Legislative Procedure Act

An act to define the procedural rules of the Assembly

1. Legislative Rules

(1) Any legislator may propose a bill, resolution, or appointment, which will be debated and refined collectively in the Assembly under the guidance of the Chair.

(2) To be brought to a vote, a specific draft of a bill, resolution, or appointment must
a. receive a motion to vote by a legislator,
b. receive a second by another legislator,
c. be affirmed to be in proper formatting by the Chair, and
d. have been at debate for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of its voting period.

(3) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and appointments will remain at vote for three days. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law, and treaties will remain at vote for five days.

(4) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and treaties require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, and resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass.

(5) Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills or resolutions on the same matter, the Chair will separately and simultaneously bring the competing bills or resolutions to vote, in the same manner as regular business is done. The bill or resolution that receives the most votes in favor and meets minimum threshold requirements for passage will become law.

(6) Any bill, resolution or amendment which has been inactive for more than one month may be considered defunct and archived at the discretion of the Chair.

(7) Any legislator may motion to cancel voting and withdraw a bill that has been brought to a vote so revisions can be made. The Chair may cancel voting on the bill, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded. Should the motion and seconding be made within the final 24 hours of voting, the legislation shall not pass or fail until the Chair makes a ruling on the motion.

(8) Should any bill, resolution or amendment fail to become law, any proposal which is judged by the Chair as being substantially similar to that failed legislation shall be prevented from going to vote for two weeks after the closure of the vote. The Chair may waive this restriction should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded. 

(9) Should any bill, resolution or amendment become law, the document itself, its debate thread, and its voting thread and results shall all be archived.

2. Powers and Responsibilities of the Chair

(1) The Chair is responsible for creating voting threads and recording votes. In the event that the Chair does not perform these duties in a reasonable time frame, any legislator may create voting threads and record votes.

(2) The legislative history of each law will be recorded by the Chair. Legislative history will include reference to debate threads, voting results, and amendment history.

(3) The Chair must document the use of their discretionary powers including a rationale for using those powers in the relevant debate thread.

(4) The Chair may correct typographical errors, grammatical errors, naming or formatting inconsistencies at any time, as long as these corrections do not alter the original intent of the law, following a three day period in which the corrections are presented to the Assembly for comments. Any such corrections must be recorded with the legislative history of each law.

(5) The Chair may delay votes for a reasonable time frame if done for the purposes of vote scheduling or to avoid preemption of active debate by a vote.

(6) The Chair may freely appoint any number of deputies, who will be authorized to perform those legislative duties of the Chair that the Chair permits. Any changes in the roster of deputies must be posted publicly.

(7) The Chair may waive the mandatory debate period remaining on a particular piece of legislation should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded.

3. Constitutional Law

(1) The Legislative Procedure Act is a constitutional law, and further amendments to it must meet constitutional amendment requirements.

(This post was last modified: 01-27-2022, 12:36 PM by anjo.)

Reply

The Legislative Procedure Act was amended by the Assembly on May 11, 2017.

Article 3 was amended as follows:

3. Amendment to the Charter of the Coalition of the South Pacific

(1) Article IV, Sections 5-9 of the Charter of the Coalition of the South Pacific will be amended as follows:

Legislative Rules

5. All bills will be moved to a vote upon receiving a second by another legislator, should the Chair or their designated deputy determine that there has been sufficient debate on the issue. Debate must last for a minimum period of time equivalent to that proposed legislation will be at vote for.

6. All general laws, resolutions, and treaty ratifications must be passed by a simple majority of those voting. Laws marked as constitutional laws, or resolutions that deal with issues found in constitutional laws, require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting.

7. The Chair or their designated deputy is responsible for the creation of a voting thread, and recording the votes. In the event that the Chair or their designated deputy does not or cannot perform their duties in a reasonable timeframe, any member of the Assembly may create a voting thread.

8. Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills on a single issue, the Chair will bring the competing bills to vote separately and simultaneously, in the same way regular business is done. The bill that gets the most aye votes and meets minimum threshold requirements will become law.

9. The legislative history of all laws will be recorded by the Chair, including debate threads, vote results, and amendment histories.

Reply

The Legislative Procedure Act was amended by the Assembly on May 19, 2017.

Article 1, Section 1 was amended as follows:

(1) A bill, resolution, or appointment will, unless otherwise mandated by these rules, be moved to vote upon a motion by a legislator and a second by another legislator, unless the Chair or their designated deputy determines that the debate period has been insufficient. A legislator may withdraw a motion to vote or second prior to the Chair moving the matter to vote.

Article 1, Sections 7-8 were amended as follows:

(7) The Chair or their designated deputy is responsible for creating voting threads and recording votes. In the event that the Chair or their designated deputy does not or cannot perform these duties in a reasonable time frame, any legislator may create voting threads and record votes.

(8) The legislative history of each law will be recorded by the Chair or their designated deputy. Legislative history will include reference to debate threads, voting results, and amendment history.

Reply

The Legislative Procedure Act was amended from the below on October 13, 2017.

