Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives

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Drafted by the House Rules Committee

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Submitted on June 24, 2020

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Adopted on June 30, 2020

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# **TITLE I - REPRESENTATIVES AND HOUSE BODIES**

## **CHAPTER 1 - REPRESENTATIVES**

### **Rule 1 – Representatives**

Persons elected to the House of Representatives shall be referred to as: a "Representative", "Rep.", “congressperson”, “congresswoman”, or “congressman”. Representatives may address one another as “colleagues”

### **Rule 2 – Standards of conduct**

1. The conduct of Representatives shall be characterised by mutual respect. Representatives shall respect the House’s dignity and shall not harm its reputation.

2. Representatives shall not disrupt the good order on the floor of the House and shall refrain from improper behaviour. Representatives shall not resort to offensive language on the floor.

*The assessment of whether the language used by a Representative in a debate is offensive or not should take into consideration, inter alia, the identifiable intentions of the speaker, the perception of the statement by the public, the extent to which it harms the dignity and reputation of the House, and the freedom of speech of the Representative concerned.*

*The provisions of this rule shall apply mutatis mutandis to confirmation hearings and other House bodies.*

3. The application of this Rule shall not otherwise detract from the liveliness of parliamentary debates, nor shall it undermine a Representative's freedom of speech.

## **CHAPTER 2 - OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE**

### **Rule 3 – Provisional Speaker**

1. At the first sitting of a term, and at any other sitting held for the purpose of electing the Speaker, the outgoing Speaker or, failing them, the outgoing Speaker Pro Tempore, or, failing them, the Vice-President of the United States shall take the chair until the Speaker has been elected.

2. No business shall be conducted until such time as a Speaker has been elected, except the election of the Speaker.

### **Rule 4 – Candidates**

The Speaker shall be elected by a vote of all Representatives. All of the Party Leaders in the House, unless they request their name be removed from the ballot, shall stand for the election.

### **Rule 5 – Election of the Speaker and appointment of the Speaker Pro Tempore – opening address**

1. The candidate who has received the most votes shall be elected as Speaker. The candidate who has received the second highest number of votes shall be elected as Minority Leader.

2. As soon as the Speaker has been elected, they shall take the chair. Only the elected Speaker may deliver an opening address.

3. The Speaker shall announce the appointment of a Speaker Pro Tempore as soon as possible.

### **Rule 6 – Vacancies**

1. If it becomes necessary for the Speaker or the Speaker Pro Tempore to be replaced, a successor shall be elected or appointed in accordance with Rule 5.

2. If the office of Speaker becomes vacant, the Speaker Pro Tempore shall act as Speaker until a new Speaker is elected.

## **CHAPTER 3 - OFFICES AND DUTIES**

### **Rule 7 – Duties of the Speaker**

1. The Speaker shall direct all the activities of the House in accordance with these Rules and shall enjoy all powers that are necessary to preside over the proceedings of the House and to ensure that they are properly conducted.

2. The duties of the Speaker shall be to call the House to order, to put the House in recess, and to adjourn the House; to rule on the admissibility of amendments and other texts put to the vote; to ensure observance of these Rules; to maintain order; to call upon speakers; to close debates; to put matters to the vote and to announce the results of votes; to sign any document passed by the House.

3. The Speaker shall, upon calling the House to order on each sitting day, announce which bills, resolutions, or other documents are on the agenda for the day. It shall be the Speaker’s discretion to decide on the agenda.

4. The Speaker may speak in a debate only to sum up or to call speakers to order. Should the Speaker wish to take part in a debate, they shall vacate the chair and shall not reoccupy it until the debate is over.

### **Rule 8 – Duties of the Speaker Pro-Tempore**

1. If the Speaker is absent or unable to discharge their duties, or if the Speaker wishes to take part in a debate pursuant to Rule 7(4), they shall be replaced by the Speaker Pro-Tempore.

2. The Speaker may delegate any duties to the Speaker Pro-Tempore.

### **Rule 9 – House Party Leadership**

1. On the eleventh of each month, each Party in the House of Representatives shall, amongst themselves, elect a Party Leader. The other members of each House Party Leadership shall be a Deputy Leader, a Chief Whip, and a Deputy Whip, to be chosen how each party sees fit.

2. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, once sworn in, shall choose someone to become House Majority Leader, and will no longer be considered Party Leader.

3. No person who is elected to the Senate, or a member of the Administration, shall serve in House Party Leadership.

### **Rule 10 – Continuity of an office during the election period**

When a new House is elected, all bodies and office holders of the outgoing House shall continue to be in office until the first sitting of the new House.

# **TITLE II - SUBMISSION, DEBATE, AND WITHDRAWAL OF DOCUMENTS**

### **Rule 11 – Submission**

1. The Speaker shall appoint a House Clerk at the beginning of each session of Congress. A channel shall be made where representatives may request from the House Clerk a reference for a document. Such reference shall consist of a characterization of the nature of the document and an attributed number, in the following manner:

* a. “H.R. [number]” for Bills;
* b. “H.Res. [number]” for Resolutions;
* c. “H.J.Res. [number]” for Joint Resolutions;
* d. “H.Con.Res [number]” for Concurring Resolutions;
* e. “H.C.Rep. [number]” for Committee Reports;
* f. Any other reference as may be necessary to account for the diversity of the documents submitted, provided that in includes a number.

The number for the first reference attributed after the beginning of a new session of Congress shall start at 1 (one), and continue in numerical order for the duration of the session, regardless of the nature of the documents.

2. Bills, Resolution, and other documents submitted to the House shall be submitted in the Legislative Docket.

3. The visible name of each document submitted in the Legislative Docket shall be its reference as attributed by the House Clerk.

4. No document may be submitted unless co-sponsored by at least two Representatives, in addition to its author.

5. No document may be submitted that hasn’t been previously put up in the draft-and-collaborate-legislation channel for review, comment and suggestions by Representatives.

### **Rule 12 – Debate on the House floor**

1. When the Speaker has put a bill or document on the agenda for a specific sitting day, Representatives may ask for the floor to speak on it.

2. Votes on bills and documents shall be put up one hour after debate on it has started.

### **Rule 13 – Withdrawal**

A submitted bill or document may be withdrawn by its author at any time prior to it being put up to a vote.

### **Rule 14 – Presidential vetoes**

1. If the President of the United States vetoes a bill, a debate shall be held on the bill and accompanying message on the following sitting day, unless objected to by both the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader.

2. Votes on repassing the bill over the President’s objections shall be put up one hour after debate on it has started.

# **TITLE III - RELATIONS WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND BODIES**

## **CHAPTER 1 - CONFIRMATION HEARINGS**

### **Rule 15 – Confirmation of a Cabinet appointment**

1. When the House has to confirm a Presidential nominee to a Cabinet Position, the confirmation may be put on the agenda on any sitting day. Debate shall take place in the designated channel.

2. The nominee shall take questions from Representatives, and answer these questions.

3. Representatives shall have the right to ask questions to a nominee without requesting the floor, provided that they respect the flow of questioning and don’t disturb the hearing. If necessary to ensure the proper conduct of a hearing, the Speaker may bring order to the hearing and request that Representatives only speak when recognised.

4. The nomination shall be put to a vote one hour after the beginning of the hearing. The Speaker may allow hearings to last longer than an hour.

## **CHAPTER 2 - TRANSMISSION OF PASSED DOCUMENTS**

### **Rule 16 – Transmission of passed documents**

The Speaker shall, where required, transmit documents passed by the House to the Senate, the President of the United States, or any other institution to which the transmission has been ordered by the House.

# **TITLE IV - FLOOR PROCEEDINGS**

## **CHAPTER 1 - SESSIONS OF THE HOUSE**

### **Rule 17 – Parliamentary term, session, part-sessions, sittings**

The parliamentary term shall run according to the Constitution. It shall be a single session. The House shall be in session every day, unless it has adjourned to a later day. Each day where debates or votes can take place is a sitting day.

## **CHAPTER 2 - ORDER OF BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE**

### **Rule 18 – Agenda**

The Speaker shall decide on the bills and documents on the agenda for each sitting day. The agenda shall be announced when the Speaker calls the House to order at the beginning of said day.

