SR 114-29: Vote Or Die Resolution (Passed)

[LAKISYLVANIA]

VOTE OR DIE RESOLUTUON

1. Article VIII, Section 4 of the Senate Rules and Procedures shall be amended as follows:

4.) Expulsion proceedings shall be initiated if:

a.) a Senator has not posted anything on the Atlas Fantasy Government board for 168 consecutive hours and has not posted a valid Leave of Absence (then the time covered by that LOA shall not count toward those 168 hours, but periods of inactivity before and after the LOA shall count as a continuous period, provided there are no interceding posts).

A Senator misses twenty or more final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

...

Sponsor: Spiral
Debate is now open

[LAKISYLVANIA]

This would deal with inactivity issues and is something that needs to be tackled with.

Any last words before we would move to a final vote?

[PPT Spiral]

Rather pertinent with all the happenings in our chamber lately. If there is no good effort made on the part of a Senator to explain prolonged absences, which interfere with regular order and betray the trust of voters, then the question of expulsion should become more upfront. The change to tracking votes, which is the most essential duty of the Senate, best reflects whether a member is satisfying basic requirements of tenure or not.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Motioning for final vote.

24 hours to object

[Pyro]

Object. I would appreciate some debate as this is a significant alteration.

My question is regarding the "three consecutive weeks" provision. As we have seen in this present session, the Senate may not conclude its deliberation for some time and final votes do not take place as expeditiously as we would like. If, for example, the Senate only votes on 2 or 3 bills in the span of three weeks, I do not think it is fair to allow expulsion proceedings.

[West_Midlander]

Object. I would appreciate some debate as this is a significant alteration.

My question is regarding the "three consecutive weeks" provision. As we have seen in this present session, the Senate may not conclude its deliberation for some time and final votes do not take place as expeditiously as we would like. If, for example, the Senate only votes on 2 or 3 bills in the span of three weeks, I do not think it is fair to allow expulsion proceedings.

This is a valid concern. I might also suggest that we do 10 consecutive missed final votes w/o a LOA as the limit since twenty as the limit could mean a Senator could be gone for the whole session and not miss that many votes if the Senate is not so active at that point.

[West_Midlander]

VOTE OR DIE RESOLUTUON

1. Article VIII, Section 4 of the Senate Rules and Procedures shall be amended as follows:

4.) Expulsion proceedings shall be initiated if:

a.) a Senator has not posted anything on the Atlas Fantasy Government board for 168 consecutive hours and has not posted a valid Leave of Absence (then the time covered by that LOA shall not count toward those 168 hours, but periods of inactivity before and after the LOA shall count as a continuous period, provided there are no interceding posts).

A Senator misses tentwenty or more consecutive final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

...

Amendment.

[PPT Spiral]

This amendment is friendly.

[Pyro]

Object. I would appreciate some debate as this is a significant alteration.

My question is regarding the "three consecutive weeks" provision. As we have seen in this present session, the Senate may not conclude its deliberation for some time and final votes do not take place as expeditiously as we would like. If, for example, the Senate only votes on 2 or 3 bills in the span of three weeks, I do not think it is fair to allow expulsion proceedings.

This is a valid concern. I might also suggest that we do 10 consecutive missed final votes w/o a LOA as the limit since twenty as the limit could mean a Senator could be gone for the whole session and not miss that many votes if the Senate is not so active at that point.

OK - That sounds fine to me.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I am friendly to the amendment as well.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Motioning for a vote on the WM amendment

[LAKISYLVANIA]

VOTE OR DIE RESOLUTUON

1. Article VIII, Section 4 of the Senate Rules and Procedures shall be amended as follows:

4.) Expulsion proceedings shall be initiated if:

a.) a Senator has not posted anything on the Atlas Fantasy Government board for 168 consecutive hours and has not posted a valid Leave of Absence (then the time covered by that LOA shall not count toward those 168 hours, but periods of inactivity before and after the LOA shall count as a continuous period, provided there are no interceding posts).

A Senator misses tentwenty or more consecutive final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

...

A vote on the West Midlander Amendment is now open. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Aye

[West_Midlander]

Aye

[PPT Spiral]

Aye

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye

[Pyro]

Aye

[Sirius_]

Aye

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Aye

[Joseph Cao]

It is fairly common practice for PPTs to open a whole bunch of final votes at once. If, say, eleven of them get opened as part of a single vote-a-rama, should they count as consecutive?

[West_Midlander]

It is fairly common practice for PPTs to open a whole bunch of final votes at once. If, say, eleven of them get opened as part of a single vote-a-rama, should they count as consecutive?

Yes, otherwise, several vote-a-ramas could make up the whole session before getting to 15 sessions. We can consider raising to 15-20 votes after this vote.

[Joseph Cao]

Well, if so then a senator might be expelled for missing what is functionally a single vote.

The issue we want to fix is a senator being inactive enough to miss enough votes to be visibly neglecting their duties, but given the vast fluctuations possible in how active Senate business is at a given time it doesn't seem fair to peg it to just number of votes. Retaining the three-week provision was fine, just add something like

A Senator misses ten or more consecutive final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, whichever number of final votes is higher, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

[West_Midlander]

Well, if so then a senator might be expelled for missing what is functionally a single vote.

The issue we want to fix is a senator being inactive enough to miss enough votes to be visibly neglecting their duties, but given the vast fluctuations possible in how active Senate business is at a given time it doesn't seem fair to peg it to just number of votes. Retaining the three-week provision was fine, just add something like

A Senator misses ten or more consecutive final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, whichever number of final votes is higher, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

Thank you for the insight, Mr. President. I am introducing Cao's proposal as an amendment.

VOTE OR DIE RESOLUTUON

1. Article VIII, Section 4 of the Senate Rules and Procedures shall be amended as follows:

4.) Expulsion proceedings shall be initiated if:

a.) a Senator has not posted anything on the Atlas Fantasy Government board for 168 consecutive hours and has not posted a valid Leave of Absence (then the time covered by that LOA shall not count toward those 168 hours, but periods of inactivity before and after the LOA shall count as a continuous period, provided there are no interceding posts).

A Senator misses ten or more consecutive final votes or all final votes in three consecutive weeks, whichever number of final votes is higher, unless the Senator has posted a valid Leave of Absence in either the Atlasia Elections or Atlasia Government threads.

...

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Amendment passes 8-0-0-10

24 hours to object to the Cao amendment.