UDCA Congressional Debate Orders of the Day

Orders of the Day for Congressional Debate

1. A session is a minimum of 2 1/2 hours.
2. Election of presiding officer is with a majority vote in presence of parliamentarian by secret vote. If top vote is tied, eliminate lower vote candidates and recall vote for those remaining. A Presiding officer presides for the entirety of a session.
3. Precedence DOES NOT reset between preliminary sessions.
4. Seating Charts DO reset between preliminary sessions.
5. Preset priority is up to the individual tournament director, but will be used at state.
6. When more than one speaker seeks the floor, presidency shall followed
1. Presiding officers should establish clear, fair explanations in recognition process and be consistent. (Jumping should NOT be used; instead use raising of placards, hands, etc.)
7. Speakers may yield time to the floor during the debate for questions or clarifications, but the speaker will remain in control of their three minutes.
8. Speeches are up to 3 minutes in length, but do not have to be the full time.
9. Author of legislation (or school of legislation) has authorship privilege in presentation of legislation regardless of precedence. If no individual rises to give an authorship speech for a bill, then it is reverted to current precedence.
10. Direct questioning: The presiding officer will open the floor for questions following each speech. The presiding officer will recognize questioners for a cross-examination period of no more than 30 seconds.
1. Questioners will be chosen according to a separate questioning recency and precedence should be kept.
11. PO’s should not call for motions. They should pause for those from the floor to call for motions.
12. Amendments: must be presented to parliamentarian and PO in writing with specific references to lines and clauses that change. This must be done in advance of moving to amend.
1. The parliamentarian will recommend whether the amendment is “germane”--that is, upholds the original intent of the legislation---otherwise it is discounted.
2. A legislator may move to amend between floor speeches. The PO will read the proposed amendment and call for a second by one third vote.
3. Should students wish to speak on the proposed amendment, the PO will recognize them per standing precedence and recency and count towards the total number of speeches given.
4. Simply proposing an amendment DOES NOT guarantee authorship speech and the one minute questioning period that follows an amendment authorship speech.
5. If there are no speakers on the amendment, previous question is moved and the chamber may vote without debating it.
13. Following the first two speeches on legislation, the presiding officer will alternately recognize affirmative and negative speakers, who will address the chamber for up to three minutes, followed by one minute of questioning by other delegates. If no one wishes to oppose the preceding speaker, the presiding officer may recognize a speaker upholding the same side. When no one seeks the floor for debate, the presiding officer may ask the chamber if they are “ready for the question,” at which point, if there is no objection, voting may commence on the legislation itself.
14. All major voting shall be done with counted vote. Secret balloting is used when voting for presiding officer.
15. Visual aids are permitted in Congressional Debate, provided they do not require electronic retrieval devices in the chamber.
16. All evidence used is subject to verification and subject to the rules of evidence. Any concern or complaint of rule violation must be brought to the judges/Parliamentarian within the round it occurs. If a concern or complaint needs to be discussed privately, a note may be given to the parliamentarian (or sent in the private chat if online) and at the next break the parliamentarian and contestant can address the issue. If it is serious and needs to be addressed immediately, then the individual can let the parliamentarian know and the parliamentarian can pause the time of the session to deal with it. THIS WILL NOT COUNT IN SESSION TIME AND WILL BE ADDED ON TO THE SESSION to ensure that the full speaking time is met.
17. Congressional Debate entries must rise to a point of information after a speech to formally request a copy of the evidence cited, the citation, or the original source of evidence.
1. When requested during the point of information, the presiding officer will instruct the debater being challenged to produce the copy of the evidence, citation, or original source. The debater being challenged must produce the requested materials in a timely fashion. Should a debater feel they are not receiving the information they requested in a timely fashion, they may rise to another point of information for the presiding officer and parliamentarian to address the situation.
2. Debaters who request the information may receive the evidence from the presiding officer within a period of two speeches. The round would not be put on hold for the request to be completed.
1. For example, if a debater rises to a point of order after speech #4, then by the conclusion of speech #6, the requested evidence should be presented to the presiding officer.

c. If after reviewing the evidence in question, a debater feels that an evidence violation has occurred, they may submit a formal allegation by completing an evidence challenge form and, after making a motion to approach the chair, the debater will present the form to the presiding officer and parliamentarian.

Challenge Form

1. The use of internet enabled electronic devices is permitted. Students may not use the internet to gain help from coaches, other students, or any person, such that it would prevent the speech from being the original work of the competitor.
2. Electronic device use must comply with the “New Guidelines for Use of Internet-Enabled Devices in Debate Events.”
3. These rules may NOT be suspended, and the PO should rule such motions out of order, except to extend questioning or allow for open chambers.