American Parliament

The American Parliament (abbreviated as AP and also known as the Parliament of America or the Grand Chamber) is the transnational legislature of the Conference of American States. It is one of the five integral institutions of the CAS and was founded in 1960 by the Treaty of Louisville. The legislative body is composed of 501 legislators (commonly referred to as members of American Parliament or MAPs) who are every 5 years. The Parliament works in conjunction with the American Council and American Secretariat in exercising the legislative functions of the CAS.

The American Parliament is responsible for requesting and reviewing legislative proposals submitted by the American Secretariat (the only CAS institution which has for most issues). It shares its roles of amending and revising proposed legislation with the American Council, and negotiates with the Council through consensus-based policymaking. The Parliament is also empowered to introduce and pass legislation regarding the CAS budget, issue non-binding resolutions, and conduct parliamentary hearings. Legislation can only pass if both Parliament and the Council can reach common agreement.

Every member state of the CAS is represented in the American Parliament and are allocated seats based on degressive proportionality as determined by population. The United Commonwealth, the Conference's largest member state, has the most seats in the Parliament with a total of 44 MAPs, while the smallest member state,, has 5.