Created by Ryan Murphy

OUR LEGISLATORSSTATE LEVEL

Rep. Jarrod MartinSen. Chris Widener

OUR LEGISLATORSFEDERAL LEVEL

Sen. Rob PortmanSen. Sherrod Brown

OUR LEGISLATORSFEDERAL LEVEL

Rep. Steve Austria

OUR LEGISLATORSLOCAL LEVEL

Greene County Commissioners: Rick Perales, Marilyn Reid, and Alan Anderson

Beavercreek City Council: Vicki Giambrone (Mayor), Jerry Petrak (Vice Mayor), Zach Upton, Scott Hadley, Deborah Wallace, Brian Jarvis, and Melissa Literal.

Beavercreek Twp. Board of Trustees: Dan Paxson, Carol Graff, and Bob Glaser.

Beavercreek School Board: Al Nels (President), Peg Arnold, Rob Dotson, Kim Grant, and Mick Lundy.

Mission Statement

To encourage and advance the youth to understand, participate, and be aware of civic duty and the political and legislative process

of the United States. To advance the individual’s skills in many different areas: public speaking, preparedness, debate,

researching, writing, persuasion, and leadership on the current events and issues

of today.

Mission Goals

Assemble a student House of Representatives or Senate Function as a real House of Representatives or Senate Introduce legislation on current events and issues Provide rigorous debate on the legislation Give each member a better understanding on parliamentary procedure Give each member a better understanding on the legislative process Promote seriousness about the legislative process Promote respect for opposing ideas and views Improve each members skills in public speaking, preparedness, debate, researching, writing, persuasion, and leadership

Session

The BHS Student Congress club convenes in sessions. A session convenes when the President of the club calls for a quorum where all members will meet to vote for or against having a session. A simple majority is needed. The session will convene by the discretion of the members of the club.

Meetings

The BHS Student Congress club will meet at least once a month to conduct regular business. Meetings will be called to order by the discretion of the President.

Club Officers

The BHS Student Congress club will have the following elected officers for a term of one school year:

President, Vice President, Secretary, Historian, and Treasurer. The officers

listed will have the following responsibilities:

President: Act as the leader of the club in all policy and financial decisions.

The sole person to be able to call a quorum for a session and meetings to meet. Lead all meetings and act as the liaison to any outside affairs. The President can delegate any of the position’s powers to any member at

anytime.

Vice President: Take all the responsibilities of the President if the President is

absent, removed from office, or unable to perform his/her duties. Will assist the President with any duties/powers delegate by the President.

Secretary: Will keep all records of the club. Will create minutes for each club

meeting and make announcements for the club.

Historian: Will keep a record of all pieces of legislation with who sponsored,

co-sponsored, gave maiden speech in support and against, and vote. Take pictures throughout the year.

Treasurer: Be responsible for keeping all funds for the club. Make any

purchases decided by the club and will keep records for all fiscal matters.

Current Officers

Ryan Rushing, President

Ryan Murphy, Vice President Michael Scott, Treasurer

Open Seats Historian: Will keep a record of all pieces of legislation

with who sponsored, co-sponsored, gave maiden speech in support and against, and vote. Take pictures throughout the year.

Secretary: Will keep all records of the club. Will create minutes for each club meeting and make announcements for the club.

PartiesThe club will decide each session on rather or not there are parties in

Congress. If there are parties, the members shall declare themselves to any party that is in the United States, or as an independent. Once

everyone is declared, a Majority must be formed. If there is enough members in one party, then a Majority if formed from a single party. If

there are not enough members in one party to form a Majority, a collation must be formed between two or more parties. Once the Majority is

formed, all other members will form the Minority. A member is allowed to change parties at any time, but must do so on the floor in front of the

entire Congress

Congressional Officers and Members

The selection of offices is the first order of business in a new session of congress. There shall be the following officers in their respected chambers,

depending on parties or not:

Presiding Officer (PO) If there are parties, the PO is elected before the parties are formed. The PO’s

role is different between the House and the Senate.

