Rules of the Senate

This matter has been repealed, voided, or is otherwise out of date

Repealed by Wow These Rules Suck Act on 21 September 2025, returning to Senate Rules and Procedures Act (Pat edition)

Passed by the Senate and signed by the President on the 11th of August 2025.

Preamble

Whereas

It is expedient to have rules for the normal operations of the Senate;

Be it enacted by the Senate of SimDemocracy:

Rules of the Senate

S.B. 28

Section 1: Senate Sessions

Article 1: Interpretation

§1. These are the Rules of the Senate.

§2. In these Rules–

§2.1. “Member” means any Senator;

§2.2. Any reference to “Speaker” includes the Deputy Speaker;

§2.3. “Absolute majority” means a majority of all members in the Senate;

§3. The Senate Rules and Procedures Act and Consultation and Feedback Act is repealed.

§4. When a motion is being moved, the Speaker shall put the question “That the motion be agreed to.” unless otherwise specified, and the speaker shall be responsible for putting up a vote on the question pursuant to Article 8.

§4.1. The Speaker shall not need to put questions for motions which are decided by the Speaker at their discretion.

§4.2. If a motion to debate is filed on a question which has been put, the vote shall be discontinued and must be restarted at the conclusion of the debate.

§4.3. If debate has occurred and concluded on a question, it shall not be in order to move another motion to debate on the same question.

§4.4. It shall not be in order to move a motion to debate on matters which are specified to not have a debate.

<ref name="rulesamendment" />§5. It is the duty of the speaker to moderate the Senate and enforce the Rules.

<ref name="rulesamendment">Rules of the Senate (Amendment) Bill</ref>§5. It is the duty of the speaker to moderate the Senate, and interpret and enforce the rules.

§6. When enforcing the rules, the Speaker shall not require members to use the exact language of motions, and shall assist members in exercising their duties as a Senator in conformity with the Rules.

Illustration

The following motion mean the same thing despite the different text, and should be accepted despite the naming difference:

Motion to Overturn the veto, Motion to Overrule the President, Motion “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 5 §2.1. of the Constitution, overrides the veto of the president on [state the decision here]”

§6.1. To avoid doubt, it shall not be necessary for the Speaker to use the exact wording of a question when putting a question to a vote.

Illustration: When putting a question “That the Bill be agreed to”, the Speaker may choose not to use the exact wording of the question, but instead send a message instructing members to “vote on the bill”.

§7. When other legislation requires a vote on certain matters, it is the responsibility of the Speaker to frame and motion for a resolution to that effect.

Article 2: Inaugural Session of the Senate

§1. The Inaugural Session of the Senate shall proceed in the following manner –

§1.1. The Vice-President shall open the session by putting up a Speaker Election Vote on the reddit and on the designated channel for senate debates, and the President may present their speech to the incoming Senate.

§1.2. All Senators shall vote for a Speaker from amongst themselves by entering the name of the member for whom they are voting. Each Senator shall be entitled to one (1) vote for one (1) member.

§1.3. After 24 hours elapses or all members vote, the Senator who has sufficient votes to reach an absolute majority shall be elected as speaker. If no one reaches an absolute majority, the vote shall be repeated.

§1.4. The Senate shall assert its legislative privilege to debate on anything it so chooses.

§1.5. The Inaugural Session shall then be concluded.

§2. If the Vice-President or President or their designated replacement does not perform any of the duties stated here within 24 hours, any Senator may do so instead.

Article 3: Continuing Senate

§1. Immediately after the conclusion of the Inaugural Session of the Senate, the Senate shall automatically begin a continuing session which shall continue until the election of the next senate, where the session shall automatically adjourn.

§2. When a senate adjourns, all ongoing matters except for votes are automatically discontinued. Votes shall continue as normal and may only be voted on by the senators of the senate which the vote started in.

§3. If any member of the Senate is replaced during an ongoing senate vote, their vote shall not be counted.

