Assembly 1.1: Establishment of Assembly Rules and Procedures

[Imperii Ecclesia]

First Formal Session of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life

First Motion 

Proposal for the Establishment of Rules and Procedures of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life

Hereby known as Assembly 1.1: Establishment of Assembly Rules and Procedures

Whereas, seeing the need for the Assembly of Right to Life to have means by which to operate in an orderly and efficient manor;
And understanding that the establishing rules and procedures is the way to accomplish this;
Furthermore, seeing that the Assembly "shall determine its own rules and procedures" [Constitution Article III.7];
While providing that these rules and procedures be "not inconsistent with this Constitution" [Constitution III.7];

Let the following Rules and Procedures of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life be established and codified for use of the Assembly of Right to Life:

Rules and Procedures of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life

Article I. The Citizen's Assembly

1. The Assembly of Right to Life is the lower house of the Congress of Right to Life, and is bound by the rules of the Constitution of Right to Life. [Constitution Article III.1]
2. The Assembly of Right to Life is comprised of all members who possess citizenship legally in the region of Right to Life, as laid out in Article I of the Third Constitution of Right to Life. [Constitution Article III.3]
3. Every Citizen is entitled to exactly one vote in the Citizen's Assembly, no more or fewer, in any case.
4. A member of the Citizen's Assembly cannot hold open discussions on the floor or exercise legislative power when the Citizen's Assembly is not in session.
5. A Formal Session of the Citizen's Assembly is opened and closed by the Speaker of the Assembly at any time.
6. The Founder or an Administrator may override the Speaker's decision to open or close a Formal Session of the Citizen's Assembly.
7. The Assembly may override the veto of a Founder or Administrator to open or close a Formal Session by a vote of the Citizen's Assembly, overseen by the Speaker of the Assembly.
8. Voting procedures for this override shall follow the same manner as laid out in Article VII clauses 4-7. A two-thirds simple majority is required.
9. "Assembly functions" shall refer to any proceedings done by the Assembly while in Formal Session, or in a Vote of No Confidence. These include ratifying Senate Bills, removing Government Officials, or Amending the Rules and Procedures.
10. "Assembly motions", or proposals of the Citizen's Assembly which are taken to vote during formal session, shall be numbered by the number of the Formal Session of the Citizen's Assembly, and by the number of the motion in that Session.

Article II. Speaker of the Assembly

1. The Citizen's Assembly is headed by the Speaker of the Assembly. [Constitution Article III.9]
2. The Speaker of the Assembly is elected by the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life, using the voting process of first-past-the-post, with all citizens possessing one vote to select a single candidate of their choice. [Legislative Elections Act clause 3]
3. The vote of the new Speaker shall be overseen by the Deputy Speaker, or in his absence, the administrative branch of Right to Life.
4. The Speaker of the Assembly shall be in charge of choosing the Deputy Speaker [Article III.2], presiding over the Citizen's Assembly, ensuring the rules and procedures of the Assembly are followed at all Assembly functions [Article IV.2-5], opening discussion periods for a citizen's proposal [Article V.8] bringing forward Senatorial legislation for ratification [Article VI.1], beginning and overseeing votes for Removal for Governmental Officials [Article VII.4] and Rules amendments [Article IX.3], and pronouncing the final tallies and status of any motion of the Citizen's Assembly [Article VI.5, Article VII.7, Article IX.6].
5. The Speaker may warn a particular citizen from the Citizen's Legislative Forum or another function of the Assembly for a flagrant violation or infringement of the rules or procedures of the Assembly. If the citizen persists in his behavior after the warning, the Speaker may dismiss him from the Assembly function.
6. The Speaker of the Assembly shall serve until he resigns his position or is voted out of office through a Vote of No Confidence. [Article VIII]
7. Upon vacating the Office of Speaker, the Citizen's Assembly will have election takes place as soon as the Deputy or administrative branch of the region deems it fit.

Article III. The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly

1. The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly is the auxiliary head of the Citizen's Assembly.
2. The Deputy Speaker shall be chosen by the Speaker of the Assembly.
3. The Deputy Speaker shall fulfill the duties of the Speaker [Article II.3] when designated by the Speaker, when the Speaker is absent, or when the Office of Speaker is vacant. [Constitution Article III.9]
4. The Deputy Speaker may veto a Speaker's decision to dismiss a member from an Assembly function, allowing that member to continue participating in the function. [Article II.4]
5. The Deputy Speaker shall oversee any Vote of No Confidence against the Speaker. [Article VIII.4]
6. The Deputy Speaker must appoint an assistant to fulfill the duties of the Deputy Speaker, known as the Deputy Pro Tempore, when he is fulfilling the duty of the Speaker or overseeing a vote of No Confidence.
7. The Deputy Speaker may be removed by the Speaker of the Assembly, or by the Founder of Right to Life. The Speaker may dismiss and replace him at any time, except after a Vote of No Confidence has been called or before it has been resolved.
8. If there is no Deputy Speaker at the time of a Vote of No Confidence, the President of Right to Life shall appoint one.

