Congress

Eastside Congress Legislation Packet

February 4, 2023

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.

Since the District Congress tournament used parts of the January legislation, the Eastside Tournament will use bills from both the January legislation and the Diversity and Inclusion legislation.

Session One (Chamber decides order):

A. A Bill to Ban Privatization of Prisons

B. A Bill to Encourage Bilingual Education Programs

C. A Resolution to Discourage Scottish Independence

●BACKUP #1: A Resolution to Reimburse Private Employers for Federal Holidays

●BACKUP #2: A Bill to Disarm Patrol Officers

Session Two (Chamber decides order):

A. A Bill to Instill a Maximum Cost of College Attendance

B. A Bill to Allow all Federal Employees the Right to Unionize

C. A Resolution to Discourage Social Media Use Among Elected Officials

●BACKUP #1: A Resolution to review the Peace Corps

●BACKUP #2: A Bill to Bolster Corporate Leadership

TENTATIVE CONGRESS SCHEDULE

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

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

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM Lunch Recess

1:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Session 2 House and Senate