PPT Candidacy Declaration Thread

[Brandon H]

Senators who wish to run for President Pro-Tempore shall announce so here. This thread shall remain open for 72 hours. (In case anyone is interested, I will not be running for PPT.)

[Sam Spade]

I am running for PPT. 

I will talk about some guidelines and rules for administrative guidance that I will follow - to provide consistency and fairness in administrative action tomorrow.

[Sam Spade]

A certain number of issues have arisen in past Senate sessions.  Here is the way I intend to deal with them uniformly, until changes to the OSPR are made:

Withdrawal:  If the sponsor withdraws the bill, it is withdrawn.  If someone else wishes to sponsor after withdrawal, the bill will be re-entered in the Legislation Intro Thread, but it goes to the "back of the line".  If the bill has more than one sponsor, all sponsors must publicly withdraw the bill for it to be withdrawn.

Censure:  If someone wants to bring a censure motion, that's fine with me, but it has no "real" value.  A majority of active Senators will be required to pass it.

Absentee Voting:  As long as the bill is on the Senate floor and voting on the full legislation has not started, I will accept any absentee votes made on full passage.  Similarly, with amendments - if the amendment is presently under debate on the Senate floor and voting has not started, I will allow absentee votes.  However, if the amendment has only been introduced, but debate has not started - no absentee votes will be counted.

Tabling Motions:  If someone wants to bring a motion to table the bill before a final vote on passage has begun, I will allow it.  However, I will require two-thirds of the Senate to pass such a motion. (in other words, I want there to be an overwhelming majority)

There are likely other situations I'm missing.  If someone has questions about how I would handle a situation, feel free to ask.

[Sam Spade]

I should also add that I will keeping a very open dialogue with the VP concerning matters of administration within the Senate - including discussion on the amendments to the OSPR that I'm presently drafting.

[Ebowed]

Withdrawal:  If the sponsor withdraws the bill, it is withdrawn.  If someone else wishes to sponsor after withdrawal, the bill will be re-entered in the Legislation Intro Thread, but it goes to the "back of the line".  If the bill has more than one sponsor, all sponsors must publicly withdraw the bill for it to be withdrawn.

It could be argued that the author of substantial amendments to a bill is co-sponsoring the bill if the original sponsor withdraws it.

[Sam Spade]

Withdrawal:  If the sponsor withdraws the bill, it is withdrawn.  If someone else wishes to sponsor after withdrawal, the bill will be re-entered in the Legislation Intro Thread, but it goes to the "back of the line".  If the bill has more than one sponsor, all sponsors must publicly withdraw the bill for it to be withdrawn.

It could be argued that the author of substantial amendments to a bill is co-sponsoring the bill if the original sponsor withdraws it.

Let me clarify.  To me, only a sponsor of a bill may withdraw it.  So, the question you're asking is "what is a sponsor"?

Sponsorship attaches to the person who posts the legislation on the Legislation Introduction Thread.  This occurs automatically.

If another Senator wishes to co-sponsor the bill, they may ask the original sponsor on the Legislation Intro Thread or the Protest and Analysis thread or if the bill is on the Senate floor.  The sponsor has the unilateral right to accept sponsorship or deny sponsorship.  If accepted, the two parties become co-sponsors.  If denied, tough luck.  Perhaps if some legislation is of great importance, we can create a motion where all Senators attach sponsorship, but I haven't come up with anything on that.

Co-sponsorship thus, does not attach through a great number of amendments to the bill, but rather from formal approval from the original creator of the bill.  In the spirit of collegiality and comity, it would be my hope that anyone who wants to co-sponsor a bill is not denied from doing so, but I think the original creator of the bill should retain that privilege.

Thus, as mentioned before, if the bill is to be withdrawn, the sponsor is the one who must withdraw it.  If there are multiple sponsors, each and every sponsor must publicly post that they withdraw it.

The only other real power of sponsorship that is specifically laid out in the OSPR is the power to request a veto override vote.  Clearly, any sponsor should be able to do this, and it should not be required by all sponsors.  In the VPs posted legislation, I will probably ask to co-sponsor in case of the odd occurrence where we pass VP legislation and the Prez vetoes it.

[Јas]

Being more than 72 hours from the opening of nominations and being as only one nomination has been forthcoming, Sam Spade is hereby deemed elected as the PPT.

[Sam Spade]

Thanks you all..   

[Colin]

Congrats Sam, you are an excellent person for the job and I wish the best for you.