Article IV. Rules and Decorum

1. Citizens participating in functions of Citizen's Assembly must follow the following rules and decorum.
2. Civility and respect towards other Assembly members. as well as general decency, must be maintained at all Assembly functions.
3. Verbal harassment and abuse of other citizens, swearing and profane language, and pornographic or sexual content are all forbidden in Assembly functions.
4. Assembly members shall not excessively discuss non-legislative matters during proceedings.
5. Citizens who do not follow these rules may be dismissed from an Assembly function by the Speaker of the Assembly.
6. Citizens who are dismissed from an Assembly function must not vote for that particular function.
7. Citizens who feel that their dismissal was politically motivated or unjust may appeal to the Deputy Speaker or the Deputy Pro Tempore to evaluate their case and potentially issue a veto.

Article V. Citizen's Legislative Forum

1. All legislative bills in Right to Life originate in the Senate of Right to Life.
2. On account of this, the Citizen's Assembly shall establish the Citizen's Legislative Forum to increase the participation of Citizens in the Legislative Process.
3. The Citizen's Legislative Forum shall be a Forum where members of the Citizen's Assembly may discuss and draft legislation.
4. It shall be supervised by the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker to ensure that it follows the rules of the Assembly.
5. Any citizens may propose legislation here to be taken by the Senate, however, the Senate may refuse to honor the request.
6. Any citizen may exercise their right here to make a proposal for the Removal of a Governmental Official, a Vote of No Confidence, or an Amendment to the Rules of the Assembly.
7. After making a proposal in the Citizen's Legislative Forum, the citizen may make a thread for the Discussion Period of one of the above proposals.
8. If the citizen who made the proposal does not open the Discussion period themselves, the Speaker must arrange for a Discussion Period for a proposal to take place.
9. The Citizen's Legislative Forum shall be open whenever the Assembly is formal session.

Article VI. Ratification of Senatorial Bills

1. Once the Senate has passed a Bill, the Speaker of the Assembly opens a thread for the Ratification of the Bill. [Constitution Article III.12]
2. Every Citizen has the right to cast one of four votes: AYE, NAY, ABSTAIN, or AMEND. For the purpose of voting, AMEND is considered a negative vote like NAY. AYE is considered a positive vote, while ABSTAIN is considered neutral and does not impact the ratio of positive to negative.
3. A citizen may alter his vote any time within the deadline. After the deadline has passed, all votes are considered final.
4. The Ratification will be open for 72 hours after the Speaker opens the Ratification. The Speaker may extend the deadline for voting, but must announce his intent to do so before the deadline has passed.
5. At the end of the 72 hours, the Speaker of the Assembly tallies the votes and pronounces the final result. A simple majority of positive votes is required to ratify the Bill.
6. If the Bill is passed by the Assembly, the bill is sent to the Founder in order to be ratified. [Constitution Article III.12]
7. If the Bill is rejected, and there are more NAYs than AMENDs, the bill is defeated. If there are more AMENDs than NAYs, the Assembly rejects the bill, but informally sends a request to the Senate for the bill be amended with the proposed amendments of the Assembly.

Article VII. Removals of Governmental Officials

1. The Citizen's Assembly has the authority "to remove to remove any senator, any member of the executive branch, or any member of the judicial branch." [Constitution Article III.16]
2. Any citizen may call for a Removal of a Governmental Official.
3. There must be a discussion period of at least 24 hours to deliberate the issue and to allow for the Government Official a chance to defend himself before the vote.
4. After the discussion period, the Speaker of the Assembly shall call for and oversee a vote for the Removal of the Governmental Official.
5. Every Citizen has a right to cast one of three votes: AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. AYE is considered a positive vote in favor of removal, while NAY is considered a negative vote against removal. ABSTAIN is considered neutral and does not impact the ratio of positive to negative.
6. The Voting for Removal will be open for 72 hours after the Speaker opens the Vote. The Speaker may extend the deadline for voting, but must announce his intent to do so before the deadline has passed.
7. At the end of the 72 hours, the Speaker of the Assembly tallies the votes and pronounces the final result. A simple two-thirds majority of positive votes is required to ratify the Bill. [Constitution Article III.16]
8. "Anyone removed under this section shall be disqualified to hold office for fourteen days." [Constitution Article III.16]
9. "The administrative branch shall be immune from the Assembly's power of removal." [Constitution Article III.16]

