SO 2017-58 Parliamentary Inquiry Act

Parliamentary Inquiry Act 2017

An Act to regulate Parliamentary Inquiries.

WHEREAS it has been established by law that Our Parliament has the right to question and to receive information;

WHEREAS there have not been regulated any such means through which Parliament can and may receive such information, other than from Ministers through the Debate Hall of Parliament;

BELIEVING that there should be made regulations for Parliamentary Inquiries;

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

Chapter I: General provisions
Article 1
Upon the request of any Member, Parliament shall vote on establishing and creating a Parliamentary Inquiry (hereafter: “inquiry”). The request must be made at the General Debate Topic for the respective Session at the Debate Hall of Parliament. The request shall remain there for twenty-four (24) hours during which time it may neither be amended nor be discussed. After this term, the request shall be voted upon in the Voting Chamber of Parliament. The term for voting shall be forty-eight (48) hours at least.

Article 2
In order for a request as outlined in Article 1 of this Act to pass, it must receive a simple majority among the voting Members in favour of it. The total number of Members voting shall only consist of those who explicitly vote in favour or against the request.

Article 3
The request as outlined in Article 1 of this Act must contain at least:
a) the Member(s) of proposing to establish the inquiry;
b) the number of Members that will serve on the Committee;
c) what the subject of the inquiry;
d) the reasons for the inquiry; and
e) what information should be gathered from the inquiry.

Chapter II: The formation of a Parliamentary Inquiry
Article 4
Immediately after a request as outlined in Article 1 of this Act has passed the Voting Chamber of Parliament, the Chair of Parliament shall command the Founder of Our Region to create a topic for the inquiry. The Founder shall do so as soon as possible.

Article 5
An inquiry shall be conducted by an especial Committee of Parliament. The Committee shall consist of three or five Members, the choice of which is to be expressed in the request. The Member who placed the request for the inquiry shall, by virtue thereof, be a Member of the Committee. The Committee will choose amongst themselves a Committee Speaker.

Article 6
The remainder of the Members of the Committee shall be appointed by the Chair of Parliament. The Committee shall contain representatives from at least two grouped parties in Parliament, or at least one grouped party and one individual Member of Parliament.

Article 7
If the inquiry has as its subject anything in particular of a certain Member or grouped party, the respective Member(s) may not be appointed Member(s) of the Committee.

Article 8
Neither the Committee nor its memberships can be prorogued or dissolved due to the end of a Parliamentary Session.

Article 9
If at any point a Member of the Committee resigns or ceased-to-exist within Our Region, the Chair shall appoint another Member to replace him, in due accordance with the provisions in this Act.

Chapter III: The execution of the Parliamentary Inquiry
Article 10
The Committee shall have the privileges given to it in this Act only for the duration of the Committee. Each Member of the Committee, whether joint by others or not, use these privileges in order to execute the inquiry.

Article 11
The Committee shall only make use of the privileges granted to her when deemed necessary for the proper functioning and execution of the inquiry.

Article 12
The Committee shall have the privilege to request and order that written documents are forwarded to her.

Article 13
The Committee shall have the privilege to request and order that a copy of any document is made available to her.

Article 14
The Committee shall have the privilege to hear, publicly or behind closed doors, witnesses or experts on the subject. The hearing shall be conducted by the full Committee, through its Speaker, only.

Article 15
A hearing as outlined in Article 14 of this Act shall be conducted under either oath or solemn affirmation. The person being heard shall devote to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Article 16
All persons or incumbents of an office or a position must to co-operate in every way they are possible with the Committee. The Committee may set rules for doing so. This provision does not apply to any person who has a duty of confidentially based on an Act of Parliament.

Article 17
All persons have the privilege of assistance of any sort, whether it be legal or otherwise, to support them with their duties to the Committee.

Article 18
No person whatsoever must provide information that would, in any way, harm the continuing or safety of Our Region, when he has the Founder’s permission not to provide that information.

Article 19
No Prime Minister or Cabinet Minister must provide information on the meetings of Cabinet and the discussion therein, as long as he remains in office.

Article 20
No person whatsoever is allowed to speak about inquiries that have taken place behind closed doors, or confidential documents provided to the Committee.

Article 21
Not co-operating to the fullest extent possible with the Inquiry, shall be defined as a crime as set out in Article II, sub 2, of SO 2016-14 On Judicial Rights and Procedures. Such crimes are hereby classified as felonies, and shall be punishable in accordance with Section C, sub 2 of the said Act.

Article 21A
Violating an oath or solemn affirmation sworn or taken by and for the inquiry, shall be defined as a crime as set out in Article II, sub 2, of SO 216-14 On Judicial Rights and Procedures. Such crimes are hereby defined as high crimes, and shall be punishable in accordance with Section B, sub 2 of the said Act.

Chapter IV: Dissolution of a Parliamentary Inquiry
Article 22
When the inquiry has finished, the Committee shall write a public report to Parliament. The report shall include the minutes of proceedings of the Committee.

Article 23
Confidential documents provided to the Committee shall be mentioned briefly in the report. The actual text of the document shall not be published, and shall continue to confidential.

Article 24
The Committee shall be dissolved the moment they make public their report at the Debate Hall of Parliament. The report shall remain there, visible for each Member of Our Region.

Chapter V: Final provisions
Article 25
This Act, once in effect, may only be changed with a majority of at least two-thirds of the voting Members of Parliament.

Article 26
This Act may be cited as “[The] Parliamentary Inquiry Act 2017”.

Tuesday the 25th day of July, 2017
The Rt. Hon. Nassau-Windsor MP LSM, President of the Union

Status: on drafting table, no co-sponsors