Conflict in Senate Over Emergency Legislation
Speaker's Decision Deemed Controversial
Written by Astrellan
(Europeia, July 15, 2020) - Speaker of the Senate GraVandius faced two challenges in the Senate over his decision to enact clause 8bis of the Senate Protocol Act (SPA) in two Senate amendments, which would deem them "urgent bills" and bypass the time requirements needed before voting could be opened.
Both the Vice-President Requirement Amendment Act and the Vice President Restriction Amendment Act were declared urgent bills by GraVandius today. He gave a reason for this decision in the latter's thread, saying that the bill "could impact some people's willingness to run for vice-president in the upcoming Presidential election, with standing just a few days away."
The first bill would change the constitutional requirement for a vice president to be nominated to sit on the cabinet - a requirement first introduced in the executive split era - and would make it optional instead. The second bill would constitutionally restrict the vice president from sitting on the Senate, a feature which was included in Constitution V, before the executive split.
However, GraVandius' decision on both acts were challenged by multiple senators, with Senator Calvin using clause 42 of the SPA to oppose the speaker's decision. He states that he had "heard complaints that this issue is not being given its due consideration, and would benefit from a longer debate period," following it up by saying: "[W]e also have our duties as Senators to consider in this matter, which I believe is more important on this issue." Senator Pichtonia seconded the challenge, stating that he "disagree[s] of the usage of 8bis for matters of political convenience," and a vote occurred in both threads to determine whether the urgent bill decision should be overturned.
The vote ended 3-3-1 for both amendments, meaning the question failed to reach a majority. Senator Darkslayer agreed with Calvin and Pichtonia, while Senators Prim, Lime, and Verteger supported the speaker's decision. Lime stated that "we've already discussed both issues, enough so that we could vote on them, and each Senator came to their own conclusion" and mentioned his stance that the Senate "should provide clarity to each Presidential ticket."
This all comes after a failed vote over the Vice-President Modernization Amendment Act which contained the language of both these amendments. When put together in one bill, the combined effect was ultimately unpopular and failed to reach the supermajority threshold needed for a constitutional amendment. This spurred each amendment to be considered in their own bills.