Article VIII. Vote of No Confidence of the Speaker

1. Any citizen has the right to propose a Vote of No Confidence to the Citizen's Assembly.
2. The Vote of No Confidence may be done "at any time and for any reason". [Constitution Article III.9]
3. The Vote of No Confidence may be done even when the Assembly is not in Formal Session.
4. There must be a discussion period of at least 24 hours to deliberate the issue and to allow for the Speaker a chance to defend himself before the vote.
5. After the discussion period, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly shall call for and oversee a vote.
6. The Deputy Speaker will preside over the Vote of No Confidence and the discussion period. He gains the Speaker's authority to dismiss a citizen for a rules violation. [Article II.4]
7. The Speaker may not preside over the Vote of No Confidence, and may not use his power to dismiss a citizen from the function, or from the discussion period prior to the vote. However, he may still deliberate and vote.
8. Every Citizen has a right to cast one of three votes: AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. AYE is considered a positive vote in favor of dismissal of the Speaker, while NAY is considered a negative vote against removal. ABSTAIN is considered neutral and does not impact the ratio of positive to negative.
9. The Vote of No Confidence will be open for 72 hours after the Deputy Speaker opens the Ratification. The Deputy Speaker may extend the deadline for voting, but must announce his intent to do so before the deadline has passed.
10. At the end of the 72 hours, the Speaker of the Assembly tallies the votes and pronounces the final result. A simple majority of positive votes is required to pass.
11. After a successful Vote of No Confidence, the Speaker is deposed and loses all authority. Deputy Speaker will act as speaker until the next Speaker is elected.

Article IX. Amendments to the Rules and Procedures

1. Any citizen may propose that one or more these Rules and Procedures of the Assembly may be changed, provided that they do not go against the Constitution of Right to Life.
2. There must be a discussion period of at least 24 hours to deliberate the issue. At the end of the discussion period, the citizen which called for the amendment must have a finalized list of proposed amendments for the Assembly to vote on.
3. After the discussion period, the Speaker of the Assembly shall call for and oversee a vote for the proposed Amendments to the Rules and Procedures.
4. Every Citizen has a right to cast one of three votes: AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. AYE is considered a positive vote in favor of the amendment, while NAY is considered a negative vote against it. ABSTAIN is considered neutral and does not impact the ratio of positive to negative.
5. The Vote on the Amendments will be open for 72 hours after the Speaker opens the vote. The Speaker may extend the deadline for voting, but must announce his intent to do so before the deadline has passed.
6. At the end of the 72 hours, the Speaker of the Assembly tallies the votes and pronounces the final result. A simple majority of positive votes is required to pass the amendments.
7. Once the amendments have been passed, the amendments are formally changed, and the Assembly abides by the new rules and procedures.

Voting shall be open for 72 Hours, until Midnight EDT on August 6th, the Year of Our Lord 2020.

Every Citizen may cast one vote- AYE (positive), NAY (negative), or ABSTAIN (neutral).
At the end of the deadline, if there are more positive votes than negative votes, the motion will pass. If not, the motion will fail.

~Imperii Ecclesia, First Speaker of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life~

[Imperii Ecclesia]

I vote AYE to the motion.

[cocles]

I vote AYE to the motion.

[Roborian]

Vote: AMEND

[The RCS]

AYE

[Eire]

AYE

[Phydios]

AYE

IE, the deadline is listed as March 6; did you perhaps mean August 6?

[Imperii Ecclesia]

Aug 3, 2020 15:58:05 GMT -5 Phydios said:

AYE

IE, the deadline is listed as March 6; did you perhaps mean August 6?

Thank you. Fixed.

[Imperii Ecclesia]

The deadline is passed. The voting is now officially closed.

The Official Results for Assembly 1.1:

5 AYEs (Positive)- 83.3%

1 AMEND (Negative)- 16.7%

5 Positives to 1 Negative Vote (5-1)

The Motion Passes, and these rules are instated by the Citizen's Assembly.

~~~~~~~~

The First Motion of the First Formal Session of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life, the Proposal for the Establishment of Rules and Procedures of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life, was passed by a 5-1 majority of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life, on August 6th, in the year of Our Lord MMXX. 
   ~Signed, Imperii Ecclesia, First Speaker of the Citizen's Assembly of Right to Life~

I'll work on an amendment to account for the changing of proposals and the changing of votes once to the voting process has begun. But for now I think we have what we need to start. Technically the AMEND vote shouldn't count, because it wasn't a valid option for voting. This discussion, however, is best saved for the newly established Citizen's Legislative Forum.