[Proposal] Provisional Procedures of the Assembly

[Cormac]

Provisional Procedures of the Assembly

Proposed by: Cormac

Preamble

Invoking power granted to the Assembly Speaker by Article I, Section 12 of Mandate 12 to establish Assembly procedures when such have not been established by the Assembly, I hereby establish the following as the Provisional Procedures of the Assembly to remain in place until the Assembly has established procedures.

Section 1. Administration

(1) The Assembly will be administered according to all provisions mandated for the Assembly by Mandate 12 and according to the below procedures.

Section 2. Legislative Procedures

(1) A minimum discussion period of three days is required before any proposal may be brought to vote. The Speaker is not required to open a vote if they determine that the proposal has not had sufficient discussion, but they may not delay opening a vote for more than seven days from when the motion to vote on the proposal was seconded.

(2) In order for a proposal to be brought to vote, a citizen eligible to vote on that proposal must make a motion to vote, and another such citizen must second the motion. A motion to vote may only be made by the initial author of a proposal unless the initial author is no longer a citizen or has not posted on the off-site regional forum for more than seven days without posting a leave of absence.

(3) Only the Delegate may introduce a proposal to enact, amend, or repeal a treaty or declaration of war, and only the Delegate may make a motion to vote on such a proposal.

(4) In the event that there are multiple competing proposals regarding the same matter in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, the Assembly Speaker will bring them to vote one at a time, in the order they were motioned to vote. If such a proposal is enacted, the subsequent competing proposals will not be brought to vote.

(5) All votes will take place for five days. Citizens eligible to vote may vote "Aye," "Nay," or "Abstain." Voters may not post any other content in a voting thread or embellish the format of their vote in any way, and votes that include additional content or embellishment will be discarded and split from the voting thread. Voters may cast their votes by posting in each voting thread.

(6) The Assembly Speaker will determine which discussions will take place publicly and which will take place privately, and may accordingly move discussions to and from the Assembly's private forum, except that the Delegate may determine whether proposals to enact, amend, or repeal treaties will be public or private. All votes will be conducted in public.

Section 3. Deputies to the Assembly Speaker

(1) The Assembly Speaker may appoint deputies to assist in presiding over the Assembly according to its procedural rules. Appointment of a deputy will be subject to confirmation by 50%+1 vote of the Assembly if the deputy-designate has previously been removed from office by the Assembly.

(2) Deputies to the Assembly Speaker will serve until resignation, removal from office by the Assembly or the Assembly Speaker, or automatic removal from office as defined by Mandate 12.

(3) Any powers or responsibilities assigned to the Assembly Speaker by these procedures, Mandate 12, or any other law, unless explicitly directed otherwise, may be delegated by the Assembly Speaker to their deputy or deputies, and rescinded by the Assembly Speaker. Deputies will not have the power to appoint or remove other deputies.

Section 4. Legislative Formatting

(1) Unless otherwise noted, legislation brought to vote in the Assembly will be formatted as follows:
 

Example Title

Proposed by:

Preamble

This is an example of a preamble. It should not exceed 50 words. Preambles are optional.

Section 1. Example Section Title

(1) This is an example of a subsection.

(2) This is an example of another subsection.

a. This is an example of a subparagraph.
b. This is an example of another subparagraph.

(2) The forum name of the author will be provided in the "Proposed by:" section of a proposal. In the event that the author's forum name changes, the Assembly Speaker may amend a law to reflect the author's new forum name.

(3) Following enactment of a proposal, the Assembly Speaker will append the month and year of enactment to the proposal's title.

(4) An optional preamble for a proposal will not exceed fifty words.

(5) Unless otherwise noted, all amendments brought to vote in the Assembly will be formatted as legislation, and the amendments therein will be marked up so as to clearly delineate the changes being made.

(6) Only general laws and constitutional laws will be subject to formatting for legislation, but all amendments will be subject to mark-up.

(7) The Assembly Speaker will not open a vote on a proposal that has not been properly formatted and/or marked up in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, and no motion to vote on such an unconforming bill will be recognized, until the proposal has been properly formatted and/or marked up.

[Cormac]

I've revised Article II, Section 6 as follows:

(6) All votes will take place for three days. Citizens eligible to vote may vote "Aye," "Nay," "Abstain," or votes of clearly similar intent in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker. Voters may not post any other content in a voting thread, and votes that include additional content will be discarded and split from the voting thread.

[Cormac]

I'm making the following amendments to the provisional procedures:

Provisional Procedures of the Assembly

Invoking the power granted to the Assembly Speaker by Article I, Section 12 of Mandate 12 to establish Assembly procedures when such have not been established by the Assembly, I hereby establish the following as the Provisional Procedures of the Assembly to remain in place until the Assembly has established procedures.

I. Administration

(1) The Assembly will be administered according to all provisions mandated for the Assembly by Mandate 12 and according to the below procedures.