Section 2: Debating

Article 4: Motion for Debate

§1. When a motion for debate is moved, the Speaker may accept or reject the motion at their discretion.

§1.1. When debating, the question shall be “That [bill, resolution or other subject matter considered] be agreed to.”

§2. If accepted, the Speaker may hold the debate in –

(a) A Public Consultation channel

(b) A channel designated for members to debate, or,

(c) Both.

§3. The Debate shall end after 24 hours if not sooner ended by a Motion for Cloture/Motion to Close Debate.

§4. Debates on Constitutional Amendment Bills must be debated in both areas (a) and (b).<ref name="rulesamendment" />

§4. The following matters shall be made debatable through motion –

(a) Bills introduced;

(b) Constitutional Amendment Bills introduced;

(c) Appointments by the President;

(d) Budgetary motions,

(e) Questions which do not disallow debate; and,

(f) Resolutions proposed.

§5. Any member may also move “That [subject matter] be considered by the Senate”, and that debate, if accepted, shall continue until its conclusion and shall lapse without requiring the question to be put.

Article 5: Debate

§1. When a Debate is ongoing, the following motions may be moved within the debate, and accepted or rejected at the discretion of the Speaker:

§1.1. Motion for private debate, which shall suspend the debate in the public senate debate channels, if any, and move the debate to one of the internal senate debate rooms. This shall not affect the automatic conclusion of the debate after 24 hours.

§1.2. Motion for Extension of Debate, which, if moved, shall extend the debate for a specified time or indefinitely until closed by a Motion for Cloture/Motion to Close Debate.

§1.3. Point of Personal Privilege, which shall be used to require the speaker to resolve any discomfort caused to members, including by harassment or technical issues.

§1.4. Motion for Recognition, which shall cause a non-member to be allowed to view and speak in the member debate channel or internal debate room, as the case may be.

§1.5. Motion for Unrecognition, which shall cause a non-member recognized through a Motion for Recognition to have any permissions gained from that motion to be removed.

§1.6. Point of Order, which may be raised to bring to the attention of the speaker a violation of any rules.

§2. When a Debate is ongoing, the following motion may be moved within the debate, and accepted by a three-fifths (or at the minimum, one more member than what would constitute an Absolute Majority) vote of the Senate:

§2.1. Motion for Cloture/Motion to close debate, which shall conclude the debate.

§2.2. Motion to Table, which shall cause the debate on the matter to be adjourned for 5000 years.

§2.2.1. To avoid doubt, an adjourned debate shall not be deemed to be concluded.

§2.2.2. No motions to table may be used for motions in Article 12.

§3. When a Debate is ongoing, the following motions may be moved within the debate, and accepted or rejected by a majority vote of the Senate:

§3.1. Motion to amend, which shall amend –

(a) The bill; or,

(b)The resolution which is being debated.

§3.1.1. Despite §3.1, if the matter being debated is a bill, the main sponsor may amend the bill as desired, provided that if a successful motion to amend is passed by the Senate, they may no longer do so.

§3.1.2. No amendments may be made to the bill or question after the debate is closed.

§3.1.3. Amendments to a question “That [subject matter] be considered by the Senate” or “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 1 §4 of the Constitution, finds [name and position of government official] guilty of improper conduct, and declares them impeached.” shall not be in order.

§3.1.4. If the main sponsor amends the bill, they must notify the senate with a ping, or a prominent message in the respective debate channel or thread.

§3.2. Motion to Divide the Question, which shall divide a bill or motion into separate bills or motions motions as specified by the mover of the motion. If no such specification is given by the mover, the Speaker shall decide prior to putting up a vote. The Speaker’s decision here is not subject to dissent.

§4. After the conclusion of a debate on any matter, the Speaker shall put the question “That [bill, resolution or other subject matter considered] be agreed to.”.

§5. When a debate is ongoing on a matter, the Speaker shall ensure – That the debate is conducted with decorum and professionalism, and in an orderly manner; That the debate is confined to the subject under discussion and does not contain content irrelevant to the subject; and, That no offensive or insulting language is used pertaining to other members.

