Senäts

Senate

Upper house of the Ziu
Senate for the 53rd Cosa
Leadership and operation
Mençei dal Senäts (Lord President)	Lüc da Schir
Standing Rules of the Senate
Structure
Seats	8
Senators	HM's Government
	Sevastáin Pinátsch (KA-IND)
	Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h (FV-FreeDems)
	Viteu Marcianüs (VD-FreeDems)
	Confidence and Supply
	Lüc da Schir (BE-IND)
	Ian Plätschisch (MM-AMP)
	HM's Loyal Opposition
	Thor Deyaert (CZ-IND)
	Ieremiac'h Ventrutx (FL-RUMP)
	Cresti Siervicül (MA-RUMP)
Length of term	Staggered, variable (typically 16 to 24 months)
Elections
Voting system	Instant Runoff Voting (when conducted by the Chancery)
Last elections	March 15 - April 1 2019
Next elections	around January 2020
Meeting place
Online, cerimonially Greene Hall, Abbavilla

The Senäts ([sɛˈnæt͡s] ( )), or Senate, is the upper house of the Talossan legislature, the Ziu. Like the Cosa, it meets in Abbavilla; its meeting place is Greene Hall, while the offices are located in the neighboring Johnston Hall.

Each province is represented by one Senator, so the Senate is composed by eight seats.

History

The Senate was created by the 1997 Organic Law. Before the promulgation of that document, the Ziu consisted only of a single house (now termed the "lower house"), the Cosa. Therefore, the first Senate was the Senate for the 23rd Cosa. The first (and so far only) change in the number of Senators was in 2012, when a seat was added to represent Fiovă following Reunision.

Ever since changes ratified after the 35th Cosa, the King has been Organically barred from holding a place in the Senate, and indeed from entering the Senate chamber unless summoned there to provide testimony to a Senate commission. The consort of the King, and any regent during his or her regency also is forbidden from holding a seat in the Senate; this most recently happened in the 52nd Cosa as Ma la Mha surrendered his seat for the First Clark to serve as Regent to King John.

Furthermore, no Senator may hold seats in the Cosa.

Role

The powers of the Senate are equal to those of the Cosa, except that no bill appropriating revenue may have a Senator as its primary sponsor, and the Senate does not participate in the Vote of Confidence in the government; this means that the Senate is typically less partisan than the lower house. Even though the Government does not require to mantain the Confidence of the Senate, there have historically been only a few times when the Senate has not been controlled by the Government.

The approval of a majority of the Senate to all legislation is required before royal assent can be sought. The number of seats being very small means that ties are relatively more likely than in the Cosa; however, no tiebreaker exists. In the case of bills recommending referenda for the ratification of Organic amendments affecting those articles concerning the Senate itself, the process of amending Organic Law, or the territorial subdivisions of the Kingdom, a super-majority of two-thirds vote in the Senate is required.

The Senate also may pass resolutions without involvement of the Cosa, to commemorate events, create Senatorial commissions or honours, or grant those honours to specific persons. Two typical "Resolutions of the Senate" (RS) are the recommendation of a Chancellor of the Royal Talossan Bar to the King, and the awarding of the Senatorial Medal of Honour.

Members and elections

The Senate is composed by one seat for each province, and so for the first fifteen years of existence it counted seven Senators; an eight member being added in 2012 to account for the creation of the new province of Fiova.

The electoral procedure in the Senate has varied markedly over the years; provinces can now choose to conduct their own Senatorial elections, and each province can effectively decide the electoral law for its own seat. Provinces who have conducted their own Senatorial elections include Cézembre, Fiovă and Maritiimi-Maxhestic. However, the national Chancery still conducts most of the races; by law, it is now obliged to do so by Instant Runoff Vote. Previously, Senatorial races were all conducted by the Chancery using First Past the Post.

Senatorial terms are staggered so that a third of the Senate is up for reelection at every election cycle, in a similar arrangement to the United States. However, an important distinction is that the Talossan Senate seats are not divided into classes: while in the United States the seats have been divided into three groups of 33, 33 and 34, where each class is always up for reelection at the same time, the Talossan Senate simply picks the next three seats from a fixed rotation order, meaning that each seat will have one every three terms shortened by a full Cosa.

Another important distinction between the Senate and its American relative is that the terms are pegged to the Cosa's own: an early dissolution would mean that each Senatorial term is shortened respective to its theoretical length, while a month of Recess or any other unexpected delay, such as the month-long one that occurred before the elections to the 49th Cosa, would conversely lengthen a Senator's term in office. However, since Cosa cycles typically last nine months (two months for elections and formation, six Clarks and one month of recess), each province elects its Senator for cyclical terms of 18, 27 and 27 months.

