S. 18.4-15: Comprehensive Constitutional Amendment - Ratified

[Sestak]

Changes, and comments (in blue and bracketed). I tried not to make too many substantive revisions, but there are some where the initial provision was a bit of a mess.

Hope this helps.




Jefferson Constitution

We, the people of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, in order to preserve the inherent equal rights of all individuals to a free and peaceful life, hereby ordain and establish this constitution for the Region of Jefferson.

Article I: The Region
1. Jefferson, as established and governed by this constitution, shall consist of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The region may also be referred to as the Southern Region.
2. The regional capital for Jefferson established in this Constitution shall be Nashville, Tennessee.

Article II: Bill of Rights
The people of Jefferson are naturally endowed with certain inalienable rights which shall not be infringed under this constitution:
1. Freedom of Speech — All persons of Jefferson are entitled to the free expression of their ideas and thoughts. No laws shall be passed regulating or restraining the freedom of the press. Free speech of the individual shall be protected by the law with exceptions made for speech and expression which inflicts harm onto another. No law shall be made limiting the right of Jeffersonian citizens to submit petitions to their elected officials, as is their right under free expression and for the ensuring of government accountability. Additionally, no law shall be made prohibiting the peaceful protest, strike, or demonstration of Jeffersonian citizens.
2. Equality — All persons of Jefferson are born equal, and shall be treated as so under the law, their age, gender, race or ethnicity, religion, disability, economic status, and sexual orientation notwithstanding. No government institution may favor one such group over another.
3. Democracy — The people of Jefferson live in a democracy, and therefore all law-abiding citizens shall be granted the right to vote [above the age of...?]
4. Rights of the Accused — In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the rights to legal counsel, and to be considered innocent until proven guilty under the law, to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against them, and retain a copy thereof, to have a speedy, public, and impartial trial, and, except in trials of impeachment, to be tried by a jury of the vicinity. The accused shall not be compelled to furnish or give evidence against them, nor be deprived of life, liberty, property, or privileges, but by the judgment of that person's peers or[and?] the law of the land.
5. Right to Privacy — All people, in addition to the inalienable rights given to them by this constitution, shall have the right to privacy. This right is not absolute and can be regulated by the state by appropriate legislation. [what on earth is the point of this. "appropriate legislation" is so vague it's basically meaningless.]
6. Right to Religious Freedom — Each person holds the right to worship or not worship whatever they like. No government under this constitution shall not infringe on anyone's right to worship or believe. Furthermore, no government under this constitution shall prefer, endorse, or exhibit biases against or in favor of any one religion or a combination of religions [or the absence of one?].
7. Right to Property — All Jeffersonians have the right to property for which shall not be limited or restrained by the regional government. [As Truman mentioned, this probably needs some qualifications.]
8. Right to Travel — Humans must have the right to freely associate and move. Like the right of association, it is a virtually unconditional personal right that all citizens must have the ability to do. [This is a platform point, not a constitutional provision]
9. No Taxation Without Representation — All citizens subject to taxation and of voting age[But under section 3 there can be no voting age! Also, this technically opens the door for people moving in minutes before an election to vote ingame, no?] MUST must be given the opportunity to vote for their representation in Government.
10. Right to Security — Every citizen has the right to security in their community, with forces including the police, fire patrol, and other public services that protect their community. [Fixed an obvious typo, but still not sure what entirely this means or is trying to achieve.]

