IN THE SENATE
DECEMBER 30, 2026
Introduced by DannyboyJurist (for themself)
A Joint Resolution to amend the Constitution to make the Firestone State Legislature unicameral.
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Firestone in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Joint Resolution may be cited as “An Amendment to Form a Unicameral Legislature”.
SEC. 2. EFFECTIVENESS
The text of the Constitution shall be amended seven days after the passage of this amendment.
SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY
Should any part of this amendment be struck down or declared unenforceable, then that part of the amendment shall be considered severed from this amendment, and the rest shall remain in full force.
SEC. 4. AMENDMENT
Article I of the Constitution shall be struck in its entirety, and in its place shall be inserted the following sections:
"Section I - The Senate
"I. All legislative powers granted herein shall be vested in a Senate of the State of Firestone.
"II. The Senate shall have legislative jurisdiction over the entire State of Firestone and its inferior governments, including counties and municipalities, which the Senate may from time to time establish or abolish.
"Section II - Membership
"I. The Senate shall consist of twelve citizens elected by the people of the State of Firestone to terms of six months each.
"II. The Senators shall be of three classes, and at each general election, the members of one such class shall be elected.
"III. Before the beginning of each term, the President of the Senate will be obligated to host new elections to replace the four members of the chamber having served a term of six months.
"IV. If there are below nine members within the Senate, the President of the Senate shall hold a special election to fill the vacant seats for the remainder of their term.
"V. Senators shall not be limited in the number of terms of office they may serve unless barred from said office.
"VI. The terms of Senators shall begin on the 1st of January, the 1st of March, the 1st of May, the 1st of July, the 1st of September, and the 1st of November.
"VII. Before taking office, newly elected Senators shall be administered the following oath of office by the Lieutenant Governor, but the President pro tempore may administer it to specially-elected Senators: “I [NAME] do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of Firestone against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”
"Section III - Officers
"I. The Lieutenant Governor of the State of Firestone shall be the President of the Senate.
"II. The Senate shall elect from its members a President pro tempore upon a vacancy in that office, who shall administer and superintend the Senate with the President, and exercise and perform the powers and duties of the same in their absence.
"III. The Senate shall appoint by simple majority a Secretary, and assistants thereto, to keep the journal and records of the Senate.
"IV. The Senate shall appoint by simple majority a Sergeant-at-Arms, and assistants thereto, to keep order at sessions of the Senate.
"V. The Senate may appoint by simple majority such other officers as it finds necessary, and to prescribe their duties.
"VI. The Senate shall have the power to remove the officers elected or appointed by it by a simple majority.
"VII. The Senate may prescribe by rule which officer shall preside if the President and President pro tempore are both absent or their offices are both vacant.
"Section IV - Powers of the Senate
"I. The Senate shall be vested with the power to pass legislation and to establish sentences or punishments for the violation thereof, but shall not pass any bill of attainder.
"II. The Senate may pass resolutions to govern its operations, or for other purposes as prescribed by law, and may ratify its own standing rules and procedures, and shall be the ultimate judge of its procedure.
"III. The Senate shall hold the sole power of confirming nominations by the Governor, or such other officer as is prescribed to make nominations by statute, by simple majority.
"IV. The Senate shall hold the sole power of ratifying or repealing treaties through a supermajority vote and may nullify executive agreements through a supermajority vote.
"V. The Senate shall hold the sole power of ratifying or dismissing declarations of war by the Governor, by simple majority vote.
"VI. The Senate shall be vested with the power to repeal an executive order, or sections thereof, by resolution having received a supermajority vote.
"VII. The Senate shall hold the power to discipline its members, and may expel a member by supermajority vote. No such expulsion may be substantively questioned in a court of law. A Senator under expulsion shall not be considered a sitting member for purposes of voting on their expulsion.
