Commons Procedures

Commons Procedures:

THE GOVERNMENT of THE CELTS

ARTICLE I: THE CABINET

Section 1. The Speaker and Vice Speaker of the Commons shall be elected by the Commons and shall be in charge of overseeing the actions of the Commons.

1. The Commons may establish additional offices by motion or legislation.
2. The Speaker, Vice Speaker and any additional Commons offices shall collectively be referred to as the Cabinet of the Commons.
3. The procedures below shall apply to any internal position created by the Commons unless explicitly stated otherwise in relevant legislation.
4. All offices shall be considered vacant upon the conclusion of a term; each term requires its own election unless specified in legislation.

Section 2. The period during which the official Candidacy Thread for the next General Election is open shall also be the candidacy announcement period for those interested in running for the Cabinet.

1. Candidacy announcements for any positions listed in the official Candidacy Thread of the next General Election must be made in that thread.

1. Candidacy announcements for any other Cabinet positions must be made in the #commons-floor discord channel.

2. Citizens may nominate other citizens, but the nominee must publicly accept by the end of the candidacy announcement period to be considered for the election.
3. The Cabinet election shall begin alongside the General Election.

Section 3. Cabinet elections for any positions listed in the official Candidacy Thread of the next General Election shall be conducted as part of the General Election. Cabinet elections for any other positions shall be conducted by emoji reaction vote which shall last until the end of the General Election.

1. In a tie, or failure to elect, the winner shall be decided by coin toss conducted by moderation.

Section 4. In the event of a vacancy the Commons shall follow the steps prescribed below:

1. From the moment of the vacancy a 24 hour timeframe will open for citizens to either announce their intention to run or accept nomination.
2. The next 24 hour timeframe will consist of a vote.

1. This vote shall be conducted as an emoji reaction vote in the #commons-floor channel.
2. If a position is uncontested, the only candidate running for it is automatically elected without the need for a vote.

ARTICLE II: COMMONS  SESSION

Section 1. Commons Sessions shall operate on a 5-day cycle with 3 periods.

1. The start of the cycle is chosen by the Speaker or Vice Speaker and initiated using the ‘-commons session open’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot.
2. The Speaker or Vice Speaker may freely extend any period by up to 1 hour.

Section 2. The first 48 hours shall be the proposal period.

1. During this period citizens may propose bills and motions.
2. Bills must be written onto a google doc, and the link must be posted in the #commons-floor channel. The bill must also be submitted to the Democraciv bot.
3. Any bill passed by the Senate that has not been introduced to the Commons, shall be considered by the Commons.
4. The Speaker or Vice Speaker may end the period & prevent further submissions by using the ‘-commons session lock’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot once 48 hours have transpired.

Section 3. The 48 hours after the end of the proposal period shall be the discussion period.

1. During this period, citizens may adjust/amend their proposed bills.

1. Following each edit in the google doc, citizens must announce in the #commons-floor channel that their bill has been edited and how.
2. Following each edit in the google doc, the Speaker may use the ‘-bill synchronize’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot to synchronize the changes.

2. The Speaker or Vice Speaker may end the period & prevent further amendment/official discussion by using the ‘-commons session vote’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot once 48 hours have transpired.

Section 4. The 24 hours following the end of the discussion period shall be the voting period.

1. At the start of this period the Speaker or Vice Speaker shall list all bills and motions considered during this session and present the citizens with an opportunity to vote on them. The vote may be conducted as emoji reaction votes in the #commons-floor channel, or via another method, as decided by the Speaker.

1. The citizens shall be permitted to vote and change their votes for the full voting period.
2. The citizens shall be presented with the option to vote in Favour, Against, or Abstain for each bill and motion.

1. A citizen may only choose one of the options presented for each bill or motion. If a citizen selects multiple options, their vote shall be counted as Abstained.
2. Abstained votes shall count towards Quorum.

2. The voting period can only end if Quorum has been reached.

1. Quorum is determined by ⅓ (rounded down) of the turnout of the last General Election.
2. Any citizen who votes on any bill or motion which is part of the ongoing session shall be counted towards Quorum.
3. If Quorum is not reached within 24 hours, the voting period shall be extended until Quorum is reached.

