| Senate Rules; courtesy of Ashley Jacobs | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 1 2013, 03:27 PM (122 Views) | |
| Nick | Dec 1 2013, 03:27 PM Post #1 |
|
Administrator
![]()
|
Senate Rules of Procedure Authored By: Matt Urbana Section 1. Sessions of the Senate a) Each session shall begin on January 3 of each odd-numbered year. b) Each session shall be opened by the Senate Secretary, who will immediately determine the Majority and Minority Parties through a roll call or via other means. c) Each session shall end on January 2 of each odd-numbered year. d) When the session ends, all legislation under debate or voting on the Senate Floor or in Committee shall be placed on the table, and a motion to take this legislation from the table shall not be in order. Section 2. President Pro Tempore and Presiding Officers a) The Majority will elect the President Pro Tempore in an internal election at the start of each session and whenever the position is vacant. b) After being elected, the President Pro Tempore will take office immediately. c) The President Pro Tempore will serve until his or her death, resignation, removal by vote of confidence, or incapacitation. d) The President Pro Tempore is responsible for presiding over the Senate Floor, maintaining order, and enforcing Senate Rules. e) The President Pro Tempore may make orders regarding the Senate Floor and committees, and must publish these orders in a central location. f) The President Pro Tempore may transfer the gavel to any other member of the Senate and take it back whenever he or she desires. g) The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate, and may, at his or her discretion, choose to exercise the powers herein granted to the President Pro Tempore. Section 3. Other Leadership a) The Minority and Majority shall each elect a Majority and Minority Leader and Deputy Majority and Minority Leader (Whips), along with other leadership positions as needed. b) The Majority Leader shall determine the docket, but may choose to delegate this power to the presiding officer. Section 4. Senate Hopper a) All legislation shall be submitted to the Senate Hopper by a Senator. b) A Senator may choose to cosponsor legislation while it is in the Hopper. c) Technical questions may be asked of legislation while in the Senate Hopper, however they must be of a technical nature. d) The sponsor or sponsors of legislation shall provide technical answers, and technical answers may not be provided by those who are not sponsors of the legislation. a. Any sponsor may refuse to answer a technical question for any reason, or without reason. e) The sponsor of legislation may amend that legislation while in the Hopper. f) There shall be no debate in the Hopper. g) All legislation must have a plain English summary. Section 5. Debate a) When a Senator desires to speak, he or she shall address the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer as either “Mr. President” or “Madam President”, depending on which is appropriate. b) A Senator shall not address any other Senator directly while speaking in debate. c) Debate shall remain respectful, without insulting any other Senator or State, without questioning the motives of other Senators, and without making offensive, rude, or unkind statements. d) On the Senate Floor, debate on legislation shall last until a motion for cloture passes, unless otherwise determined by a suspension of the rules. e) A motion fails if voting is still ongoing when debate on the legislation ends. f) Only Senators are eligible to debate and make motions on the Senate Floor. Section 6. Voting a) A Senator shall have the ability to cast a vote of support or vote of opposition on any business before the Senate for a vote, but shall not be forced to vote. b) When counting votes, the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer shall ignore any votes which are not either votes or support or votes of opposition, and these votes shall not count towards the vote total. c) The time for voting on a motion or other procedural action shall be 24 hours. d) The time for voting on legislation shall be between 48 and 72 hours. e) No vote cast after the time for voting expires shall be counted, regardless of whether or not the voting on the bill has closed. f) No Senator shall speak during a vote except to cast his or her vote, although this does not exclude Senators from speaking during a debate while voting on motions or other procedural actions is going on simultaneously. g) If a vote ends in a tie, the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer must immediately send a message to the Vice President informing him or her of the tie, at which point the Vice President has 48 hours to break the tie. h) If the Vice President fails to break a tie within 48 hours, the vote fails. a. The Vice President shall be called for ties on procedural motions as well as for ties on final votes. Section 7. Subsidiary (During Debate) Motions a) Subsidiary motions are those made during debate on a piece of legislation. b) No subsidiary motions except those listed in this section shall be recognized. c) All subsidiary motions except the motion for unanimous consent require a second. d) The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer may rule any motion which is dilatory, time-wasting, frivolous, or absurd out of order, subject to appeal. e) Multiple subsidiary motions may be voted on simultaneously, assuming the results of the motions would not conflict. f) List of Motions: a. Motion for Cloture i. This motion ends debate. ii. This motion may not be made before 24 hours of debate has elapsed. iii. For this motion to pass, 3/5 of the Senate as a whole must vote in favor of it. b. Motion for Unanimous Consent i. This motion passes the legislation or motion in question. ii. 24 hours will be given for objection. c. Motion to Amend