§6. It shall be out of order to violate any of the rules in §5.

§7. For the purposes of enforcing the rules in §5, the Speaker may issue a warning, and thereafter suspend the member from speaking in the Senate channels. The suspended member may still vote on senate matters.

§7.1. If the Speaker exercises this power, after suspending the member, the Speaker must immediately put the question “That the member [name of member] be suspended from the Senate Floor for [time period not exceeding 24 hours].” which shall be voted on without debate

§7.2. If the question is resolved in the negative, the member must be given their permissions back.

§8. It shall be in order for multiple matters to be debated at the same time.

Article 6: Voting

§1. At any point where the speaker is required to put a question to a vote, they may do so in the following manners –

Through Discord Poll or reactions in the designated internal motion channel; Through Discord Poll or reactions in the debate channel; and/or,

Through a text vote in a voting thread on Reddit.

§1. At any point where the speaker is required to put a question to a vote, they shall have sole discretion over how the questions go to a vote, unless otherwise specified.<ref name="rulesamendment" />

§1.1. If the question is “That the Bill/Constitutional Amendment Bill be agreed to”, the Speaker must create a text vote in a voting thread, and also create a reddit post for voting on the SimDemocracy Subreddit.

§1.1.1. It shall be lawful to combine multiple votes in one thread or post.

§1.2. If a motion for debate is proposed and agreed to, the vote shall not conclude until the debate is closed by a motion for cloture/motion to close debate, or when all members have voted.

§1.3. If voting is not permitted, the Speaker shall announce the results of the vote immediately without performing the actions in §1.

§2. Resolutions or bills shall require a simple majority to pass.

§3. At the expiration of 24 hours (unless otherwise specified), or when all members have voted, the Speaker shall ensure that there is a quorum, and thereafter calculate and announce the result of the votes.

§3.1. If the Senate is equally divided (in the case of a Simple Majority or Absolute Majority vote), the Speaker shall require the Vice-President to break the tie on the Question.

§3.2. The Vice-President shall not vote on other matters.

§3.3. If there are sufficient votes to form a absolute majority on any question (which is not “That the Bill/Constitutional Amendment Bill (bill number) be agreed to”), the Speaker may choose to conclude the vote early.

§4. All questions except for the ones otherwise listed in this Act shall require a simple majority vote to pass.

Section 3: Introduction of Matters

Article 7: Motion to introduce Simplified Bill

§1. A Motion to introduce Simplified Bill shall be accepted or rejected at the discretion of the speaker.

§2. A Simplified Bill may only contain minor amendments to other acts (excluding the Constitution), or minor legislation and need not follow the standards of formatting required for a normal bill.

§3. After accepting the motion, the Speaker shall immediately put the question “That the Simplified Bill [number] be agreed to”.

Article 8: Motion to Overrule the President

§1. A motion to Overrule the President may be introduced to overturn a veto on a bill by the President.

§2. After the motion is made, the Speaker shall put the question “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 5 §2.1. of the Constitution, overrides the veto of the president on [state the decision here]”, with no amendments being allowed.

Article 9: Motion for Inquiry on Improper Conduct (Impeachment Hearing)

§1. When a Motion for Inquiry on Improper Conduct is introduced, it shall be the responsibility of the person moving for the inquiry to obtain a person willing to conduct the inquiry.

§2. After the motion is made, the Speaker shall put the question “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 4 §1 and §2 of the Constitution, appoints [name of special prosecutor] to investigate [name and position of government official] for allegations of improper conduct.” without debate.

§3. If the motion is agreed to, the special prosecutor shall have the power to subpoena any government official in relation to the misconduct. The failure to comply with such a subpoena constitutes Contempt of Senate.

§4. When the motion is being made, an amendment to the motion may be proposed, to leave out the name of the prosecutor, and substitute a different name.

