Conshilía Daoni

Conshilía Daoni
Seal of the Daoni
Flag of the Conshilía Daoni
Type
Type	Lower house
Term limits	None
Leadership
Chancellor and Temporary President	Cassia Mac-Niall (S)
Minority Leader	Caelian Agricola (NP)
Structure
Seats	500 251 for a majority
Political groups	Governing coalition   Solidarity Party (238)   Working Families Party (16) Minority Parties   National Pact (242)   Levantine National Party (4)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	November 6, 2035
Next election	November 6, 2040
Meeting place
Conshilía Daoni Chamber Julian Palace Urceopolis Urcea

The Conshilía Daoni (lit. "Common Council") is the primary legislative body of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea. As the primary portion of the legislative branch of the Urcean government (the other being the Gildertach), the Daoni passes nearly all laws, elects the Chancellor and Temporary President, and supervises the work of the government. As a legislative body, is responsible for creating and amending any provisions of the laws of Urcea, organized as the Consolidated Laws of HMCM's Kingdom and State, with the exception of the guild law, which is amended by the Gildertach. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, and remove the Chancellor and Temporary President, members of the Conshilía Purpháidhe, and even the Procurator from office. It can dissolve the governing majority in a constructive vote of no confidence. The Conshilía Daoni itself cannot be dissolved, and elections are held on the first Tuesday in November every five years. Its term is the same as the term of the Procurator.

Name and terminology

The term "Conshilía Daoni" (Leb) literally translates to Common Council, reflecting its original membership of only privilegiata and freemen as opposed to the Great Landsmeet, which sat optimates. In common parlance, "the Daoni" is used to refer to the body, terminology that is often used in official communications as well. Despite this, the Julian Ænglish "Common Council" appears in most official titles of officers, such as the Secretary of the Common Council. Members of the Conshilía Daoni are called delegates.

History

Main article: Constitutional history of Urcea

The Conshilía Daoni was formally created in 1146 as an advisory body of the Great Landsmeet, an institution which descended from the tribal assembly of Great Levantia. Made up of privilegiata and freemen, the body was intended to serve as a method for deadlocked disputes between the Apostolic King of Urcea and the Landsmeet to be resolved. The Daoni, made up of delegates rather than high nobles themselves, was much more flexible and could meet on a more regular basis. It was given all the legal force of the Great Landsmeet in 1221, and subsequently replaced that body. During the remainder of the medieval period, it served as a body primarily aimed at approving tax measures proposed by the King.

The Great Landsmeet of 1146, convened by King Niall I (1131-1146), created the Conshilía Daoni.

The transition from the medieval period to the early modern period, and especially the Great Confessional War, saw significant changes to the Daoni.

Efforts to centralize and increase the powers of the Daoni had considerable legal hurdles. Although the authority of the Apostolic King increased in the realms he ruled, those realms - be they the core parts of the Urcean Kingdom itself or the duchies of modern Gassavelia, Canaery, or Ænglasmarch - had differing internal structures, and the Daoni's authority extended only to those lands considered Royal. The lands of the Duchy of Transurciana also enjoyed significant autonomy and protection from Royal laws. These jurisdictional issues prevented the Daoni from asserting itself in a meaningful way until the aftermath of the '75 Rising. That rebellion in Gassavelia lead many in Urceopolis to reevaluate the governance of the peripheral territories, leading to the adoption of the Jurisdiction Decree in 1685, which incorporated all of the King's possessions into the Daoni and began the process of legal reform in Urcea that would not be complete until the Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892. In 1706, the Daoni began to meet on a regular basis for the first time. Despite these momentous changes, the Daoni remained primarily a body that approved tax changes and served in an advisory capacity until the Concession of 1747, which greatly empowered the body and expanded its responsibilities. After 1747, the Daoni began to assert itself as the national legislature, and the development of the Constitution of Urcea throughout the 18th and 19th century cemented its status as such by 1845, which is considered to be the date in which the modern history of the Daoni begins. During this time, the role of the Procurator - officially the President of the Common Council - was greatly reduced. The ability of the Procurator to break ties was removed in 1856 in order to ensure the independence of the legislature, making Urcea's legislature one of the few worldwide without an individual officer who can break ties in the body. After meeting in various locations and spaces throughout the Julian Palace, the current home of the Daoni - National Hall in the Palace - was constructed in the 1860s. The move to National Hall represents the last major change to the body.

There have been two national governments during the modern history of the Daoni - once during the Second Great War, lead by the Commonwealth Union, and once during the Final War of the Deluge, lead by the Union for National Solidarity.