"VIII. The Senate shall hold the power to bar an individual from such genuine government office (that being the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Cabinet and Subcabinet, Senator, the chief executives and legislators of inferior governments, and Judge or Justice) as the Senate may provide, for a period of time or indefinitely. Such Act must pass by a supermajority, be for genuine misconduct (including, but not limited to, the commission of insurrection or treason), state what acts by the individual constitute genuine misconduct, and demontsrate that those acts were committed by clear and convincing evidence. Individuals barred under this clause may not stand in election, be nominated for, or otherwise enter any offices from which they are barred. Bars under this procedure may be repealed by an Act passed with a simple majority, and shall be subject to judicial review.
"IX. No entity except the executive of the State or an inferior government, which must act in line with employment law and other appropriate statute, may bar any person from employment in a recognised department except for where positions as a department head or deputy department head constitute genuine government office and such person is barred from such genuine government office in line with the previous clause. Inferior governments may establish procedures to bar individuals from their own government offices.
"X. For the purposes of this article, a majority vote (or simple majority vote) shall be reached when one-half (rounded down to the nearest whole person as needed) plus one of the chamber members assembled and voting have voted in favor of the legislative action. Likewise for the purposes of this article, a supermajority vote shall be reached when three-fourths (rounded up to the nearest whole person) of the chamber members assembled and voting have voted in favor of the legislative action. The presiding officer shall not count as a member assembled and voting for the purposes of determining a vote majority if they are a Senator. For the purposes of this article, an abstention or other failure to vote affirmatively or negatively upon voting concluding will not count as members assembled and voting as required herein.
"Section V - Process of Legislation
"I. Each bill shall be read upon its introduction, and put to debate. Amendments to the text of the bill shall only be by submission of a motion to the Senate, to be entered on the record, each of which shall be voted on by the Senate in session after the second reading of the bill. The bill shall then be enrolled and put up for a final reading, after which the Senate shall vote on the bill.
"II. Each bill which shall have passed final reading by majority vote in the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor of the State of Firestone. If they approve they shall sign it, or they shall return it, with their objections, to the Senate, which shall proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration a supermajority of the Senate assembled shall agree to pass the bill, it shall become law.
"III. If any bill shall not be signed or returned with objections by the Governor within five days after it has been presented to them, the bill shall become law.
"IV. The Senate shall keep and publish a journal of its proceedings, and shall record the whole proceedings of each session.
"Section VI - Convening of the Senate
"I. The Senate shall convene regularly at the State Capitol to hear legislation and do business unless there is no legislation or business to be dealt with, and may meet sooner than obligated if the presiding officer of their respective chamber deems it necessary, or if a majority of Senators demand the meeting of the Senate at an agreed-upon time.
"II. If required, the Senate may convene through the use of alternate venues to hear legislation and deal with official business. For an alternate venue, all sitting Senators shall be considered in attendance and assembled for the purposes of voting and quorum. Any legislation submitted to the Senate in an alternate venue must pass by its constitutionally required majority or supermajority vote in favor.
"III. For the Senate to conduct business, it must be quorate. A quorum shall consist of one-half of the sitting Senators being present at the meeting of the legislature. The presiding officer, if a Senator, shall not count towards the quorum. A smaller number of Senators may adjourn, or compel the attendance of absent Senators.
"IV. During a session of the Senate, the presiding officer shall maintain the order and decorum of the Senate, and may remove any person other than a Senator or officer from the session, but a supermajority of the Senate may permit the removal or silencing of a Senator or officer. Any action taken by the Presiding Officer may be appealed to the present Senators by a simple majority.
"V. In each session of the Senate, each Senator shall have only one vote. The presiding officer, if not a Senator, shall have one vote if the votes are equally divided.
"Section VII - Impeachment
"I. The Senate shall hold the sole power of impeachment.
"II. The Senate may impeach all executive and judicial officers of the State of Firestone for treason, bribery, gross misconduct, ineptitude, neglect of duty, or commission of a felony or misdemeanor.
"III. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from the impeachable office. Conviction or acquittal shall not disqualify the impeached from being subject to other punishments according to law.
