CXV Jon. I 2019 (Parliament)

The purpose of this Act is to codify the procedures of the House of Representatives and to formalise the structure of political parties within the House of Representatives.

The procedure through which a bill shall be presented, scrutinised and voted upon shall be as follows:

1. a Representative may propose a bill to be enacted;

2. the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall ask the House if they wish to debate on the proposed bill;

3. in accordance with the response received, the Speaker shall designate a period of time for debate at a length of their discretion;

4. the Speaker shall then ask the House if any Representative would like to propose an amendment;

5. any amendments proposed shall then be voted upon for a period of time at the Speaker’s discretion;

6. the bill shall then be voted upon for a period of time at the Speaker’s discretion;

7. following the end of the voting period, the Speaker shall declare the bill passed or failed, and if passed shall present the bill to the Monarch for Imperial Consent.

Should a Representative fail to vote in the period of time set by the Speaker, they shall be regarded to have abstained.

The procedure for amending bills as described in Paragraph 2 of this Act shall not be necessary for corrections to grammar, syntax, spelling or terminology within the bill in question, provided no Representative in attendance is opposed.

Within the House of Representatives, members shall be addressed as follows:

1. the Monarch, regardless of their status as a Representative, shall be addressed as “His (or Her) Imperial Majesty the Emperor (or Empress)”;

2. the Prime Minister shall be addressed as “the Prime Minister”;

3. the Speaker of the House shall be addressed as “Mister (or Madame) Speaker”;

4. the Leader of the Opposition shall be addressed as “the Leader of the Opposition”;

5. Representatives who are Nobles shall be addressed as “Lord (or Lady) [Surname]”;

6. Representatives who are entitled to the prenominal of Sir or Dame shall be addressed as “Sir (or Dame) [Forename]”;

7. Representatives who are not Nobles shall be addressed as “the Honourable Representative of [Town]” should they not hold a higher title.

When conducting business in the House, Representatives must address all statements and questions to the Speaker. Representatives shall not directly address statements to another Representative.

Political parties within the House of Representatives shall be organised as follows:

1. The political party or coalition of political parties that the Prime Minister belongs to shall be known within Parliament as “the Government”. Should the Prime Minister not belong to a political party, they shall designate the members of the Government within the House.

2. The largest political party which is not a member of His Imperial Majesty’s Government shall be known as “the Opposition”. The leader of the largest non-Government party in the House shall be known as the “Leader of the Opposition”.

3. Other political parties shall be known as “other parties”.

4. Independent Representatives who are not aligned with the Government or Opposition shall be known as “crossbenchers”. The crossbenchers may chose at their own discretion to designate a Convenor of the Crossbench to serve as their spokesperson.

The House of Representatives shall determine their official meeting place, virtual or physical.