Article III: The Executive Branch
1. The executive authority of Jefferson shall be vested in the Governor of Jefferson. The governor must be a registered voter in Jefferson.
2. The governor shall be elected democratically by the people of Jefferson. Elections are to be held every January, April, July and October for governor. The appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth at 12:00:00am EST of the penultimate Friday of the month and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EST. The election administrator must accept any absentee ballot received no more than 168 hours prior to the opening of the polls.
3. Candidates for governor shall be given until the Wednesday at 11:59:59 pm EST preceding the first date of polling in the election they wish to contest to announce their candidacy and appear on the ballot. This shall be done by officially declaring their candidacy in the Candidate Declaration Thread. [Is it really a good idea to include stuff like the declaration period in the constitution instead of electoral law?]
4. When the polls close, the appropriate election administrator of Jefferson shall, within twenty-four hours,[Is the intent of this to open up the elections administrator to impeachment or prosecution if they fail to certify within 24 hours? Considering the Southern EA is currently also the Federal EA and the elections sometimes fall concurrently, is this the best idea?] count the votes and declare a winner. The candidate with the most votes for the office of governor shall be elected governor. [Did you guys really choose to bring back FPTP and constitutionally mandate it? The newly elected governor shall be officially sworn in on the Friday following the election. In the case of a tie, all tied candidates shall run in a runoff election the following week to determine a winner, organized by the appropriate election administrator, and the previous governor shall remain in office until a governor is elected. There may only be one governor at any point in time. Once a new governor is sworn in, the old one forfeits their office. [Couple issues here. First, there's no swear-in time set in the case of a runoff, second, the swear in time does have to vary depending on if there's a runoff. That's okay if that's how you want it, but the first issue does still need fixing.]
5. Should the office of governor fall vacant at any point during the term, the chief officer of the legislature, or, should none be available, the longest continually-serving available member of the legisature, shall assume the role of acting governor until a special election can be organized by the appropriate election administrator. If the vacancy occurs less than three weeks before the next regularly scheduled election, however, the chief officer of the legislature, or, should none be available, the longest continually-serving available member of the legisature, shall immediately become the governor and serve for the remainder of the term - vacating their position within the legislature.
6. In the event that the office of governor falls vacant three or more weeks before the next scheduled gubernatorial election, a special election shall be held to fill the remainder of the term, organized by the appropriate election administrator. The election shall be held on the first Friday following the vacancy, except where the Friday falls within two days of the position becoming vacant, in which case the election shall take place the following Friday, and be held in the same manner as a regular gubernatorial election. Upon certification of the results, the governor-elect shall immediately assume office upon swearing in.
7. A governor may be impeached at any time while they are in office by the will of two-thirds of the Jefferson Legislature. Impeachment proceedings shall begin when a motion to impeach offered by a representative is seconded by another representative. Impeachment shall be pursued if an elected official commits an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the Region and that is legally prohibited.
In the event that the governor of Jefferson, or any other executive official, commits an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the Region and that is legally prohibited, the Jefferson Legislature shall begin impeachment proceedings upon the sponsoring of one or more articles of impeachment by a member of the legislature and the seconding of such articles by another member.  Should two-thirds of the legislature vote to convict on one or more articles, the executive officer in question shall immediately forfeit their office. [I've pretty much done a complete rewrite of this, as the previous section was a bit of a mess. Please read through thoroughly. Also, I'm specifically wondering if we want this extended to judicial officials and how to phrase that.]

8. The governor has the power to make political appointments and serve as the official representative of the region to the rest of Atlasia. The primary responsibility of the governor shall be to execute laws passed by the Jefferson Legislature and to promote the interests of the region abroad.
9. The governor may veto any piece of legislation passed by the Jefferson Legislature, and may veto specific provisions as opposed to the whole of any such legislation. The governor must either sign or veto a piece of legislation within one week of its passage, otherwise it shall go into effect regardless.
10. The governor is obligated to present a biannual budget by March 1 and September 1 of each year. The structure and procedure for the budget process are to be determined by law. The budget of all government activities shall be voted on by the legislature after a normal debate period. The governor is obligated to ensure that the budget does not provide for any deficits except in times of emergency or war, a condition the legislature must successfully endorse by a two-thirds majority. All budgets must include a plan for revenue and taxation. [This seems awfully constrictive...]
11. The governor is responsible for the opening of polling booths. If the governor is unavailable to open the booth at the designated start of an election, the chief elections officer or the chief officer of the legislature may open the voting booth. [Wait, what? So there will still be a "chief elections officer", but the governor is now in charge of the booth? What does the chief elections officer even do? Just count the votes? It feels awfully weird having one person running the booth and another counting the votes. Also, earlier sections say the election admin opens the booth. What even is this section?]

[There was another section 12 here, but it was weirdly out of place and I've attempted to incorporate it into section 5 instead.]

13. The office of Governor shall be deemed vacant upon the resignation, recall, or impeachment of the sitting Governor. A Governor who takes no action over a ten (10) day period shall automatically forfeit their office unless an official leave of absence is acknowledged prior.

