[Draft] Procedure of the Deshret

[Cormac]

Procedure of the Deshret

Section 1: Membership of the Deshret

1. The Deshret will be comprised of all citizens of Osiris who have applied for membership in the Deshret and who have maintained active involvement in a Priesthood of the Hedjet, as certified by the Vizier of Osiris.

2. Any Councilor of the Deshret who fails to maintain activity in one or more Priesthoods of the Hedjet according to a monthly review by the Vizier will be removed from the membership rolls of the Deshret but will be eligible for reapplication upon again being certified for active involvement in a Priesthood of the Hedjet.

3. Any Councilor who misses three or more consecutive votes in the Deshret without declaring an official leave of absence will be removed from the membership rolls of the Deshret but will be eligible for reapplication.

4. The Deshret may, by a two-thirds supermajority of votes cast over a five day period, remove a Councilor for conduct unbecoming of a Councilor of the Deshret. Any Councilor removed under this provision will not be eligible for reapplication for a period of four months.

5. The Pharaoh and Vizier of Osiris will be non-voting, ex officio Councilors of the Deshret for the duration of their term(s) in office.

Section 2: Operation of the Deshret

1. Any Councilor of the Deshret may introduce a proposal before the Deshret. A proposal will go to vote only after a mandatory consideration period of three days, which may be extended to seven days at the discretion of the Keeper. A proposal will then proceed to vote after a motion to vote on the proposal has been made by any Councilor and seconded by any two additional Councilors.

(a) The Keeper may at his discretion delay a vote for up to seven days if two or more proposals are already at vote.

2. Only the Pharaoh may introduce treaties or agreements with other regions before the Deshret, which will follow the same process as any other proposal introduced before the Deshret.

3. Any proposal, treaty, or agreement at vote before the Deshret, unless otherwise dictated by this Procedure or by constitutional documents, will only pass the Deshret if a simple majority of votes cast over a five day period are in favor of the proposal.

(a) For a vote to be valid, a simple majority of all Councilors must cast a vote of aye, nay, or present.

4. Councilors of the Deshret may vote aye, in favor of a proposal; nay, against a proposal; or present, indicating a vote neither in favor nor against but that one has participated in the vote for the purpose of retaining membership in the Deshret.

Section 3: Presiding Officer of the Deshret

1. The Keeper of the Deshret will serve as the presiding officer of the Deshret for a term of two months. There will be no limit on the number of terms a Keeper may serve.

2. The Keeper will be elected by the Deshret from among its membership in elections administered by the Vizier. The Pharaoh and the Vizier will be ineligible to declare candidacy for or serve as Keeper.

3. The election period for Keeper will begin with a three day period for nominations and declarations of candidacy, followed by a four day period for voting. Any candidate for Keeper may begin campaigning immediately upon declaring his candidacy.

4. Should the office of Keeper become vacant, an election for a new Keeper will immediately commence. The Vizier will preside over the Deshret for the duration of the vacancy.

5. The Deshret may, by a two-thirds supermajority of votes cast over a five day period, remove the Keeper from office. The process for removing the Keeper will follow the same process as any other proposal introduced before the Deshret and will be administered by the Vizier.

6. The Keeper will be responsible for the following duties:

(a) Maintaining the membership rolls of the Deshret according to the criteria established by Section 1 of this Procedure;

(b) Executing the processes for proposals, treaties, and agreements introduced before the Deshret as established by Section 2 of this Procedure and for presenting legislation that has passed the Deshret to the Pharaoh for his signature or veto;

(c) Maintaining a law index that includes all passed constitutional documents, statutes, treaties, agreements, and amendments to such laws;

(d) Establishing additional rules for order and other processes for the operation of the Deshret provided that they do not conflict with this Procedure;

(e) Making cosmetic changes to the wording of the Procedure that do not conflict with existing legislation and that do not make any substantive change to the membership requirements, operation, or powers of the Deshret or any of its Councilors, and documenting such changes in an area accessible to all citizens of the Osiris Fraternal Order.

7. The Keeper will be empowered to appoint deputies to assist in the execution of the powers and duties of his office.

This draft is adapted from the Procedure of the Deshret passed by the Deshret on our former forum. I thought it would make a good working draft for Councilors to revise as they see fit.

[Dennrick]

Looks good to me on my first read through.

[shetef]

Looks fine to me. Would the Keeper of the Deshret be a member of the Hedjet?

[Cormac]

Looks fine to me. Would the Keeper of the Deshret be a member of the Hedjet?

