| Standing House Rules | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 3 2012, 06:18 PM (46 Views) | |
| Tyler | Apr 3 2012, 06:18 PM Post #1 |
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Administrator
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Permanent Standing House Rules I. Session 1. The House Parliamentarian shall gavel the United States House on the appointed day to convene. 2. The Speaker shall adjourn the United States House three days prior to Roll Call. II. Speaker of the House 1. When the Speaker is absent from the House, the Deputy Speaker will serve as the Presiding Officer. 2. The Speaker has the power to surrender or take the gavel at any time. 3. The Speaker is selected by the majority party, and is voted on internally. 4. The Speaker shall appoint a deputy to serve in his place, if no deputy is selected, the majority leader will become the Speaker until a new deputy can be selected. 5. The Speaker may select bills they wish to push forward, however it is advised they follow a docket put forward by the House Majority Leader. 6. If the Speaker must transfer the gavel, it must be announced publicly. III. Roll Call 1. Before a session of the House can begin, the House Parliamentarian will initiate a roll call to determine the majority. 2. Each Representative must reply with their Formal Name, the State they represent, and their political party. 3. If a representative is sworn in after roll call ends, they shall not count towards the majority. 4. At the conclusion, the Parliamentarian will post the results of roll call. If a motion is passed in the House with a 2/3 majority, the roll call shall be recounted. It may not be recounted after the second recount. IV. Leadership 1. The Majority Party shall select a leader to serve as the House Majority Leader, who may either take on the roll of the whip or the Majority Party may designate a House Majority Whip. The Majority Party also selects a Speaker and Deputy Speakers. 2. The Minority Party shall select a leader to serve as the House Minority Leader, who may either take on the roll of the whip or the Minority Party may designate a House Minority Whip 3. The House Majority Leader is responsible for updating the official House Docket. V. Hoppers 1. Bills will be submitted to a central Hopper; where the Speaker will copy and paste three pieces of legislation, or four when it is an urgent matter, to the House Floor. 2. While in the Hopper, members of the House may co-sponsor legislation. 3. No debate may occur in the Hopper, but technical questions may be asked. 4. Amendments may also be offered and accepted in the hopper. 5.A Plain English Summary is required for a bill, to clarify the purpose of the bill. 6. If a bill is a THOMAS Bill, or from other legislation sources, you must name the real life sponsor and give a link to the bill. 7. A bill may remain in the hopper as long as possible. 8. If the sponsor is no longer a player, the bill is orphaned and must be adopted by another player. VI. Debate and Voting 1. There is a minimum of 48 hours for debate and a maximum of 120 hours. 2. Votes shall be a minimum of 24 hours, and a maximum of 72 hours. 3. The Speaker has jurisdiction over all legislation, if they are absent or need to debate, they shall hand gavel to the Deputy Speaker. 4. Respect will be in the House at all times. They must formally address the Presiding Officer (Mr./Madam Speaker) and address other representatives by their state (The Gentleman/Gentlelady from Arizona) 5. No Representative may self-nominate, or self-second legislation or nominations. 6. In tied votes or motions, the Speaker of the House will make the tie-breaking vote. If the Speaker does not vote in 72 hours, the motion or bill is deemed to fail. VII. Filibuster 1. Any member of the House may filibuster any legislation at any time by announcing their intent and not yielding the floor. 2. A Filibuster is when a Representative deliberately halts the operation of the House to stop a bill from passing. 3. A filibuster stops all business before the House. 4. A Representative filibustering must remain on the House floor at all times and not take part in any official House business. Nor can he post in any forums for media (press releases, etc), social media, or any in character forums in the game. 5. A Filibuster will follow the following schedule: a. Once every 8 hour day one b. Once every 6 hours on day two c. Once every 4 hours for the rest of the Filibuster. d. If this schedule is broken the filibuster is ended and cannot be brought up again. 5. The filibuster may end through a cloture vote. A 3/5 majority is needed to invoke cloture. Cloture may be invoked in a case where a Representative feels that too many motions have been made; if properly seconded and passed in accordance with the requirement for cloture, all motions currently pending on the legislation fails, debate shall end, and the main motion shall proceed to a vote. 6. A representative may friendly yield to another Representative without breaking the filibuster. VIII. Motions 1. The United States House runs on motions and seconds. The following are acceptable motions: a. Motion to Amend-The amendment may either be accepted as friendly, or it may be seconded and voted upon. b. Motion to extend or limit debate-this motion must be seconded and voted on, if it is passed it adds 24 hours to debate. c. Motion to invoke cloture-invokes cloture in case of a filibuster. It requires a second and is voted on. X. Incidental Motions 1. Point of Order- A Representative may raise a point of order regarding these rules. 2. Appeal- if the Presiding officer makes a ruling that is unsatisfactory, a representative may appeal this ruling. If a majority vote for the appeal, the ruling is overturned. 3. Suspend the Rules- A representative may motion to suspend the rules and bring an item to debate immediately. The motion is non-debatable and requires a 2/3 majority to pass. 4. Objection- A representative may object to motion of unanimous consent on the passage of legislation, this does not interrupt debate or stop passage of legislation. This only works for unanimous consent. 5. Unanimous Consent- A representative may ask for unanimous consent, which requires a second and a 24 hour period for objections. 6. Point of information- Any Representative may make a point of information asking the presiding officer about the details of a bill. 7.Parliamentarian Intervention-should an appeal be denied by a simple majority, the Representative should accept the ruling. However, if the situation is urgent, he may ask the Parliamentarian to review the situation. The Parliamentarian has the final say in the issue. 8. Table- Any Representative may motion to table legislation, this motion requires a second and must be voted on by a 3/5 majority. If the motion passes, the bill is taken from consideration and must be reintroduced into the hopper to be considered again. IX. Ruling Motions Dilatory 1. The Presiding officer may not rule motions dilatory, however, the Presiding Officer may ask for Parliamentarian intervention, in which case it may or may not be ruled out of order. X. Amendments 1. Constitutional amendments shall be treated like legislation and requires a 2/3 majority of those voting to pass. XI. Impeachment 1. Should the President not be performing his constitutional duty or break the law of the United States, the House may choose to impeach the President. 2. Impeachment requires a simple majority and then the President is tried in the Senate. XII. Sanctions 1. Any Presiding Officer may call a Representative out of order, ad if these rules or the games rules are violates 3 or more times, the Presiding Officer may suspend them from the House. 2. A representative may appeal to the House Parliamentarian, and he/she may overrule the suspension if it was made unfairly. XIII. Censure/Expulsion 1. Any representative who breaks the laws of the United States, or the Standing House Rules, may be censured by a simple majority. 2. If the violation is severe enough, a 2/3 majority is required to send a request to the Parliamentarian to expel the representative. If approved, the Representative becomes a private citizen. XIV. Parties 1. The House of the United States recognized the Democratic and Republican parties. 2. Independent members are not required to caucus, but caucusing will benefit them. 3. No other organized parties are recognized in the United States House. XV. Parliamentarian 1. The Parliamentarian has the sole authority over the House and may reverse any decision of the Presiding Officer. 2. The Parliamentarian's interpretation of these rules are final. XVI. Amending House Rules 1. The House shall not have the power to amend these rules. 2. Members of the House may, however, send requests to the Parliamentarian, who shall consider the rule change. 3. IF approved, the Parliamentarian shall announce the rule and it shall come into effect immediately. |
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7:30 PM Jul 10