## **CHAPTER 3 - GENERAL RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF SITTINGS**

### **Rule 19 – Speaker recognition**

1. Any Representative wishing to speak on a topic on the agenda may do so by asking for the floor on the House’s floor.

2. Representatives may not speak unless called upon to do so by the Speaker. Upon finishing their speech, Representatives shall yield the floor.

3. Representatives may ask questions to another Representative regarding remarks they previously delivered, in which case their request for the floor should have priority over other requests. The Speaker may refuse to recognise a Representative if they believes the Representative is abusing this prerogative.

4. When given the floor, no Representative may speak for more than one full Discord message (2000 signs) before yielding the floor. Representatives should endeavour to post their whole speech in a single message, with the exception of: (i) a thank-you sentence addressed to the Speaker; and (b) a sentence to yield the floor.

5. The Majority Leader and Minority Leader shall have priority over other Representatives and are given the floor immediately upon request.

### **Rule 20 – Prevention of obstruction**

The Speaker shall have the power to compel a Representative to yield, and to put an end to the excessive use of motions such as points of order, where they are convinced that the Representative is abusing their speaking rights, or that those points and motions are manifestly intended to cause, and would result in, a prolonged and serious obstruction of the procedures of the House or the rights of Representatives.

### **Rule 21 – Admittance to the floor**

No individual who is not a Representative shall be admitted to, or speak on the floor of the House, unless they have been otherwise granted permission to do so by the Speaker.

### **Rule 22 – Mutual respect**

Speeches shall be addressed to the Speaker, and to no other individual member. No Representative shall directly name another one, except by referring to them by their title.

## **CHAPTER 4- MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN THE EVENT OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE STANDARDS OF CONDUCT OF REPRESENTATIVES**

### **Rule 23 – Immediate measures**

1. The Speaker shall call to order any Representative who breaches the standards of conduct.

2. If the breach is repeated, the Speaker shall call the Representative to order a second time.

3. If the breach continues, or if a further breach is committed, the Representative may be denied the right to speak and may be excluded from the Chamber by the Sergeant-at-Arms on orders of the Speaker for the remainder of the sitting day, or for any time period not longer than 24 hours. In cases of exceptional seriousness, the Speaker may also resort to exclusion of the Representative concerned from the House for the remainder of the sitting immediately and without a second call to order.

4. The Speaker may delete from the record those parts of a speech by a Representative that breach these Rules.

### **Rule 24 – Reprimand and Censorship**

1. In serious cases of breach of these Rules by a Representative, any other Representative may submit a resolution concluding to the Representative’s reprimand, or censure.

2. Such resolution shall be debated on the sitting day following that of its submission, for no longer than one hour, and submitted to a vote.

### **Rule 25 – Expulsion**

1. If motioned for, and seconded, the House shall vote on expelling a Representative who has repeatedly, by their behaviour, obstructed its proceedings, degraded its image, or shown disrespect to another Representative.

2. Votes on a motion to expel a Representative shall last 24 hours, and the motion shall require a majority of two thirds of all votes cast to be carried.

## **CHAPTER 5 - QUORUM AND VOTING**

### **Rule 26 – Quorum**

The House may deliberate and vote regardless of the number of Representatives present.

### **Rule 27 – Right to vote**

The right to vote is a personal right. Representatives shall cast their votes individually and in person.

### **Rule 28 – Voting**

1. As a general rule, the House shall vote by reacting to posts made by the Speaker in the relevant channel.

2. In calculating whether a text has been adopted or rejected, account shall be taken only of votes cast for and against, with more votes in favour than against needed for approval. This provision shall not apply in cases where a different requirement for a majority is provided by the Constitution, or by law.

3. The Speaker shall establish the result of the vote and announce it.

### **Rule 29 – Tied votes**

In the event of a tied vote, the Vice-President of the United States shall have a casting vote. If they do not wish to do so, the matter shall be deemed rejected.

*The Speaker may vote, but shall not have a casting vote.*

### **Rule 30 – Votes**

1. All votes on a Bill, Resolution, or other document called in the House have a maximum length of 24 hours.

2. The result of such vote may be called after a minimum of 12 hours have elapsed from the time the voting started provided that:

* a. There is unanimous support either for or against the bill or resolution being voted upon.
* b. All debate on the vote has come to a conclusion in the opinion of the Speaker.

