Nejiroan Members of Parliament (MPs) consider and propose new laws, amendments, regulations, and taxes which must be passed by both the Founders House and the Commons House. MPs also consider and report on public policy. They can scrutinize government policies through the actions of committees, with legislation, via the media with statements and debates, or by questioning Ministers and members of government either publicly in Chamber (during the weekly sessions of Questions to the Prime Minister which is broadcast live in front of the press, or during Questions to the Cabinet - departmental Ministry questions, which happens less frequently), or MPs may also put down Written Questions to Ministers which must receive a written reply, thus providing a means by which an MP may examine any issue and develop a line of investigation.
Nejiro's Parliament is in session twice a year from 1 March through 31 May and from 1 September through 31 November.
Founders House Members of Parliament are representatives of the Ichizoku of Nejiro. They are the founding parliamentary house and at one time the only house. (The Commons House representatives were not called until the population grew enough to require their necessity. In 2877 the Crown called for elections, after the recommendation and successful petition of the Founders House in 2876, and on 1 March 2878 the first session of the Commons House of Parliament was opened.) Founders House MPs are designated by their Delm, in the method of their choice, in lifetime appointments to the Founders House, except for egregious errors. Each Dai Ichizoku sends two representatives from each Delm. Each Koichizoku sends one representative from each Delm, including from each of the Koichizoku on Pluoton {Corvae, Yamana, Teck, Barrick, Sugano, Rokuda, Kase, Yap, Erdeli, Tsaplin, Xu, Wen, Durchenko, Ciar, Moon, Zhang, Seagha} and the space based Ryokosha Koichizoku {traveler} (the independent crew, family, and dependents of the Sankaku {Phoenix Mercantile, Horizon Tradeships, Neptune Orient Lines} and other interstellar fleets based in system), and one representative from each major space station and habitat. There are also at least another fifteen representatives appointed by the Crown (as needed) as advisors, as subject matter experts, as investigators or troubleshooters, as ethnic, cultural, or religious delegates and/or envoys, some are limited in term, some have extraordinary or emergency powers. The Guild Master, Traders Trust, The Spacer League, Pluoton Metals, and the Enclave Trade Council all each appoint one representative to the Founders House. Votes of the House are by a supermajority of two thirds. The Founders House is led by the Speaker {Esther Hohki} an internally elected position.
As well as legislative duties and responsibilities the Founders House MPs also have obligations in the judiciary to sit on the Founders High Court, of the Keijihoin {Crown Court} on the Monarchs Bench divisional court to make decisions on Ichizoku matters (e.g. business law, family law, equity, constitutional law, peer review etc.), to hear appeals, to hear petitions, and to hear and make decisions on high crimes (e.g. treason), and impeachable offenses (e.g. maladministration).
The Founders House Assembly Hall on Parliament Hill in Yousai is architecturally both traditional and eclectic (from byzantine to gothic to baroque then mixed with shinden-zukuri, songnic, and hanok) as it was built to combine and honor several different styles and cultures. Most find the whole quite harmonious and aesthetically pleasing, but some find the details together somewhat jarring. The Chambers where the Founders MPs come together with their cut and thrust debate style can be quite loud on many occasions as it was designed to have perfect acoustics and resonates frequently during passionate debates. The Chambers were constructed as a sunken ampitheatre with enough space to hold up to one thousand Members of Parliament, plus the Cabinet and the Privy Council. Currently only a few levels of the ampitheatre are revealed, enough for the current numbers of the combined Houses of Parliament and their guests. The floor of the Chamber, covered in a bordeaux pattern parquet floor made from a selection of native woods, is a stage lift that may be risen or lowered to reveal more space for seats as needed, which have open boxes with room for Pages and others to move freely between them, and stairs at the cardinal points to ease movement between levels, with the back wall of the box paneled in native Nejiroan woods in a beadboard pattern and the writing desks at the center of the box are custom crafted by artisans in stratosphere ironwood in individual executive styles for each Member and combined with Sheraton style chairs. The walls of the Chamber are paneled in a tongue and groove pattern in a pleasing variety of native woods and lined with artisan crafted Windsor style chairs for Pages, Clerks, and guests. The floor has an elevated wooden bench with the Founders House monsho carved into it that serves as a desk for the Speaker of the House on one side of the floor, and the other holds the royal seat of the Crown - most often used during ceremonial moments (official open of Parliament etc.) but the Crown may attend any session without notice. In between are several boardroom style tables for the Cabinet Ministers and the Privy Council, and several smaller tables for Pages and Clerks, with space for several different styles of presentations, and clear lines of sight for the Parliamentary Guards and the Ministry Security Services. There is a double mezzanine surrounding the Chamber, the first level holds three hundred opera style balcony boxes for the Delms and their guests. (The unclaimed boxes are sometimes used by favored members of the press, award winning students, advisors, consultants, VIP guests, - Parliament sometimes auctions the use of these boxes in support of various charities.) The second level gallery holds space for the press and first come first serve theater style seating for the public to quietly observe the public business of the House (the Weekly Questions are especially popular). Surrounding the Chamber are sixteen custom framed cathedral sized stained glass windows with a flamboyant gothic rose window representing Nejiro's sun and stars taking center stage. The sixteen windows each have a theme representing Nejiro: the lands, the flora, the fauna, the oceans, the Indigenous cultures, the Founders cultures, the Guilds, the flag of Nejiro, Parliaments monsho and coat of arms, the Founders House monsho and coat of arms, the Ichizoku mon, the stellar system ports and facilities, the Spacer League, Nejiro's raw resources, Nejiro agriculture, and Nejiro industry.
