Batavian Senate

The Senate, also reffered to as House of Lords or Reflection Chamber is the Upper House of the bicameral Batavian Consulate. The Senate is located in the left-wing of the Imperial Palace in Amsterdam.

Formation
To ensure every department would have it's own, equal voice in the Consulate. Emperor Saviël-Citus I decided to make the upper house of the Consulate a representation of the all the departments, by letting the people of the department choose one Senator to represent them on the national stage. The elections were held in three parts in march.

Functions
Despite being a legislative body of the Consulate, the Senate also has other functions.

Legislation
After main bills are discussed in the House of Consuls and accepted with a simple majority, the Senate debates them to make sure no law is made 'caught up in the moment'. The Senate however accepts about ⅔ of all the proposals without debate. Some bills are however debated, especially when it concerns a specific department. The Senate can only completely pass the proposals, or reject them. They do not have any right to change it. Amendments proposed by the House of Consuls do also need a ⅔ majority in the Senate, however, the Senate can also propose an amendment themselves, this amendment needs a ⅔ majority in the Senate, but does not need approval of the House.

Committee Hearing
The Senate can also call for a Committee Hearing with a simple simple majority. These Committee Hearings are different from the Hearing sessions in the House. The Senate only calls for these hearings if their is a judical problem, like a ethics violation. After a call for a Committee Hearing has been made, the Senator asking for the session and eight others at random are asked to hear the person, this can also be another Senator. If five out of eight Senators find him guilty, he must answer to the Grand Jury of the High Court.

Check the government
Just like the House of Consuls, any minister or cabinet member can be asked to explain themselves in the Senate, however this is used less since the Emperor, which is the head of the government already has a seat in the Senate and will awnser the questions in name of the minister

Senate elections
Senate elections are held every two years, however the elections are not at the same time. The first 37 department senators are elected first. Eight months later the next 37 departments and another eight months and the last 37 departments. The three Senators from Amsterdam are also elected divided over three terms. This is to maintain a fresh circle of Senators.

Senators are elected with a first-past-the-post plurality vote and elected at whole. Each department has it's 'own' election in which different candidates run. All candidates have to be independent, to truly represent their department first and not any ideology. The candidate which gains the highest margin of votes wins the election and can become Senator. The incumbent Senator can seek re-election as many times as he wants.

Acting Senators
If a Senator resigns during his term, the State Assembly appoints a Senator instead of a by-pass election. The majority and minority leader in the State Assembly can both propose an acting Senator and the State Assembly chooses one with a simple majority, he or she can stay in the Senate until the term of the originally elected officer ends. Because it can sometimes take a while before the State Assembly makes a decision, the Imperial-Governor appoints a temporarily acting Senator until the State Assembly appoints the acting. The temporarily acting Senator represents the department until the acting Senator has been appointed.

Speaker of the Senate
The Emperor is the Speaker of the Senate. However because the Emperor can still vote and thus isn't fully independent as the speaker should be, the Senate nominates a Speaker Pro Tempore at the start of each session. Every Senator in office can become Speaker Pro Tempore.

The voting session is chaired by the Emperor, who will give the candidates time to speak and order the votes. The Senators vote privately. To become Speaker Pro Tempore, Senators need at least 39 votes, so a second or even third round could be necessary. As soon as the Speaker Pro Tempore is nominated the Emperor will apoint him/her. The Speaker Pro Tempore thereby resigns as Senator, so will not be able to vote. The department he or she represented will be furtherly represented by an Acting Senator appointed by the State Assembly.

As soon as the new session starts the Speaker Pro Tempore will automatically lose the chair. Although the Speaker Pro Tempore is theoratically not able to seek re-nomination, since he is at that time without a seat in the Senate, it is likely the Acting Senator will resign and the State Assembly will give the seat back to the incumbent Speaker Pro Tempore, who can seek for re-nomination. If he or she is nominated again, the State Assembly can again appoint the Acting Senator.