There are no provisions for Senators to be recalled; however, the Senate can adopt motions of censure against its members, and can impeach a Senator by supermajority. In the latter case, the home province shall hold a ballot to remove the Senator by majority vote. In addition, Senators may lose their seat by resignation, failure to vote or death. In any case, each province's government is empowered to appoint an interim Senator to complete the former Senator's term, until the next available General Elections. If at that point the former Senator's term would have expired anyway, a regular election is held; otherwise, a special election is held for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Special elections mean that the number of seats up for reelection can be higher than three; in the July 2018 General Election, a record six seats (75% of the Senate) were up for reelection due to the resignations of three Senators and the regular expiration of three terms; one of the latter also fell into the former category (the M-M race), but as the term would have expired nonetheless a special election was not held.

Officers

The Senate is led by the Lord President, or Mençei, elected by the Senate from among its own members at the beginning of each term. The Mençei's powers are generally greater than those of the Cosa counterpart, the Tuischac'h, as he conducts debates on the monthly business and is more involved in the day to day operation of the Senate, while the Tuischac'h's official duties outside of Living Cosas are restricted to advising members of proper decorum and directing Terpelaziuns.

Rules Committee

The Senate mantains a body of Standing Rules governing its operation; to propose additions and amendments to the rules, a Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is estabilished by law and composed of three Senators. The Mençei is by right the chairman of the Committee, even if not a full member, although in practice operation of the committee is left to common consensus.

The most recent members of the Rules Committee are senators Valcadac'h, da Schir and Siervicül.

Tenure

Senators by tenure

Senator		Took office
	L. da Schir	1 Oct 2014
	S. Pinátsch	1 Jul 2015
	G. Valcadac'h	1 Feb 2017
	C. Siervicül	23 Oct 2017
	I. Plätschisch	27 Apr 2018
	I. Ventrutx	15 Apr 2019
	V. Marcianüs	15 Apr 2019
	T. Deyaert	15 Apr 2019

The Senator for Benito, Lüc da Schir, is the current longest tenured Senator (Dean of the Senate), having served since October 2014. He is holding the title alone since the sixth Clark of the 51st Cosa; previously, he and former Senator Magniloqueu da Lhiun were the joint longest tenured Senators, and before the resignations of Vuode Senator Eovart Grischun, the three held the distinction concurrently.

During the 50th Cosa, Senator Tresplet had the longest tenure, joined by Senator d'Auribuerg during the 48th and 49th; and from the 41st to the 47th Cosas, corresponding to approximately five years, the title was held by Senator Holmes of Atatürk, who still is the senator with the largest number of Cosas served.

Current Senate

The Senate for the 53rd Cosa consists of eight members. Five were returned from the previous Senate; two rejoined the Senate after a period elsewhere; and one was elected to the Senate for the first time.

Measures voted on by the Senate

The full Senate voted on one motion and one nomination in addition to the ordinary Clark business.

Nomination of Senator Lüc da Schir of Benito to be Lord President / Mençei

Submitted by: Viteu Marcianüs (VD), concurred by Plätschisch (MM), Deyaert (CZ), Pinátsch (KA), Válcadác’h (FV), Ventrutx (FL)

Vote summary

Question: On the Nomination Vote Number: 1 Vote Date: April 15 to 16, 2019 Vote Result: Nomination approved

A roll call vote was not taken as per Rule 2, as a majority of senators endorsed the nomination in debate.

Sense of the Senate - In the Matter of Robert Ben Madison

That it is the Sense of the Senate that Robert Madison's citizenship petition should be blocked until such time as the Ziu directs the issuance of a grant.
Submitted by: Viteu Marcianüs (VD)

Vote summary

Question: On the Motion Vote Number: 18 Vote Date: June 25 to July 8, 2019 Required For Passage: 1/2 Vote Result: Motion agreed to Vote Counts: PËRs: 4 CONs: 1
Pinatsch (KA), Con da Schir (BE), Për Deyaert (CZ), Not voting Ventrutx (FL), Not voting	Valcadac’h (FV), Not voting Siervicül (MA), Për Plästchisch (MM), Për Marcianüs (VD), Për

Resolution of the Senate in regards to Tomás Gariçeir

WHEREAS Tomás Gariçéir, a Talossan of nearly twenty-five years, has been a stalwart part of our community both as an active citizen and as one whose facility with the Talossan language is second only to Ben Madison himself,
WHEREAS he has always been much-loved, and
WHEREAS he has in the past few days skirted death by way of a rare heart condition and currently rests comfortably in hospital,
The SENÄTS of the Kingdom of Talossa, THEREFORE, OFFERS its INVINCIBLE MORAL SUPPORT to Tomás Gariçéir and his family as well as prayers for his healing and prayers to him and his entire family for peace and comfort as he adjusts to what his wife terms his "new normal".
Submitted by: Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h (FV)

