Northeast Statutory Review Commission

[homelycooking]

x homelycooking

The gang's all here, then. I accept your nomination(s), and I'm ready to get to work.

[homelycooking]

Thanks Napoleon. Here's how I'd like to run this. I'd suggest each member takes a certain year (or so) of Northeast statute and reviews it, paying particular attention to:

- any new loopholes or regulatory questions that the bill creates
- contradictions with other legislation
- its compliance with the NE Constitution
- whether the bill was passed in a legitimate manner, if such a thing can be ascertained

If you have recommendations that you think the Assembly would be prudent to accept, please make a note of those, and provided the rest of the SRC is in agreement, it will be put in the final report.

Also, as you review the statute, please put together a document containing all of the laws passed up to the present day that can be presented as a complete portion of the Northeast Statute.

Once we decide which portions of the statute will be reviewed by whom, I think we ought to take four days on the review process, reconvene formally for consideration of progress that is being made or difficulties being encountered, then take another four days to finish the review. With the remaining time, we will assemble and deliberate upon a report to present to the Assembly.

Any suggestions/objections? Any preferences as to a specific time period for the review? 

[homelycooking]

Keep in mind, though, that according to the legislation passed by the Assembly, the SRC's commission to review the statute extends only until the fifteenth calendar day after the passing of the bill, which would be next Saturday. If we need an extension of the commission, we can certainly ask the Assembly for it, but my goal in limiting the review period was to get things done quickly so that the Assembly can legislate with confidence in the integrity of the statute.

[homelycooking]

We should get to work on it, and then come to a consensus this weekend as to whether we should ask the Assembly for more time.

I'll break up the legislation into blocks like so:

June 2004 to September 2007 (found here, first half)
September 2007 to September 2009 (found here, second half)
September 2009 to June 2010 (found here)
June 2010 to Present (uncodified laws)

OK, let's get started. Napoleon, you could take 2007 to 2009. Polnut, since you've recently been involved in NE politics, you could take 2010-present, the uncodified stuff. Dallasfan, you could work on 2004-2007, and I'll take the laws organized under "Legislative Work of the NE Assembly". Is that all right with everyone? Feel free to ask any questions, and please use this thread to bring up any suggestions, concerns, advice, etc. as you work.

[homelycooking]

I'll post the findings from my section of the statute tomorrow. How is everyone else doing? Encountering problems? Need questions answered? Need more time? Let me know.

Remember, our commission expires one week from today.

[homelycooking]

Here are my recommendations so far:

Northeast Assembly Speaker Act needs concrete language to replace "as soon as possible" with reference to the haste with which the Assembly should elect a new Speaker to fill a vacancy. Violation of section 5 here presumably should incur some penalty.

SOLP Section 1 "Proposed Legislation Thread" subsections a and c have been repeatedly violated because they are unneccessary and impractical and should be repealed.
Section 2 "Movement of Legislation to the Northeast Assembly Floor" involves the Lieutenant Governor in the introduction of legislation to the floor of the Assembly. References to him should be replaced with references to the Speaker. Subsection a is verbose and requires clarification. A circular reference between subsections a, b and e must be removed or clarified.

The text of the NE Porn and Age of Consent Act (Dallasfan's section) needs to be corrected with amendments passed in 2009.

Tax laws and regulations seem to be in conflict with the Northeast March 2005 Tax Initiative, which repeals all sales and income taxes and replaces them with flat taxes. This may be obsolete and thus may need to be repealed.

The Northeastern Green Jobs Act does not define "green jobs", LOL.

The Northeast Natural Gas Leasing Act refers to a "Northeast Comptroller", a position which does not exist.

Section 2 of the Vacancy Filling Act is confusing, since a vacancy occuring on a Saturday both must occur on the next Friday and is prevented from doing so, since it is the sixth day after the vacancy:

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Also, the CJO is required to post candidates' names specifically in the the Candidate Declaration Thread. He should be informed of this.

The NE Order of Precedence Act needs to be revised or repealed, since former Governors come before Assemblymen in the order.

The Self Defense Act is vague and needs to be repealed or incorporated into the Constitution.

The Freedom to Drive Act refers to depletion in funds of the Regional Fund for Economic Recovery. Does anyone know if this institution has been functioning, or how much money is in it?