II. Legislative Procedures

(1) A minimum discussion period, beginning at the time a proposal is submitted, will be required before any proposal may be brought to vote.

a. Any proposal requiring a 50%+1 vote will be subject to a minimum discussion period of three days.
b. Any proposal requiring a two-thirds vote will be subject to a minimum discussion period of five days.
c. Any proposal requiring a three-quarters vote will be subject to a minimum discussion period of seven days.

(1) A minimum discussion period of three days is required before any proposal may be brought to vote. The Speaker is not required to open a vote if they determine that the proposal has not had sufficient discussion, but they may not delay opening a vote for more than seven days from when the motion to vote on the proposal was seconded.

(2) In order for a proposal to be brought to vote, a citizen eligible to vote on that proposal must make a motion to vote, and another such citizen must second the motion. A motion to vote may only be made by the initial author of a proposal unless the initial author is no longer a citizen or has not posted on the off-site regional forum for more than seven days without posting a leave of absence.

(3) Only the Delegate may introduce a proposal to enact, amend, or repeal a treaty or declaration of war, and only the Delegate may make a motion to vote on such a proposal.

(4) After a motion to vote has been made and seconded in accordance with procedure, the Assembly Speaker may delay a vote for up to seven additional days to allow for more discussion.

(5) (4) In the event that there are multiple competing proposals regarding the same matter in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, the Assembly Speaker will simultaneously bring such proposals to vote, and the proposal receiving the most votes in favor will become law provided it has achieved the threshold needed to pass.

(6) (5) All votes will take place for three five days. Citizens eligible to vote may vote "Aye," "Nay," or "Abstain,." or votes of clearly similar intent in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker. Voters may not post any other content in a voting thread or embellish the format of their vote in any way, and votes that include additional content or embellishment will be discarded and split from the voting thread.

(7) (6) Voters may cast their votes either via forum poll or via votes cast by posting in each voting thread. The identities of voters will be made publicly visible in forum polls.

(8) (7) The Assembly Speaker will determine which discussions will take place publicly and which will take place privately, and may accordingly move discussions to and from the Assembly's private forum, except that the Delegate may determine whether proposals to enact, amend, or repeal treaties will be public or private. All votes will be conducted in public.

III. Deputies to the Assembly Speaker

(1) The Assembly Speaker may appoint deputies to assist in presiding over the Assembly according to its procedural rules. Appointment of such deputies a deputy will be subject to confirmation by 50%+1 vote of the Assembly if the deputy-designate has previously been removed from office by the Assembly.

(2) Deputies to the Assembly Speaker will serve until resignation, removal from office by the Assembly or the Assembly Speaker, or automatic removal from office as defined by Mandate 12.

(3) Any powers or responsibilities assigned to the Assembly Speaker by these procedures, Mandate 12, or any other law, unless explicitly directed otherwise, may be delegated by the Assembly Speaker to their deputy or deputies, and rescinded by the Assembly Speaker. Deputies will not have the power to appoint or remove other deputies.

IV. Legislative Formatting

(1) Unless otherwise noted, legislation brought to vote in the Assembly will be formatted as follows:
 

Example Title

I. Example Article Title

(1) This is an example of a section.

(2) This is an example of another section.

a. This is an example of a subsection.
b. This is an example of another subsection.

(2) Unless otherwise noted, all amendments brought to vote in the Assembly will be formatted as legislation, and the amendments therein will be formatted as follows:

(1) This is an example of text that is not amended. This is an example of text that is stricken. This is an example of text that is added.

(2) Unless otherwise noted, all amendments brought to vote in the Assembly will be formatted as legislation, and the amendments therein will be marked up so as to clearly delineate the changes being made.

(3) Only general laws and constitutional laws will be subject to formatting for legislation, but all amendments will be subject to formatting for amendments mark-up.

(4) The Assembly Speaker will reformat proposals that are not properly formatted prior to bringing them to vote.

(4) The Assembly Speaker will not open a vote on a proposal that has not been properly formatted and/or marked up in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, and no motion to vote on such an unconforming bill will be recognized, until the proposal has been properly formatted and/or marked up.

[Cormac]

I'm revising Article II, Section 4 as follows:

(4) In the event that there are multiple competing proposals regarding the same matter in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, the Assembly Speaker will simultaneously bring such proposals to vote, and the proposal receiving the most votes in favor will become law provided it has achieved the threshold needed to pass.

(4) In the event that there are multiple competing proposals regarding the same matter in the judgment of the Assembly Speaker, the Assembly Speaker will bring them to vote one at a time, in the order they were motioned to vote. If such a proposal is enacted, the subsequent competing proposals will not be brought to vote.

[Cormac]

To avoid having to update this every time, just a heads up that I'm continually revising this simultaneously with the draft of the Assembly Procedure Act.