RULES OF DEBATE
I. Ian Jeffrey Slavin nominated
Chairman.
II. Robert's Rules Of Order, Newly
Revised, are the basis for rules and procedures at this Convention.
III. The following additions are made to
Robert's Rules:
A. Friendly Amendments
1. An incidental motion to the main motion shall be
considered a friendly amemdment in the first instance.
2. A friendly amendment will be accepted to be part of the
original motion if it receives the concurrence of the maker of the main motion
as well as the second. If there is no concurrence, Robert's Rules for
incidental motions may be invoked (meaning an incidental motion is made,
seconded, debated and voted upon to make it part of the main motion before the
main debate contunes on the main motion).
B. Debate on any one main motion shall be limited to two posted opinions from each of the members, unless there is an incidental motion to extend debate (meaning it cannot be a friendly amendment).
IV. All debates on any one motion are
limited to one calandar week from the time a motion has been seconded, and
opened for debate by the Chair.
However, any member may ask to extend this time limit via friendly
amendment, providing the request is made prior to the expiration of the one
week time limit, and concurrence is obtained within one week of the proposed
time extention posting.
V. All motions will be listed in the
Subject field. Upon a second for the
motion the subject field prefix will be changed from "Motion" to
"Debate" followed by the motion title. The Chair, upon a motion
achieving a second, will initiate a new thread stating the motion, that it has
been seconded, and that debate may begin.
VI. Any seconded motion for a rule
supercedes all discussion until the rule is accepted, rejected, or
postponed. Motions shall be dealt with
in the order of posting.
VII. Majority and Quorum:
A. A motion is accepted or postponed on the concurrence of
three-quarters of the members voting within one week.
B. Membership participation of greater than fifty percent is
required for a vote to be considered valid.
VIII. In addition to the “Motion” and
"Debate" subjects prefixes, an additional "Vote" prefix be
used to record votes only.
IX. Addressing the Members:
A. The Members be addressed individually with the commonly
accepted Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Dr., or what ever each chooses to be called,
followed by their last name.
B. The Members may also be addressed individually by their
location, for example the "Member from Vermont," in the case of Mr.
Mount, however, in the case of two or more Members residing in one state that
the titles, "Senior Member" and "Junior Member" be applied
to the two Members (where the Junior Member shall be the Member with the
shorter time as a Member of usconstitution.net debates).
C. Collectively, the Members be addressed by the word
"Members," where the first letter is capitalized.
X. A member not using his two post
limit can yield the balance to another member. The Chair will be made aware
that both member's agree.
XI. A Nominating Committee shall be
formed for the purpose of adding new members to the Constitutional Convention
2.