HB 26-19: Pedophilia and Human Traffickers are Evil Act (Failed)

[Joseph Cao]

AN ACT

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section 1. Title
I. The long title of this Act shall be the "Pedophilia and Human Traffickers are Evil Act."

Section 2: Definitions
I. Pedophilia is the act of an adult taking part in sexual activity with a minor.
   Ia. A minor is someone under the age of 18.
   Ib. An adult is someone over 18.
II. Human trafficking is the act of modern day slavery against children and adults to be sold to another individual for fiscal interest or sexual favor.

Section 3: Substance
I. Anyone over the age of 18 years of age that's discovered to have had sexual activity with anyone under the age of 16 years of age:
   Ia. Anyone over 22 committing sexual acts against anyone under 18 years of age.
   Ia. This felony charge covering I and Ia. shall carry 12 years in federal prison.
   Ib. If the minor is below the age of 13, the individual over 18 years of age shall receive 50 years in federal prison.
II. All individuals committing modern day slavery as in the act of human trafficking shall face the death penalty.
   IIa. All individuals found guilty shall be executed by the Atlasia federal prison system within one year of the charge.  
   IIb. One appeal of the charges shall be allowed within this period.
III. All money within bank accounts and property belonging to such individuals shall be handed over to the victims of modern day slavery.

Section 4: The promotion of pedophilia is disgusting
I. All content that promotes children under the age of 16 within a sexually expressive way shall be considered a crime within the borders of Atlasia.
   Ia. Any company promoting the sexuality of young girls or boys shall be fined $50,000 increasing 50,000 dollars with each charge.
   Ib. First charge $50,000, second charge $100,000, third charge $150,000, etc.
II. Netflix shall be fined $50,000,000 for shows like Cuties and Big Mouth that promote pedophilia against our young girls. This Congress must demand that this stops and condemn it.
III. The FCC shall be granted the power to fine all streaming and tv networks for being illegal activity.    
   IIIa. Netflix will be given 30 days to remove all such content or face being shut down by the government of Atlasia and charged with pedophilia.
IV. Promotion of sexual activity or behavior in schools or class activities shall be grounds for the removal of federal funds.
   IVa. This includes books and texts.
   IVb. The Secretary of Education shall have the power to block grants for schools and colleges.
V. A federal ban is to be imposed on all states and regions that pass laws promoting pedophilia or lessening punishments, seeking leniency towards prison sentences, or moving towards acceptance for this disgusting act.

This Act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

Sponsor: Jessica
House Designation: HB 26-19

72 hours to debate.

[Joseph Cao]

Thank you for that, Jessica. I believe the Vice President has a question for you.

For my part, I'd like to raise another question about Sections 4.III and 4.V. Threatening to shut down Netflix entirely seems rather drastic. And what kind of a federal ban is to be imposed on states and regions, exactly?

[Joseph Cao]

That is three questions, one bit of useful information, and one strongly oppositional stance, and while I deeply appreciate the input, none of our actual representatives have commented on this yet.

For the sake of settling the issues raised by our incoming President, our incoming Vice President, and our incoming Senator, and clearing the House floor (which is frankly getting quite crowded), I would appreciate if the sponsor could get back to us when she's able to give a good substantive answer that we can work off of.

[Joseph Cao]

I can think of at least two ways this bill is unconstitutional, but I'm curious to see if our "Federalist" "representatives" know what they are?

Mr. Attorney General, if your objection is with whether or not I and my fellow duly elected representatives are fit to hold this office, I strongly suggest you come right out and say it instead of beating around the bush like this.

That said – while I am most empathetically not a constitutional lawyer – there seem to be two Article I violations in the bill, possibly others that I haven't caught. If my fellow representatives would like to point them out as well, it is my hope that we can get some amendments rolling here, because while I generally support the need to punish pedophilia behind the bill I really strongly disagree with a lot of the implementation that it proposes.

Also a note for Jessica that my question about a clarification on Section 4.V still has not been answered, and neither has MB's question.

It isn't ok for netflix or any network to show minors(children under 18) taking part in sexual behavior and this congress can't stand for it. Such activity is already against the ratings regulations for such age groups as displayed in these cartoons and we have to enforce it against the creators as such is disgusting.

I hope someone more familiar with Netflix can give their thoughts here, because I'm pretty sure their ratings for the shows you mentioned would still not be grounds for punishment even under this bill as it stands.

[Joseph Cao]

I have been somewhat nervous about holding votes and procedural actions these couple of days since we're still transitioning into the new Congress (we still haven't opened the Speaker election, I'm still using the previous Congress' noticeboard, razze and Adam haven't sworn in yet, and so on). But I suppose we'll just have to let the chips fall where they may at this point.