"IV. The Senate shall charge articles of impeachment against an officer by resolution, and an officer shall be considered impeached if that resolution passes by a simple majority. Impeachments shall be prosecuted by one or more individuals appointed by the Senate, but in an impeachment tried by the Senate, no more than one of these managers may be a Senator, and that Senator shall have no vote in the trial.
"V. In impeachments of judicial officers, the Senate shall try the impeached officer under the presidence of the Lieutenant Governor. Each Senator sitting as a trier of impeachment shall be administered an oath of impartiality. The Senate shall not deliberate on other business until the trial has concluded unless the Senate tables the matter by simple majority vote.
"VI. In all other cases, the Secretary of the Senate shall serve notice of the resolution upon the Chief Court Justice, who shall convene the judicial officers of the Supreme Court and District Court to try the impeached officer en banc under their presidence.
"VII. If the trier of impeachment shall convict an officer by simple majority vote on any article of impeachment charged against them, they shall be immediately removed from office, but if they shall not convict them on any article, they shall be acquitted.
"VIII. If an impeachment resolution has been submitted and the person subject to impeachment resigns from their impeachable office, they may still be impeached and tried, but upon conviction no punishment shall be rendered.
"IX. An officer who has been impeached shall be considered absent until they are convicted or acquitted, and may not exercise their powers or duties.
"X. The Senate and Supreme Court shall jointly promulgate rules governing the trying of impeachments.
"Section VIII - Recalls
"I. Any citizen of the State of Firestone may publish a recall petition. Such petition must be hosted on the official Firestone Forums and outline the Senator whom the petitioner wishes to be recalled. Citizens may freely sign a recall petition or retract their signature, this action must be done through the official Firestone Forums; signatures of a recall petition through any type of proxy shall not count.
"II. For a recall petition to trigger a recall referendum, the following requirements must be met within 14 days of the recall petition being posted: the recall petition has attained a total of 50 signatures from citizens; the recall petition has attained a total of 3 signatures from state government officials, excluding the Lieutenant Governor and the Governor, these individuals may still sign personally but it will not count towards this additional requirement. If a recall petition does not meet these requirements within 14 days of posting, it shall be considered failed. Judges or justices may not sign or publish a recall petition, but may vote on recall referendums if ordinarily capable (i.e. not banned from the Firestone Forums).
"III. Upon a recall petition passing and a recall referendum being triggered, the Governor (or in either absence or incapacity, the Lieutenant Governor) shall, at least three days but no longer than five days subsequent to the referendum being triggered, publish and advertise a poll on the official Firestone Forums, linking to the recall petition, and specifically asking if the member named is to be recalled from their congressional office. The poll must have only two options (in favour of recall, or opposed to recall) and must be set to automatically close between 71 and 73 hours after the posting of the publish; “show who voted” or any other similar mechanism must be disabled, there must be no restriction on those who can vote so long as they have a Firestone Forums account (which are vetted as citizens by the community administration), and votes must be private until the poll has closed. All votes must be cast through the official Firestone Forums and this vote will be considered an official election; the rigging or manipulation of such shall be a felony, as shall the act of threatening, bribing, or criminally intimidating any individual for the purposes of voting in a particular way. The Governor shall be prohibited to manually close the referendum unless they are removing the posting in favour of a newer posting (which will be considered a new referendum) for technical reasons or if the automatic closing mechanism has failed to operate correctly.
"IV. Upon the conclusion of a recall referendum, if the vote is at least 70% in favour of recall and there have been a minimum of 60 voters, the named member shall be immediately removed from office and be ineligible to run for or hold congressional office for a fixed 21 day period.
“V. The same citizen may not create two recall petitions within 30 days. No member of congress may have more than one open (i.e. not failed or triggered) recall petition towards them. No member of congress may have a recall petition made against them if there is a pending or ongoing recall referendum against that member. Whereas a recall petition or referendum has failed, that same member may not be subject to an additional recall petition made against them for 14 days. A recall petition may not be created if a member is within their first 15 days of holding office. A recall petition may not be created against a member if articles of impeachment, conviction by senate, or expulsion against said member has failed within the past 14 days or was proposed (and has not yet been voted on) within the past 5 days.”
