South Carolina District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

District Congress Legislation, Rules, Schedule

Virtual South Carolina District Congress

February 6, 2021
Rules and Legislation Packet  

Please read these docket and procedural rules very carefully.  They will be in effect for the duration of the tournament.

1.     Each session will be assigned three main pieces of legislation and two backups in case any session runs out of legislation early.

2.     Chambers will decide among themselves by a majority vote of the chamber what order to debate the three main pieces of legislation assigned to each session. 

3.     The backup legislation may not be debated unless the three main pieces in a session have been fully debated and voted on. In fact, backup legislation is not even to be placed on the agenda unless it becomes needed. 

4.     The docket agenda can be amended at any time by a 2/3 vote of the chamber, but students may only move around the three pieces of main legislation for that session. Legislation may not be moved from the session to which it is assigned under any circumstances.

5.     Each piece of legislation must have both one affirmative and one negative speech before previous question is called.  Previous question may be called anytime within the hour.  However, it MUST be called if debate is still going on at the one hour mark.

6.     PRESIDING OFFICERS:  

•       Parliamentarians will use strawpoll.com or strawpoll.me to conduct virtual PO elections.

•       All chambers will  elect Presiding Officers.

•       There will be two Presiding Officers per session (total of four for the day) in the varsity chambers.  Each will serve one half of a session.   These elections will occur at the beginning of each session.  Prior to the first session, an election is conducted and the winner chooses whether they would like to preside for the first or second half of the session.  Then a second election must immediately be held with the winner of that election taking the other half of the session.  Repeat this process at the beginning of session two.   If the chamber agrees, the same PO can preside the entire session.  A new PO should be chosen for session 2/final session.

7.     Cross examination will use direct questioning with individual questioning periods of 30 seconds until the total cross examination time for the speaker has expired. The Presiding Officer will keep a separate recency chart for this and ensure that all competitors have an equal chance to ask questions. 

LEGISLATION DOCKET (January, NSDA Legislation)

 The District Tournament will use the NSDA January 2021 legislation. 

Session One (Chamber decides order):

A.      A Bill to Provide for a Free Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom

B.      A Bill to Establish Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices

C.       A Bill to Allow the Federal Government to Assume State and Local Debt Obligations

BACKUP LEGISLATION (ONLY IF ABOVE THREE ARE DEBATED FIRST)

●        BACKUP #1:  Educational Balance Act of 2020

●        BACKUP #2:  A Bill to Establish a U.S. Belt and Road Initiative

Session Two Senate and Final Session House (Chamber decides order):

A.       An Amendment to Restore Democracy

B.      A Bill to Facilitate Protected Status for Hong Kong Residents

C.      A Bill to Abolish ICE

BACKUP LEGISLATION (ONLY IF ABOVE THREE ARE DEBATED FIRST)

●        BACKUP #1:  A Bill to Provide Land Acknowledgment

●        BACKUP #2:  A Resolution to Support an Independent Kurdistan

TENTATIVE CONGRESS SCHEDULE

Please note that this schedule is tentative and subject to adjustment by the tournament at any time.  Be prepared for updates.

9:00 AM:  Technology Check in assigned room (mandatory for all students and judges)

9:15 AM – 11:45 AM:  Session 1 House and Senate

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM   Lunch Recess

12:45 PM: Technology Check in assigned room (mandatory for all students and judges)

1:00 PM – 3:30 PM:  Session 2 Senate

                                          Final Session House