Legislative Procedure Act
An Act to define the procedural rules of the Assembly

1. Legislative Rules

(1) A bill, resolution, or appointment will, unless otherwise mandated by these rules, be moved to vote upon a motion by a legislator and a second by another legislator, unless the Chair determines that the debate period has been insufficient. A legislator may withdraw a motion to vote or second prior to the Chair moving the matter to vote.

(2) Unless otherwise mandated by these rules, debate must last for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of the voting period for the bill, resolution, or appointment in question.

(3) Legislative voting periods will be determined according to the following schedule:
a. General laws, amendments, resolutions, and appointments will remain at vote for three days.
b. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law, and treaties will remain at vote for five days.

(4) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and treaties require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, and resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass.

(5) Upon the Chair making a determination or ruling, a legislator may propose a resolution to overturn the determination or ruling. Following a minimum 24 hour debate period, such a resolution may only go to vote if a motion to vote on the resolution is seconded by a number of legislators equal to or exceeding one-quarter of the number of votes in the most recent Assembly vote, including abstentions. Such a resolution will remain at vote for three days and will require a simple majority of those voting to pass.

(6) Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills or resolutions on the same matter, the Chair will separately and simultaneously bring the competing bills or resolutions to vote, in the same manner as regular business is done. The bill or resolution that receives the most votes in favor and meets minimum threshold requirements for passage will become law.

(7) The Chair is responsible for creating voting threads and recording votes. In the event that the Chair does not or cannot perform these duties in a reasonable time frame, any legislator may create voting threads and record votes.

(8) The legislative history of each law will be recorded by the Chair. Legislative history will include reference to debate threads, voting results, and amendment history.

2. Constitutional Law

(1) The Legislative Procedure Act is a constitutional law, and further amendments to it must meet constitutional amendment requirements.

Reply

The following amendment was passed on November 30, 2017:

2. Powers and Responsibilities of the Chair
...
(7) The Chair may waive the mandatory debate period remaining on a particular piece of legislation should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there has been no objection within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded.

Vote thread: http://tspforums.xyz/thread-5696.html

Reply

This act was amended by the Chair's discretionary power on 24th December 2017 according to this thread.

1. Legislative Rules

(1) Any legislator may propose a bill, resolution, or appointment, which will be debated and refined collectively in the assembly under the guidance of the Chair.

(2) To be brought to a vote, a specific draft of a bill, resolution, or appointment must
a. receive a motion to vote by a legislator,
b. receive a second by another legislator,
c. be either affirmed to be in proper formatting by the Chair, and
d. have been at debate for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of its voting period.

Reply

Article 1 of the Legislative Procedure Act was amended on the 22^nd of January 2019.

Debate Thread | Voting Thread
 

Legislative Procedure Act

An Act to define the procedural rules of the Assembly

1. Legislative Rules

(1) Any legislator may propose a bill, resolution, or appointment, which will be debated and refined collectively in the assembly under the guidance of the Chair.

(2) To be brought to a vote, a specific draft of a bill, resolution, or appointment must
a. receive a motion to vote by a legislator,
b. receive a second by another legislator,
c. be affirmed to be in proper formatting by the Chair, and
d. have been at debate for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of its voting period.

(3) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and appointments will remain at vote for three days. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law, and treaties will remain at vote for five days.

(4) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and treaties require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, and resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass.

(5) Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills or resolutions on the same matter, the Chair will separately and simultaneously bring the competing bills or resolutions to vote, in the same manner as regular business is done. The bill or resolution that receives the most votes in favor and meets minimum threshold requirements for passage will become law.

(6) Any bill, resolution or amendment which has been inactive for more than one month shall be considered defunct and archived, unless the Chair decides otherwise. 

(7) Should any bill, resolution or amendment become law, the document itself, its debate thread, and its voting thread and results shall all be archived.

Reply

Article 2 of the Legislative Procedure Act was amended on the 8^th of February, 2019.

Debate Thread | Voting Thread
 

(4) The Chair may correct typographical errors, grammatical errors, naming or formatting inconsistencies at any time, as long as these corrections do not alter the original intent of the law, following a three day period in which the corrections are presented to the assembly for comments. Any such corrections must be recorded with the legislative history of each law.

Reply

Article 1 of the Legislative Procedure Act was amended on the 20th of February, 2020

Debate Thread | Voting Thread

Legislative Procedure Act

1. Legislative Rules

...

(6) Any bill, resolution or amendment which has been inactive for more than one month shallmay be considered defunct and archived, unless the Chair decides otherwise.at the discretion of the Chair. 

Reply

Article 1 of the Legislative Procedure Act was amended on the 20th of February, 2020.

Debate Thread | Voting Thread
 

Legislative Procedure Act

1. Legislative Rules

...

(7) Should any bill, resolution or amendment fail to become law, any proposal which is judged by the Chair as being substantially similar to that failed legislation shall be prevented from going to vote for two weeks after the closure of the vote. The Chair may waive this restriction should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there has been no objection within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded. 

Reply