Article IV: The Legislative Branch
1. The legislative power of Jefferson shall be vested in the Jefferson Legislature, which shall consist of five representatives if seven or fewer candidates appear on the ballot at the preceding regularly scheduled election, and of seven representatives otherwise, elected every three months by the citizens of Jefferson.
2. Representatives are to be elected by all citizens registered to vote in Jefferson. Representatives must be registered to vote in Jefferson.
3. Elections to the Jefferson Legislature shall take place once every January, April, July,
 and October. The appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth at 12:00:00am EST of the penultimate Friday of the month, and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EST. The election administrator must accept any absentee ballot received no more than 168 hours prior to the opening of the polls.
4. Candidates for Jefferson Legislature shall be given until the Wednesday at 11:59:59 pm EST preceding the first date of polling in the election they wish to contest to announce their candidacy and appear on the ballot. This shall be done by officially declaring their candidacy in the Candidate Declaration Thread. [See comment on executive section]
5. When the polls close, the appropriate election administrator shall be given twenty-four (24) hours to count the votes and declare elected representatives. The newly elected representatives shall officially assume office on the Friday following the election. [Again, see comment on executive section.]
6. Vacancies in the Jefferson Legislature shall be filled in a manner specified by regional statute, or, if no such statute exists, by Gubernatorial appointment. Legislative seats shall be deemed vacant by the occupant's resignation, recall, impeachment, or failure to vote on final passage of four consecutive pieces of legislation without publicly declaring an official leave of absence or by the designated occupant's failure to swear in within one week of the legislative session opening. [This "legislative session" is never formally defined in here.]
7. All ordinary legislation ["ordinary legislation"?] shall first be considered in the Jefferson Legislature. Legislation shall be considered by the legislature upon petition of the governor, any representative or two citizens of Jefferson.
8. Any piece of legislation attaining a majority of votes cast in the legislature shall be considered passed by the legislature. Every piece of legislation shall relate to but one subject that is to be expressed in its title. [This can be interpreted both very tightly and very loosely. And...why?] No legislation shall become law without obtaining such a majority. [Couple things here: 1. Do we want cloture rules? 2. I rewrote the second sentence which had references to both legislation as well as "votes of support and consent". I don't think that belongs here but you probably want a separate section on the legislature's powers of advice and consent.]
9. The legislature shall determine its own methods of proceedings, and shall have the power to select its own officers and to judge the qualifications of its members.
10. The legislature may override the governor’s veto with the support of a two-thirds majority of members.
11. Initiatives shall be put to public referendum if supported by at least 25% of the number of registered voters in the Jefferson Region.

continued in following post

[Sestak]

Continued from previous post.


Article V: The Judicial Branch
1. The judicial power of the Government of Jefferson shall be vested in the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The Associate Justice must be a registered voter in Jefferson.
2. The Associate Justice shall be appointed by the governor with the support of a majority of the Jefferson Legislature. They shall take office upon approval from the President of Atlasia or a two-thirds majority of the Atlasian Regional Senate. [This said president and Senate before, which is inconsistent with the federal constitution.] Whenever the office of Associate Justice becomes vacant, an appointment must be made within two weeks.  [Wait, what? This does not seem like a good idea.]
3. The Associate Justice is charged with the duties of interpreting the laws of Jefferson and holding trials for the accused. Should someone submit a case to them, then the Associate Justice must make a ruling on it, giving ample time to hear arguments from any side of the issue. The Associate Justice’s rulings shall be considered precedent for all future cases. [I don't really see what this clause does if the AJ has to take any case anyway - they can't just dismiss one due to past precedent. I guess it does encode stare decisis into the constitution, which isn't that bad, but this whole thing just seems a bit clunky.]

Article VI: Regional Senator
1. As mandated by the federal constitution, Jefferson shall elect two senators to represent the region in the federal senate. Regional senators must be registered voters in Jefferson.
2. The Class I regional senator shall be elected in the months of February, June and October. The Class II regional senator shall be elected in the months of April, August and December.
3. The appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth at 12:00:00am EST of the penultimate Friday of the month, and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EST. The election administrator must accept any absentee ballot received no more than one week prior to the opening of the polls.
4. Candidates for senator shall be given until the Wednesday at 11:59:59 pm EST preceding the first date of polling in the election they wish to contest to announce their candidacy and appear on the ballot. This is to be done by officially declaring their candidacy in the Candidate Declaration Thread.
5. When the polls close, the appropriate election administrator of Jefferson shall be given twenty-four hours to count the votes and declare a winner. The candidate with the most votes for the office of senator shall be elected senator. [Again, FPTP?] The newly elected senator shall be officially sworn in on the Friday following the election [Just making sure, this is allowed, right?]. In the case of a tie, the candidate with the most first preferences is elected. If it remains a tie, all tied candidates shall run in a run-off election the following week to determine a winner, organized by the appropriate election administrator. In the case of a tie, the previous senator shall remain in office until a senator is elected. Once a new senator is sworn in, the old one forfeits their office.
6. Should the office of senator fall vacant at any point during their term, the governor shall appoint a Jeffersonian citizen to fill out the remainder of the term if the next scheduled election for the seat is less than 2 weeks away. If the vacancy occurs 2 weeks to 8 weeks before the next scheduled election for the seat, the governor shall appoint a Jefferson citizen with legislative approval to fill out the remainder of the term. If the vacancy occurs more than 8 weeks before the next scheduled election for the seat, the election administrator shall conduct a special election to fill the seat for the remainder of the term. Said election must occur within 14 days of the vacancy.