The Wiki Emergency Act requires a link to text of legislation: this is unnecessary and should be removed. Incorporation within the actual text of a wiki page is sufficient. Also, the Act allows the designation of a citizen to edit the wiki if the Lieutenant Governor cannot. Questions of enforcement arise here: altogether, this act should be considered for repeal or drastic rewording.

 

[homelycooking]

Commissioners: As you finish your reviews, please post or PM me your recommendations so that I can begin to assemble the final report. Also, make sure that you have the text of the laws in your section ready to be incorporated into the official cumulative statute that will be presented to the Assembly.

Questions? How are things going?

hc

[homelycooking]

Unfortunately I got held up with "RL" work and travel - but I'm finally wrapping things up and will get it done in the next 24 hours.

Perfect. This will give us a day or so to review and vote on the recommendations and I'll be able to present them to the Assembly on Sunday.

[homelycooking]

I requested an extension to our commission, since there's no way we could have passed a final report today. I'm now aiming for Thursday. Please, commissioners, send me or post here your final recommendations (or let me know if what you've written so far IS final) as soon as you can, so that I can put together the report.

hc/lcf

[homelycooking]

Here is my copy of the report. Please review it and post any changes, amendments or clarifications you wish to be included in the final copy to be sent to the Assembly. However, if there are no objections/amendments, we will hold a vote on the report, and though we will need the endorsement of three commissioners, I'd prefer unanimity.

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2. Article B, Section 2 of the Northeast Medical Savings Account Act is hereby repealed.

3. The Northeast Pornography and Age of Consent Act is amended to include:

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4. The Children's Healthcare Act is hereby repealed.

5. Sections 1, 2 and 3 of The Smoking Age Standardization Act are amended as follows:

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6. Section 4 of the Predatory Lending Prohibition Act is amended as follows:

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7. Section 1 of the Fair Property Valuation Act is hereby repealed.

8. The Northeast Speed Limit Standardization Act is hereby repealed.

9. The Northeast Region Legislation Standardization Act is hereby repealed.

10. The Preferential Voting Act is amended as follows:

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11. Subsections 1 and 2 of Section 1 of the The Campaigning for Invalidation of Votes Initiative are amended as follows:

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12. The Nullification Resolution is hereby repealed.

13. Section 2 of the Proposition on the Officialization of the Separation of Religion and State is amended as follows:

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14. Section 5 of the Northeast Assembly Speaker Act is amended as follows:

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15. Subsections a and c of Section 1 (Proposed Legislation Thread) of the Standing Order on Assembly Procedure are hereby repealed and subsection e of Section 2 (Movement of Legislation to the Northeast Assembly Floor) of the Standing Order on Assembly Procedure is hereby repealed.

16.  Section 2 (Movement of Legislation to the Northeast Assembly Floor) of the Standing Order on Assembly Procedure is amended to replace all references to the Lieutenant Governor with references to the Speaker of the Assembly.

17. Section 2 (Movement of Legislation to the Northeast Assembly Floor) of the Standing Order on Assembly Procedure is specifically amended as follows:

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18. The Northeast Tax Initiative of March 2005 is hereby repealed.

19. The following amendment shall be made to the Northeastern Green Jobs Act:

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20. The Self Defense Act is hereby repealed.

21. The Wiki Emergency Act is hereby repealed.

22. The Northeast Order of Precedence Act is amended as follows:

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23. Section 2 of the Vacancy Filling Act is amended as follows:

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We, the undersigned commissioners, do hereby endorse these recommendations and urge the Assembly to adopt them forthwith.

Signed this 11th day of May 2011,
x_homelycooking________
x_Dallasfan65__________
x_Polnut______________
x_Napoleon____________
[/quote]

[homelycooking]

I don't have anything to add, and I think it's about time we sent this off to the Assembly, given the amount of work that's gone into this and the time it's taken.

x homelycooking/La cocina fea

[homelycooking]

I should suggest removing the recall amendment part and saving that for the constitutional convention.

Without objection.

[homelycooking]

The report of the SRC has been endorsed unanimously by the Commissioners. I will now present it to the Northeast Assembly.

Barring any other final remarks, this session of the Statutory Review Commission is adjourned.

Thank you to all for your collaboration and hard work. It's been an honor to have served as your chairman.