1. Section 3 of the Regional Assembly Rules is amended as follows:
2. Unless otherwise specified by law, the Speaker may delegate any of their powers and duties to a Deputy Speaker. Delegation under this section does not relieve the Speaker of any of their powers and duties. Any provisions of law related to the powers and duties of the Speaker, when exercised by a Deputy Speaker under the provisions of this clause, shall apply to the Deputy Speaker.
3. When there is a vacancy or absence in the office of Speaker and no Acting Speaker is appointed, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure since their most recent appointment will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the vacancy or absence, respectively. When there is simultaneously a vacancy or absence in the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker is simultaneously vacant, the citizen who is available, has the longest period of citizenship, does not decline the position, and is not otherwise prohibited by law will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the simultaneous vacancy or absence.
This law is relatively simple and is intended to create greater parity between the Standing Procedures of the Regional Assembly and the Rules of the Regional Assembly.
Currently, the Rules of the Regional Assembly pertaining to the succession of the Speaker should the office become vacant or absent are as follows:
Section 3.3 of the Regional Assembly Rules:
3. When there is a vacancy or absence in the position of Speaker, the Deputy Speaker will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the vacancy or absence, respectively.
3. If no Acting Speaker is designated or is unavailable, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure (since their most recent appointment) shall be Acting Speaker when the office is vacant or when the Speaker is absent.
There is a clear difference between these two documents, as the Rules seem to assume there would always be a single Deputy Speaker, whereas the Standing Procedures have a separate set of guidelines. There are a couple primary issues with this:
1. The Speaker has the power to change the Standing Procedures at any time, leaving tremendous room for abuse in changing the line of succession, which is why I think it should be better codified.
2. We have always deferred to the Standing Procedures on this issue, but the Rules are currently outdated as to the current functioning of the Speaker's Office, as it is now common to have many Deputy Speakers rather than just a single, so this change would bring the Rules up to date.
3. Parity is good! There is no really a reason not to ensure that the Procedures and Rules stipulate the same thing, it minimizes confusion and ensures that our government is as streamlined as possible
Should this law pass, I would also amend the standing procedures as follows:
Acting Speaker Procedures:
If no Acting Speaker is designated or is unavailable, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure (since their most recent appointment) shall be Acting Speaker when the office is vacant or when the Speaker is absent.
1. Section 3 of the Regional Assembly Rules is amended as follows:
2. Unless otherwise specified by law, the Speaker may delegate any of their powers and duties to a Deputy Speaker. Delegation under this section does not relieve the Speaker of any of their powers and duties. Any provisions of law related to the powers and duties of the Speaker, when exercised by a Deputy Speaker under the provisions of this clause, shall apply to the Deputy Speaker.
3. When there is a vacancy or absence in the office of Speaker and no Acting Speaker is appointed, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure (since their most recent appointment) will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the vacancy or absence, respectively. When there is simultaneously a vacancy or absence in the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker is simultaneously vacant, the citizen who is available, has the longest period of citizenship, does not decline the position, and is not otherwise prohibited by law will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the simultaneous vacancy or absence.
Only minor change I'd suggest is getting rid of the brackets, replace with commas or something. I'm aware it's that way in the standing orders, but you could amend the standing orders to reflect the wording in the RA rules, if this is adopted.
Only minor change I'd suggest is getting rid of the brackets, replace with commas or something. I'm aware it's that way in the standing orders, but you could amend the standing orders to reflect the wording in the RA rules, if this is adopted.
I'm not sure commas are grammatically necessary, so it would be changed to "When there is a vacancy or absence in the office of Speaker and no Acting Speaker is appointed, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure since their most recent appointment will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the vacancy or absence, respectively."
I'm not sure commas are grammatically necessary, so it would be changed to "When there is a vacancy or absence in the office of Speaker and no Acting Speaker is appointed, the Deputy Speaker with the longest tenure since their most recent appointment will assume the powers and duties of the office of the Speaker for the duration of the vacancy or absence, respectively."
Unless we adopt a procedure of naming Deputy Speakers with explicit orders (so first deputy speaker, second deputy speaker etc) like the way the South Korean government went down with acting presidents (they got to the third guy, the education minister, since the first two acting presidents both quit), this cleanup makes sense.
