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Office of Procedure

The Office of Procedure interprets parliamentary and democratic procedure.

It:

• chairs the proceedings of legislative deliberative bodies, including the determination of which voting threshold applies to a particular vote
• administers voting
• estimates projected incomes and costs for the purpose of budgeting.

The Office of Procedure is a panel of officials called Chairs. The Office of Procedure acts through majority vote. The Office of Procedure may delegate its collective power to staff or to individual Chairs.

The vote of an individual Chair on an issue is called a chair opinion, and the decision of the majority of the Chairs is called a ruling. Each Chairs is bound to issue chair opinions according to the bylaws and rules in effect, but she or he does not need to hold a hearing, meet with the other Chairs, or go through any formal procedure, before issuing a chair opinion. A chair opinion may contain a justification as well as a vote. All chair opinions are published.

Neither the Chairs nor their staff, individually or collectively, may vote or otherwise participate in the substantive discussion within the bodies which they chair.

See the method of selection of judges and chairs.

A ruling of the office of procedure can be overturned by the same method as to make an exception to the constitution.