Revision as of 10:22, 16 December 2015

On December 7th after weeks of debate, all Senators were called to vote on a basic structure for the Senate labelled Proposal #1001. Exactly one week later on December 14th with a finally tally of 20 votes for, and only one against, the proposal was confirmed officially forming the Colonial Senate. The three sections that made up Proposal #1001 are as follows:

Section 1

The Colonial Senate is the organization of Senators for the purpose of discussion and direction. The Senate will vote on matters as they are brought before it. For a topic to be brought before the Senate for a vote, a Senator must first propose the topic or debate. Once proposed, a different Senator must then second the motion before it can finally be brought before the Senate as a whole for a vote. For clarity's sake, a different Senator must second the motion...one single Senator holding multiple Senate seats can not second his or her own proposal.

There is no time limit on a proposal...it may sit until withdrawn or seconded. Once seconded it will still need to be presented to the Senate for the Senate to vote on.

Once a proposal comes before the Senate for a vote...the Senate will have one full 7 day week to vote on the measure. At the close of a week a majority vote will pass the measure.

In all proposals the President holds a veto power...but the Senate can overturn the veto with a 2/3rds vote.

This establishes a basic structure for the Senate to operate. The Senate may make changes to this system as it sees fit. | center

Section 2

Only Senators have a vote in the Senate. Governors, Mayors, non-office holders, and even the President will not be allowed to vote in Senate hearings unless they happen to hold Senator-ship. To allow for balance, there will be three Senate seat levels. The levels and their minimum requirements are as follows:

Remote System

A Remote System will have at least one colony or OSB and grant 1 vote.

Emerging System

An Emerging System will have at least five separate inhabitant owned colonies and/or OSBs and grant 3 votes.

Established System

An Established System is the highest system status and will require at least 15 separate inhabitant owned colonies and/or OSBs and will grant 6 votes.

Status above a Remote System must be approved by the Senate. Changing a system's status requires the same steps as any other proposal and requires a simple majority vote.

Section 3

The following have been added as safety protocols to protect the Senate from abuse or forceful control.

1) The maximum votes a Senator may wield for a Senate vote is 20. If a Senator represents more vote weight then 20 it may be considered during the Senate's open sessions and deliberations...but can not be applied to Senate votes. As an example, if a Senator represents 5 Established systems, he/she may mention this when debating with other Senators, but when votes are tallied his/hers will count for 20...not 30.

2) No Senator may carry a vote alone...no matter how high a majority their vote weight. That means that if the Senate comes to vote and only 1 Senator votes...or one wielding 20 votes and the other 1 vote opposing...the motion will not pass. There must be at least 2 different Senators backing a motion for it to pass.

3) The Election Results page lists publicly listed systems and their Senators. This list will be used to verify Senator's status. By-election voted Senators may declare themselves and be included in Senate votes provided they are declared -before- a vote is initiated. They may not declare themselves and vote while a vote is already underway. A list of all declared Senators will be available for all to see in the wiki.

4) The Senate reserves the right to deny the upgrading of a system due to an unethical attempt to inflate a system's inhabitants...an example being the Senate's discovery of a Senator or 3rd party founding multiple colonies and abandoning them.

Colonial Senators