Senate Rules and Procedures Act (Pat edition)

Preamble:

Whereas the Senate serves as the legislative body of SimDemocracy, it is essential to establish clear, structured, and efficient procedural rules to ensure fair, organized, and productive legislative debate. This Act formalizes Senate procedures by incorporating structured rules, ensuring effective debate, transparent legislative processing, and procedural fairness.

Article 1: Definitions and Scope

§1. The Senate shall operate in accordance with these Rules of Procedure.

§2. The Speaker of the Senate, hereinafter referred to as "the Speaker," shall be responsible for enforcing these procedures.

§3. These rules shall apply to all legislative sessions, debates, motions, and voting procedures within the Senate.

§4. These procedures shall govern the conduct of Senate proceedings, including but not limited to legislative debate, voting, amendment processes, disciplinary measures, and motions.

§5. In the event of ambiguity, the Speaker shall have the authority to interpret these rules, subject to appeal by the Senate.

Article 2: Motion Types

§1. There shall be three types of motions, privileged, non-privileged, and internal.

§2. A privileged motion must have a vote or begin procedures as outlined in this act or any other piece of legislation within 24 hours of the motion being filed. Privileged motions are the following votes,

§2.1. Cabinet Appointments,

§2.2. Impeachments including any motion to remove the speaker,

§2.3. Motions passed with a successful discharge petition,

§2.4. Any votes required by other legislation,

§2.5. Budgetary Votes.

§3. An internal motion shall be a motion only used while in discussion unless otherwise mentioned by law. Internal motions shall last 12 hours, or until enough senators have voted in favor or against the motion for it to pass. All internal motions must be put up as quickly as possible by the presiding officer. The following are some internal motions:

§3.1. Motion to suspend rules of debate shall require a two-thirds majority. It shall suspend any rule of debate stated in the motion surrounding debate in any piece of legislation that is not the constitution and the speaker's decision.

§3.2. The Motion to Override the Speaker's Decision shall require a simple majority vote, this motion shall override any decision the speaker unilaterally made that the motion states. This motion may be used outside of discussion if necessary.

§3.3. The Motion to Close Debate shall end debate on a bill and shall require a simple majority vote. The motion shall end discussion on a bill and move on to another bill. If there are no more bills for consideration, the discussion on bills is to be considered over.

§3.4. The Motion to Table the Bill shall require a simple majority vote. It shall end discussion on said bill.

§3.5. The Motion to Debate shall be a motion which shall have no vote which serves as a formal request to the Speaker to have a debate on a bill or motion.

§3.6. The Motion to Divide the Question shall divide a bill or motion into separate motions as specified by the author requiring a simple majority to pass. If no such specification is given by the author of the motion, the Speaker shall decide.

§3.7. The Motion to Divide the Question shall divide a bill or motion into separate motions as specified by the author requiring a simple majority to pass. If no such specification is given by the author of the motion, the Speaker shall decide.

§3.8. The Motion to Divide the House shall bar abstaining on the motion in question and shall require a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

§3.9. The Speaker may accept at their discretion any motion or procedure from Robert's Rules of Order or other motions established by Senate precedent. They shall not be obligated to accept these motions.

§4. A non-privileged motion shall be any motion not covered under internal and privileged motions.

§4.1. The speaker shall have full discretion in how these types of motions go up for a vote.

Article 3: Order of Debate

§1. Debate shall be moderated by the Speaker.

§2. Debate shall proceed in the following order:

§2.1. The primary sponsor of a bill or motion shall introduce it,

§2.2. The Speaker shall open the floor for general debate on the bill subject to scheduling,

§2.3. Senators may submit amendments or secondary motions.

§2.4. Once debate is concluded, the Speaker shall proceed to a vote.

§3. A Senator may raise a Point of Order if a rule has been violated.

§3.1. The Speaker shall immediately rule on the Point of Order.

§4. A Senator may raise a Point of Personal Privilege if they experience discomfort due to harassment, or technical issues.

§4.1. The Speaker shall take necessary action to resolve the issue.

