Senate Simulation Procedures & Roles

Procedures

Simulation will start Friday 12 September at MLC 238

Senators:

• Follow steps in preparation for senate simulation.
• Seek approval from Dr. Rogers on content of bill - if time - on form/style.
• Post a copy of your bill to WEBCT "Final Bills" no later than Sunday midnight 7 October.
• Bring 10 hard copies of bill to class with you on Wednesday 10 October (We will meet in the classroom)
• Seek co-sponsors for bill + people to vote for your bill - esp. on your committee.  need a majority of supporters.
• Talk to your Party Leadership (e.g. Majority or Minority Leader, Majority or Minority Whip) on strategy to pass in Committee.
• Check with Chair of Committee and ranking minority member re: agenda.
• Seek sympathetic lobbyists to help you persuade reluctant Senators + get $$$
• If bill passed committee, unchanged - bring 30 hard copies of bill to class on Monday 22 October
• If bill passed committee amended - post "clean" bill to WEBCT "Final Bills" by Friday 19 October.
• If bill passed committee amended - bring 30 hard copies of "clean" bill to class Monday 22 October.
• If bill did not pass committee, take key sections three and four (provisions and finances) out of bill and send these as "amendments" to WEBCT discussion "final Bills"
• Lobby to get your bill passed on floor (if passed Committee).  You will want to consult with your Party Leadership, Majority Leader, and Lobbyists to attempt to get it high on agenda.
• Lobby to attach a "non-germane" amendment (sections three and four from your bill) to any bill that passed if yours did not pass.  To do this you must introduce a motion to amend a bill, get a majority of Senators to vote with you to consider your amendment, and get a majority of Senators to vote to attach your amendment to a particular bill, get a majority of Senators to vote in favor of this amended bill.
• Vote on other bills & motions taking into consideration your values, the politics of your state on this issue, lobbyist pressures, pressures from your leadership, and vote-trading.

Party Leadership: (Leaders & Whips):

• Primary Task of Leadership - Majority Leader & Majority Whip + Minority Leader & Minority Whip is to maintain party orthodoxy; that is - try to get all members of your party to vote as Republicans and Democrats typically vote.  One thing this means is that the leadership has significantly less flexibility to vote on bills in ways that deviate from the orthodoxy than a typical Senator does.  
• Should get sense of all bills proposed by not only members of your party = try to persuade them to adopt more of an "orthodox" line on bills.  
• For bills consistent with your party line - help them plan support on those issues + help them get support of Lobbyists to effect reluctant Senators.
• Plan strategies to kill bills you do not like (e.g. move down agenda in committee-majority party, pull away Republicans to your pt of view in committee -minority party + filibuster or cloture strategies). 

Committee Chairs & RMM:

• Chair decides agenda - order in which bills will be heard in Committee - should do so in consultation with RMM.  In deciding agenda, Chair will want to be sure that bills popular with much of the American public (bi-partisan bills) that are important are placed high on agenda.  Chair will then want to put in bills that he/she sees as important - in consultation with their party leadership and RMM on that Committee. 
• Follow steps in preparation for senate simulation.
• Seek approval from Dr. Rogers on content of bill - if time - on form/style.
• Follow all above procedures for passing bills and posting them.
• Vote on other bills & motions taking into consideration your values, the politics of your state on this issue, lobbyist pressures, pressures from your leadership, and vote-trading.

Lobbyists: 

• Follow steps in preparation for senate simulation.
• Seek approval from Dr. Rogers on content of bill - if time - on form/style.
• Get a Senator to sponsor your bill on relevant committee.
• Follow all above procedures for passing bills.
• Hand out $$$ to get your bills passed and bills passed consistent with the political orientation of your lobby group.  You will want to work closely with the party leadership closest to the political orientation of your interest group. Remember: give with "wink and a nod" NOT explicit quid pro quo.
• Keep record of how much money you pass out to whom for what.

Campaign Contributions:

Hard Money: You may give no more than $5,000. directly to any Senator for Campaign Contributions.   

Soft Money Options (in our simulation):    

• You give a total of $10,000 for "Honorarium" + Traveling Fee for Speaking Engagement of Senator.
• You pay $2,000-$5,000 travel expenses & lodging expenses for Senator to attend "Conference on a Particular Legislative Topic at exotic place (e.g. Hawaii, Europe, Gulf Resort in Florida, Ski Resort in Aspen, etc).
• You may give any amount you wish to private charity or non-profit in state of Senator or for any public facilities in that location (libraries, schools, universities w/ endowed chairs in name of Senator).
• You may purchase one or more $50,000 "issue ad" that indirectly helps a Senator during elections.