i. This motion amends any part of legislation except for the sponsors, bill name, or findings. ii. This motion may add or strike any provision from legislation. iii. This motion must pass by a majority vote. iv. All motions to amend, even those which are not germane to the legislation’s purpose, shall be entertained. v. A motion to amend which would undo a previously passed motion to amend in whole shall be ruled dilatory and not entertained. d. Motion to Table i. This motion places a piece of legislation on the table and removes it from consideration until a motion to take from the table is passed. ii. This motion must pass by a 2/3 vote. e. Motion to Take from the Table i. This motion takes a piece of legislation from the table and puts it into immediate consideration by the Senate. ii. This motion must pass by a majority vote. Section 8. Incidental (Outside of Debate) Motions a) Incidental motions are those which are made on the Senate Floor b) They may not be made during debate. c) No incidental motions other than those listed in this section shall be entertained. d) All incidental motions, except the Point of Order, require a second. e) All incidental motions shall be recognized. f) List of Motions: a. Point of Order i. A Senator may rise to a point of order to bring a rule infraction to the attention of the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer. ii. The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer shall, without debate, rule on this point immediately as either “well-taken” (accepted) or “not taken” (not accepted), subject to appeal. b. Motion to Appeal i. This motion overturns the decision of the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer on any appealable matter. ii. This motion must pass by a majority vote. iii. The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer must recognize this motion, unless the Senate Parliamentarian rules the motion to be out of order. c. Motion of No Confidence i. This motion removes the President Pro Tempore from his or her position. ii. This motion must pass by a 2/3 vote. iii. This motion will be overseen by the Vice President of the United States, or if he or she is not available, the Senate Secretary, in order to avoid a conflict of interest. iv. If this motion passes, the removed President Pro Tempore is not eligible to hold the gavel at any time during the remainder of the session as President Pro Tempore or as presiding officer. d. Motion to Subpoena i. This motion issues a subpoena for a person or document. ii. The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer may accept this motion without a vote and immediately issue a subpoena. iii. Should the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer choose not to do this, he or she shall open a vote on the motion once it receives a second. iv. This motion must pass by a majority vote. e. Motion to Suspend the Rules i. This motion suspends a part of the Senate Rules as specified in the motion. ii. This motion must pass by a 2/3 vote. f. Motion to Override a Presidential Veto i. This motion overrides a presidential veto on a piece of legislation. ii. This motion must pass by a 2/3 vote. g. Motion to Reconsider i. This motion brings a piece of legislation or motion up for an immediate revote. ii. This motion must be made and seconded by Senators voting with the prevailing side within 24 hours after the legislation or motion in question has been decided. iii.This motion must pass by a majority vote. Section 9. Nominations, Constitutional Amendments, and Impeachments a) Nominations, constitutional amendments, and impeachments shall be submitted in the form of legislation, although 2/3 of voting Senators must vote in favor of any of these for it to pass. b) The President of the United States or his or her designee may submit nominations directly to the Senate Hopper. Section 10. Enforcement a) The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer may call a Senator to order for violations of these rules. b) The President Pro Tempore or presiding officer may suspend a member from the Senate for up to a day for repeated violations of the rules. a. This is provided that the Senator has been called to order at least twice within the last 24 hours or thrice within the last 72 hours. Section 11. Expulsion a) Expulsion procedures against a Senator begin with either the Majority or Minority Leader presenting the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer with a petition for the Senator’s expulsion, outlining the reasons and containing the signatures of at least five Senators, not all of whom may be from the same party. b) At this time, the President Pro Tempore or presiding officer will open a hearing on the expulsion, to remain open for 72 hours. c) At this hearing, the Senator in question may defend him or herself and answer questions from the Senate, if he or she so chooses. d) Following the hearing, a 72 hour vote will be held and must pass by a 2/3 majority. Section 12. Physical Filibuster Procedure a) Each Senator reserves the right not to yield the floor. b) When a Senator chooses not to yield the floor, a physical filibuster is invoked. c) Said Senator must respond to debate once every six hours during the first 24 hours of their filibuster. d) After the first 24 hours of the filibuster, the Senator must respond once every four hours between the 25th and 48th hours of their filibuster. e) After the first 48 hours of the filibuster, the Senator must respond once every two hours until the end of the filibuster. f) A filibuster can be ended once cloture is invoked or once the Senator fails to properly maintain the filibuster according to the rules above. g) If the filibuster continues beyond 24 real-life hours, all other action in the Senate ceases. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Senate Floor · Next Topic » |





1:47 AM Jul 13