SEC. 5. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS
(a) In article II of the Constitution, the words “the Senate” shall be inserted in place of the word “Congress”, and the word “statute” shall inserted in place of the words “act of Congress”.
(b) In article II, section II, clause VI of the Constitution, the words “within the House of Representatives” shall be struck.
(c) Article II, section III, clause V of the Constitution shall be struck, and clause VI of the same shall be renumbered as clause V.
(d) In article III, section II, clause VI of the Constitution, the words “of the Senate” shall be insertde in place of the words “of both houses of Congress”.
(e) In article IV, the words “the Senate” shall be inserted in place of the word “Congress”, and the words “from both chambers through a joint internal resolution” shall be struck.
(f) In article V, the words “the Senate” shall be inserted in place of the word “Congress”.
SEC. 6. GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION
Article II, section V of the Constitution shall be struck in its entirety, and in its place shall be inserted the following clauses:
"I. In the event that the office of the Governor is vacant and the Lieutenant Governor is unable to succeed to the office of the Governor, then the line of succession of individuals to the office of the Governor shall consist of the President pro tempore of the Senate, and then any other individuals as prescribed by law.
"II. Whenever the Governor transmits to the Lieutenant Governor and President pro tempore their written declaration that they are unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office, and until they transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Lieutenant Governor as Acting Governor.
"III. Whenever the Lieutenant Governor and a majority of the members of the Cabinet transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate their written declaration that the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office, the Lieutenant Governor shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting Governor. Thereafter, when the Governor transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate their written declaration that no inability exists, they shall resume the powers and duties of their office unless the Lieutenant Governor and a majority of the members of the Cabinet transmit within three days to the President pro tempore of the Senate their written declaration that the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon the Senate shall decide the issue, considering no other business before it. If the Senate, within five days after receipt of the latter written declaration determines by a two-thirds majority vote that the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office, the Lieutenant Governor shall continue to discharge the same as Acting Governor; otherwise, the Governor shall resume the powers and duties of their office; and the Senate may at any point thereafter declare the Governor to be able by two-thirds majority, and the Governor shall resume the powers and duties of their office.
SEC. 7. PREAMBLE
The fourth and fifth paragraphs of the preamble of the Constitution shall be struck, and the following inserted in their place:
"The Constitution and Bill of Rights may be amended by the Senate with a four-fifths supermajority vote of all sitting Senators, or by a two-thirds supermajority vote of the Senate and a two-thirds supermajority vote by public referendum through a poll which the Governor must create on the Firestone forums with two options (“Approve” or “Disapprove”), which must be scheduled to close between 71 and 73 hours after it is opened, and shall only be open to Firestone citizens, and such poll shall not publicly show who has voted unless it is technically impossible to prevent such; this poll shall be considered an election for purposes of law.
“The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, President pro tempore, Chief Court Justice, and any other citizen chosen by any of the preceding individuals must establish and maintain an accurate reflection of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and their respective amendments through any publicly accessible means.”
SEC. 8. FIRST ELECTION
(a) Three days after this amendment goes into effect, a general election shall be held by the Lieutenant Governor to elect 12 Senators.
(b) The Senators shall be divided into the three classes of initial term length based on the number of votes they receive in this election: the four receiving the most votes shall be in the class whose term ends July 1, 2026; the next four receiving the most votes shall be in the class whose term ends May 1, 2026; the last four receiving the most votes shall be in the class whose term ends March 1, 2026.
(c) Any tie between classes shall be resolved by runoff election, and then any further tie shall be resolved by a publicly-performed and publicly-accessible game of chance by the Chief Court Justice.
(d) This section shall not be included in the text of the Constitution.