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Bill: Initiation of a Bicameral Legislature Act 4179
Details
Submitted by[?]: Baltusian International Democratic Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: August 4180
Description[?]:
| This bill would propose the following is approved by congress (2/3rds majority) and then taken to a referendum. Composition of Congress 1) The lower chamber is the House of Representatives (or House) currently made up of 700 representatives elected through district elections. 2) The upper chamber would be referred to as the Senate and would be made up of 20 senators. For every top-four finish a party receives in the five state elections they would gain one senator. The Speaker of the Senate is the party with the most senate seats (or most senate seats and most congressional seats combined if required) and would also have the casting vote in case of a tie. For example the current senate would consist of Patriotic Party 5 Senators, BDGP 5 Senators, Republicans 4 senators, RAC 2 senators, Progressives 2 senators and Socialist 2 senators. Note this would mean the 'traditional' Left Bloc parties would have a 11 to 9 advantage even though the Right Alliance parties have a lower chamber majority. Debating a Bill 3) When a normal bill is proposed it is debated in the House of Representatives with all parties indicating how they would vote by writing Aye, Nay or Abstain on the bill. 4) The 700 votes are totted up and if there is a super majority i.e. 2/ 3s of the house agree with the proposal, the bill is moved to vote with everyone voting on the game mechanics accordingly - law passed. 5) If the vote receives a normal majority then it is has to be referred to the senate who also debate on it and vote on it (by writing on the same bill still in debate). A party has as many votes as they have senators and they write their vote tally in the debate section of the bill - i.e. Patriotic Party 5 Senators votes for YES; Progressive Party 2 votes for NO etc and the AYES and NAYS are added up. Voting 6) At this stage the proposer of the bill moves it to vote using the game mechanics and the following happens: a) REGARDLESS of the senate decision, parties vote as they did originally in the House (OOC: this means regardless of RP the game registers the way parties are voting on an issue and will update their ideologies and visibility accordingly). If the Senate approved the bill that is all that has to happen and the game moves on with the bill passed. b) However, if the Senate REJECTS the bill, almost immediately after the original bill has been moved to vote a second, replica bill has to be set up with an identical title and proposal to the above; the only difference is the bill title includes in brackets the words "Senate Overturn". This is then moved to the vote and the only situation that must exist here is that the bill does not pass. I.e enough of the YES voters have to abstain. In this scenario I suggest the original proposer still votes YES, her/his endorsers abstain, the leader of the Senate group opposing it votes NO and then enough other opposing parties vote NO to make sure the NO vote wins. 8) Both bills will then go through the 8 monthly cycle - with the Approved bill passing first followed straight after by the Senate Overturn, which will reverse the law immediately. So in summary, we would have two houses - that have a good chance to be different as is this case right now - and a vote system that makes sure game mechanics are not forgotten at the expense of RP. NOTE - This system is only applied to normal bills that require a simple majority of voters over a 8 month period. Bills that pass as soon as 50 per cent of the legislature vote yes (early elections, budget bills etc) as well as constitutional amendments continue to be voted using normal game mechanics. OOC: I think we would also have to set a limit of 24 to 36 hours on how long players took to vote on the bill under debate otherwise some bills could sit in debate for days and days in the case of a player not being online for three or four days. |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 21:32:39, March 13, 2017 CET | From | United Democratic Party - Syndicalists | To | Debating the Initiation of a Bicameral Legislature Act 4179 |
| Message | OOC We should do this on a trial basis |
| Date | 13:04:59, March 14, 2017 CET | From | Patriotic Party of Baltusia | To | Debating the Initiation of a Bicameral Legislature Act 4179 |
| Message | OOC: If it passes, it would certainly be a good thing to test run it a few times so that all parties familiarise themselves with the system before it goes live. I will also post a separate sticky on the debates section so that new players can see what guidelines long term players have agreed to and ask them to go along with this RP. (At the end of the day because it involves game mechanics I don't think the Mods would enforce it, so it would have to be taken up on a voluntary basis, I will try to clarify this point with the Mods though). |
| Date | 13:23:04, March 14, 2017 CET | From | Patriotic Party of Baltusia | To | Debating the Initiation of a Bicameral Legislature Act 4179 |
| Message | OOC: Seeking clarification on the forum here: http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7194 |
| Date | 17:13:26, March 14, 2017 CET | From | Patriotic Party of Baltusia | To | Debating the Initiation of a Bicameral Legislature Act 4179 |
| Message | OOC: Hi all. The Mods have ruled this current proposal invalid due to several breaches of the game mechanic laws, so I guess if we want a second tier we will have to have something more abstract. Obviously open to any suggestion. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 642 | ||||||
| no | Total Seats: 58 | ||||||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: Cabinet ministers who disagree seriously with the head of government would usually be expected to resign. Parties within the cabinet may attempt to manoeuvre to replace the head of government though, for example by proposing a new cabinet bill or voting for an early election. |
| Random quote: "Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics." - Wendell Phillips |