AN ACT

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section 1. Title
I. The long title of this Act shall be the "Pedophilia and Human Traffickers are Evil Act."

Section 2: Definitions
I. Pedophilia is the act of an adult taking part in sexual activity with a minor under 14 years of age.
   Ia. A minor is someone under the age of 18.
   Ib. An adult is someone over 18.
II. Human trafficking is the act of modern day slavery against children and adults to be sold to another individual for fiscal interest or sexual favor.

Section 3: Substance
I. Anyone over the age of 18 years of age that's discovered to have had sexual activity with anyone under the age of 16 14years of age:
   Ia. Anyone over 22 committing sexual acts against anyone under 18 years of age.
   Ia. This felony charge covering I and Ia. shall carry 12 years in federal prison.
   Ib. If the minor is below the age of 1311 and the offender the individual over 18 years of age shall receive 50 years in federal prison.
II. All individuals committing modern day slavery as in the act of human trafficking shall face the death penalty.
   IIa. All individuals found guilty shall be executed by the Atlasia federal prison system within one year of the charge.  
   IIb. One appeal of the charges shall be allowed within this period.
III. All money within bank accounts and property belonging to such individuals shall be handed over to the victims of modern day slavery.

Section 4: The promotion of pedophilia is disgusting
I. All content that promotes children under the age of 16 within a sexually expressive way shall be considered a crime within the borders of Atlasia.
  Ia. Any company promoting the sexuality of young girls or boys shall be fined $50,000 increasing 50,000 dollars with each charge.
   Ib. First charge $50,000, second charge $100,000, third charge $150,000, etc.
II. Netflix shall be fined $50,000,000 for shows like Cuties and Big Mouth that promote pedophilia against our young girls. This Congress must demand that this stops and condemn it.
III. The FCC shall be granted the power to fine all streaming and tv networks for being illegal activity.    
  IIIa. Netflix will be given 30 days to remove all such content or face being shut down by the government of Atlasia and charged with pedophilia.
IIV. Promotion of sexual activity or behavior in schools or class activities shall be grounds for the removal of federal funds.
   IIVa. This includes books and texts.
   IIVb. The Secretary of Education shall have the power to block grants for schools and colleges.
V.III A federal ban is to be imposed on all states and regions that pass laws promoting pedophilia or lessening punishments,as in seeking leniency towards prison sentences, or moving towards acceptance for this disgusting act.

This Act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

Representatives, the question is on adoption of the amendment above.

72 hours to vote. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

(And if beeman, Spark, and gracile are reading this, please note that your votes – should you make them – will be overridden by those of your congressional successors.)

[Joseph Cao]

Aye.

[Joseph Cao]

Well this is really something.

Only four representatives have voted, and while I respect texasgurl's eminently reasonable decision, the other four will have to vote at some point. Extending the voting period until we get a majority of representatives to vote.

[Joseph Cao]

A majority of representatives have voted and the voting period is ended.

By a vote of 5-1-0-3, this amendment passes.

Debate resumes.

[Joseph Cao]

Representatives have 24 hours to object to Poirot's amendment.

So I think II. needs to be amended. I don't know what is the maximum prison sentence in Atlasia that could be a replacement, is life in prison legal?

Life in prison is probably legal, absent any future court cases having to delineate the bounds of "cruel and unusual punishment" as set out in the Constitution. More generally, human trafficking is already on the books in Frémont and in the South (great job, Lincoln!). Frémont has deemed the forms of human trafficking mentioned in this bill to be at least a Class C felony with more severe classes reserved for child trafficking. The Southern statute is without a strictly defined punishment or prescription for conviction, but does have a bunch of restrictions on allowable forms of punishment, none of which cover life imprisonment should we choose to go that route.

[Joseph Cao]

Seeing no objections, Poirot's amendment is adopted.

[Joseph Cao]

24 hours to object to Jessica's amendment.

[Joseph Cao]

Seeing no objections, the amendment is adopted.

[Joseph Cao]

All fair points; I suppose we shall tackle these one at a time.

Does anyone want to take a look at modifying or striking Section 4.II, considering the concerns that OBD has raised? That seems to be the most prominent problem so far (the regional thing requires a bit more consideration that I unfortunately don't possess right now).

[Joseph Cao]

Oh well. Quite frankly I think this bill would be workable with a few amendments, including brushing up the links to regional considerations re: penalties for child trafficking and whatnot, but there's a motion to table which has been seconded – and, well, House rules are House rules.

A vote is open on the motion to table this bill. 72 hours to vote; representatives, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[Joseph Cao]

Nay.

