AMELI and BASILE :
Informatics tools and the Senate’s procedure
AMELI and BASILE :
Informatics tools and the Senate’s procedure
For many years the French Senate has developed efficient informatics
tools dealing with all aspects of parliamentary procedure : legislative
work as well as oversight over the Government’s policy.
In this respect, the administration of the Senate was aiming at :
 providing a larger information of citizens on the Senate’s
work ;
 helping senators in a better way to fulfill their parliamentary
mandate ;
 modernizing the production of senatorial documents, such as
committees
reports,
official
documents
or
proceedings minutes.
AMELI and BASILE :
Informatics tools and the Senate’s procedure
-
This involvment in developping informatics tools started in April 1978
with the introduction of the first documentary data base concerning the
french Parliament and devoted to questions tabled by Senators.
-
Along years, it went on with the implementation of several other data
bases such as :





DOSLEG : data base on bills and committee’s reports in 1978
CRA : data base on the minutes of public sittings in 1996
BALLOTS : data base on recorded votes ans ballots in 1998
AMELI : data base on amendments in December 2001
PORTALIS : data base on rules and proceedings in 2003 these
information being for the exclusive use of the Sitting department and
the chairmanship of the Senate
 BASILE : data base on questions in April 2004
 SOLON II : data base on the legislative process involving not only
the Senate but also the National Assembly, the Prime minister’s
offices and the Journal officiel in January and June 2012
AMELI and BASILE :
Informatics tools and the Senate’s procedure
This presentation will focuse on two specific and interactive application
programs dealing with amendments and questions :
 AMELI : (standing for AMEndments on LIne) : a tool for legislative
work
and
 BASILE : (standing for BASe d’Information LEgislative) : a tool for
oversight
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
AMELI
or
the story of amendments
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
Any change in the wording of a bill is an amendment. Amendments are
brought by Members of Parliament or Ministers.
Filing an amendment requires the following actions :
First :
to get connected to AMELI by using a secured
identification number and a personal code ;
Second : to choose a bill among those tabled in the Senate on
which to file the amendment ;
Third :
to define precisely the type of amendment consisting for
example : in adding a new article to the bill or
suppressing an article ; in changing, suppressing or
adding a paragraph, a sentence, a word within an
article of a bill…
Fourth :
to send the amendment to the Sitting department ;
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
Three steps to file an amendment
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
The look of a tabled amendment
Bill
Number
Status
Author
Article
Amendment on what ?
Purpose of the
amendment
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
To table amendments : on the average
between
AMELI
A modern tool
for senators,
political groups,
standing committees
and ministers
in order
8
000
and
10
000
amendments are filed each year to be
discussed during public sittings
To send amendments from their offices
in the Senate, from their constituency or
from any other place where they can
find a computer
network
and the Internet
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
To check and correct tabled amendments ;
To organize the order of discussion
amendments during the public sitting ;
AMELI
A modern tool in the
hands of the Sitting
department in order :
of
To prepare the Chairman’s file for the discussion
of articles and amendments during the public
sitting ;
To set the filing list of amendments also called
« dérouleur » which is broadcasted on the in
house TV channel, helping senators and the
public to follow the debate ;
To settle the final wording of the bill in progress
as soon as it is adopted by senators during the
public sitting
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
To set the minutes of the public debate on
bills more rapidly ;
AMELI
A modern tool in the
hands of the minutes
department in order :
To establish these minutes at a less
expansive cost : actually AMELI saves
385 000 photocopies per year ;
To secure the setting of senatorial archives
on the public debates and to facilitate
researches on these debates.
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
To obtain information concerning tabled
amendments :
 in an easier way : with no need of being
present in the premises of the Senate ;
AMELI
A modern tool
provided to citizens
in order :
 more rapidly : as soon as they are
tabled and checked by the Sitting
department, amendments are available on
AMELI;
To follow step by step the adoption of the bill
in progress : as soon as they occur the
results of votes on amendments are
available on AMELI as well as the text of the
bill itself.
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
AMELI Committee
In order to comply with the constitutional reform of July 2008, giving increased
legislative powers to committees, it has been necessary to provide Senators with a
new system called AMELI Committee because, now, the Senate in plenary
discusses the text as amended by the committee to which the bill has been referred
to and does not discuss any more the text sent by the Government or by the
National Assembly.
AMELI Committee has been available since october 2010.
It is shaped like AMELI although it is only available while standing committees are
working on the bill, before the plenary sitting.
BASILE
or
the story of a question
BASILE : A tool for oversight
For Senators to raise questions and receive
answers to these questions ;
BASILE
A modern tool
For administrators to check, file and forward
questions and answers to Senators, to the
Government and to the Journal officiel ;
For citizens to get information on questions.
AMELI : A tool for the Senate’s legislative work
Filing a question requires the following actions :
First : to get connected to BASILE by using a secured identification
number and a personal code ;
Second : to choose the minister concerned ;
Third : to write the question ;
Fourth : to send the question to the administrator.
BASILE : A tool for oversight
BASILE : A tool for oversight
1) reception of filed questions
2) checking and validation by the administrator
BASILE : A tool for oversight
1- Electronic filing of Q
Senator
Base
Administrator
Basile
2 – Validation of Q
8 – Validation of A
3/9 - Tuesday : Export of
Q/A towards the JO
Base
Journal
officiel
Basile
4 - Thursday : Import
of Q/A from the JO
7 – Tuesday : export of
A from SOLON
SOLON RÉPONSES
5 – Thursday : export of Q
towards SOLON
Ministries
6 – Preparation of A
AMELI and BASILE :
Informatics tools and the Senate’s procedure
AMELI and BASILE are unanimously recognized as very efficient and
useful tools for senators and citizens.
As expected AMELI and BASILE helped to increase the visibility on the
Senate’s work and to provide in an easier way documents and
information concerning the Senate.
Solon II
SOLON II
On June 26, 2012 in the wake of modernization of our informatics tools the
Senate, together with the National Assembly, the Prime minister’s offices
and the Journal officiel have launched a new program called SOLON II.
This program facilitates the connections and the circulation of information
concerning the work of both houses of Parliament, the legislative process,
and the oversight policy.
For the first time, all the institutions dealing with these matters are closely
working together with a single program system.