Bill: Vote Willow Legislative Standards Act

[EmeraldGuuy]

A
BILL
TO
Set Legislative Standards for the Willow Commission​

The residents of Willow, through their elected representatives in the Council and the force of law ordained to that Council by the people through the Willow Constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

PART I - PRELIMINARIES

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the Willow Legislative Standards Act.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by EmeraldGuuy LemonRollz.

2 - Reasons
(1) Willow needs standards for its commission. Making a single standards act compiles all necessary legislative elements into one document, ensuring there is no clutter.

(2) Having base line motions is a necessity for a legislative commission to function.

PART II - MAYOR ELECTIONS

(1) The Mayor of Willow shall be elected through an internal election among the 5 Commission members as soon as getting elected.

(a) The election shall be conducted by the commission member who has accrued the most time as a Willow Commissioner, Willow Mayor, or Willow Deputy Mayor

(b) If the members of the Commission have an equal amount of time spent in office, then;

(i) The Commission Member who received the most votes to the 10,000th decimal point shall conduct the internal election.

(ii) If the results are tied, a server admin will conduct the election.

(c) Any commission member may put up a vote to change the person running the election. If that vote receives a simple majority, then the electioneer will become the person chosen.

(2) The Deputy Mayor shall be elected inside the commission, identical in rules to the Mayor elections, however;

(a) The Mayor conducts the Deputy Mayor election.

(b) The Mayor can be replaced as electioneer by a simple majority vote in the commission.

PART III - STANDING ORDERS

(1) Upon a successful election of the mayor, and before the election for the Deputy Mayor, the Mayor of Willow must write a new Standing Orders for the Commission, or re-affirm the previous one. This requires a simple majority to pass.

PART IV - IN GAME MEETINGS

(1) For an in game meeting to begin, the following minimum quorum requirements must be met:

(a) Mayor of Willow

(b) Deputy Mayor of Willow

(c) 2 Commissioners

(2) In the case that only the minimum requirements are met and not:

(a) Mayor of Willow

(b) Deputy Mayor of Willow

(c) 3 Commissioners

(3) Then the legislators cannot vote on any bills, but may discuss among the people who are present.

(4) All members of the Willow Government that are present at the meeting must wear a top hat

PART V - BILLS

(1) A rejected bill or a bill of the same nature will not be proposed for a period of 14 days unless a motion of reconsideration has been approved by the Commission.

(b) This limitation only applies to bills rejected during the current Commission session.

(2) The template for bills will be annexed to this act in a separate thread. Any amendments to the Bill format will be an amendment to the Legislative Standards Act.

(3) The title of a bill must explain the purpose of the bill and may not contain any personal identifiers such as names, initials and abbreviations referring to persons, business names, company names, trademarks, brand names, or any other commercial identifiers.

PART VI - MOTIONS

(1) Any Commissioner or the Deputy Mayor may propose a motion on the #commissioner-floor channel, a motion is including but not limited to the following:

(a) Motion of Commendation

(i) This Motion, if passed by the Commission, commends a person for their work they have dedicated to Willow.

(ii) This Motion does not require Mayoral assent.

(b) Motion of Willow Commendation

(i) This Motion, if passed by the Commission and granted assent by the Mayor, commends someone for their dedicated service to and for Willow.

(c) Motion of Urgent Consideration

(i) A Motion of Urgent Consideration seeks to have a bill urgently considered. If passed, the voting on the bill that was motioned for Urgent Consideration must be opened within 12 hours.

(d) Motion of Censure

(i) A Motion of Censure seeks to publicly condemn an individual, government department or government agency, and their actions.

(ii) A Motion of Censure serves as a formal reprimand but does not impose penalties.

(iii) A Motion of Censure may only be made against a single individual or government department at a time. In order to censure multiple individuals, separate motions must be filed.

(e) Motion to Amend

(i) A Motion to Amend seeks to amend a bill that is currently undergoing voting.

(ii) Members of the Commission can propose a Motion to Amend a bill that is currently up for vote.

(iii) Following the passage of a Motion to Amend a bill, the bill will restart voting for 48 hours.

(f) Motion of Reconsideration

(i) A Motion to Reconsideration seeks to allow a bill to be re-proposed.

(ii) The passage of a Motion of Reconsideration permits the proposal of a bill identical to or of the same nature as the rejected bill which has been motioned for reconsideration.

(g) Motion to Open a Hearing

(i) This Motion opens a Commission hearing, which can be about any person or business.

(ii) The investigation must be visible to the public at all times.

(iii) To open a hearing, it requires a simple majority vote.

(iv) A hearing shall automatically be closed after five (5) days of no:

(v) invitations to testify;

(vi) questions asked by participating members of the Commission;

(vii) proposals of motions to subpoena;

(viii) votes on motions to subpoena; and

(ix) passage of motions to subpoena.

(x) A hearing may be closed through a consent of a simple majority vote in the Commission.

(xi) Chairperson:

(xii) The chairperson of a hearing shall be the member of the Commission who proposed that hearing.

(xiii) Right to Not Self-Incriminate:

(xiv) A person or entity that is subpoenaed and/or invited to testify may invoke their right not to produce self-incriminating evidence during the hearing.

(xv) Confirmation Hearings:

(xvi) A Confirmation Hearing shall occur within 24 hours whenever an individual is nominated for a position in which the Commission must vote on the nomination.

(h) Motion to Subpoena

(i) A Motion to Subpoena seeks to subpoena personnel or records for the purposes of a hearing or investigation.

PART VII - LEAVE OF ABSENCE

(1) Any Commissioner may declare a leave of absence (LOA) in the #leave-of-absence discord channel.

(a) The person must list the estimated length and reasoning for their absence.

(2) It is not assumed that a Commissioner is on LOA unless they declare so.

(3) An LOA may not exceed 3 weeks.

PART VIII - CO SPONSORS

(1) A co-sponsor is required on all bills proposed.

(a) A co-sponsor must be a willing Commissioner who is not the proposer of the bill.

(b) If a listed co-sponsor claims that legislation was introduced without their consent, it is to be withdrawn from consideration unless evidence of consent is provided. Consent may not be withdrawn once legislation is introduced.

PART IX - BILL FORMATING

(1) Bill formatting will be found at Willow Bill Format.

PART X - AMENDMENTS

(1) Any changes to the legislative process should take the form of an amendment to the Willow Legislative Standards Act.

PART XI - DEFINITIONS

(1) Simple Majority - More than 50% of votes counted.

(2) Super Majority - ⅔ or more of the votes counted.