The Forums of Glennain

My Lords and Gentlemen,

I beg to introduce the following revised version of the old Standing Orders. Given His Majesty's new role as a totally-apolitical monarch, I have revised the rules to make the Speaker the normative presiding officer. I have also removed the Clerk (which was a failure last Parliament) and the King's Secretary (which becomes useless with the independence of New Bergen). Sundry other changes have been made to clean up the document, and remove the provisions relating to New Bergen.

Quote:

Section 1. The Presiding Officer.

1. The King of Hanover, or any other person lawfully serving in his place as Head of State, shall have the right to preside over Parliament when there is no Speaker, and on ceremonial occasions.

2. The King shall appoint a Speaker to preside over Parliament, based on the nomination of the members; the Speaker shall serve at the King's pleasure, but shall also be subject to dismissal by Parliament.

3. The appointment of a Speaker shall not affect the King's right to speak in any debate in Parliament, or to grant and withhold the Royal Assent.

4. It shall be the Speaker's responsibility to maintain order and decency in the House; however, the remarks of any person shall not be censored or modified in anyway, except by permission of the House, or as explicitly permitted by Act of Parliament.

Section 2. Code of Conduct.

5. Whenever speaking in Parliament, members shall always address the House using the words "Mr./Madam Speaker"; when replying to remarks by the King, however, the words "Most Gracious Sovereign" shall instead be used.

6. Members shall endeavour at all times to maintain civil and polite standards of debate, without descending to petty or slanderous attacks.

7. In instances of repeated, severely disruptive behaviour during discussions in the House, the Speaker may may censure the Member or Members responsible, and may impose a suspension of up to one week.

Section 3. Business in the House.

8. The Crown-in-Parliament exercises its supreme legislative authority by promulgating Acts of Parliament, agreed to by a majority of the House, and granted the Royal Assent.

9. A Bill is an Act of Parliament in draft form. Bills may be proposed by any member, known as the Bill's sponsor, either by their own initiative, or by advice of the King, as signified in Letters of Business sent to Parliament. No member shall have more than one Bill before the House at any given time.

10. The sponsor of a Bill, Resolution, or Amendment may withdraw it at any time before a division upon it is begun.

11. The Parliament exercises its non-legislative powers by means of Resolutions agreed to by a majority of the House. Resolutions do not require the Royal Assent, although the King may speak in debates upon them. Members may have any number of Resolutions before the House at any given time.

12. When a Bill or Resolution has been proposed, the King and the members of Parliament shall discuss the general principles and specific provisions of the measure.

13. Amendments may be proposed at any time during debate on a Bill or Resolution. Amendments by the original sponsor of the Bill shall be accepted without debate; other amendments shall be considered in the same manner as a Bill or Resolution.

14. No member may have more than one Amendment to a given Bill or Resolution before the House at any given time.

15. All Amendments shall be considered in the order in which they were proposed. When an Amendment is being considered, debate on the Bill or Resolution in question shall be limited to the Amendment.

Section 4. Divisions of the House

16. When he believes that debate on a Bill, Resolution, or amendment has reached its proper conclusion, the Speaker shall call for a division. If a majority of the members voting declare themselves to be Content with the measure, it shall be passed.

17. A division shall be concluded, and all votes counted, after two days' time has elapsed, or when an absolute majority of the House has been attained in for or against the measure.

18. If three days have elapsed without any comment on a Bill, Resolution, or Amendment, and yet the Speaker has not called a division, any member may do so. Likewise, any member may count the votes and declare the result of a division if the Speaker does not do so at the appointed time.

Section 6. Suspension of the Standing Orders

19. These Standing Orders, or any Section of them, may be suspended by the consent of two-thirds of the members, upon the motion of any member present.

20. When these Standing Orders have been suspended, they must be subsequently reinstated within three day's time by a further motion of the House, to be passed in the ordinary manner.

Mr. Speaker,

I ask my esteemed colleague to consider these friendly amendments:

A) Section 2, article 5.
5. Whenever speaking in Parliament, members shall always address the House using the words "My lords and gentlemen"; when replying to remarks by the King, however, the words "Most Gracious Sovereign" shall instead be used.

I believe our community, now without New Bergen influence, would readily embrace the traditional opening phrase.


B) Section 2, article 7.
7. In instances of repeated, severely disruptive behaviour during discussions in the House, the Speaker may may censure the Member or Members responsible, and may impose a suspension of up to one week.

Replacing the words "Speaker may may censure" with "Speaker may censure".


C) Section 3, article 13.
13. Amendments may be proposed at any time during debate on a Bill or Resolution. Amendments by the original sponsor of the Bill shall be accepted without debate; other amendments shall be considered in the same manner as a Bill or Resolution.

