Main | About | Tutorial | FAQ | Links | Wiki | Forum | World News | World Map | World Ranking | Nations | Electoral Calendar | Party Organizations | Treaties |
Login | Register |
Game Time: January 5461
Next month in: 00:48:40
Server time: 19:11:19, March 28, 2024 CET
Currently online (7): ameerali | friedrich3 | HopesFor | lulus | Moderation | reformist2024 | Tayes3 | Record: 63 on 23:13:00, July 26, 2019 CET

We are working on a brand new version of the game! If you want to stay informed, read our blog and register for our mailing list.

Bill: (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act

Details

Submitted by[?]: Democratic People's Movement

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: July 4195

Description[?]:

We believe that Congress needs more powers in order to scrutinise the work of the executive and hold them to account. As such we propose the creation of Congressional Committees.

Kathleen Wiley
Minority Speaker of the House

Article 1 (Creation)
- A number of 'Congressional Committees' shall be created, equal to the number of cabinet members at any given time. Each Committee shall be named according to the department it scrutinises; those corresponding to the President and Vice-President shall be named the 'Presidential' and 'Vice-Presidential' Congressional Committees respectively.

Article 2 (Composition)
2a- Each Congressional Committee shall be made up of seven members of Congress, with the overall number of Congressional Committee members corresponding as closely as possible to relative strength in Congress. Party leadership/whips shall determine the individuals appointed to each Committee.

2b- Each Congressional Committee shall have a 'Chair' who shall spearhead the committees work and moderate meetings and discussions. As is the case with the number of members, the number of Congressional Committees Chairs shall reflect their relative strength in Congress. Additionally, the Chair of a Congressional Committee should not be a member of the same party as the minister they are scrutinising.

2c- A Congressperson should not be a member of more than one Congressional Committee.

Article 3 (Role)

3a- The role of Congressional Committees shall be to ensure that members of the executive are operating at maximum efficiency and behaving appropriately. They shall be empowered to make direct policy recommendations based on their findings to the government.

3b- Congressional Committees shall have the powers to demand responses from ministers and the government. However, this should not be interpreted as granting them the power to enforce certain policies.

OOC: Let me know your thoughts on this, it doesn't have to be something we keep up to date all the time but it may aid RP if occasionally the government/opposition can say 'oh, we spoke to the Chair of the Defence Congressional Committee' and this was their response. In formulating this legislation, I had the Westminster Select Committee model in mind. I'm not sure if there is a similar system in the US- I'm sure there must be :)

Proposals

Debate

These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:

Date19:44:14, April 10, 2017 CET
FromPatriotic Party of Baltusia
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageOoc: Sounds great. I am all for this kind of thing.

Date20:26:38, April 10, 2017 CET
FromBaltusian International Democratic Party
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageOOC: me too

Date21:42:22, April 10, 2017 CET
FromUnited Democratic Party - Liberal
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageLove it!

Date10:59:44, April 11, 2017 CET
FromPatriotic Party of Baltusia
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageOOC: James, when you get a mo could you give a quick working example on composition and chairs, please. I'm just a bit sketchy on exactly how the positions are filled. Cheers.

Date12:05:48, April 11, 2017 CET
FromDemocratic People's Movement
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageOOC: Yeah, no worries. I kept it deliberately vague until I got some general feedback :) I'll use the current system to demonstrate. We have 700 Congresspeople and we'd have 15 Committees (12 default ministries plus the President, VP and Ministry of Constitutional Affairs). With 7 members on each, that's a 105 Committee members in total. 105/700= 0.15 so that means we would multiply each parties number of Congresspeople by 0.15 to calculate the total number of Committee members they have. That would result in:

Patriots- 26
Nationals- 23
BDGP- 20
RAC-14
Foundation- 10
Popular Consensus- 8
Moderates- 4

In addition, you would repeat the calculation but with 15 instead of 105 to calculate the number of Committee Chairs each party has. That would be:

Patriots- 4
Nationals- 3
BDGP- 3
RAC- 2
Foundation- 1
Popular Consensus- 1
Moderates- 1

Now the actual distribution of these members and chairs could just be put into a randomiser however I'm not convinced its something we should worry too much about. We're all at least somewhat familiar with each other and I trust we wouldn't resort to bickering over 'I'm that Chair', 'No I am'. Ultimately, if that did happen, we could review it. I'll do a final check through the bill and if everyone is happy, put it to a vote after the elections :)

Date12:38:41, April 11, 2017 CET
FromPatriotic Party of Baltusia
ToDebating the (RP) Scrutiny of the Executive (Congressional Committees) Act
MessageOOC: Thanks for this. Yes, I see how that all works and can't see any problems, from my point of view. And I am sure there will be no bickering over Chair roles. Perhaps players could highlight personal preferences beforehand so that they are allocated their favourite committees? For instance, I would be most interested in Defence and Constitutional Affairs if I wasn't holding those ministries.

subscribe to this discussion - unsubscribe

Voting

Vote Seats
yes
       

Total Seats: 604

no

    Total Seats: 0

    abstain
      

    Total Seats: 76


    Random fact: Particracy has 464 player slots.

    Random quote: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." - Howard Zinn

    This page was generated with PHP
    Copyright 2004-2010 Wouter Lievens
    Queries performed: 57