SB 112-39: Can We Actually Get To Vote Act (Passed)

[Mr. Reactionary]

Can We Actually Get to Vote? Act

Be it resolved,

1. Legislation undergoing a final vote in the National Senate shall receive a full, unperturbed period of 72 hours for members to declare and otherwise amend their vote. The chamber rules shall be amended accordingly.

Sponsor: Spiral
Debate on this bill is now open.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Ill let the sponsor speak to his bill before I propose any amendments, but to the sponsor would you oppose a hypothetical amendment that sets a voting period at no less than 72 hours or until everyone has voted?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This should be structured as an amendment to the OSPR not a standalone resolution. Having extraneous resolutions of this nature means that it is likely that it will be forgotten or ignored than if present in the consolidated rules document.

It also should certainly not be an act/or law as that  invites constitutionality issues arising from the clause the Constitution that grants the Senate sole authority over its own rules (an act/law by definition requires signature). On this point the bill is sending mixed messages since it is referred to as an act, but then says "be it resolved".

[PPT Spiral]

This legislation was submitted with the full intention of getting this body more in order. I have recently been concerned with the rush in which a number of votes have taken place, and my concerns are evidently not isolated given feedback from President Cao. It is not a good reflection of our democracy when many Senators are absentees on the official record, yes, although I have personally been made such on a number of occasions from a sharply reduced voting time. The current arrangement not only deprives many Senators of their voice in a reasonable timeline, but also deprives the representation of countless Atlasians who voted us all in to begin with. We owe it to our people to facilitate an ample schedule for both debate and voting. This will allow votes to more accurately represent the true will of Atlasians while reflecting who the genuine, recurring absentees among us are.

Ill let the sponsor speak to his bill before I propose any amendments, but to the sponsor would you oppose a hypothetical amendment that sets a voting period at no less than 72 hours or until everyone has voted?

Senator Reactionary: Such an amendment is a reasonable compromise. Although my personal preference is to allow the full time for any last changes of heart, I would not want that to impede getting this bill to the President's desk.

This should be structured as an amendment to the OSPR not a standalone resolution. Having extraneous resolutions of this nature means that it is likely that it will be forgotten or ignored than if present in the consolidated rules document.

It also should certainly not be an act/or law as that  invites constitutionality issues arising from the clause the Constitution that grants the Senate sole authority over its own rules (an act/law by definition requires signature). On this point the bill is sending mixed messages since it is referred to as an act, but then says "be it resolved".

Your input is always valued on my end, Senator Yankee. This is sensible advice and I agree. I offer the following amendment (on what is now an amendment lol):

Can We Actually Get to Vote? Amendment

Article 2 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

6.) Co-sponsors of legislation under consideration shall have no power to withdraw legislation nor contest withdrawal of legislation by the original sponsor. Any office-holding Senator may assume sponsorship of the legislation within 96 hours after the original sponsor has motioned to withdraw. Once a motion to assume sponsorship has been filed by a Senator, Senators shall have 24 hours to object to this motion. If any Senator objects, the PPT shall open a vote on the motion lasting until a majority has voted for or against the motion but not more than 96 hours all members have declared their vote, or 96 hours have been exceeded. If the motion is rejected, the bill shall be removed from the floor.

Article 6 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

1.) Final Votes and veto overrides votes shall last for a maximum of 4 days (i.e. 96 hours). A final vote may be ended earlier than 96 hours:

a. If the vote has a majority to pass or fail, then the Presiding officer may call 24 hours for Senators to vote or change their votes.

b. If all Senators have voted and the result is unanimous for or against, then the Presiding Officer may end the vote immediately. if all Senators have voted.

[Mr. Reactionary]

24 hours for objections.

[Saint Milei]

Objection

[Saint Milei]

You can't just change the rules when your side loses power after being an absolute failure of PPT. Man blatantly rigged the game in favor of labor. Reactionary holds us accountable by making us work and being quick to get sh**t done

[PPT Spiral]

Senator, I'm not motivated by partisanship with this bill. The current situation could easily be flipped to the other side if we had a different PPT and Senate composition. Odds are that this will eventually happen. President Cao himself raised concerns about the multiple rapid-fire votes, and I'm sure he prefers having Reactionary as PPT otherwise. This is simply a manner for us to ensure enough time has passed for active Senators to participate so that we aren't caught off guard when a vote ends.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I would not support the elimination of the 24 vote hour vote change/early vote ending procedure.

I understand the perils of rapid fire votes, but I also remember a time when final votes lasted a week, amendment votes five days and there were no provisions to end them early.

[Saint Milei]

Senator, I'm not motivated by partisanship with this bill. The current situation could easily be flipped to the other side if we had a different PPT and Senate composition. Odds are that this will eventually happen. President Cao himself raised concerns about the multiple rapid-fire votes, and I'm sure he prefers having Reactionary as PPT otherwise. This is simply a manner for us to ensure enough time has passed for active Senators to participate so that we aren't caught off guard when a vote ends.

It certainly wouldn't since Labor is lazy and doesn't do its job. So many bills are just ignored unless Labor is mobilized. Most of the bills don't even get serious debates. This isn't because of the rapid-fire nature of our PPT. This is because politicians aren't doing their job

[Mr. Reactionary]

Hearing an objection we will now vote on Sprals amendment for until Friday night 9 PM Eastern.