Membership

Apportionment process

The Conshilía Daoni's seat allocation is dependent on the decennial national census, conducted by the Censors in years ending with zero. Upon conclusion of the census, typically in February of the year of the census, the Censors present their results to the Apostolic King of Urcea, who is responsible for creating a temporary Royal Commission for Allocation of Delegates. The Royal Commission is primarily comprised of leading political figures as well as notable demographers and other experts. The Commission presents its allocation plan to the Conshilía Daoni by June of the census year, and allocation plans must have the final approval of the Daoni before entering into force, and if enacted the allocation plans are used for that year's election. As a result of the short work window, considerable research into potential allocation plans is done on a yearly basis by the Censors in order to aid the Commissions in creating a final plan. As a result, apportionment plans are used for two elections: the census year election, such as the 2000 Urcean elections, and the fifth year election, such as the 2015 Urcean elections. The Daoni is under no obligation to accept or implement an apportionment plan if the census results indicate that each extant district is still within the ten percent population deviation allowed under law for each district; it is not uncommon, therefore, for an apportionment plan to have been used for two or more decades.

Precedent under the Constitution of Urcea provides for the principle of one man, one vote with regards to Daoni seat apportionment, allowing for a deviation of up to ten percent in terms of the creation of districts. Seats apportioned by the Daoni take the name of the local area rather than a number, and by law these seats must be somewhat geographically concise in order to prevent large degrees of gerrymandering. Seats are also designed to be constrained by the borders of Urcea's subdivisions in order to best represent the needs of the constituencies. The Daoni is capped at 500 members by law, dating to the Constitutional Settlement Act of 1902. In the 2010 apportionment, each seat was pegged to 2,683,204 Urceans.

2020-30 allocation

A map of the Conshilía Daoni's constituent districts for the decade of the 2020s.

Subdivision	Number of seats
Urceopolis	119
Harren	38
Gassavelia	31
the Cape	26
Eastglen	20
Killean	19
Canaery	17
Afoncord	17
Callan	17
Sanctissimo Sacramento	17
Southmarch	15
Westglen	15
North Crotona	13
Goldvale	12
Northgate	11
Roscampus	11
Upper Carolina	11
New Audonia	9
South Crotona	9
Tromarine	9
Lower Carolina	8
Gabban	7
Ænglasmarch	7
South Ionia	5
Hardinán	5
Killdarium	5
Ardricampus	4
Eastvale	4
Halfway	4
Kingsvale	4
Ardthirium	3
Niallsland	3
North Ionia	3
Burgundiemarch	2

Officers

Legally speaking, the popularly-elected Procurator serves as the President of the Conshilía Daoni by merit of his or her stewardship over the Royal Treasury, but the presiding role of the office has long-since become titular as the Constitution of Urcea has developed. Historically, in his stead, a temporary president was often elected by the members to preside over the meetings, though the day-to-day parliamentary procedure is no longer managed by the Temporary President. Instead, as the premiership developed, that position was merged with that of the Chancellor of the Royal Treasury, creating the role of Chancellor and Temporary President, who is the leader of the Conshilía Daoni. The Chancellor and Temporary President also serves as the body's majority leader, and appoints the various officers necessary for the functioning of the body. The Chancellor rarely serves as presiding officer of the Daoni in the modern era, delegating the responsibilities on a rotating basis to members of the majority party. Party leaders play a major role in the function of the Conshilía Daoni. There are also a number of political leadership positions, such as Deputy Leader, Secretary of the Party Conference, Chair of the Party Consistory, and other such titles which confer an additional salary.

Party leaders

Each party in the Conshilía Daoni chooses a leader, which is also that party's overall leader. Party leaders typically select Deputy Leaders, informally called "floor leaders", who are responsible for coordinating the party's activities (such as order of business, member debate order, and other political choreography) in the chamber itself. The leader of the majority or government party is almost always the Chancellor and Temporary President. The various parties in the minority each elect a Minority Leader, and the Minority Leader of the largest opposition party nominally holds the office of Leader of His Most Christian Majesty's Loyal Opposition, but this title is rarely used. The party leaders informally use a numbering system based on the size of their minority - with the leader of the largest opposition party being "First Minority Leader" and the like. During a national government, the leaders of the secondary parties are referred to by the official title "Deputy Chancellor for the State of the Realm". These are also typically ordered by the number of members, like the minorities, except if a party was previously in a coalition with the governing party, in which case they take order of precedence.

