative Process and Voting

a. All Congress Members and the Country President have the ability to make proposals to Congress.

b. Proposals should be made by private messaging the Speaker.
i. The Speaker will decide when to give a proposal its formal debate period and vote in congress. Congress can only be ‘formally’ debating on a maximum of two proposals at any given time.

c. The Speaker, on advice from the Government, will determine whether a proposal is to be classed as ‘sensitive’ or ‘public’.

d. The Speaker has discretion to exercise a ‘common sense’ rule over all legislation created by Congress with the exception of the eUK Constitution. Using this rule means that the Speaker is able to waive or act against the procedure of an act in situations where following the procedure would produce an unjust act or directly harm the eUK. When the Speaker uses this power they should give specific written reasons to Congress as to why they are doing so.
i. Congress Members can move to challenge the use of the Common Sense rule. If a motion of this type is passed, the Speaker must abide by the legislation in the relevant area.

e. There are three general types of proposals, Bills, Laws and Motions.
i. Bills are the most complex proposal that can be made,they are written documents that formally set out how Congress wishes to exercise its power over a given area. They can be used to legislate for anything that does not directly contradict core game mechanics. The contents of Acts should be taken as binding, and should be followed.
1. Bills will receive a formal debate period of 48hrs, during which time the author of the Bill may choose to accept proposed amendments or reject them.
2. At the end of the debate period Congress will vote via a Gdoc form if the Bill is considered sensitive, or via the article comments below the relevant discussion article. Votes will last 48hrs.
ii. Laws are proposals made to congress that result in an in-game law being proposed.
1. Laws will have a debate period of 48hrs.
2. At the end of the debate period Congress will vote via a Gdoc form if the Law is considered sensitive, or via the article comments below the relevant discussion article. Votes will last 48hrs.
iii. Motions are statements that can be tabled to have congress express an opinion. These are non-binding unless otherwise stated in legislation.
1. Motions will have a debate period of 24hrs.
2. At the end of the debate period Congress will vote via a Gdoc form if the Law is considered sensitive, or via the article comments below the relevant discussion article. Votes will last 24hrs.

f. Sensitive proposals may be designated as ‘Emergency Proposals’ by the CP. This has the effect of having all the debate and vote times, and these proposals will take precedence over all others currently in progress. Proposals that are mid way through their debate period should have their debate suspended so Congress can focus on the Emergency.


Part 4 - Congress Members

A. Appointment and Removal of Congress Members

a. Congress members will be appointed by the in-game election method on the 25th of each month.

b. Congress Members are considered to be representatives of their party and as such are accountable first and foremost to their Party President and Party Members.

c. Congress members may be removed from Congress and replaced with another citizen under the following procedure:
i. The Speaker may recommend to Party Presidents any Congress Members which they feel are insufficiently active or competent to be Congress Members. The Speaker may also recommend removal if the Congress Member has been suspended under part d. The Speaker should give written reasons as to why they believe that and notify Congress of their recommendation.
ii. It is then at the discretion of the Party President to accept the recommendation or not.
iii. If the PP chooses to accept it, then the congress member(s) will cease to be Congress Members and the PP may nominate another eUK citizen to take their place. This citizen will not have to be a member of their party, but will be subject to all other in-game requirements to become a Congress Member.

d.Congress members may be suspended from Congress by their fellow peers, under the following procedure:
i. The Speaker may recommend for suspension any members that they feel are:
1. Insufficiently active or competent to be congress members.
2. Abusive towards eUK Citizens on any kind of official Congressional Communication.
3. Actively working against the eUK
ii. Upon such a recommendation being made, Congress will have 48hrs debate on the subject and then hold a 48hr vote. A 66%+1 majority will be required to suspend a Congress Member.


Part 5 - Congressional Scrutiny Committees

a. Congress will maintain three small committees of three members, who will be tasked with scrutinising in detail the work of specific government departments.

b. These committees will be:
i. Defence and Foreign Affairs
ii. Finance
iii. Education

c.Members will be elected under the same election system as that used for the Citizenship Committee. (Part 1, Citizenship Act)

d.Government Ministers are ineligible to become committee members.

e. Each Committee will select one of their number to become the Chair, who will be directly responsible for ensuring the committee works effectively. They will be responsible for reporting weekly to Congress on their work.

f. Government Ministers will have a statutory obligation to keep the committees informed and provide them with any information that they request. Refusal to provide information should be looked on as grounds for impeachment of the CP if the information is not released.

g. Congress members may sit on only one Committee.

h. Committee members may be removed from a committee using the same procedure used for suspending congress members, outline in Part 4.