Rules of Parliamentary Order
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The Rules of Parliamentary Order (AKA PRO and formerly AKA The JTs) is a Liberalian Law
[edit] The Bill
Clause 1: All bills must be in the proper form as outlined in the Presentation of Bills Act
Section A: Enforcement of this bill will be through the Guardian Council and the Speaker.
Clause 2: The Bills for Approval section shall serve one purpose - all Liberalian citizens can propose legislation here; after a period of time to allow amendments (if any) to be made, only the Speaker can place bills in the Debating Chamber and set the 2-4 day debate period. The speaker at his/her discretion can extend the debating period to allow all issues relating to the bill to be resolved but must always state how long it has been extended by. The threads connected with the bills in the Bills for Approval and Debating Chamber must be kept open until the legislative process has been completed with the end of the voting period.
Clause 3: If the Speaker initiates a piece of legislation, then he/she can place it straight into the debating chamber. All bills initiated by the speaker are to be debated for a minimum 2 and maximum of 4 days. The speaker at his/her discretion can extend the debating period to allow all issues relating to the bill to be resolved but must always state how long it has been extended by
Clause 4: The Prime Minister can move to put any bill into the voting lobby for an emergency vote. At this time the Pm will decide how many days the bill is to be voted upon.
Clause 5: If at any time during the approvals or debating chamber process, it is clear that the bill is not supported by the majority of citizens, then the sponsor can either withdraw the bill or the sponsor and/or the Prime Minister to ask the speaker to hurry the legislative process by sending it straight to the voting lobby from the bills for approvals or the debating chamber before the alloted period is ended.
Clause 6: In the voting lobby, unless otherwise specified by the PM, Resolutions will have 2-3 days, bills are to have no less than 3 days voting, and constitutional amendments anywhere from 3 days to a week (dependant on the length and strength of the bill). There will be three options, Aye, Nay and Abstain. The vote shall be first "past the post" in that the option with the most votes shall be the winning vote irregardless of whether the other 2 options outweigh the winning vote. At the end of the vote, the Speaker will announce the results.
Clause 7: The vote shall take place in two ways. A poll vote and a declared vote. In order for a valid vote to be counted, it must be declared. The total number of declared votes should be equal to the number of votes in the poll. If there is a discrepancy between the number of votes declared and the number of votes in the poll, the results shall be calculated on the basis of the number of declared votes.
Clause 8: Resolutions are a commitment of parliament to follow a course of action or condemn something. Bills are new pieces of legislation and amendments to current legislation. Constitutional amendments relates to Preservation of Democracy Act, Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, any bills relating to powers of the Parliament, Prime Minister (excepting where emergency powers granted to the Prime Minister is being debated) and the Guardian Council.
Clause 9: In the event of the majority vote being Abstain, the bill will automatically go back to the debate chamber. The Speaker will ask first for the sponsor to withdraw the bill and in event of a nay, will continue the legislative process. If the bill goes up for a vote for a second time and the majority vote is abstain, then that will count as a automatic withdrawal.
Clause 10: The speaker may make suggestions to a bill and modify legislation that is not in the proper form. The speaker is to remain neutral during the voting process except in the case of a tie when an additional vote is necessary for the conclusion of the parliamentary process.
Clause 11: All passed bills are to be put onto the Statute Book between 2-7 days after the passing of the bill.
Clause 12: Bills can be repealed as per the Right to Repeal Legislation bill
Clause 13: In the interests of keeping debate rational and constructive, there will be no insulting of other nations in the following forums: Bills for Approval; Debating Chamber and Voting Lobby. Offenders will have one warning and subsequent breaches will lead to their vote on that bill should it reach the voting lobby being disqualified.
Clause 14: The voting lobby is to be used to declare votes once and once only, if a change of voting intention should change, there may be extra posting. Any postings which does not include a declaration of vote could lead to the member concerned being ruled out of order.
Clause 15: If someone is ruled out of order and if they continue to do the same thing, they will be referred to the Guardian Council, at which bill submittal and debating rights may be suspended (voting rights cannot be).