I have made my feelings about this bill very clear, but still maintain that it can be made workable and agree with Tack that the way to go is by heavily modifying the rather problematic Sections III and IV. What I am envisioning here is essentially a framework within which the regions can work to combat human trafficking on their own fronts. I've brought up existing laws and enforcement efforts by two of the regions, but it would be an overall good to have something on the books that contextualizes these measures.

[Joseph Cao]

Closing the vote.

By a vote of 2-4-0-3, this tabling vote fails. Debate resumes.

[Joseph Cao]

24 hours to object to Jessica's amendment.

[Joseph Cao]

That said, though the President has made his intent clear regarding this bill, I will quiet my opposition to this bill if the "federal" in section III is stricken in lieu of "state or federal", which grants more leeway to the states to set prison sentences for these crimes, and if IIa and III are deleted (appeals should not be limited to 1 by any means).

Pursuant to my earlier mention of Frémont and Southern law, I intend to introduce an amendment that does this.

[Joseph Cao]

The Senator's concern is noted.

Since Jessica's amendment has been adopted, this is where we currently stand:

AN ACT

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section 1. Title
I. The long title of this Act shall be the "Pedophilia and Human Traffickers are Evil Act."

Section 2: Definitions
I. Pedophilia is the act of an adult taking part in sexual activity with a minor under 14 years of age.
II. Human trafficking is the act of modern day slavery against children and adults to be sold to another individual for fiscal interest or sexual favor.

Section 3: Substance
I. Anyone over the age of 18 years of age that's discovered to have had sexual activity with anyone under the age of 14 years of age:
   Ia. This felony charge covering 3.I shall carry up to 12 years in federal prison.
   Ib. If the minor is below the age of 11 and the offender over 18 years of age shall receive up to 50 years in federal prison.
II. All individuals committing modern day slavery as in the act of human trafficking shall face up to a sentence of life in federal prison.

   IIa. One appeal of the charges shall be allowed within this period.
III. Money within bank accounts and property belonging to such individual may be used to pay for damages established by the Court to the victims of modern day slavery.

This Act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

Again, yes, I do have an amendment in the works and hope to have it out soon (need to review a few things in the regional law before putting it out), so please bear with me.

[Joseph Cao]

AN ACT

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section 1. Title
I. The long title of this Act shall be the "Pedophilia and Human Traffickers are Evil Act."

Section 2: Definitions
I. Pedophilia is the act of an adult taking part in sexual activity with a minor under 14 years of age.
II. Human trafficking is the act of modern day slavery against children and adults to be sold to another individual for fiscal interest or sexual favor.

Section 3: Substance
I. Anyone over the age of 18 years of age that's discovered to have had sexual activity with anyone under the age of 14 years of age : Ia. This felony charge covering 3.I shall carry receive up to 12 years in state, regional, or federal prison.
   Ib. If the minor is below the age of 11 and the offender over 18 years of age, the offender shall receive up to 50 years in state, regional, or federal prison.
II. All individuals committing modern day slavery as in the act of human trafficking shall face up to a sentence of life in state, regional, or federal prison.
   IIa. One appeal of the charges shall be allowed within this period.
III. Money within bank accounts and property belonging to such individual may be used to pay for damages established by the Court to the victims of modern day slavery. Where determined to be appropriate by the court, individuals convicted under this section shall be obligated to compensate for damages to victims of pedophilia or human trafficking, including but not limited to: physical or emotional injury, negligence, court costs, and other damages sustained by the victim.
IV. No part of this law shall be construed as prohibiting state or regional courts from reaching verdicts or enforcing penalties in a manner consistent with state or regional laws.

Section 4: Enactment
This Act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

I'm not terribly well versed in this area, and am still not entirely confident that this amendment will be satisfactory to the House. But it does make clear the RL distinction between state and federal conviction and gives the regions sufficient room to convict or sentence as they see fit. Section 3 has been modified; to the best of my knowledge, it no longer falls under the category of civil forfeiture and raises the bar to criminal forfeiture instead.

Sorry for the delay, folks. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd welcome them.

[Joseph Cao]

With no objections, the amendment is adopted.

[Joseph Cao]

Is that to be taken as a formal objection? If so, we'd have to delay the final vote.

[Joseph Cao]

You may invoke cloture if you want to, though as a matter of congressional order that motion would remain in the queue until the current motion to proceed to a final vote (which Poirot has seemingly objected to, though we'll have to wait for his confirmation) is resolved one way or another.

[Joseph Cao]

Fair enough.

A final vote is open on this bill. 72 hours to vote; please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[Joseph Cao]

Aye. Basically all of my concerns about this bill have been alleviated (and there were a lot, believe me), with input from most of the House and a considerable number of others.