SO 2017-19 General debate Act

An Act to regulate general debates in Parliament.

WHEREAS Parliament has the right to debate and discuss general as well as specific matters of interest;

WHEREAS there is no place to debate such matters of interest specifically in Parliament as of this moment;

BELIEVING that it would be insufficient for Parliament to create a new topic for any new debate;

BE IT ENACTED by Us, with the consent and advice of Parliament, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Article 1
There shall be created and maintained by the Speaker of Parliament a general debate topic in the Debate Hall of Parliament for each Session of Parliament within 72 hours after he is elected to said office. If the Speaker is, by any means, unable to create said topic within 72 hours, the Founder will create it by default, however, the Founder will not have any executive or administrative powers with regards to this debate topic than he would otherwise, as Founder of the Region, have over such a topic.

Article 1A
Within 72 hours after this Bill has become Law, the Prime Minister is obligated to create a topic as set out in Article 1 of this Act, which shall last as long as the first next Session is created under Article 1 of this Act. If the Speaker is, by any means, unable to create said topic within 72 hours, the Founder will create it by default, however, the Founder will not have any executive or administrative powers with regards to this debate topic than he would otherwise, as Founder of the Region, have over such a topic.

Article 2
Every Members of Parliament shall be entitled to post and react in the general debate topic. Order shall be remained by and through the Speaker of Parliament, or another Speaker for that debate topic as the Speaker may appoint.

Article 3
Posts with regards to an issue that is specifically regulated by a Bill or Amendment that has been put to Parliament, not being a mention of a general issue relating to that matter, shall be moved by the Speaker to the topic of that Bill or Amendment.

Article 4
Posts with regards to issues that are specifically debated by a Parliamentary Committee, not being a mention of a general issue relating to that matter, shall be moved by the Speaker to the topic of that Parliamentary Committee.

Article 5
Each and every Member of Parliament has the right to ask questions to the Executive Branch of the governance. Such questions may be put and answered in the general debate topic of the day.

Article 6
This Act may be cited as "[The] General Debate Act 2017".

24 March 2017
The Hon. Nassau-Windsor MP LSM
The Hon. Thomolia MP
The Rt. Hon. Libertarian Democracy MP LSM
The Hon. Abdoa MP GSM LSM
The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, Sepharich MP

Interesting bill of which I fully support the intent, however, a couple nit-picks:
-Article I: First, I consider that as this matter is one internal to the parliament, it must fall under the jurisdiction of the Speaker of Parliament, not the Founder. The Speaker already deals with topics for bills: why should the Founder be granted such administrative authority within Parliament when no such authority exists to start with in precedent, in the Constitution and standing law?
Also, maybe can we be a bit more specific with regards to where this topic will be?
-Articles 3 & 4: Can you even do that with moderator power? I genuinely have never tried.
-Finally, i come away from reading this bill still rather uncertain as to whether there is a separate topic only for each session of parliament (as clearly stated in Article 1), or whether there is a topic for each matter of debate (as seemingly implied by Articles 3 & 4: what does "not being a mention of a general issue relating to that matter" mean?), or whether its a combination of both? Please enlighten me.
Otherwise, I really like what this bill would add to the legislative process, and am glad that Questions will finally be able to be put to ministers, holding the government accountable in a more effective fashion.

Abdoa wrote:Interesting bill of which I fully support the intent, however, a couple nit-picks:
-Article I: First, I consider that as this matter is one internal to the parliament, it must fall under the jurisdiction of the Speaker of Parliament, not the Founder. The Speaker already deals with topics for bills: why should the Founder be granted such administrative authority within Parliament when no such authority exists to start with in precedent, in the Constitution and standing law?
Also, maybe can we be a bit more specific with regards to where this topic will be?
-Articles 3 & 4: Can you even do that with moderator power? I genuinely have never tried.
-Finally, i come away from reading this bill still rather uncertain as to whether there is a separate topic only for each session of parliament (as clearly stated in Article 1), or whether there is a topic for each  matter of debate (as seemingly implied by Articles 3 & 4: what does "not being a mention of a general issue relating to that matter" mean?), or whether its a combination of both? Please enlighten me.
Otherwise, I really like what this bill would add to the legislative process, and am glad that Questions will finally be able to be put to ministers, holding the government accountable in a more effective fashion.

Article 1
After some thought, I will agree with you. Though I wish to point out that it was never my intention to bring the actual topics under the jurisdiction of anyone other than the Speaker (PT), I thought initially that they should be separated from the debates regarding specific topics (i.e. topics regulated by Bills). Therefore, it would have been necessary to create a new subcategory, which the Speaker (PT) cannot do. Though that is no longer my intention, I will immediately update the Bill in accordance with your suggestion.

Articles 3 + 4
I suppose that should be possible with moderator-powers, though I am not entirely certain. I will test it out with the Administrator account and then report the possibilities.

Separation of topics
Indeed the plan is to make a general debate topic for each Parliamentary session. What is implied by Article 3 and 4 respectively, is that if a topic is already being debated because a Bill or an Amendment on that topic has been introduced, then the Speaker should move the post with regards to that subject to the specific discussion of the Bill/Amendment topic.

I can now confirm to my Honourable friend that a Moderator can indeed move and merge topics.

Nassau-Windsor wrote:I can now confirm to my Honourable friend that a Moderator can indeed move and merge topics.

Well, can you move posts? I've never seen that option in the moderator control panel?

Thomolia wishes to co-support this bill

I do wish to co-sponsor this bill, however I would like for Article 1 to specifically name the Founder as the executor of the clause, and specify a time frame.

Article I does specify that there is one topic for each session of Parliament, and we have discussed and agreed that the PM is the executor of that clause, not the Founder.

My apologies. Then Article I should specifically name, in writing, that the Speaker is the executor, and should specify a timeframe.

Yes, concurred. Also, when that is done, I wish for my name to be added as co-sponsor of the bill.

I too would like to co-sponsor this bill after the adjustment.

I can confirm to my [Right] Honourable friends that the Bill has been updated accordingly with your requests.

I do hereby co-sponsor this proposal, however I do point out that as Article I is currently written, this bill will not take effect until the beginning of the next Prime Ministerial Election.  An initial mandate, call it say Article 1 Section B, should read similarly to as follows: "The current Speaker shall, within 72 hours of the assent of this document, perform the duties outline in Article 1, Section A of this document that would normally be executed within 72 hours of election."

I have just updated the Bill in accordance with the suggestions of my Right Honourable friend [Libertarian Democracy]. Furthermore, I beg to move that the Speaker sends this Bill to the Debate Hall of Parliament.

It's not first in line though. The order of debate following the Procedure Orders is:

SO 2017-15 Especial Privileges Act (debate held over from previous parliament)
SO 2017-09 Amendments to SO 2017-03 Parliamentary Procedure Act (proposed in previous parliament, has to be debated before other business)
SO 2017-18 Approval of Parliamentary Committees for the 9th Parliament (co-sponsored March 19)
SO 2017-17 Electoral Notifications Act (co-sponsored March 27)
SO 2017-19 General Debate Act (co-sponsored March 27)

The bill has been moved to the Debate Hall.