Agenda Reform Act

Passed by the Assembly with 8 votes in approval and 5 in opposition on Friday, 18 August 2006.

REPEALED by Acts of Assembly No.53, Committee Reform Act.

Act # 41

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Part I: The Agenda

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(1) The Agenda will be divided into two sections.

(a) Section one will be for those bills not yet considered by committees.

(b) Section two will be for those bills that have been approved by committees.

(2) All bills on part one of the agenda will be sent to committees for review before floor debate can occur.

(a) Bills which are moved to immediate debate through 14.2 of the Assembly Operations Act skip committee review and pass directly to debate.

(i) If there is no room in the full assembly for another bill, the bill is moved to first on the agenda in section two.

(ii) If other bills have been moved in this fashion and are currently first on the agenda, then the first moved takes precedence and more recently moved bills will stack behind accordingly.

Part II: Committee Creation and Powers

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(1) Three standing committees are created.

(a) The Foreign Affairs Committee will oversee bills pertaining to foreign relations and international trade.

(b) The Rules Committee will oversee only those bills which pertain to assembly procedure, the legal system, and fundamental laws.

(c) The Internal Affairs Committee will oversee all bills pertaining to infrastructure, the economy, and appropriations.

(2) The Speaker may create Supplemental Committees in addition to the three standing committees.

(a) The procedure for selecting members and chairs of Supplemental Committees will be the same as the procedures for Standing Committees.

(b) One individual citizen may not be on more than one Standing Committee; however, an individual citizen may be on any number of Supplemental Committees.

(c) A Supplemental Committee may only be abolished with a 2/3 vote of the members of that committee, and with the support of the Speaker.

(3) During each election for Speaker, the members of each Committee will select a member of that committee to serve as Chair.

(a) In order to be elected Chair, one must be nominated by another member of the committee.

(b) Members of the committee will vote for all nominees.

(c) In the event of a tie, the Chair will be selected by the Speaker among the tied candidates.

(d) Members of a committee may hold a vote of no-confidence in a committee chair. Such a vote requires a majority within the committee to pass, and will result in the immediate removal of the chair's powers.

(e) If the chair of a committee is removed or resigns, a new election using the aforementioned process will be held for the chairmanship of the committee.

(f) The chair of a committee may temporarily delegate chairmenship authority to another member of the committee in the event of a leave of absence.

(4) Standing committees shall have variable membership corresponding to roughly one third of the population each.

(5) Committee assignment and reassignment will be determined at the beginning of each new Speaker’s term by a council of the committee chairs and the Speaker. Committee assignments for new citizens will be made by the Speaker.

(a) Citizens may request which committee they be placed in, but such requests do not have to be adhered to. Individuals who are already in a committee and request to stay in that committee must be reassigned to that committee.

(b) When this act first goes into effect, there are no committees in place to elect chairs and determine membership, therefore, initial committee membership will be determined by a council of the cabinet and the Speaker. Committees will then immediately elect their first chair to serve the remainder of the current Speaker's term.

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(1) Committees as per their oversight responsibility have the power to debate and edit bills.

(2) A majority of a committee must approve a bill before it can be sent to the floor for full-session review.

(a) If a bill fails in committee it is considered failed legislation.

(3) Committees may set their own agendas, with procedure to be determined by the chairs.

(4) Committee chairs are responsible for setting their own quorums and determining the maximum amount of bills that may be considered by a committee at a time as well as setting and enforcing any other rules of debate provided they are consistent with the laws of the Republic of Antica.

Part III: Procedure

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(1) The Speaker will assign bills to the various committees for consideration. All bills posted in the cloakroom must be assigned to a committee by the Speaker within 48 hours.

(2) Chairs may request that certain legislation be given to their committee, but such requests do not need to be adhered to.

(3) Committees will vote on whether to accept consideration on an assigned bill.

(a) If a bill is rejected by a committee, the speaker may assign the bill to a different committee. If the speaker does not wish to do so, the bill rejected for consideration by committees are considered failed.

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(1) Passage of a bill by a committee is equivalent to a motion to move to immediate debate.

(2) Bills passed by committees will follow the same rules for ordering bills moved to immediate debate as outlined in Section 1, Paragraph 2, Clause A and its subsections.

Part IV: Motions

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(1) The Speaker will now recognize the “Motion to Move to (position) on the Agenda”.

(a) A motion to move to (position) on the agenda is only applicable to bills in section two of the agenda.

(b) A motion to move to (position) on the agenda places the bill in question in the requested position on section two of the agenda.

(c) This motion takes precedence over all previous motions and does not stack chronologically.

(d) In order for this motion to succeed it requires the support of one third or above of the stated legislative quorum.

(2) The Motion to Move to Immediate debate will only apply to Section one of the Agenda.

(3) The Motion to Suspend the Agenda will only apply to Section two of the agenda.

(4) Section 14, Paragraph 1, Clause A of Act of Assembly No.26, Assembly Operation Act shall now read "Requires the support of one third or above of the stated legislative quorum".

Part V: Enactment

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(1) This bill will go into effect immediately upon passage.