SB 115-27 Reactionary Laws Repeal Act, Number One (Failed)

[LAKISYLVANIA]

SENATE BILL
To repeal laws that do not represent the values of our great nation
Be it enacted in the Senate of Atlasia

Section 1; Title
1. This Act may be cited as the 'Reactionary Laws Repeal Act, Number One'
Section 2; Substance
1. The Embassy Neutrality Act is hereby repealed in its entirety.
2. The Driving For Two Act is hereby repealed in its entirety.
Section 3; Implementation
1. All provisions of this legislation shall come into effect immediately upon passage into law.

Sponsor: Pericles

[LAKISYLVANIA]

We are talking about the following 2 acts here

Senate Bill

To restrict embassy's displaying of flags and other purposes

Be it enacted in the Atlasian Senate Assembled,

EMBASSY NEUTRALITY ACT

1. No flag shall be displayed by the government of Atlasia, or any officer or employee thereof upon the exterior property of any Atlasian embassy or consulate other than the Atlasian flag, the flag of any Region, the NATO flag, or the POW-MIA Flag, nor shall any federal funding be expended for the purchase, acquisition, or display of any such prohibited flag upon such embassy or consulate.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Passed 9-5-0-4 in the Atlasian Senate assembled,

- R, PPT

DRIVING FOR TWO ACT

1. On any federal highway, bridge, or other road project that utilizes high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, wherein certain lanes are restricted to use by cars transporting two (2) or more persons, or on any HOV lane established as part of a federal control plan for an NAAQS pollutant, pregnant mothers shall be considered to be two (2) or more persons.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Passed 6-5-1-6 in the Atlasian Senate Assembled.

- R, PPT

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I personally don't think the two here are super controversial, though in a subtle way i can see what the issue is with both of them.

Embassy Neutrality Act is somewhat of a restrictive act that sets by code what flags can be used. I suppose it's better to indicate what flags would be prohibited (Confederacy Flag, flags reference the Nazi's or flags with a hammer and sickle symbols). But I personally it's restrictive because it for instance bans the UN flag or a transgender/lgbtq/rainbow flag and numerous other flags. And we are talking about embassies, i suppose if you want good relations with nations that at an embassy you need both the Atlasian flag and the flag of that nation. That seems common sense to me?

Driving for Two Act, is very subtle but the act basically is a subtle way of pandering to pro-life folks by considering the baby inside the mother alive. It's also a preferential sort of treatment and in that kind of sense affirmative action or pro-discriminating. And most importantly, it goes against privacy ethics, because to apply for "driving for two act", you basically have to say whether you're pregnant or not. It makes no distinction between pregnant mothers that have an 8 month carrying child or a pregnant mother that has a 2 month old baby in their bellies. It makes not clear whether it applies to all pregnant mothers, or if it retro-actively applies in case one wants to contest a fine/ticket and finds out later they are pregnant or argue they are (likely) pregnant but is being dismissed by an officer because they cannot show proof.

Initially i thought we were talking about women who needed this preferential treatment because they would give birth (in that case yes please use the emergency lanes), but for a four month mother for instance, that's absolutely not necessary, and it doesn't seem like it was the intent of the act either.

More importantly, if all pregnant mothers are considered high occupancy vehicles (HOV) you might condense these lanes as well, rendering the purpose of HOV lanes useless. And that is very concerning as well.

Because of the following concerns, i am in favour of repeal of those two acts.

certain lanes are restricted to use by cars transporting two (2) or more persons

I think though this should be repealed as well, so i might add an amendment that would ban these lanes as well.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

SENATE BILL
To repeal laws that do not represent the values of our great nation
Be it enacted in the Senate of Atlasia

Section 1; Title
1. This Act may be cited as the 'Reactionary Laws Repeal Act, Number One'
Section 2; Substance
1. The Embassy Neutrality Act is hereby repealed in its entirety.
2. The Driving For Two Act is hereby repealed in its entirety.
3. Lanes being restricted to cars transporting two (2) or more persons will hereby be banned and be made available for all cars or be restricted to public transport (busses, taxis, carpooling, etc.) and HOV.
Section 3; Implementation
1. All provisions of this legislation shall come into effect immediately upon passage into law.

Proposing amendment

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Objection noted.

A vote on the Laki amendment is started. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Aye

[LAKISYLVANIA]

There hope and objective is to facilitate a massive shift toward the left legislatively, undoing Rs own recent successes and thereby use that to discourage people from playing Atlasia

I understand what you mean but it's not like they're going to come back like ever / encourage people from playing Atlasia again (regardless of what the left does legislatively).

This was also proposed on the floor in march, just wasn't introduced yet because the queue was packed.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The WM amendment will be up for a vote after the current one closes.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Laki amendment passes 4-3-0-10

WM amendment vote has been initiated

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Nay

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I believe it is virtual signaling to pragmatically fly the LGBT flag in pro-LGBT countries, and not in anti-LGBT countries. I'm LGBT but the State Department should not delve into domestic policy.

Incorrect, it is part of foreign policy.

It shows other nations that the Republic of Atlasia respects human rights and that we're a nation that embrace the freedom to be whoever you want to be and that's a very important message we must carry, in particularly too when engaging in diplomacy with other nations. I'd rather use diplomacy to spread our values, not military conflict.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Flying the LGBT flag or any other non-national flag abroad, furthermore, has an extremely limited domestic policy effect in the country where the flag is flown but has no effect whatsoever on Atlasian diplomacy, which you suggest it does. How does flying a non-national flag for our embassy specifically encourage diplomacy, i.e., improve Atlasian relations with the country where the embassy is located, Laki?

The answer is very simple.

Countries who forbid embassies to fly a non-national flag, representative of the values our country believes in, are countries where the Republic of Atlasia shall not have an embassy in, and countries we should not have or pursue further diplomatic relations with.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Flying the LGBT flag or any other non-national flag abroad, furthermore, has an extremely limited domestic policy effect in the country where the flag is flown but has no effect whatsoever on Atlasian diplomacy, which you suggest it does. How does flying a non-national flag for our embassy specifically encourage diplomacy, i.e., improve Atlasian relations with the country where the embassy is located, Laki?

The answer is very simple.

Countries who forbid embassies to fly a non-national flag, representative of the values our country believes in, are countries where the Republic of Atlasia shall not have an embassy in, and countries we should not have or pursue further diplomatic relations with.

We could fly a non-national flag in the Middle East, for example, if we wanted, but the RL State Department does not out of convenience/pragmatism. Given the state of LGBT rights across the world, furthermore, it is not in the best interests of the nation to simply ignore the many countries with poor LGBT policies.



For reference, the orange countries are where people are jailed or executed for same-sex relations.

I just want to note that repealing the Embassy Neutrality Act suddenly doesn't mean that we're obligated to fly LGBTQ flags. The Embassy Neutrality Act however bans it - even if the country where an LGBTQ flag would fly would have no objections to it. It is a rigid and restrictive act that goes against values of freedom, and therefore I want to repeal it.

Nations where people are executed for same sex relations imo are also not nations the Republic of Atlasia should have an embassy in, which on your image is (red-coloured nations such as Iran and Afghanistan).

If people working at the embassy or the government (the state department) still believe flying a certain flag is not to be encouraged, there are other ways to do that. There is no reason to by law restrict what flags cannot be used - or more accurately restrict what flags are allowed to fly at an embassy. Moreover i just don't think it should be the authority of legislators, if as you say the State Department does not out of convenience and pragmatism, than I trust them fully to make that decision theirselves.