§4.1. If the amendment is agreed to, the vote on the original question shall fail immediately and the speaker shall put the question again with the new name being substituted. If the vote on the original question passes without the amendment being agreed to, the amendment shall fail immediately.

§5. When the special prosecutor concludes his investigation, he shall submit the findings to the Speaker, who shall move a motion to debate on the findings which shall be deemed to have been agreed to without debate or vote.

§5.1. The question shall be “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 1 §4 of the Constitution, finds [name and position of government official] guilty of improper conduct, and declares them impeached.”, and shall require no less than two-thirds of voting senators to pass.

§5.2. The Speaker shall also move to recognize the government official being impeached, and the motion shall be deemed to be accepted, no debate being permitted.

§5. When the special prosecutor concludes his investigation, he shall submit the findings to the Speaker, who shall communicate the findings to the Senate. Any Senator may then move a motion to impeach.

§5.1. For a motion to impeach, the question shall be “That the Senate, pursuant to Article 1 §4 of the Constitution, finds [name and position of government official] guilty of improper conduct, and declares them impeached.”, and shall require no less than two-thirds of voting senators to pass.

§5.2. If a motion to impeach is moved and a debate is motioned for and accepted, the Speaker shall also move to recognise the government official being impeached within the debate, and the motion shall be deemed to be accepted.<ref name="rulesamendment" />

Article 10: President’s Motions

§1. The President or Vice President may move the following motions, which shall be deemed to be agreed to without debate or vote –

§1.1. Motion for Debate on Appointment, which shall be a motion to debate for presidential appointments pursuant to the constitution or by law.

§1.2. Motion for introduction of Budget, which shall be used for the introduction of secondary legislation pursuant to the Rolling Budget Act of 2025.

§2. In both cases above motions for extension of debate or to table shall not be in order within the debate.

Article 11: Resolutions

Repealed <ref name="rulesamendment" />

§1. There are to be the following types of Senate Resolutions – Binding Resolution, which shall be a binding exercise of senatorial power; Non-Binding Resolutions, which shall be the collective agreement of the Senate to a particular statement or thing; or,

Internal Resolutions, which may be used for the internal operation of the Senate.

§1. There are to be the following types of Senate Resolutions – Binding Resolution, which shall be a binding exercise of senatorial power, subject to Criminal sanctions for Contempt of Senate for violations thereto; Non-Binding Resolutions, which shall be the collective agreement of the Senate to a particular statement or thing; or, Internal Resolutions, which may be used for the internal operation of the Senate.

Illustration

(a) A resolution directing the Department of Justice, or a Special Prosecutor to prosecute a certain person for Contempt of Senate (exercise of the Senate’s power under the Criminal Code); a resolution directing a government department to provide certain documents (an exercise of the Senate’s subpoena power under the constitution); a resolution stating that the Senate agrees to the implementation of a national emergency; a resolution stating that the Senate agrees to the designation of a Proscribed Organization.
Note: Despite the fact that a bill may be introduced as a resolution, the more specific provisions on motions to introduce bills should be used instead.

(b) A resolution calling on the department of justice to release the Zepzstien files which the Senate is scared of subpoenaing because all the senators are inside the files; a resolution calling on the Department of Expansion to host among us gamenights.

(c) A resolution directing the Speaker to accept no more than 5 motions to debate per day; a resolution authorizing VC debates.

Article 12: Motion for introduction of Bill

§1. A member shall be deemed to have moved a motion for Debate on Bill only when they submit a properly formatted bill in the designated channel with the sponsorship of no less than one senator.

§2. To be properly formatted the bill must contain –

(a) A Preamble or Explanatory Statement, which shall contain the objective of the bill

(b) A title;

(c) A set of Explanatory Notes which detail the purpose and outcome of each section or set of sections of the bill; and,

(d) The main sponsor and co-sponsors of the bill.

and must not contain any Constitutional Amendments.

Illustration in Appendix

§3. If a bill is submitted in the designated channel without satisfying the requirements, the Speaker must reject the bill and notify the member of the rejection and reason for doing so. Otherwise, the bill shall be deemed to have been introduced without any question being put.