[West_Midlander]

Nay

[PPT Spiral]

Aye

[Joseph Cao]

Suppose I'll have to chime in here since the Senator did bring me up.

I think Spiral had the right idea bringing this to the floor since we need to discuss this one way or the other. I’m also fully aware that there is a lot of variation in how PPTs choose to administer final votes and the like, and my own preference in the past has been for as full a turnout as possible and to extend the periods if necessary. That is not in the rules and is one of the main reasons for the two minute votes that our friend WD has conducted in the past.

Having said that I also do not support removing the allowance for early closure if everyone has voted or the 24 hour vote change period. That’s unrelated to the issue at hand and nobody has a problem with that. I don't mind the 96 hour hard floor but again much of that may be personal preference. An amendment focused solely on that would be good to consider.

[Joseph Cao]

And – to be frank, things like an entire party just deciding not to show up to vote are out of the PPT’s hands after a time. There is at least one former Labor Senator I know of who has been on the record as boycotting all votes no matter how long I extended the vote. If some Senator simply decides to impede all further legislation by not showing up, or if multiple Senators do so, then they're failing to even attempt to do their job.

Individual parties have a duty to check that their guys are showing up and debating too! Maybe find someone who can do that, or elect people who can do that. That might help.

[Mr. Reactionary]

In the spirit of working together I vote Aye.

If this amendment fails I will propose a similar one with a few minor tweaks to try and hammer out a fair compromise between the 2 valid viewpoints expressed here. I dont think Spiral's proposal is in bad-faith and he has shown willingness to compromise and is not boycotting votes like most of Labor. This session I believe the only votes I closed with less than 72 hours was the budget and 2 non controversial bills brought up for a vote alongside the budget, and that was to avoid a shut down since the CR expired 1 day after the budget was signed.

Im sure we can find a middle ground that both sides find palatable to allow more time for voting without having unnecessary delays motivated solely by stall tactics. Perhaps a minimum of 72 hrs if there is a cloture vote and a minimum of 96 hrs if there was no cloture vote. That way, the time for cloture can be partly counted towards the final vote period since thats a few extra days signaling that a final vote may be forthcoming.

Thanks to all debate participants for helping us make the best policies for the people.

[S019]

Aye on the amendment

[Saint Milei]

Nay

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Present

[Mr. Reactionary]

Amendment passes 3-2-1-12. Debate resumes.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye ftr

[Mr. Reactionary]

Here is the current text. Yankee, can you please confirm if this is correctly formatted like you mentioned?

Can We Actually Get to Vote? Amendment

Article 2 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

6.) Co-sponsors of legislation under consideration shall have no power to withdraw legislation nor contest withdrawal of legislation by the original sponsor. Any office-holding Senator may assume sponsorship of the legislation within 96 hours after the original sponsor has motioned to withdraw. Once a motion to assume sponsorship has been filed by a Senator, Senators shall have 24 hours to object to this motion. If any Senator objects, the PPT shall open a vote on the motion lasting until a majority has voted for or against the motion but not more than 96 hours all members have declared their vote, or 96 hours have been exceeded. If the motion is rejected, the bill shall be removed from the floor.

Article 6 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

1.) Final Votes and veto overrides votes shall last for a maximum of 4 days (i.e. 96 hours). A final vote may be ended earlier than 96 hours:

a. If the vote has a majority to pass or fail, then the Presiding officer may call 24 hours for Senators to vote or change their votes.

b. If all Senators have voted and the result is unanimous for or against, then the Presiding Officer may end the vote immediately. if all Senators have voted.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Looks like it.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Anything else?

[PPT Spiral]

This bill is something I would really like to see pass this term. Going back to Mr. Reactionary's sound calls on compromise, I am offering another amendment on allowing for shorter voting times with cloture invoked. Hopefully this will prove to be a reasonable arrangement for the majority of us.

Can We Actually Get to Vote? Amendment

Article 2 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

6.) Co-sponsors of legislation under consideration shall have no power to withdraw legislation nor contest withdrawal of legislation by the original sponsor. Any office-holding Senator may assume sponsorship of the legislation within 96 hours after the original sponsor has motioned to withdraw. Once a motion to assume sponsorship has been filed by a Senator, Senators shall have 24 hours to object to this motion. If any Senator objects, the PPT shall open a vote on the motion lasting until a majority has voted for or against the motion but not more than 96 hours all members have declared their vote, or 96 hours have been exceeded. If the motion is rejected, the bill shall be removed from the floor.

Article 6 of the OSPR is amended to the following:

1.) Final Votes and veto overrides votes shall last for a maximum of 4 days (i.e. 96 hours). A final vote may be ended earlier than 96 hours:

a. If the vote has a majority to pass or fail, then the Presiding officer may call 24 hours for Senators to vote or change their votes.

b. If all Senators have voted and the result is unanimous for or against, then the Presiding Officer may end the vote immediately. if all Senators have voted; or if cloture was invoked, upon which a minimum of 72 hours (including the cloture vote) is allotted.