PD-SC-1001 Parliament Policy
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PD-SC-1001 Parliament Policy was issued 12 October 2023 by the Chairman of the Grand Alliance Joint Chiefs of Staff. This policy document establishes the Parliament Policy for The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. (TRMN).
PD-SC-1001
1. An internal deliberative body shall be created within the organization to allow more voices to contribute to the welfare and success of the organization outside the chain of command.
2. This body shall collectively be referred to as Parliament and consist of two separate bodies.
3. Each body shall act independent of the other but shall both agree on recommendations sent to organizational committees for consideration.
4. All recommendations shall only be sent to the Chair of the Steering Committee, who shall forward the information to the appropriate body for consideration, if appropriate.
5. Each body shall review submissions and approve members to receive the Parliamentary Medal of Valor and Queen's Cross for Bravery (or other branch equivalents).
6. The upper house of Parliament shall be known as the House of Lords and consists of all members who have received a TRMN peerage and are members in good standing.
7. The standard term of office in the House of Lords shall be for life, unless due to extended inactivity or for such cause as otherwise determined by House rules.
8. The duties of the House of Lords shall be:
- a. As obtaining a peerage within the TRMN is seen as the highest honor, these members are known for their dedication and service to the organization. It is therefore expected this wealth of institutional knowledge and experience to be used to propose, debate, and submit recommendations for consideration.
- b. They shall elect a Lord Speaker, who shall appoint a deputy, to serve a term of one year.
- c. The Lord Speaker shall lead the House of Lords in performing its duties and responsibilities, including, if present, presiding over all debates, and shall perform all other duties incident to the office or properly required by the Board of Directors.
- d. Annually, the Lord Speaker shall chair the Peerage Board and review and select a number of members to receive a new peerage or be elevated to a higher peerage which will then be submitted to the Steering Committee for final approval.
- i. The number and type to be selected will be determined by the Steering Committee.
- ii. The board will be made up of the chair and four additional peers selected randomly from all the active peers.
- e. The House of Lords shall also establish a set of rules for the submission of debate topics, conduct during a debate, rules for voting, quorum, and other administrative activities.
- i. No rule may be created that violates organizational bylaw or policy.
9. The lower house of Parliament shall be known as the House of Commons and is made up of elected members in good standing representing the different Areas of Responsibilities within the organization.
- a. Area of Responsibility (AOR) - There shall be at least one seat for each Fleet or Station AOR. In addition, a Fleet or Station’s Area of Responsibility earns one additional seat in the House of Commons for every two Chapters (including LACs).
10. The standard term of office in the House of Commons shall be three years.
11. General elections for membership in the House of Commons will be held in April of each calendar year, and shall be staggered across the organization to maintain continuity of the elected body.
12. Members may serve a maximum of three full three-year consecutive terms in the House of Commons. Members who have reached the term limit may stand again for election to the House of Commons after a full three-year term has passed (subject to all other eligibility requirements).
13. To ensure that the House of Commons can achieve its goal of offering a broad range of input from active members throughout the organization, potential candidates must meet the following criteria to stand for election to the House of Commons:
- a. TRMN member for at least one year.
- b. Completed at least one BuTrain course.
- c. Be at least 18 years of age.
- d. Have not been censured by the Board of Directors in the previous 12 months.
14. TRMN members participating in the following leadership roles and designated positions and are prohibited from serving in the House of Commons:
- a. Peer.
- b. Board Director
- c. Head of a Service or Branch or a direct report to the Head of a Service or Branch
- d. Space Lord, Deputy Space Lord, and Chief of Staff to a Space Lord
- e. Command Senior Master Chief Petty Officer.
- f. Fleet/Army/Station: CO, Deputy CO, Chief of Staff, Fleet Senior Master Chief Petty Officer (or equivalent).
- g. Member of the Command Triad of an Echelon or Chapter large enough to require a full triad
15. The members of the House of Commons shall be known as Members of Parliament (MPs).
16. The duties of the House of Commons shall be:
- a. The House of Commons shall elect a Speaker of the House, who shall appoint a deputy, to serve a term of one year.
- b. The Speaker of the House shall lead the House of Commons in performing its duties and responsibilities, including, if present, presiding over all debates, and shall perform all other duties incident to the office or properly required by the Board or Director.
- c. Annually, the House of Commons will accept nominations, debate, vote on, and submit one member nomination to the Steering Committee for consideration of a new peerage.
- d. The House of Commons shall also establish a set of rules for the submission of debate topics, conduct during a debate, rules for voting, quorum, and other activities.
- i. No rule may be created that violates organizational bylaw or policy.
17. Elections
- a. House of Commons elections will follow a standard, three-step process:
- i. Nominations
- 1. Any TRMN member may submit a nomination for election to the House of Commons.
- 2. Nominations are limited to members of the Fleet, Army or Station to which the nominee is assigned.
- 3. Self-nominations are permitted.
- 4. Nominations are collected by BuPers for the Fleet/Army/Station, who will verify eligibility of both the nominee and nominator.
- 5. The willingness of the nominee to stand for election shall also be confirmed.
- ii. Campaigns
- 1. Once nominations are closed, confirmed candidates may campaign for a period of two weeks.
- 2. Campaigning will be accomplished via the Forums in a sub-forum for each Fleet/Army/Station.
- 3. Candidates may also make their campaign statements via relevant Fleet/Army/Station or Chapter Facebook/Discord pages, if such pages exist.
- 4. Campaigns will be moderated by the Fleet/Army/Station Personnel Officer.
- iii. Voting
- 1. Ballots for House of Commons elections will be tallied using a preferential ranked system, in which voters rank all candidates on
- i. Nominations
the ballot. Voters complete the ballot by rating each candidate in order of preference, beginning with 1 as the most preferred, 2 for the next, 3 for the next, and so forth.
- 2. Multi-Winner Ranked Choice Voting methodology will be used to determine the winner(s). If a tie occurs at any point during the tabulation, the candidate who joined TRMN first will prevail.
- 3. All TRMN members may vote in elections even if they are not eligible to serve in the House of Commons.
- 4. Any non-eligible members for the House of Commons are not allowed to campaign for or influence the election through endorsement, promotion, or otherwise putting one candidate ahead of another. Violations of this clause will be forwarded to the Board of Directors for determination of disciplinary actions.
- b. By-Elections
- i. The Speaker of the House of Commons may, with the concurrence of the Steering Committee, call for a by-election under the following circumstances:
- ii. If an MP resigns their seat in the House of Commons before completing their full term of office.
- iii. If an MP is no longer able to fulfill the duties of office due to injury, incapacitation/serious illness, or the death of one's self, partner, or family member.
- iv. If an election fails to fill all of the seats in a Fleet/Army/Station.
- v. MPs elevated to a peerage during their term of office will not take their seat in the House of Lords until their membership in the House of Commons is concluded. These MPs may choose either to serve the remainder of their current term or resign their seat in the House of Commons.
18. General rule for debate for the House of Lords and the House of Commons:
- a. All topics must be serious in nature.
- b. No member may be directly mentioned by name in a motion, except for those involving awards, peerages or House officer nominations.
- c. All debates will be open to every member of the organization to watch except for debates on awards, peerages, and those deemed sensitive by the Speaker.
- d. Only members of parliament may participate in any debate within their house.
- e. The Steering Committee may suspend or end any debate for cause.