3. A bill or motion is considered approved if by the end of the voting period it has received more votes in Favour than votes Against.
4. Once the voting period ends, the Speaker or the Vice Speaker shall record all votes made and their results. This data shall be archived and made publicly available.

ARTICLE III: EMERGENCY SESSIONS

Section 1. The Speaker may call an emergency session,

1. An emergency session may run concurrent to a regular session. In such a case it will not be required to use bot commands; the Speaker or Vice Speaker shall give clear instructions on the step by step process in #commons-floor.
2. The emergency session shall be a three day cycle; a 24 hour proposal period, 24 hour discussion period, and 24 hour voting period.
3. The Speaker may keep any period open past its prescribed time limit.

Section 2. The first 24 hours after the emergency session starts shall be the proposal period.

1. During this period each citizen may propose at most one bill or motion.
2. Bills must be written onto a google doc, the link must be posted in the #commons-floor channel, and the Speaker or Vice Speaker should be pinged if the bot cannot be used.
3. The Speaker or Vice Speaker may add or may request the author to add any bill that has passed the Senate or is being considered by the Senate.
4. The Speaker may end the period & prevent further submissions by declaring as so in #commons-floor or by using the ‘-commons session lock’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot once 24 hours have transpired.

Section 3. The next 24 hours after the proposal period ends shall be the discussion period.

1. During this period, citizens may adjust/amend their proposed bills.

1. Following each edit in the google doc, citizens must announce in the #commons-floor channel that their bill has been edited and how.
2. Following each edit in the google doc, the Speaker may use the ‘-bill synchronize’ command or other appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot to synchronize the changes.

2. The Speaker may end the period & prevent further amendment/official discussion by declaring so in #commons-floor or by using appropriate functionality of the Democraciv bot once 24 hours have transpired.

Section 4. The next 24 hours after the discussion period ends shall be the voting period. Voting shall be conducted in accordance with the same rules as during an ordinary session, as outlined in Article II, Section 4.

ARTICLE IV: MOTIONS

Section 1. Any citizen may propose a motion.

1. A motion may be proposed as part of an ordinary Commons session, as part of an Emergency Session, or independently of sessions.

1. Any motion proposed as part of an ordinary Commons session must follow the rules established in Article II.
2. Any motion proposed as part of an Emergency Session must follow the rules established in Article III.
3. A motion proposed independently of sessions must be posted in the #commons-floor channel and shall be considered by emoji reaction vote which will last for 48 hours. The Speaker or Vice Speaker shall record the votes and the result.

Section 2. A motion passes if by the end of the allotted voting period the amount of votes in Favour which it received is a sufficient fraction of the total amount of votes in Favour and Against which it received.

1. A motion to declare war shall require at least a ⅗ fraction of votes in Favour.
2. A motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against a specified elected or appointed Member of Government shall require a 4/7 fraction of votes in Favour.
3. Any other motion shall require a fraction of votes in Favour greater than ½.
4. A motion cannot pass unless it has been voted on by a number of citizens no lesser than Quorum.

ARTICLE V: VACANCIES

Section 1. When a vacancy occurs in the offices of President or Senator, the Commons shall elect a replacement for the remainder of the term then in effect.

1. From the moment of the vacancy a 24 hour timeframe will open for citizens to announce their intention to run. The announcement must be made publicly and the Speaker or Vice Speaker must be pinged.
2. The next 24 hour timeframe will consist of a vote, organized by the Speaker or Vice Speaker.

1. All citizens must be allowed to participate in this vote.
2. The candidate who receives the most votes in Favour shall be elected.

1. If a position is uncontested, the only candidate running for it is automatically elected without the need for a vote.

ARTICLE VI: MISCELLANEOUS

Section 1. The Speaker shall act as legal counsel for the Commons in absence of a formal position tasked with such responsibility; this responsibility may be delegated.

Section 2. No lawsuit shall be filed in the name of the Commons without a vote approving such; any case filed by a member of the Commons does not entail responsibility to the entirety of the Commons.

Section 3. These procedures shall remain in effect henceforth.

1. Amendments to these procedures may be passed via motion.