Legislative Debate

1. Student congress Legislative Debate What are we calling this thing? Congressional Debate

2. What IS It? • Not a replacement for Policy Debate. • A bit of a middle ground between forensics and debate. • Competitive simulation of a legislative assembly

3. Before the Tournament • 3-4 weeks prior to the tournament: Teams write bills relating to any relevant world issue. • Teams write bills according to specific format that includes funding and enforcement. They must be able to provide a logical, realistic solution.

4. Who Would It Appeal to ? • Students who have an interest in current events • Impromptu students. • Students who don’t have the time necessary to commit to policy debate, but they want to be involved in some kind of debate. • Students who like to think, talk, and listen.

5. Bonuses of Legislative Debate • Usually sometime in May, there is a large tournament held in Mackinaw island. If your school allows, you are allowed to stay in the Grand Hotel. • The Grand Hotel is a five star hotel.

6. Before the tournament … • Coach emails bills to the tournament director who compiles them and distributes copies of ALL the bills to all the schools. • Teams have two weeks to research all of the bills.

7. During the Tournament • Students are divided into legislative assemblies of 15-20 students each. • A presiding officer or P.O. is chosen.

8. During the tournament • The presiding officer recognizes a speaker. Once a bill is on the table, the debate begins! • During the round, students function as a legislative assembly and debate as many bills as possible. • After two rounds, the top speakers from each assembly move on to one Super Session or final round.

9. How do you win? • Students are scored a 1-6 in all categories. • Scores from both judges from both rounds are tabulated to come up with the top speakers in both rounds who advance to the Super Session. • The top scoring speakers in the Super Session are awarded trophies.