Vote summary

Question: On the Resolution Vote Number: 32 Vote Date: October 1 to 21, 2019 Required For Passage: 1/2 Vote Result: Resolution passed Vote Counts: PËRs: 5 CONs: 0
Pinatsch (KA), Not voting da Schir (BE), Për Deyaert (CZ), Not voting Ventrutx (FL), Not voting	Valcadac’h (FV), Për Siervicül (MA), Për Plästchisch (MM), Për Marcianüs (VD), Për

Elections

Partisan changes in the 53rd Senate by province.
Light green: RUMP hold; Red: FreeDem gain; Gray: Independent gain; Light gray: Independent win; Dark gray not up

After a record six seats were up for reelection in the previous election, four senatorial elections were held concurrently to the April 2019 General Election: the normally scheduled races in Atatürk, Cézembre and Vuode, and the special election in Florencia.

Prior to the elections, the dissolution of the Moderate Radicals, who held half of the seats in the Senate, resulted in a change in partisan alignment: Senators da Schir and Pinátsch would now sit as independents, Senator Plätschisch was now the party leader of Awakening and Magnifying Passion, and Senator Soleiglhfred retired.

Atatürk

Incumbent Sevastáin Pinátsch was elected to a third term without declared opposition, with 64.28% of the votes. Following the dissolution of the MRPT, he announced he would sit as an independent. After the vote, he joined the Schivâ Cabinet as Minister of STUFF.

Atatürk Senate Election
	Sevastáin Pinátsch	9
	Bradley C. Holmes (write-in)	2
	Óïn D. Ursüm (write-in)	1
	Çelis del Þeracour (write-in)	1
	Koray Yucel (write-in)	1
IND win

Cézembre

Thor Deyaert, the incumbent Sénéchal of Cézembre, was elected to a first term with 46.15% of the first round votes. This will be his first stint in the Ziu.

Cézembre Senate Election IRV/RCV Multiple rounds.		R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
	Thor Deyaert	6	6	6	6	7
	Ián da Bitoûr (write-in)	2	2	2	3	3
	Ián Anglatzarâ (write-in)	2	2	3	3	-
	Litz Cjantscheir (write-in)	1	1	1	-	-
	Glüc da Dhi (write-in)	1	1	-	-	-
	Tamás Ónodi (write-in)	1	-	-	-	-
IND gain

Florencia (special)

Ieremiac'h Ventrutx was elected to succeed Ma la Mha as Senator. No public campaigning was done, and no one announced their candidacy beforehand.

Florencia Special Senate Election IRV/RCV Multiple rounds.		R1	R2	R3
	Ieremiac'h Ventrutx (write-in)	3	3	3
	Ma la Mha (write-in)	2	2	-
	Mximo Carbonel (write-in)	2	2	-
	Patrick Woolley (write-in)	1	-	-
RUMP hold

Vuode

Viteu Marcianüs was elected, uncontested.

Vuode Senate Election
	Viteu Marcianüs	uncontested
FreeDem gain

Membership

Partisan control of the 53rd Senate by province.

The members of the Senate for the 53rd Cosa, listed in the order of the scheduled expiration of their terms, are:

Province	Senator							Senate Seat Contested
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Florencia	Ieremiac'h Ventrutx							for 54th Cosa
Maricopa	Cresti Siervicül							for 54th Cosa
Fiovă	Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h							for 54th Cosa
Maritiimi-Maxhestic	Ian Plätschisch							for 55th Cosa
Benito	Lüc da Schir							for 55th Cosa
Vuode	Viteu Marcianüs							for 55th Cosa
Atatürk	Sevastáin Pinátsch							for 56th Cosa
Cézembre	Thor Deyaert							for 56th Cosa

Election cycle

As reflected by the table below, at each general election, three Senators (out of the eight) are elected. This means that the term of office for each Senate seat is three Cosa-elections two times and two-Cosa-elections the third, repeating. That’s more-or-less 16 or 24 months to each Senatorial term. However, a Senator’s term may be shortened by early dissolutions of the Cosa or lengthened by no-business months inserted between Clarks [For full details, see the Organic Law Article IV: Election to the Senäts and Article V: Composition of the Senäts].

Cosa	Senate Seat Contested
54	Florencia, Maricopa, Fiova
55	Maritiimi-Maxhestic, Benito, Vuode
56	Atatürk, Cézembre, Florencia
57	Maricopa, Fiova, Maritiimi-Maxhestic
58	Benito, Vuode, Atatürk
59	Cézembre, Florencia, Maricopa
60	Fiova, Maritiimi-Maxhestic, Benito
61	Vuode, Atatürk, Cézembre

(The Election Cycle Then Repeats)