Oklahoma YMCA Youth and Government

Youth Commission

Introduction

The Youth Commission, which was held for the first time at the 1977 Texas YMCA YAG Conference, came as a result of a search by the leadership for a way to introduce new delegates to the total program and to reduce the size of the Legislature without reducing the number of delegates in the Austin Conference. This section has recently been added to the Oklahoma program to allow for continued growth of the conference.

Purpose

The purpose of the Commission is to:

1. Give new delegates an overview and introduction to the total program.

2. Through this process prepare delegates for participation in future years as legislators, in judiciary, or as new media members.

3. To provide an opportunity for delegates to discuss and learn about issues through programs related to selected State Departments and to gather information that might be useful in writing legislation for future Youth Legislatures..

Program Standards

1. All delegates must be first year delegates, without exception. No high school seniors or juniors participate in Youth Commission. Students limited to one year participation.

2. Delegates will participate in legislative, judicial, and news media sections of Youth & Government. They will have a working knowledge of each area upon completion, as demonstrated by the opportunity to see each section in session and to participate in each section as well.

3. The formal agenda for Youth Commission will consist of 3 section activities plus. Attendance will be taken at each session and absentees will be reported to their advisors.

4. Delegates will complete an evaluation of the program.

5. The conference dress code will be enforced.

Organization

The Commission will work through 3 distinct areas during the conferences. The Legislative, Judicial and News Media.

Legislative Review

For the Legislative portion of the program the delegates will write proposals on a matter of importance to our state.

Proposals

Each delegate participating in Youth Commission is required to write a proposal on a matter of importance to our state. It is mandatory that each delegate within each club write on a different topic. This will mean that a club with 12 delegates will have 12 different topics. However, some or all of these topics may be duplicated by delegates from other clubs.

Proposal Sharing Group

During the first day of the conference, all participants will take part in a Proposal Sharing group. The proposal sharing groups could be called support or study groups. The purpose of the proposal sharing groups is to allow delegates to relax and work into the flow of the Conference. The atmosphere should be supportive and helpful.

Proposal Sharing Groups will consist of delegates from different clubs who have written proposals on dissimilar topics.

Total amount of time will be shared equally by the authors of the proposals assigned to the sharing group. No voting, debating, or scoring of proposals will take place in the Proposal Sharing Group.


Committee Hearing Groups Structure

5-3/4 hours (345 minutes)*** are allotted for the Committee. Thirty minutes at the beginning of the session will be reserved for the chair to explain the rules, arrange the agenda and answer questions.** The remaining time 5-1/4 hours (315 minutes) will be divided equally among the proposals for debate and scoring. (i.e., minutes divided by the number of proposals=amount of time for each proposal). The above time allotments must include an adequate amount of time for scoring proposals at the conclusion of the proposal presentation. Time allotments may be adjusted by the chair to fit the committee needs. The motion to hear an amendment may be made by any delegate, not just the amendment author, during all committees.

TIME FRAME FOR EACH PROPOSAL

- Opening remarks by the proposal author (2 minutes).
- Non-debatable, technical questions (2 minutes).
- Chairperson opens debate (Con and pro speakers will alternate; speaking 1-1/2 minutes each).

- Author’s summation (2 minutes).
- Proposal scoring ballot distributed to each person or combined author group. Scoring ballots

returned to chair.

Committee Hearing Group Purpose

The purpose of the Committee Hearing Group is to study and discuss each proposal assigned to the committee, to make any amendments deemed necessary by the majority and to rank the proposal in order of priority. The Committee shall be comprised of delegates with similar proposals.

When the vote is taken to determine priority, there will be one score for each proposal topic, (e.g., If six authors have combined their proposals, they each receive 1/6 of 1 score).

The author must present the proposal in the form in which the author wishes it to be debated. All amendments proposed in Committee must be approved by a majority vote; author consent is not required for amendment passage.

It is suggested that each delegate casting a vote consider the following criteria:
State/National Importance
Evidence of Research
Feasibility
Preparation and Presentation
Debatability
Originality

A score order will be done by each member of the Committee Hearing Group on all proposals immediately after each individual presentation. After the results are tabulated, the proposal with the lowest raw score total will be scored one in Committee Hearing Group by the Conference Advisor; the proposal with the second lowest raw score total will be ranked second and so on. The
top 5 proposals will be considered passed at state conference.

Judicial Review

Delegates will read over court case and legal motions during the conference.

Delegates will watch court cases in action and at the end of the conference will 12 members will act as jurors in the show case round.

News Media Review

Delegates will follow the workings of the section both print and video. If time allows delegates will write an article for submission at the conferences.