Speaker John Boehner

Vice President Joe Biden Speaker Bill Batchelder President Tom Niehaus

PO in the House of Representatives:

The PO shall be the Speaker and shall be addressed during all sessions as Mr. or Madam Speaker. The Speaker

shall be elected by the entire House and shall be a nonpartisan election, even in the event of parties. The Speaker shall preside over all business of the House and shall enforce all rules and procedures of

the House. The Speaker has the freedom to enforce what he/she pleases, to a respectable point. The Speaker is to be elected to a single day term, however the same Speaker is allowed to seek the

seat again and be elected. The election of the Speaker shall be the first business of the House and the format for electing a Speaker shall be

as followed: Anyone can nominate anyone to be Speaker, even themselves. The person who is nominated must accept the

nomination and when nominations are closed, an election is held. The Speaker must receive a simple majority, therefore runoff elections may happen. If there is a need for a runoff then the top two voter

getters will face off in an election till a winner is declared

PO in the Senate:

The PO shall be the President and shall be addressed during all sessions as Mr. or Madam President. The President shall be elected by the entire Senate and shall be a nonpartisan election, even in the event of parties. The President shall enforce all rules and procedures of the Senate. The President has the freedom to enforce what he/she

pleases, to a respectable point. The President is to be elected to a single day term, however the same President is allowed to seek theseat again and be elected. The election of the President shall be the first business of the Senate and the format for electing a President

shall be the same as electing a Speaker

Majority Leader: The Majority Leader shall be elected by the Majority party.

The process for electing the Majority Leader is the same as the PO. The Majority Leader has the power to call for a motion to end sessions of

Congress. The Majority Leader will also serve as PO if the PO chooses to leave the position during session for whatever reason. The Majority Leader is in

charge of representing the Majority party and/or coalition in all policy matters. The Majority Leader shall sit on the docket board. The Majority

Leader shall choose who is going to be the official pro/con speech in their Majority for each piece of legislation. The term is for the entire session.

Minority Leader: The Minority Leader shall be elected by all the members who are not in the

Majority party and/or collation. The Minority Leader shall be elected the same way as the PO. The Minority Leader is in charge in Page

6representing the Minority party and/or collation in all policy matters. The Minority Leader shall sit on the docket board. The Minority Leader shall

choose who is going to be the official pro/con speech in their Minority for each piece of legislation. If the Minority Leader leaves for any reason, the Minority shall elect a new leader by the same process. The term is for the

entire session.

Majority Whip: The Majority Whip shall be elected by the Majority party

and/or collation. The Majority Whip shall inherit all powers of the Majority

Leader if the Majority Leader leaves the position for whatever reason. If this happens, the Majority party and/or collation will select a new Majority Whip to fill its position. The Majority Whip shall sit on the

docket board. The term is for the entire session.

Members of the House of Representatives: Members shall be addressed as

Representative (last name).

Members of the Senate: Members shall be addressed as

Senator (last name)

Oath of OfficeAll members of Congress must take an oath of office to be an official member.

The oath of office shall be given to every member at the same time by the PO. The oath of office is as follows:

I, (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and

defend

the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and

domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take

this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;

and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I

am about to enter: So help me God (optional)

LegislationEvery member of Congress must write either a bill, a resolution, or a Constitutional amendment. Members are only allowed to write one piece of legislation. All legislation must only be one page long and

must follow the correct template, found under the Student Congress link on Mr. Ankrom’s webpage. A bill is an act by the government to make a law on something. A resolution is an act by the government

calling for support or awareness to a cause, usually by awarding money to whatever is called to action. A Constitutional amendment

adds, removes, or edits the US Constitution. A Constitutional amendment must have a ¾ vote for it to be passed; bills and

resolutions need a simple majority. All pieces of legislation must cite which government department will enforce and enact the legislation,

a date in which the piece of legislation is to be enacted, and a summary of what the legislation tends to do. All pieces of legislation

must be typed and printed for all members of Congress when the session of Congress is called to order

Docket BoardThe docket board shall decide the order of the legislation that is to be presented during that session of congress. The docket is the order of

legislation that is to be presented on the floor. Those who should sit on the docket board are the Majority Leader, Majority Whip, and the Minority Leader. These three members will decide the order of legislation. Once the order is chosen, a vote will take place and must pass in a vote of a simple majority. If the docket is passed, it will go to the PO who must approve or

disapprove the docket. If the PO disapproves of the docket, the docket board will pick a new order of the legislation until the PO approves. If there are no

parties, then committees shall be formed as evenly as possible. Each committee will be given X amount of pieces of legislation. The committees

will rank their legislation that they have in the order they want to be on the docket. Once all committees have chosen, the PO chooses the order of the committees to be chosen to pick the order of

legislation

Rules and Procedures

CALL TO ORDER: The PO shall have the power to call the session to order and will do so by hammering the gavel and by stating “The House of Representatives (or

Senate) is now in session.”

