The National Assembly for Wales Bill (2015)

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. Definitions

(1) Constituents of Wales are those who voted in the Welsh constituency at the previous General Election or did not vote at the previous General Election.

(2) *The alternative vote system ask voters to rank candidates in order of preference. However, the election or vote isn’t compulsory and people do not have to vote at all.8

(3) The Presiding Officer is the speaker of the National Assembly for Wales and the Deputy Presiding Officer is the deputy speaker of the National Assembly for Wales.

2. Wales shall have a devolved legislature branch.

(1) The devolved Wales legislature shall be called the National Assembly for Wales.

(2) All positions in the National Assembly for Wales shall be electable.

3. Powers of the National Assembly for Wales

(1) The National Assembly for Wales shall be granted numerous powers over the country of Wales.

(2) All positions in the National Assembly for Wales shall be elected by the constituents of Wales.

(3) There shall only be one Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer at any one time.

(4) The number of members of the National Assembly for Wales are subject to change at the moderators discretion.

(5) The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly, with powers over the 20 subjects outlined in schedule 7 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

4. Elections for the National Assembly for Wales

(1) The National Assembly for Wales shall be elected using the mixed member proportional representation system. The election shall consist of a d’hondt system for constituencies and an allocation of regional seats to make the election proportionate.

(2) Constituents of Wales shall vote for their candidate of choice.

(3) The votes shall be counted and then the seats within the constituency shall be distributed using the d’hondt system.

(4) Then the Regional seats shall be distributed to make the allocation of seats proportionate to the amount of votes each party received.

(5) There shall be three Welsh constituencies; Cardiff, Mid & North Wales and South Wales.

(6) The Mid & North Wales constituency and Cardiff constituency shall have two seats each. The South Wales constituency shall have three seats.

(7) There shall be three regional members. This totals to ten AMs.

(8) There shall always be at least 10 AMs.

5. The Government of the National Assembly for Wales

(1) The Government of the National Assembly for Wales shall also be known as the Welsh Assembly.

(2) The Welsh Government is the executive branch of the devolved government in Wales and is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales.

(3) The Welsh Government shall be led by the First Minister who shall be an Assembly Member and leader of the largest party or coalition in the Welsh Assembly.

(4) The Welsh Government cabinet shall consist of a maximum of twelve ministers and deputy ministers appointed by the first minister and a Counsel General, nominated by the First Minister and by the National Assembly for Wales via a simple majority vote.

(5) Ministers of the Government shall be head of their respective departments and shall be held to account by an Opposition cabinet and Assembly Members in general.

(6) Ministers of the Government shall be either AMs or Non-AMs.

6. The National Assembly for Wales

(1) The National Assembly for Wales shall contain Assembly Members who are elected by the Welsh constituents.

(2) The National Assembly for Wales shall scrutinise the activities of the Welsh Government and debate important issues for Wales.

(3) The National Assembly for Wales shall investigate issues of importance to the people of Wales and publish its findings and recommendations.

(4) The Assembly shall vote on bills submitted by Assembly Members. A majority is needed for a bill to be made into law.

(5) The National Assembly for Wales shall vote on a Presiding Officer using the alternative vote system.

(i) The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales shall be in charge of the proceedings for the National Assembly for Wales and shall put bills up for vote.

(ii) The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales shall be able to vote on bills and shall break the deadlock if there is a draw between the ayes and the nays.

(iii) The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales shall choose one member of the National Assembly for Wales to be their deputy and carry out the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales’ duty when the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales is not available.

(iv) If the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales leaves the position of the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, a new election for the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales shall be held.

(6) The Assembly Members of the National Assembly for Wales shall form the Welsh Government and Opposition after the National Assembly for Wales’ election.

(i) The Welsh Government shall not contain more than half of the parties represented in the National Assembly for Wales.

(7) The National Assembly for Wales shall contain Constituency Members of the National Assembly for Wales, abbreviated to CMNAW and given the title Assembly Member (AM).

(8) The National Assembly for Wales shall also contain Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales, abbreviated to RMNAW and given the title Assembly Member (AM).

7. Constituency Members of the National Assembly for Wales.

(1) Candidates for in a Welsh constituency shall be elected on party lists and seats are distributed using the d’Hondt system.

(2) If a candidate is elected as a Constituency Member of the National Assembly for Wales, the seat belongs to the party they are affiliated with. If they are an elected independent, it belongs with the independent candidate.

(3) Constituency Members of the National Assembly for Wales shall vote on bills submitted to the Assembly.

(4) Constituencies and the number of Constituency Members of the National Assembly for Wales shall be subject to change at the moderators discretion but shall remain the same as the General Election constituencies.

(5) CMNAWs term shall begin when the Presiding Officer opens the National Assembly for Wales after the National Assembly for Wales elections and shall end when the Presiding Officer closes the National Assembly for Wales for the next National Assembly for Wales elections.

8. Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales.

(1) Parties shall be allocated a number of Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales to ensure that each party gains a proportionate number of members of the National Assembly for Wales according to each party's vote count.

(2) After each party is allocated their appropriate number of Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales, each party shall select which candidates become Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales by the means they deem appropriate.

(3) Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales shall vote on bills submitted to the Assembly.

(4) The number of Regional Members of the National Assembly for Wales shall be subject to change at the moderators discretion.

(5) RMNAWs term shall begin when the Presiding Officer opens the National Assembly for Wales after the National Assembly for Wales elections and shall end when the Presiding Officer closes the National Assembly for Wales for the next National Assembly for Wales elections.

9. First Election of the National Assembly for Wales

(1) There shall be a first election of the National Assembly for Wales three weeks from the act coming into force upon enactment.

(2) The first election shall be conducted using the method stated in this bill. Only Welsh constituents and new voters shall be able to vote in the first election of the National Assembly for Wales.

(i) It shall be the speakership team and moderator’s duty to ensure that all voters are eligible members of the Welsh Constituency.

(3) All elections after the first election shall continue the normal pattern and shall take place three weeks after a General Election.

10. Commencement, Short Title, and Extent

(1) This act extends to whole of the United Kingdom.

(2) This act shall come into force immediately upon enactment.

(3) This act may be cited as the National Assembly for Wales Act (2015).

Italicized sections are changes

This Bill was submitted by the Right Honourable /u/ElliottC99 as a Private Member's Bill.

Voting on this bill will end on the 8 January 2016 at 10PM GMT.

Vote Aye, Nay or Abstain. Comments with anything else will be deleted. Comments that are edited will be void and not counted.

If a member is voting by proxy, they must have gained permission from the speaker prior to this vote. If no permission was sought and granted, their vote will not be counted.