Article VII: Recall Procedure
1. The people of Jefferson shall have the power to recall any elected official [of Jefferson? Can they recall House members? Lincoln officials?] by the process of petition. Petitions that collect seven or more signatures shall be considered valid. When a valid petition is presented, the appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth on the next Friday at 12:00:00am EST and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EST [No buffer campaign period? So someone could post a petition at 11:50 on Sunday, get 6 friends to sign in the next 10 minutes, and then have a vote opened without giving the recalled official time to campaign against it? Or more likely, be able to sue the elections administrator for not opening a voting booth even if the last signature occured only a couple seconds before midnight?]. The recall question shall read: “Shall [name of officer] be recalled from the office of [name of office held]?” Every citizen will be given the opportunity to vote YES to recall and NO to retain during this time. Abstentions will not affect the results. A majority of Jefferson citizens and no less than four fifths of voters must vote affirmatively to recall an elected official. Recalled officials shall forfeit their offices immediately.
2. The people of Jefferson shall have the power to call a referendum on any law signed by the governor during the legislative session in which it was passed by the process of petition. Petitions that collect seven or more signatures shall be considered valid. When a valid petition is presented, the appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth on the next Friday at 12:00:00am EST and shall close said booth the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm EST. The referendum question shall read: “Shall [name of law, followed by text] be upheld as law?” Every citizen will be given the opportunity to vote YES to uphold and NO to repeal during this time. Abstentions will not affect the results. [threshold? aftermath?]
3. Only votes and signatures from registered Jefferson voters shall be considered valid for these questions.

Article VIII: Constitutional Amendments [Why didn't this section have a header before lol]

1. Amendments to this Constitution shall be proposed by the citizens of Jefferson or the Jeffersonian Legislature. A proposed amendment in the Legislature shall be forwarded to be voted upon by the citizens of the Jeffersonian Region upon an affirmative vote of two-thirds of voting members and a majority of total members of the Jeffersonian Legislature. An amendment proposed by a citizen of Jefferson which receives the signatures of one-fourth of the total number of registered voters in Jefferson must be presented to the Legislature in a timely manner. [Some changes, so please read through.]

2. Except in November or December, the appropriate election administrator shall open the polling booth at 12:00:00am EST on the penultimate Friday of the month for all proposed Amendments approved by the Jeffersonian Legislature before 12:00:00am EST on the second Friday of a month that have not already received a vote. In November or December, the appropriate election administrator shall open the polling booth at 12:00:00am EST on the second Friday of the month for all proposed Amendments approved by the Jeffersonian Legislature before 12:00:00am EST on the first Friday of the month that have not already received a vote. In all cases, the appropriate election administrator shall close the polling booth at 11:59:59pm EST on the following Sunday. If the date for opening the polling booth coincides with another Jeffersonian election, the appropriate election administrator shall include the vote on any proposed Amendments in the polling booth for that election.

3. Any Amendment proposed by the Jefferson Legislature shall only become effective upon an affirmative vote of a majority of those citizens of the Jeffersonian Region who cast a vote for or against the proposed Amendment.

4. Whenever four-fifths of the legislature or one-fourth of the registered voters of the Jeffersonian Region considers it desirable to comprehensively rework this constitution, the governor shall call for a Constitutional Convention to propose revisions to this document, or replace it entirely. The Constitutional Convention shall consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of five members chosen at the discretion of the governor. [Is limiting the membership of a constitutional convention in the constitution a good idea? I can maybe understand the lower limit, but not the upper one.]

Article IX: Federal Amendments
1.   Amendments to the Federal Constitution shall be voted upon by the people of Jefferson in the same manner as amendments to the Jefferson Constitution.
2.   To be approved, all amendments shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of those citizens of Jefferson who cast a vote for or against the proposed Amendment.

Again, this includes both fixes within the text and comments to the text.

[Sestak]

@tmth did you use the original or my revision as the starting point? I reworded a lot of other sections without comment, are those in the current version?

[Sestak]

@tmth did you use the original or my revision as the starting point? I reworded a lot of other sections without comment, are those in the current version?

You said changes/comments were in blue so I based off of those comments. What other revisions did you have in mind? I stayed with the version that was formed by the ConCon, respectfully I'm not going to make a blanket change to your wording if all of the changes aren't documented.

Truman, regarding your change on impeachments, I think you are going off of Sestak's recommendation as it is not worded that way in the Google document. I agree with your revision to Article V§2 and have made that change.

I should have been more specific. Comments were in blue, changes were everywhere. I slightly reorganized Article I, rewrote the first few provisions of the Bill of Rights, rewrote Article IV Section 1, and a bunch of other stuff; it'd probably be best to compare the text I posted above with the current text section by section.