CALL TO END SESSION: The PO shall have the power to call the end of a session, but can only do so by a motion from the Majority Leader. The PO can request a motion if need

be. Once the motion is laid on the table, a second must be given, and then a vote of a simple majority is needed. The session is over until the next session

is called to order by the PO.

INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION: The PO shall, but is not limited to, follow the docket in introducing legislation

to the floor. When a piece of legislation is next on the docket, the PO shall introduce the piece of legislation by saying the title, shall read the summary,

and the author of the piece of legislation. If the author of the piece of legislation is absent, then the legislation will be moved to be tabled till the

author returns. If the PO’s legislation is introduced when he/she is the PO, the legislation will be either moved to be tabled or the PO will step down as PO to introduce his/her legislation. After introducing the legislation the PO will call for an authorship speech, where the author will respond with “I have such a

speech” and the PO will say “You may take the floor”. This will be followed to all speakers for all speeches.

DEBATE: Once a piece of legislation is on the floor, the author is given three minutes to introduce the piece of legislation. Once the authorship speech is given,

there will be a mandatory three minutes of questioning where any member, besides the PO who’s not allowed to debate or speak on the floor, shall be

able to ask the author a single question, not a comment. The author will then reply with a response. Once the questioning is done, there is a mandatory con speech. The con speech is given and then there is a mandatory three minute questioning period, where the same rules apply as the authorship

speech. After the mandatory con speech, there is a mandatory pro speech, but no mandatory questioning period. After all the mandatory speeches, the

floor is open to anyone to speak. No one is allowed to give a pro or con speech twice on the same piece of legislation. The position (pro or con) of

speeches must go back and forth, meaning there cannot be two pro speeches back to back, and vice versa. All speeches are limited to three minutes and there is no mandatory questioning period after the authorship speech and first con speech, however if there is time left on the clock, the speaker is

allowed to use the remaining time in questioning, but is not forced to.

RULE OF PRECEDENCE: The order to give speeches or ask questions will be from the rule of

precedence, where the PO will keep track of who asked questions and gave speeches and whoever has the least times speaking on the floor, in whatever

capacity, will be the first to give a speech and/or ask a question.

AMENDMENTS: An amendment can be placed on any piece of legislation. An

amendment must be given to the PO before the piece of legislation is introduced to the floor. An amendment needs to state what section it is

changing and what it is changing to. The PO chooses if the amendment will be laid out of the floor, if so there needs to be a motion to amend, a second, then a majority vote to debate the amendment. If debate is approved, the

amendment will hear a authorship speech, with mandatory questioning, and then a con speech, with mandatory questioning, and then it will be up

for a vote. The amendment needs 2/3 vote to be passed. If passed, the piece of

legislation will be introduced to the floor as amended.

TITLING:The author of the piece of legislation can move to title the legislation either

before the debate begins or right after the debate ended, or both. When titling the author says, “Mr./Madam Speaker (or President), I move to title the (bill, resolution, or amendment).” The PO then will accept the motion and will

ask all members of congress if they want to be titled with the piece of legislation. All members who want to be titled with the piece of legislation will

be a “co-sponsor” of the legislation.

VOTING: The PO calls a vote once all debate on the piece of legislation has ended. The PO can choose which type of voting he/she allows. The PO can choose from a

voice vote where those in favor say “Aye” while those oppose say “Nay”, a roll call where each member of Congress is individually called name by name to vote “Aye” or “Nay”, a raising of the hand, or standing vote. Each member, besides the PO, who does not vote, can vote “Aye” (affirming the legislation),

“Nay” (negating the legislation), or “abstain” (not voting).

CAUCUS: The Majority/Minority Leader can move to caucus which means a break from session to discuss with members of Congress about a piece of legislation or a

decision.

Motions

Continued . . .

First Club and Session

Some of these rules and procedures of this handbook may differ in the first session of Congress and club.

OmissionsThe silence on any issues, rule, procedure, and anything that could pertain to the BHS Student Congress club does not mean that club does not have a stance on the issue.

Tuesday, February 28 – 3:15-5:00

NEXT MEETING