Non-voting officers

The Secretary of the Conshilía Daoni, an office which serves as the head administrative post of the body who serves as the pleasure of the Chancellor and Temporary President, is empowered by the legislative law to speak on the floor of the Daoni and is the only non-member who is authorized to do so, although in the modern era this prerogative is unused. In addition to the Secretary, the Journal Clerk of the Conshilía Daoni is the other non-voting prominent officer. The Journal Clerk is responsible for taking the official record of all business before the Daoni and also reads the title of each bill before the Daoni and also calls the roll for voting. Like the Secretary, the Journal Clerk is a political appointee of the Chancellor.

Procedure

By custom, the Conshilía Daoni meets in a single year-round session that is not formally adjourned until December 31st, and accordingly each term in office fully encompasses five legislative sessions. This practice began in the 19th century as a method to assert the independence of the chamber, as the Procurator and Apostolic King of Urcea are both empowered by law to call a session of the Daoni at any time. Unlike some other legislative chambers abroad, the proceedings of the Conshilía Daoni are largely strictly set forth before hand, and accordingly procedural votes are a somewhat rarity with the exception of pro forma votes on hostile amendments, which are nearly always defeated by the majority party and are used by the minority party to make political statements. All comments made on the floor of the Daoni are always addressed through the presiding officer. Meetings of the Daoni and its committees are livestreamed and recorded online and on several public access television channels.

The Daoni in session in 1916. Many of the procedures of the Daoni are set by convention which are more than a century old.

Daily procedure

The Conshilía Daoni meets during session days in the Daoni chamber of the Julian Palace. There are two statutory presiding officers of the Conshilía Daoni - the Procurator, who is the President of the Common Council, and the Chancellor and Temporary President, who is officially the pro tempore presiding officer. In practice, the Procurator never presides over the Common Council and the Chancellor does only in very rare occasions. Instead, daily presiding officer duties rotate among junior members of the majority party. The presiding officer stands or sits at the top of a rostrum on one side of the chamber, with the Secretary of the Common Council seated on a lower level of the rostrum with other staff, reading the day's business and calling the roll for votes. The majority party always sits on the right side of the aisle facing the presiding officer, with the minority parties on the left side of the aisle facing the presiding officer. The majority and minority floor leaders - usually the Deputy Majority or Minority Leaders - sit on the aisle with a counsel or aide sitting next to them.

The Daoni meets on Tuesday through Thursday each week, with weeks when the budget is being considered lasting longer and into weekends, while weeks before vacations are typically shorter. Even during budget votes, the Daoni does not meet on Sundays by both custom and by a part of the legislative law. During days in which the Daoni does not meet, a single member of the Majority Party - usually a local Urceopolitan representative, if available - will "gavel in" a nominal session of the Daoni and immediately "gavel out". These nominal session days include the Daoni's vacation periods, which occur in the first two weeks of April, throughout all of August, and during the last two weeks of the year.

The procedure of the Conshilía Daoni is determined by both rule and custom, with all daily business governed by rules but some ancillary features of the house, such as dress code, manner of speech, and other things related to the disposition of the delegates governed by tradition. Sessions of the Conshilía Daoni require a quorum to do business. A quorum is defined as two thirds of the members of the body present and capable of voting.

Passage of legislation

When legislation is introduced in the Conshilía Daoni, it is forwarded by a delegate's office to the Journal Clerk, a staff position within the office of the Secretary of the Common Council. The Journal Clerk's office reads the legislation twice and assigns it a number; legislation in the Daoni is numbered with a prefix "C" for "Common", and accordingly legislation will be numbered "C.1", "C.2", and so on. Once introduced, the legislation is immediately referred to a committee. The referral is nominally done by the Chancellor and Temporary President but is accomplished in reality by the Journal Clerk, who assigns legislation to committee based on the area of law being amended. When legislation amends multiple sections of law, the Clerk refers legislation where "a preponderance of the legislation amends one section of law or the subject matter requires that a specific committee deal with such issues." Legislation must be referred from committee in order to receive a vote from the Conshilía Daoni. Legislation may only be in one committee at any one time, and committees often refer legislation to other committees, typically the Finance Committee. When legislation is introduced to committee, a copy is forwarded to the office of the Censor and particularly the Department for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (DLIA), which reviews the moral impact of legislation. Typically, the DLIA will review legislation within three days of its introduction. If there are no issues, no further action will be taken. DLIA can issue three types of notes for legislation in committee: a "memo of concern", which requires no formal action and is not a formal objection but notes a potentially harmful aspect of the legislation which may merit response from a Censor in the future; a "request for amendment", which is a specific line-by-line request for changes to legislation, and; a "memo of rejection", stating that if this legislation is passed, the Censor is likely to use their suspensive veto power to halt it. Although these memos do not inhibit legislation according to the rules, in practice, the latter two letters will usually halt the progress of any legislation until it is substantially changed, although some items opposed by Censors have historically been allowed to proceed by the Chancellor and Temporary President depending on the political context.

