NE1: The Role of the Speaker Amendment

[Talleyrand]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Sponsor: Governor Sir Nick

Governor, you have 24 hours to advocate for this bill. Debate will last 72 hours in total.

[sentinel]

Ok. A while back we had Spenster go inactive when he was both Lieutenant Governor and Speaker. We couldn't get a new Speaker because the Lieutenant Governor opens voting and nominations. That was a problem.

Now,thanks to the Northeast Cabinet Amendment, the Governor appoints the Lieutenant Governor. Personally, I won't allow the Speaker and Lieutenant Governor to be the same person BUT that doesn't mean a Governor won't do that in the future.

This amendment would prohibit someone from simultaneously serving as Speaker and Lieutenant Governor. It also gives the Chief Judicial Officer the power to open nominations for Speaker.

I'm fine with amending this and making it an edit to the SOAP, or a normal bill --I just wasn't sure which one would "do the trick" so to say. As long as the end result is the same, its fine with me.

I'm going to ping Dallasfan to see if we can get his input on this.

[Earthling]

Is this not to restrictive? The Lieutenant Governor is also a member of the Assembly, so I think he or she should be able to run for Speaker as well. Otherwise, the job of LG is pretty empty.

I am fine with the CJO opening the vote for the Speakership. It makes sure that a situation like that with Spenster does not happen again.

[sentinel]

Is this not to restrictive? The Lieutenant Governor is also a member of the Assembly, so I think he or she should be able to run for Speaker as well. Otherwise, the job of LG is pretty empty.

I am fine with the CJO opening the vote for the Speakership. It makes sure that a situation like that with Spenster does not happen again.

The Lt Gov can run for Speaker, he just can't serve as both simultaneously. The Lt Gov position is much like the Vice Presidency otherwise. Needed but not the most exciting.

[sentinel]

Bump.

[Cincinnatus]

I'd rather attach this to the SOAP.  Is this objectionable?

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

Sorry I took so long, guys.

While the Constitution outlines a position of Speaker, it does not outline (unless I'm missing something here) how the Speaker is to be selected, deferring such authority to the Assembly itself. Thus, I see no problem with simply amending the SOAP to prohibit the Assembly from selecting the Lieutenant Governor as Speaker.

A provision to allow for the CJO to open up a vote for Speaker may require an amendment, however.

It seems as if you guys don't do it this way anymore, but originally the Lieutenant Governor was the presiding officer of the Assembly rather than just a designated successor, and the Speaker only presided when the Lieutenant Governor was unavailable.

However, soon there was established what I call the "Smid precedent", where the Speaker was the de-facto presiding officer. When Smid was appointed Lieutenant Governor, he was rather busy IRL and left most duties to the Speaker, cinyc. Lieutenant Governors came and went, but the idea of Speaker being the full-time presiding officer became vogue pretty quickly.

I do believe the Old Constitution had a provision to allow the Governor to assume the duties of the Lieutenant Governor in his absence (and thus open votes for Speaker) as Governor hantheguitarman did, but now I'm just ruminating outloud.

[sentinel]

FYI I'm fine w/ changing this to be an amendment to the SOAP. I also want to defer to Dallasfan on this issue because he is not only CJO but also the resident Northeast historian

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

FYI I'm fine w/ changing this to be an amendment to the SOAP. I also want to defer to Dallasfan on this issue because he is not only CJO but also the resident Northeast historian

Perhaps AndrewCT will have to make a return and humble me.

Also, while perusing the Constitution I noticed this gem:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Why is this mentioned twice? Is this simply a typo in the wiki? I'll have to do some investigation.

[Talleyrand]

Cinci, do you want to propose an amendment to add this to the SOAP?

[sentinel]

Proposed Amendment

You must be logged in to read this quote.