October 12-26 = Simulation

October 12, 15, 17, 19 (Committee Action) = MLC 238

October 22, 24, 26 (Floor Action) = Location TBA

Midnight Sunday 7 October = Deadline for posting final Bill to WEBCT

October  12, 15, 17, 19 Committee Action

1. Meet at location TBA  no later than 10 minutes before class & ideally, early.  Come dressed up for simulation (you are a Senator or Lobbyist operating in DC).  Assume the mental role when you come to class.
2. Review of Procedures + Q/A
3. Party Caucuses = Lead by Party Leaders.  Purpose is to check out content of bills + discuss political strategy for bills that you seek to see passed + bills that you want to kill + majority leader to give numbers to any late coming bills.  (those of you bring bill for first time on Thursday will want to bring a minimum of 20 copies of your bill (all leaders + all Senators in your committee).   Majority Leader must assign numbers to all bills received.
4. "Open Caucus" = Everyone can circulate - to lobby members of the other party...Lobbyists may give out $$$.
5. Everyone goes to tables labeled for particular committees.
6. Committee Chairs call Hearings To Order.  Announce the agenda - the order in which bills are considered.
7. One Sponsor of 1st Bill on Agenda is formally introduced by Chair...."The Honorable Senator ____, ___ of _____ will now introduce Senate Bill _____  Title: ____________.
8. Sponsor summarizes key pts of bill.
9. Q/A period on Bill to clarify what it calls for. (Chair recognizes speakers as they raise hands).
10. Chair "Speakers List is now open."  All who care to speak in favor of the bill, raise hands, (sponsors always start). Chair write them down in order she/he chooses.  Chair also decides if lobbyists allowed to speak or not.  Chair then take a list of all those people who can to speak against a bill (can be lobbyists as well). 
11. When Speakers list exhausted, Chair announces "Floor is open for motions." At this point, any Senator (not Chair) can move to bring the bill to committee for an up/down vote OR any Senator may introduce an motion to amend the bill OR Any Senator may introduce a motion to "table" the bill (put back on agenda for further time).  Chair can override the motion to table - if they choose to do so).  Once a motion is on the floor, someone must second.  If something has been moved and seconded, the Chair announces what will take place.
12. If vote on bill as proposed, a roll-call vote is taken on issue (moving clock-wise around table from Chairs left).  A majority vote decides issue.  No amendments may be attached to this bill during Committee Hearings - though they can be attached later on Floor Action.
13. If motion is for an amendment is made & seconded.   Chair must follow same procedure as bill, i.e. get Person who sponsors the amendment to describe it.  Take Q/A - take a Speaker's List pro/con, vote on the bill.
14. "Friendly amendments" - it is possible to change the language and provisions of a bill w/o going through this lengthy procedure.   Any Senator may propose a "friendly amendment" to a bill (one they assume the key sponsor will accept). If that sponsor agrees to the amendment - the bill is automatically changed according.  (w/ brief time for q/a on new bill).
15. Party Caucuses:  The leadership of both parties and/or the Chair of each committee and "ranking minority member" of committees (select among yourself) may call a party caucuses or open caucus at any time.  The caucuses is automatic - though the President Pro Temp of the Senate (Dr. Rogers) will set a time-limit on it.

October 22, 24, 26  =  Senate Floor Action

1. Meet at Location TBA  no later than 10 minutes before class & ideally, early.  Come dressed up for simulation (you are a Senator or Lobbyist operating in DC).  Assume the mental role when you come to class.
2. Review of Procedures + Q/A
3. Open Caucuses to lobby support for bills under consideration, non-germane amendments, filibusters.
4. Party Caucuses to Define Strategy for bills that have passed Committee, possible riders/non-germane amendments, possible filibusters.
5. Leadership Caucuses (inter-party) to negotiate agenda.
6. Majority Leader announces agenda.
7. President Pro Temp (Dr. Rogers) runs parliamentary procedure.
8. Consideration of bills following same procedure as consideration in committees - with exceptions for non-germane amendments and filibusters described below.
9. Non-Germane Amendments Rules: Sections 3 & 4 of any bill that did not pass committee may be attached to any bill under consideration on Senate floor.  To get it attached, following exhaustion of speaker's list for original bill, sponsor of amendment must introduce motion to consider their amendment, get a majority of Senators to vote to consider amendment, explain amendment, take q/a on amendment, take speaker's list on amendment, get a  majority vote to attach amendment to original bill, get a majority to vote on amended bill.
10. Filibuster Rules.  The minority party may filibuster any bill (or amendment) under consideration on Senate floor.  To filibuster, a Senator must first consult with the Minority Leadership.  Then the Senator must get on the Speaker's list for the bill or amendment that plan to filibuster.  Once they have the floor to speak, they should speak about 1-2 minutes on bill at hand and then they may speak about any topic they wish.  After a few minutes of what is clearly a filibuster, the President Pro Temp will call for a caucus that will give everyone opportunity to lobby for/or against impending vote of cloture.  Then President Pro Temp will call for a vote of cloture in rather to end filibuster.  If vote of cloture is successful, that bill or amendment must come up for an immediate vote.  If vote of cloture fails, Party Leadership will negotiate to see if a compromise can be reached.  If not, bill or amendment is dead.

Once you send your bills - Dr. Rogers will link your bills to the issue below.

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