Rules of the Senate (Amendment) Bill

Rules of the Senate (Amendment) Bill

Passed by the Senate and signed by the President on 22 August 2025.

Preamble

Whereas Certain fixes may be applied to the Rules of the Senate;

'Be it enacted by the Senate of SimDemocracy:'

Article 1: Amendments

§1. In Section 1, Article 1, §5 of the Rules of the Senate, replace all the words after “moderate the Senate” with “, and interpret and enforce the rules.”

§2. In Section 1, Article 1, §6 of the Rules of the Senate, create a new §6.1. which reads

Ҥ6.1. 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.”

§3. In Section 2, Article 6, §1 of the Rules of the Senate, replace all the words after the phrase “put a question to a vote” with “they shall have sole discretion over how the questions go to a vote, unless otherwise specified.”

§4. Replace Section 3, Article 9, §5 of the Rules of the Senate with the text:

 "§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 recognize the government official being impeached within the debate, and the motion shall be deemed to be accepted."

§5. Delete Section 2, Article 4, §4 of the Rules of the Senate, and renumber the subsections accordingly.

§6. In Article 11, §1 of the Rules of the Senate, delete the phrase “, subject to Criminal sanctions for Contempt of Senate for violations thereto”.

§7. In Article 1, §1 of the Executive Bill Approval Act 2025, insert the phrase “(except for Constitutional Amendment Bills)” after the first appearance of the word “bill”.

Explanatory Notes

Subsection 1 allows the Speaker to interpret the rules, as that is the job of the speaker.

Subsection 2 provides that the Speaker does not have to state the exact wording of a question when putting matters up to a vote, so they may retain discretion over how to put certain types of questions such as bills.

Subsection 3 deletes the methods for putting up a vote. This allows the speaker some flexibility. Bills still are required to be put on both Core Territories.

Subsection 4 removes the requirement for impeachments to be debated and voted on automatically, instead requiring a motion for an impeachment.

Subsection 5 removes the requirement for senatorial debates on constitutional amendments to be held in a Public Consultation channel, as this has not been done.

Subsection 6 removes the regulation that Contempt of Senate may be charged for violations of binding resolutions. This is because certain types of binding resolutions may be unconstitutional if enforced in this manner.

Subsection 7 removes the requirement for the President to sign or veto constitutional amendments in the EBAA. This is because that is unconstitutional.