3. The result of such vote can be called after 18 hours have elapsed since the start of the voting provided that:

* a. The difference between the number of  Ayes and Nays is greater than 15 votes.
* b. All debate on the vote has come to a conclusion in the opinion of the Speaker.

4. No early result can be called when either/or:

* a. The difference between the number of  Ayes and Nays is less than 15 votes.
* b. All debate on the vote has not come to a conclusion.

5. The result cannot be called early if 22 hours of voting have elapsed.

6. Constitutional amendments must be given the maximum of 24 hours of voting time.

7. The vote will be considered void and invalid if:

* a. The Speaker calls the vote early in violation of this Rule.
* b. The Speaker calls the result of a vote early when debate over the legislation in question is still ongoing.
* c. The Speaker must declare the result of a vote as quickly as they can after the 24 hours have elapsed. Failure to do this will require the Speaker to justify to the House at least one good reason, as specified Rule 30, for their delay or absence.
* d. If one hour after the maximum time of 24 hours has elapsed and the result has not been called and the speaker does not have a valid reason for absence as stated in Rule 30.

8. If a vote is considered void and invalid then a revote must take place within 7 days of the original vote starting.

### **Rule 31 – Reasons for delay in announcing the results of votes**

Good reasons for delayed declaration of the result of a vote include:

* a. Sickness
* b. Religious reasons
* c. Bereavement
* d. School work
* e. Paid work
* f. Voluntary work

## **CHAPTER 6 - POINTS OF ORDER AND PROCEDURAL MOTIONS**

### **Rule 32 – Points of order**

1. Representatives may have the floor in order to draw the attention of the Speaker to any failure to comply with these Rules.

2. A request to raise a point of order shall take precedence over all other requests for the floor or procedural motions.

3. The Speaker shall take an immediate decision on points of order in accordance with the Rules and shall announce it immediately after the point of order has been raised. No vote shall be taken concerning the Speaker’s decision.

### **Rule 33 – Parliamentary inquiry**

Representatives may have the floor in order to ask any question pertaining to the Rules of the House and the conduct of debate or voting. The Speaker shall answer such questions rapidly.

### **Rule 34 – Procedural motions**

1. Representatives may have the floor in order to move one of the following motions:

* a. Take down words from the record: if agreed, the mentioned words shall be taken out of the official record of the House;
* b. Cloture: if agreed, the item upon which cloture has been invoked shall be immediately put up to a vote;
* C; Appeal the ruling of the Chair: if agreed, the appealed decision shall be voided.

2. Upon being moved, a motion must within five minutes be seconded by another Representative or, failing that, be void.

3. Upon being seconded, a motion may be objected to within five minutes or, failing that, will be considered passed by unanimous consent.

4. Representatives may reserve the right to object to a motion. Motion on which the right to object has been reserved may be debated for no more than half an hour, after which time the Representative shall decide whether to voice their objection, or wave it.

5. If a motion has been objected to, the Speaker shall put up a vote on the motion. Such vote shall be called after being up for one hour. The Speaker shall announce the result of the vote.

## **CHAPTER 7 - PUBLICATIONS OF ADOPTED TEXTS**

### **Rule 35 – Adopted texts**

Texts adopted by the House shall be published immediately after the vote.

# **TITLE V - AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE**

### **Rule 36 – Amendments to the Rules of Procedure**

1. Any Representative may propose amendments to these Rules. Such amendment shall take the form of a House Resolution. The Speaker shall examine them and decide whether to submit them to the House.

2. Unless otherwise specified when the vote is taken, amendments to these Rules shall enter into force on the first sitting day following that of their adoption.

# **TITLE VI - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS**

### **Rule 37 – Unfinished business**

At the end of the last sitting day before elections, the House's unfinished business shall not be deemed to have lapsed, but shall continue to the next term.

### **Rule 38 – Corrigenda**

1. If an error is identified in a document adopted by the House, the Speaker shall, where appropriate, submit a draft corrigendum to the House.

2. The corrigendum shall be announced at the following sitting day. It shall be deemed to have been approved unless, not later than 24 hours after its announcement, a request is made by a Party Leader that it be put to a vote.

3. Approved corrigenda shall be published in the same way as the document to which they refer.