I hadn't intended for the Keeper to automatically be a member of the Hedjet, in order to preserve separation of powers. But I'm open to discussing the idea.

The Deshret could elect a Scribe as Keeper. The only officials ineligible for being elected Keeper are the Pharaoh and the Vizier, at least in the draft as currently written.

[Old Federalia]

Concerning Section 2.3:
"Any proposal, treaty, or agreement at vote before the Deshret, unless otherwise dictated by this Procedure or by constitutional documents, will only pass the Deshret if a simple majority of votes cast over a five day period, or after all Councilors have voted, are in favor of the proposal."

Imagine there are two simultaneous votes. Everyone votes by the fourth day on Proposal A, and the vote closes on the fourth day with 3 ayes and 2 nays. Then on the fifth day, a new councilor joins and casts the deciding vote against Proposal Vote B. Now, with Proposal A, if the new councilor joined on the fourth day and voted against, the vote would have failed as well.

Alternately, imagine there are 5 councilors and 3 vote for a proposal. Even if the other two councilors voted nay, the proposal would pass. Would that vote be eligible for early closing? Perhaps a new councilor joins on day 5 and all three vote nay and the proposal fails.

Is there any difference between the two situations?

One final question, how about a quorum? Should a small group be able to pass legislation if they are given five days to themselves?

[barrios]

Everything looks fine to me.

[Charles Cerebella]

Section 2: Operation of the Deshret

1. Any Councilor of the Deshret may introduce a proposal before the Deshret. A proposal will go to vote within seven days after a motion to vote on the proposal has been made by any Councilor and seconded by any two additional Councilors.

I think the wording of this needs tightening up. What happens if after seven days discussion is still going on and a motion to vote hasn't happened? What happens if someone motions to vote and is approved by two Councilors but other Councilors disagree?

Perhaps instead:

. Any Councilor of the Deshret may introduce a proposal before the Deshret. All proposals must be discussed for at least five days. After this time a vote will be held to move the proposal to vote or to go to a second reading. If a proposal goes to a second reading, it may be discussed for up to seven days before it is automatically moved to a vote. A motion to vote may be made by a Councilor. If seconded by three other Councilors the Keeper may move it to a vote if they believe there is benefit from further discussion.

The wording can no doubt be improved upon but hopefully some kind of system like that would throw up less issues.

Additionally:

2. The Pharaoh may introduce treaties or agreements with other regions before the Deshret, which will follow the same process as any other proposal introduced before the Deshret.

I suggest altering the wording to make it clear that only the Pharaoh can introduce treaties.

[Cormac]

Old Federalia - You bring up a valid point. What are everyone's thoughts on removing the "after all Councilors have voted" clause and extending the voting time to seven days? I would also be potentially fine with a quorum proposal but I'm not entirely sure how to word that, what threshold to set, etc.

Cere - As currently worded, the seven day time limit only applies after a motion to vote has been made and seconded by two others. If there hasn't been a motion to vote and two seconds, discussion can continue beyond seven days if necessary -- it can theoretically go on as long as the Deshret wants. If a motion is made and seconded by two others and other Councilors disagree, they can simply vote against.

I like the system you propose and have seen it used quite efficiently in other regions, including Europeia. My concern is that I've primarily seen it used in representative legislatures, i.e. those with a fixed number of elected members. I have concerns about the efficiency of it in a directly democratic assembly, asking a large number of people to vote numerous times on one piece of legislation. Has this been used in other legislative assemblies like the Deshret?

Agreed on fixing the language related to treaties, I'll update the draft.

[Dennrick]

I think 7 days for voting is too long and would prefer 5.

I also am not a fan of quorum's in NS legislatures but would have to see how it is worded before I have an opinion.

[Charles Cerebella]

Cere - As currently worded, the seven day time limit only applies after a motion to vote has been made and seconded by two others. If there hasn't been a motion to vote and two seconds, discussion can continue beyond seven days if necessary -- it can theoretically go on as long as the Deshret wants. If a motion is made and seconded by two others and other Councilors disagree, they can simply vote against.

I like the system you propose and have seen it used quite efficiently in other regions, including Europeia. My concern is that I've primarily seen it used in representative legislatures, i.e. those with a fixed number of elected members. I have concerns about the efficiency of it in a directly democratic assembly, asking a large number of people to vote numerous times on one piece of legislation. Has this been used in other legislative assemblies like the Deshret?

Agreed on fixing the language related to treaties, I'll update the draft.

So you need to motion to vote seven days in advance of when you want to vote?