Conch KingdomBoard

Hi, you’ve decided to run for the Conch Kingdom legislature. What will you be doing?

As the primary expert and co-author of the recent laws establishing the legislature, let me go through them!

Links to laws in question:
page=dispatch/id=1488828
page=dispatch/id=1494872
page=dispatch/id=1493490

Your duties in the legislature will be to write laws, propose them, debate on them, and vote on them.

Your first day in office will be a simple one: you will be presented with nominees for the Speaker, who will lead Congress in normal sessions, by the Speaker Pro-Tempore. You will vote on the nominees, unless there is only one, in which case he will be immediately elected.

The Speaker shall then proceed to request the bringing forth of founding bills of procedure. Here is currently the only draft of a proposal, written by Free Azell and I: page=dispatch/id=1494174

Once the bill of procedure is adequately discussed and modified, it will be voted on. After that, the normal legislative session begins. Here’s some things to look out for in the first session, assuming the passage of the proposal previously mentioned.

Here are all the types of Bills that can be proposed by you or a resident!
Petition to the Executive (including a specification of which Senior Minister(s) it is addressed to)
-A plea to the executive branch for action (e.g. the Prime Minister, MoDA, MoFA)
Petition to the Delegate
-A plea to the Delegate for action
Petition to the Monarch
-A plea to the Monarch for action
Bill of Impeachment
-A bill removing a member or members of Congress from their post
Constitutional Amendment
-A bill changing the Conch Creed
Operative Legislation
-Normal legislation, like you might see elsewhere
Legislative Amendment
-An amendment of existing operative legislation (should not be confused with a motion to amend)
Override of a Premieral Veto
-A reintroduction of an existing bill
Bill of Commendation
-A bill commending a resident, foreigner, organization, or region
Bill of Condemnation
-A bill condemning a resident, foreigner, organization, or region
Bill of Congressional Procedure
-A bill outlining internal congressional procedure

Bills are presented either by citizens to legislators, or by legislators themselves. As a legislator, here is what you must do when a citizen presents you a bill (even if you are that citizen!):
You must confirm it is regular in form, per the procedure bill I mentioned (I can help you with this, if you are confused), and that it is constitutional (I can also help you with this), and competently and consistently written.
If it lacks in any of these qualities, you must state what is wrong with it, and tell the citizen what is wrong. You must do this within 24 hours of being presented to you.
If you don’t want to present the bill, you may tell the citizen that, but you must do it within 24 hours.
If you do want to present it, and you find it is consistent, constitutional, regular in form, and competently written, you must seal and identify the bill as such by creating a new dispatch with the bill’s text in it (using this template bill dispatch as an example).
Add a Legislative Identification Number (LIN) at the top of the bill, as such: your assigned prefix (The Speaker will give this to you), followed by which number of bill this is you have presented
Add a link to your nation at the top where you are asked for the congressional sponsor.
Add your signature at the bottom. This can be as simple as your nation name, or you can use an online signature maker (if you need help inserting this into a dispatch, let me know)
After that, present it to the speaker in #round_table in Discord.

After that, it’s out of your hands! It now goes to the Speaker. The Speaker will notify you of the bill’s order in the queue, and its new Congressional Resolution Number. This is called a “motion to present”

Once the bill is next in line to be presented, and its turn comes up, the Speaker must do one of two things immediately: table the motion (delay debate on it and return to it later), or subject it to debate immediately.

Debate may last up to three days. There may be a motion to amend your bill, which may be assented to either by you and the speaker, the author and the speaker, or a majority of Congress. In this case, the Speaker will change his version of the bill to reflect the amendment. Be sure if you are the amending party, you include your signature on a motion to amend.

After that, your bill will have 24 hours at vote, so be sure to vote on all resolutions! You will be asked to vote via poll.

If your bill passes the necessary threshold (usually a simple majority), the Speaker will declare it passed, and will send it to the Prime Minister for his approval.

If the Prime Minister vetoes the bill (does not approve of it), it will return to Congress and may be overridden (passed anyways) with a two-thirds majority. If he does approve of it, your bill is a law!

All votes, debate, and procedure occur in #round_table in the AA discord.

You will be given a calendar of days you are expected to be active in the legislature for the next month by the Speaker after his election. Expect to be voting on stuff, discussing, and debating!

You can, in addition to previously mentioned motions: Move to vote on a bill, move to debate a bill for additional time, move to adjourn Congress. The speaker must recognize these for them to pass.

Here is the mentioned code of conduct:
Legislators shall act respectfully towards all members of government in #round_table.
Legislators shall faithfully execute their duties under the law.
Legislators shall vote regularly.
Legislators shall participate regularly in discussions about bills.
Legislators shall not breach conduct of NationStates, Discord, or of the region.
Legislators shall be diligent in receiving legislation from and communicating about legislation with their constituents.

If you breach this code of conduct, you may be reprimanded.

Any further questions? Just ask me!