Once legislation is referred to the floor by a committee, it must appear on three daily calendars before it can be voted on by the full Daoni. During this time, the Censors in concurrence may issue a suspensive veto, tabling the legislation for the remainder of the calendar year. Once it has reached third reading, legislation can appear on an active list for the day, which means it will be voted on. There are two types of votes within the Daoni, "non-controversial" and "controversial". Non-controversial votes are "short roll call" votes, meaning that not every name is listed and that members are presumed to be voting yes unless they indicate otherwise, usually by raising their hand. Under a non-controversial vote, members may not ask questions of the sponsor or debate legislation, but they may explain their vote. Controversial votes, meanwhile, allow for five hours of debate and require a "long roll call" when being voted upon, wherein the Secretary of the Common Council will name each member and ask them for their vote. Members do not need to be physically in the chamber to vote yes during a non-controversial vote but must be present to vote during a controversial vote. Unusually for most Occidental legislative chambers, the Daoni does not have any officer which can break a tie, and accordingly any measure which ties is considered to have failed. Upon passage, the Secretary affixes their signature to two copies (one each for the Procurator and Apostolic King) of a legislative packet including the text of the legislation, any amendment history for the legislation, and any memos or notes that may have been sent from the Censors during the committee process. The packets are then forwarded to the Procurator and King for their review; the Procurator may veto legislation, and the Apostolic King may veto legislation if previously suspended by both Censors.

Committees

Committees in the Conshilía Daoni are based on Urcean sections of law, with each committee having an assigned assortment of sections related to it. There are forty committees within the Conshilía Daoni, many of whom meet within the Julian Palace but most of which hold their meetings in ancillary Daoni office buildings. Committees are lead by a Chair functionally, and each committee also has a Vice Chair - the Chair and Vice Chair are always from the majority party or governing coalition as the situation warrants. The Chair is responsible for the conduct of each committee, and is also officially responsible for setting the agenda for each committee meeting, although in reality the items selected for each agenda are heavily vetted by the staff of the Chancellor and Temporary President. The Vice Chair is a nominal position of prestige which has no regular function within the committee beyond being designated as the individual who chairs a committee when the Chair is absent. Each committee has a ranking minority member from the largest minority party within the Daoni. The ranking member has no delineated role within committee proceedings, but is largely responsible for ensuring that all the members of their party appear or submit vote sheets. During periods where a national government is in place, each party has one Vice Chair in every committee.

Ministry of State officials testifying at a Committee hearing, 2020.

Delegates are typically members of multiple committees, ranging from membership in 9-10 committees for members of the majority to 2-3 committees for minority members. Committee membership is assigned by a partly-proportional system. Committees can range in membership size from 9 to 25. Members of the majority party usually make up between five eighths and two thirds of a committee, depending on the size of the majority. Unlike the meetings of the full Conshilía Daoni, members of committees may submit vote sheets which will be counted without their physical presence, an allowance made due to delegates being members of multiple committees which may meet at the same time.

Committees meet every week the Conshilía Daoni is in session, although few committees meets weekly. The committees meet in various committee and assembly rooms within the Julian Palace. The rules for committee meetings are significantly less formal and strict than those on the floor of the Daoni, with dialogue encouraged between the members. Committee meetings are viewed and structured to be part of the vetting process for legislation, but in most cases observers have noted committees are merely a "rubber stamp" to ensure majority legislation reaches the floor and minority legislation is blocked. Legislation on an agenda requires a simple majority vote of the present and voting members of the committee. Unlike the Daoni, a quorum of committees is only half of its members.

Two committees, the Rules Committee and the Finance Committee, are considered to be "special", and only leadership delegates chair these committees. The Rules Committee can, at any time, discharge legislation from any other committee and make it eligible for a vote of the Conshilía Daoni. The Rules Committee can also wave any requirement for it to be read by three calendars, and can directly report legislation to third reading, making it able to be voted on immediately. The Finance Committee has similar authority for any legislation related to appropriations, and any legislation with a fiscal impact may only be voted on by the Daoni with a favorable report from the Finance Committee.

Committees may also hold hearings on issues of import as well as to gather public input on legislation. The Judiciary, Investigations, and Foreign Affairs committees regularly hold hearings as part of their oversight responsibilities. All committees hold hearings while the budget is being formulated, with most individuals testifying being Conshilía Purpháidhe members or lower level administrative leads.