Mr Speaker,
I would like to propose the following resolution:
Be it resolved by this fourth Parliament assembled,
I. In Article VIII of the Organtic Law a clause reading "The Prime Minister may appoint a Deputy Prime Minister to fulfill his duties if he is unable to do so." shall be inserted immediately following Clause 3 and all clauses renumbered accordingly.
II. Article VIII, Clause 7 of the Organic Law shall be amended to read "In the event of the resignation, death, or permanent incapacitation of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister shall assume the role of Prime Minister until the next scheduled election. If a Deputy Prime Minister has not been appointed, the Speaker of the Parliament shall serve in his stead."
This is intended to formalise the role of DPM, and to clarify certain constitutional issues which have arisen regarding it.
Sincerely,
Prime Minister McQueeny
EDIT: I'm rewriting this to conform with the newest constitution. It will be updated in a bit.
EDIT 2: It's done.
If there is no motion to deny this measure a second reading, the second reading will comence in 24 hours.
The second reading has commenced. I invite the sponsor to address the house, after which time debate may commence and amendments will be in order.
I must warn all members that the editings proposals or motions is the role of the speaker to be done only as provided by the standing orders. In future I will move to suspend members who do not adhere to this principle.
If a Member wishes to withdraw or modify a motion he has put or Bill he has proposed he must request the permission of the Speaker to do so, by posting to the thread in question. This motion interrupts other proceedings on that matter. Other Members have twelve (12) hours to raise an objection. If no objection is raised the withdrawal or modification may be made. If there is an objection the Speaker must ask the House to Divide on the question. The motion needs a simple majority of ayes to pass. Bills may not be withdrawn or modified, except by amendment, after the First Reading stage.
As the sponsor has neglected to make so much as a second reading speach, and as we are now operating under the new SO so a second reading speach would be out of order, I STRONGLY advise the member to request a withdrawl of this proposal and to resubmit it at such time as he has the ability to pay the required attention to the bussiness at hand.
Point of order, Mr Speaker.
Since you have already declared that the "Second Reading has commenced", do you agree that the best way to proceed would be by continuing this proposal in the Second Reading under the new rules? That would mean that during this week, amendments can be made, and then a vote will be taken on Saturday. I don't think there's any need to delay this proposal further by resubmitting it.
Mr Speaker,
I made no speach precisely becuase the new SO was about to come into effect. Besides, this amendment is small enough and its purpose is clear enough that a speach would be superflous. I would suggest that we do as His Royal Highness suggests and continue the Second Reading per the instructions of the new SO.
Sincerely,
Prime Minister McQueeny
OK, we shall proceed as per the second reading as outlined in the new standing orders. A vote shall be taken in seven days, until then, debate and propose amendments away.
Well now to debate.
The amendment is in my opinion unnecissary. If you worry that a deputy PM doesn't have a department as required by Article Viii section 3, then just delete
The Prime Minister may recommend to the King the appointment or dismissal of ministers to head each department within the Government bureaucracy.
and replace it with
The Prime Minister may recommend to the King the appointment or dismissal of ministers to perform various functions of government as required.
This would also be more flexible. If you dont want the speaker becoming PM, then delete the clause and leave the matter up to convention (that the DPM becomes the PM if the PM drops off the face of the earth). In this instance, I am in favor of running with convention rather than being overly formalistic.
These are not formal amendment proposals (yet) just points for discussion.
We must beware of taking things that are too trivial to a referendum.
I was reading the constitution again and noticed something, Article VII 7 has already been repealed. Also, if we are creating a department of the Deputy Prime Minister to lump various misc functions on (definitly a good idea) then no alteration of the constitution is required to create the position of deputy Prime Minister. Also, the appointment of a new Prime Minister in the event of the death of the present one would just follow convention, the deputy PM would be appointed.
Will the sponsor consider withdrawing his proposal? (perhaps we can use the FOI Act to create the office of Deputy Prime Minister as was suggested?)
4. On the first Saturday after the Proposal has entered a Second Reading, the Speaker shall put the Proposal and Amendments to a vote. Each member may vote either in favour or against each of the Amendments. When all Amendments have been voted upon, or if there are no Amendments, each member may vote for one of the following:
a. To defer action and continue to debate the Proposal and Amendments, in which case no action shall be taken. The Proposal and Amendments shall be put to the same voting process described in Section 5, the following Saturday.
b. To approve the Proposal, at which point it will be considered ratified by Parliament. If it is a Resolution, the Speaker shall make it public. If it is a Bill, the Speaker shall forward it to the monarch for Royal Assent.
c. To decline the Proposal, in which case the Proposal will be no longer under debate.
Please vote to either
DEFER
APPROVE
DECLINE