Change the end to "...in the same manner as a Resolution." to reduce confusing as bills and resolutions are not determined in the same manner, that is, bills require Royal Assent and resolutions do not.


I yield back the floor.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

I accept the amendments proposed by Lord Gottingen, and incorporate them into the Resolution. The amended text is thus as follows:

Quote:

Section 1. The Presiding Officer.

1. The King of Hanover, or any other person lawfully serving in his place as Head of State, shall have the right to preside over Parliament when there is no Speaker, and on ceremonial occasions.

2. The King shall appoint a Speaker to preside over Parliament, based on the nomination of the members; the Speaker shall serve at the King's pleasure, but shall also be subject to dismissal by Parliament.

3. The appointment of a Speaker shall not affect the King's right to speak in any debate in Parliament, or to grant and withhold the Royal Assent.

4. It shall be the Speaker's responsibility to maintain order and decency in the House; however, the remarks of any person shall not be censored or modified in anyway, except by permission of the House, or as explicitly permitted by Act of Parliament.

Section 2. Code of Conduct.

5. Whenever speaking in Parliament, members shall always address the House using the words "My Lords and Gentlemen"; when replying to remarks by the King, however, the words "Most Gracious Sovereign" shall instead be used.

6. Members shall endeavour at all times to maintain civil and polite standards of debate, without descending to petty or slanderous attacks.

7. In instances of repeated, severely disruptive behaviour during discussions in the House, the Speaker may censure the Member or Members responsible, and may impose a suspension of up to one week.

Section 3. Business in the House.

8. The Crown-in-Parliament exercises its supreme legislative authority by promulgating Acts of Parliament, agreed to by a majority of the House, and granted the Royal Assent.

9. A Bill is an Act of Parliament in draft form. Bills may be proposed by any member, known as the Bill's sponsor, either by their own initiative, or by advice of the King, as signified in Letters of Business sent to Parliament. No member shall have more than one Bill before the House at any given time.

10. The sponsor of a Bill, Resolution, or Amendment may withdraw it at any time before a division upon it is begun.

11. The Parliament exercises its non-legislative powers by means of Resolutions agreed to by a majority of the House. Resolutions do not require the Royal Assent, although the King may speak in debates upon them. Members may have any number of Resolutions before the House at any given time.

12. When a Bill or Resolution has been proposed, the King and the members of Parliament shall discuss the general principles and specific provisions of the measure.

13. Amendments may be proposed at any time during debate on a Bill or Resolution. Amendments by the original sponsor of the Bill shall be accepted without debate; other amendments shall be considered in the same manner as a Resolution.

14. No member may have more than one Amendment to a given Bill or Resolution before the House at any given time.

15. All Amendments shall be considered in the order in which they were proposed. When an Amendment is being considered, debate on the Bill or Resolution in question shall be limited to the Amendment.

Section 4. Divisions of the House

16. When he believes that debate on a Bill, Resolution, or amendment has reached its proper conclusion, the Speaker shall call for a division. If a majority of the members voting declare themselves to be Content with the measure, it shall be passed.

17. A division shall be concluded, and all votes counted, after two days' time has elapsed, or when an absolute majority of the House has been attained in for or against the measure.

18. If three days have elapsed without any comment on a Bill, Resolution, or Amendment, and yet the Speaker has not called a division, any member may do so. Likewise, any member may count the votes and declare the result of a division if the Speaker does not do so at the appointed time.

Section 6. Suspension of the Standing Orders

19. These Standing Orders, or any Section of them, may be suspended by the consent of two-thirds of the members, upon the motion of any member present.

20. When these Standing Orders have been suspended, they must be subsequently reinstated within three day's time by a further motion of the House, to be passed in the ordinary manner.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

Having ascertained that the tradition is that the old standing orders remain in effect, and also that those rules have stipulations that no longer exactly apply, the precise proper procedure remains unclear for this resolution.

None the less, this body cannot be paralyzed by such ultimately senseless trivialities, and therefore I believe, now that I am appointed as Speaker of the Parliament per His Majesty's wish, I have the proper authority to call for the house to divide upon this issue of enacting these Standing Orders for this session.

All discussion on this issue shall stop during the vote, except as may be required by point of order.

Further, this division shall be by unanimous consent. The standard of unanimous consent is that it shall take only one decenter to stop the adoption and thus those in agreement normally need not post. However, as this is a legally tenuous situation I ask for all members to post their positive support or opposition in what I shall call an affirmative unanimous consent.

This shall give posterity confidence that adoption of this resolution was proper at least morally, if not in the strict sense of the letter of the law as well.

Those in favor of adoption shall signify by stating "CONTENT" and those against with "NOT CONTENT".

Content.

Content.

content

Content

My Lords and Gentlemen,

As all the members in good standing have voted the division is now closed.

The contents are 4.
The not contents are 0.

The resolution is passed.

Gottingen