House of Commons
Composition
The House of Commons shall be comprised of elected representatives (from any Service or Branch) who are members of Chapters within the areas of responsibility for each Station and Fleet. The House of Commons will have no more than 150 Members.
Areas of Responsibility – Fleets and Stations:
A minimum of one member shall represent each Fleet or Station’s 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). At least 5 officers and 5 enlisted personnel shall be required to vote for the vote to be valid. The House of Commons may vote to revise the 2:1 chapter-to-seat ratio, with concurrence of the Royal Council, as the total House of Commons membership approaches the maximum.
Holding Chapters:
Holding Chapters, due to their global nature, are spread over a large geographical area. Holding Chapters members may run for any open House of Commons seat in the Fleet/Station Area of Responsibility where they reside. For the purpose of allocating representatives, Holding Chapters do not add to the total number of House of Commons members allowed for each Fleet.
Members of the House of Commons are entitled to use the post-nominal “MP” during their term of service. Former Members of Parliament (MPs) may be addressed as "The Honorable" after serving a full term.
Rules of the House of Commons
Speaker of the House of Commons
The Speaker of the House shall be a member of the House of Commons elected after each general election (or when the position of Speaker becomes vacant) by a plurality of the members of the House. This person shall serve through the next election for Speaker and may serve up to four consecutive one-year terms if they are re-elected three times. Anyone who has been Speaker for four terms must wait at least one year before running for Speaker again.
The role of the Speaker of the House is as follows:
- Set the agenda for discussion
- Moderate discussions in the House
- Share recommendations of the House with the Royal Council
The Speaker Pro Tempore shall be the most senior member of the House of Commons who is not the Speaker or a Party Leader. Seniority is calculated first by length of service in the House of Commons and then by length of membership in TRMN. If the position of Speaker of the House becomes vacant, the Speaker Pro Tem shall act as Speaker until a new Speaker is elected.
Responsibilities of the House of Commons
MPs are responsible for addressing requests and questions from the members of their Fleet/Station Area of Responsibility. These requests and questions may be added to the House of Commons Agenda by the member submitting them to the Speaker of the House.
The House of Commons may not bring up requests or questions regarding structural changes to the existing non-civilian organization or punitive actions against other members.
The House of Commons may submit one nomination per year of a TRMN member to the House of Lords for possible elevation to the peerage. This nominee shall not be the Speaker of the House of Commons
The House of Commons will vote on any nominations for the Parliamentary Medal of Valor. Two-thirds of the MPs voting must approve a PMV. If both the House of Commons and the House of Lords vote to award a PMV, the First Lord of the Admiralty, on behalf of the Monarch, will issue the award at their earliest convenience.
Prime Minister’s Questions
During the Second week of every even-numbered Month, the public may view the House of Commons Prime Minister’s Questions. A special forum channel will be set up for this. The Royal Council will be acting on behalf of the Government and will be in attendance. The Speaker will solicit potential questions from all MPs who wish to ask questions of the Royal Council on behalf of their constituents, which the Royal Council must answer. The Speaker must submit the topic of these questions two weeks in advance so that the appropriate members of the Royal Council, their staffs, and/or Space Lords can be made to appear.
Additional House of Commons Rules
No later than 30 days after the election of the Speaker, the House of Commons shall adopt additional rules for how House business is conducted, including rules related to forms of address and acceptable language in order to maintain civility within the House. The House of Commons is encouraged during this time to also consider any changes they feel should be made to the Parliament of TRMN Manual as amended by the Election Reform Act (2018) and the House of Commons Rules Act (2019 & seq). Such proposals, if any, should be codified in a Bill sent to the Royal Council for approval. If any changes are approved, BuComm shall be requested to update the Parliament of TRMN Manual and reissue it with all due haste.
Rules Terminology
The rules listed in this manual – those for elections, and those for the operation of the House of Commons – shall be termed “The Rules of the House of Commons”, and may be amended (with the consent of the Royal Council) by resolution of the House to make recommendation to the Royal Council that such an amendment is made. The additional rules for house business adopted after the election of the Speaker shall be termed “The Additional Rules of the House of Commons”, and shall be adopted as discussed in the corresponding section above.
Terms of House of Commons
Term Length
The standard term of office in the House of Commons shall be three years. 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.
Term Limits
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).
Running for Member of Parliament
ELIGIBILITY
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.
General Criteria
• TRMN member for at least one year.
• Completed at least one BuTrain course.
• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Have not been censured by the Royal Council in the previous 12 months.
Hat Rule
MP positions count as 0.5 hats, per the Membership Policy, and the Speaker of the House counts as 1 full hat.
Leadership Prohibition
TRMN members participating in the following leadership roles and designated positions already have the opportunity to influence the direction of, and make a significant impact on, TRMN as an organization. They are, therefore, prohibited from serving in the House of Commons:
- Peer
- Board Director
- Head of a Service or Branch
- Space Lord or Deputy Space Lord
- Fleet/Army/Station Commanding Officer or Deputy Commanding Officer"
ELECTION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
House of Commons elections will follow a standard, three-step process:
• Nomination
• Campaigning
• Voting
Nominations
Any TRMN member may submit a nomination for election to the House of Commons. Nominations are limited to members of the Fleet or Station to which the nominee is assigned. Self-nominations are permitted.
Nominations are collected by the JAG Ombudsman for the Fleet/Station, who will verify eligibility of both the nominee and nominator. The JAG Ombudsman will also confirm the willingness of the nominee to stand for election.
Campaigns
Once nominations are closed, confirmed candidates may campaign for a period of two weeks. Campaigning will be accomplished via the Forums in a sub-forum for each Fleet. Candidates may also make their campaign statements via relevant Fleet, Station, or Chapter Facebook pages, if such pages exist. Campaigns will be moderated by the Fleet JAG Ombusman. After two weeks of campaigning, voting will occur for a period of one week.
Voting
Ballots for House of Commons elections will be tallied using a preferential ranked system, where voters rate all candidates on 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.
The JAG Ombudsman will use a Multi-Winner Ranked Choice Voting methodology to determine the winner(s). If a tie occurs at any point during the tabulation, the candidate who joined TRMN first will prevail.
TRMN members may vote in elections even if they are not eligible to serve in the House of Commons. 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 Royal Council by the JAG Ombudsman for determination of disciplinary actions.
By-Elections
The Speaker of the House of Commons may, with the concurrence of the Steering Committee, call for a by-election under the following circumstances:
• If an MP resigns their seat in the House of Commons before completing their full term of office.
• 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.
• If an election fails to fill all of the seats in a Fleet or Station.
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.