DEBATING LEGISLATION
After a presiding officer is elected and an agenda has been selected, debate begins.
The presiding officer will call for the author of the first item on the agenda. If no author is present, the P.O. will call for a sponsor. If no one sponsors the legislation, debate on the item cannot proceed. The chamber must either table it or recess until a competitor writes a sponsorship speech.
The times for authorship or sponsorship speeches are typically three-minute speeches followed by two minutes of cross-examination. After the first affirmative speech (either authorship or sponsorship), the presiding officer will call for a negative speech.
The remainder of the debate on the bill ideally will alternate between affirmative and negative speeches.
It is possible, but not advisable, to have multiple consecutive speeches on one side of a debate if no competitor wishes to speak on the opposing side. If a P.O. calls for affirmative speeches and sees that there are none, she proceeds to negative speeches. Participants should avoid speaking under these circumstances, though, as they tend to produce stagnant and uninteresting debate.
QUESTIONING
Each speech is followed by a minute of questioning, except for authorships and sponsorships, which are followed by two minutes.
If debaters wish to extend the questioning period, they must suspend the rules. A suspension of the rules requires a two-thirds supermajority of the total members of the chamber. The speaker making the motion must specify for how long questioning is to be extended (she should rise and say “I move to suspend the rules and extend questioning by x minutes/seconds”).
Debaters generally should avoid these motions because they take time away from speeches, and one minute is usually sufficient to question a three-minute speech and produce clash.