§4. Once the bill is introduced, any member may move the motion for Debate on Bill.

Article 13: Motion for introduction of Constitutional Amendment

§1. A member shall be deemed to have moved a motion for Debate on Constitutional Amendment Bill only when they submit a properly formatted Constitutional Amendment Bill in the designated channel with the sponsorship of no less than one senator.

§2. To be properly formatted the Constitutional Amendment Bill must contain –

(a) A Preamble or Explanatory Statement, which shall contain the objective of the bill

(b) A title;

(c) A set of Explanatory Notes which detail the purpose and outcome of each section or set of sections of the bill; and,

(d) The main sponsor and co-sponsors of the bill.

and shall not contain any legislation not amending the Constitution.

§3. Once the bill is introduced, any member may move the motion for Debate on Bill.

Section 4: Other Motions

Article 14: Other Motions

§1. The following motions may be proposed at any point in time, which shall require a simple majority vote to pass –

(a) Motion to impeach the Speaker, which shall remove the Speaker solely from the office of Speaker and not Senator, and shall be put to vote by the Vice President;

(b) Motion of objection or dissent from the Speaker’s ruling, which may be used to overturn the decision of the speaker on discretionary matters, and must be made as soon as possible after the ruling is made, and shall not be subject to debate;

(c) Motion to Suspend Standing Orders and Internal Resolutions, which shall suspend the Rules and Internal Resolutions to a certain extent.

§1.1. When moving a motion under §1(c), the question shall be “That so much of the Standing Orders and Internal Resolutions be suspended as to allow [state the relevant action here].”

§1.2. When moving a motion under §1(b), any member may cause the question to be put. The question shall be “That the Speaker’s decision in [matter] be dissented to.”

§1.3. If motion (a) is passed, a new election for the Speaker must be put up by the Vice-President. Each Senator may vote for one member as Speaker, and the member with the Absolute Majority of votes shall be elected.

§1.3.1. If the Speaker makes motion (a), the question shall be put immediately and shall be deemed to have passed, no debate or vote being permitted.

Article 15: Discharge Petitions

§1. A majority of Senators may present a petition in a google document to the Senate, which must contain the motion to which the petition pertains, and the signatures of a majority of Senators. Once the Speaker verifies that the petition has been agreed to and signed by a majority of Senators, the Speaker shall immediately put the question on the motion with no debate.

Appendix

[TEMPLATE] Bills

Explanatory notes

This bill repeals the previous set of rules and enacts new rules of the Senate.

The general way in which the Senate may exercise its powers in these rules is through –

1. Introducing a motion

1.1. If a motion to debate is moved, the motion would also be debated on, except for certain types of motions which do not allow debate

2. Voting

Article 1 sets out the specific interpretations for certain terms, situations, and the duties of the Speaker.

Article 2 sets out the procedure for the Inaugural Session, as required by the Constitution.

Article 3 notes that all matters expire upon the adjournment of the Senate, as well as the fact that the Senate shall be continuing and shall not adjourn except on the end of the term.

Article 4 sets out the procedure for the motion for the debate, which is that the motion is discretionary, and that debates may be held in certain channels.

Article 5 sets out the rules of debate.

Article 6 covers how a question may be put.

Article 7 covers motions to introduce Simplified Bills, which are bills that quickly amend or enact laws to fix minor issues in law.

Article 8 covers a motion for the Senate to exercise its constitutional power to overturn vetoes.

Article 9 covers the motion for Impeachment Inquiries, which include the constitutionally provided Special Prosecutor.

Article 10 covers motions by the President as provided for in the Constitution.

Article 11 covers Resolutions, which are other ways for the senate to exercise its legislative power.

Article 12 and 13 cover bill introduction motions. Constitutional amendments are separate to prevent issues with vetoing bills which have constitutional amendments in them.

Article 14 and 15 cover miscellaneous constitutionally required motions.

References

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