Article 4: Discharge Petitions

§1. A majority of senators at any time may sign a petition to make a non-privileged motion a privileged motion.

Article 5: Amendment Procedure

§1. An amendment is a formal change, addition, or removal of text from a bill or motion that is under consideration by the Senate.

§2. Amendments may be proposed by any Senator during the appropriate stage of legislative debate.

§3. Amendments fall into two categories: Friendly Amendments and Unfriendly Amendments.

§4. A Friendly Amendment is an amendment proposed to a bill or motion that is accepted by the original sponsor of the legislation.

§4.1. Any Senator may propose a Friendly Amendment by making a Motion to Introduce a Friendly Amendment on the Senate floor. If the original sponsor of the bill accepts the amendment, the Speaker shall recognize it as a Friendly Amendment, and it shall be automatically incorporated into the bill or motion without a vote.

§4.2. The Speaker shall recognize and announce to Senators all Friendly Amendments to ensure transparency in legislative changes.

§5. An Unfriendly Amendment is an amendment proposed to a bill or motion that is not accepted by the original sponsor.

§5.1. Any Senator may propose an Unfriendly Amendment by making a Motion to Introduce an Unfriendly Amendment on the Senate floor.

§5.2. Once a Motion to Introduce an Unfriendly Amendment is made, the Speaker shall open the floor for debate on the amendment before proceeding to a vote.

§5.3. A Motion to Introduce an Unfriendly Amendment shall require a second from at least one other Senator before debate begins.

§5.4. After debate, the amendment shall be put to a vote. If a simple majority votes in favor, the amendment is adopted and incorporated into the bill.

§5.5. If an Unfriendly Amendment passes, the bill or motion shall be modified accordingly, regardless of the original sponsor’s approval.

Article 6: Legislative Process

§1. Any Senator may submit a bill for consideration.

§2. The Speaker shall determine whether the bill proceeds to debate.

§3. The bill submitter shall be responsible for defending the proposal.

§4. Once a bill is introduced, it shall be subject to structured debate.

§5. Amendments may be proposed and must be voted on separately.

§6. Debate shall continue until closed by a Motion to Close Debate.

§7. A floor vote shall last 24 hours or until all senators have voted on the motion. Unless stated in the law or the constitution, all votes shall require a simple majority to pass.

§8. If a bill fails to secure an absolute majority due to abstentions or non-participation:

§8.1. The bill may be reintroduced after 48 hours, during which sponsors may seek additional support.

§8.2. If the bill fails again, it shall be considered defeated unless a discharge petition (signed by an absolute majority of senators) is invoked to override the rejection and force reconsideration.

Article 7: Conduct and Discipline

§1. All Senators shall conduct themselves with decorum and professionalism.

§2. The Speaker shall have the power to censure someone for repeated misconduct in the Senate. At any time any member, including the censured member may object to this and call a motion to overturn the speaker's decision. The consequences of censure are the following:

§1.1. Removal from the Senate floor for up to 24 hours. The senator shall be able to vote on all motions, but not be allowed to speak on the Senate floor.

§3. Before issuing a censure, the Speaker must provide a formal written warning to the member.

§3.1. A member must continue misconductful behavior after the formal warning to be censured.

Article 8: The Speaker of the Senate

§1. The Speaker shall be elected by an absolute majority of the Senate.

§2. If no candidate receives a majority, additional rounds of voting shall be held.

§3. The Speaker shall preside over all legislative sessions.

§4. The Speaker shall enforce the Rules of Procedure.

§5. The Speaker shall have the authority to moderate debate.

§6. Any Senator may motion to remove the Speaker.

§7. This shall require an absolute majority vote.

Article 9: Appendix

§1. A simple majority shall be defined as more people voting aye than nay on a motion.

§2. An absolute majority shall be defined as more than 50% of all sitting senators.

§3. A two-thirds majority shall be defined as more than two-thirds of all sitting senators.

Article 10: Repeals

§1. The “Senate Rules and Procedures Act” shall be repealed.