6th Council of Lincoln Legislative Introduction Thread

[Sestak]

Gubernatorial Redraft Amendment

To allow the Governor of Lincoln to submit a redraft of a bill instead of sending to referendum

1. The following is appended to Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution of Lincoln:

a) The governor may instead choose to return a redrafted version of the bill to the Council. The Council shall then vote by simple majority on whether or not to accept the redraft. Should the Council accept, then the redrafted version shall be enacted into law; however, should the Council reject the redraft, the original version shall again be presented to the governor, who must then choose either to sign the bill or send it to referendum.

2. All instances of the pronoun "he" in the Constitution of Lincoln shall hereby be removed and replaced with the gender-neutral singular "they".

[Sestak]

Gubernatorial Midterm Alignment Amendment

To move gubernatorial elections in Lincoln to align with federal midterms

1. Article V, Section 4 of the Constitution of Lincoln is amended as follows:

4. Regular elections for governor shall be held in the months of March, July, and NovemberApril, August, and December. Elections for Council shall be held in the months of January, April, July, and October.

2. Article V, Section 5 of the Constitution of Lincoln is amended as follows:

The manner for electing the governor shall be as follows, using a two-round voting system: a general ballot of all declared candidates shall begin at 12:00:00 am on the penultimate Friday of the given month, excepting in December, when it shall begin at the same time on the second Friday of the month, and conclude seventy-two hours thereafter. Voters shall mark their ballot for a single candidate only. In the event one candidate should receive a majority of all the votes cast, inclusive of blank or spoilt ballots, that candidate shall be elected governor. Should no majority exist, the recipients of the largest and next-largest shares of the votes cast shall advance to a second ballot to be held beginning at 12:00:00 am on the final Friday of the given month, excepting in December, when it shall begin at the same time on the third Friday of the month, and to conclude seventy-hours thereafter. No more than two candidates shall advance to the second ballot, and none save these shall be eligible to receive votes. Should the number of candidates qualified to advance be greater than two as the result of a tie, the Council shall nominate two candidates to advance to the second ballot, unless a sufficient number should earlier concede. A majority of valid votes on the second ballot shall be sufficient to elect the governor; in the event of a tie, the governor shall be elected by a vote of the Council. Special elections for governor shall be by Instant Runoff Voting.

3. Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Lincoln is amended as follows:

The terms of the elected governor and councilors shall begin at 12:00:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on the Tuesday following their election. The term of the governor shall begin at 12:00:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on the Tuesday following the final Friday of the month of their election. Prior to assuming office, all officers shall swear the following oath: “I, [A.B.], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of [state office name] and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitutions of the Lincoln Region and the Republic of Atlasia.” Appointment of the chancellor by the governor may not be made before this time.

4. The above shall all take effect immediately following the conclusion of the next scheduled election for Governor after the passage of this amendment, with the term for that election lasting an additional month.

[Sestak]

AN ACT
to expand the sales tax exemption to feminine care products.

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Pink Tax Repeal Act of 2019."

Section 2 (Creation of tax exception)
i. No state or locality may impose any tax on the sale of feminine hygiene products.
ii. All previous regional, state, or local taxes on the sale of feminine hygiene products are hereby repealed.
iii. No regional sales tax or VAT imposed in the future shall be considered to apply to feminine hygiene products unless explicitly stated in statute.

Wrote and passed this in Fremont over the summer, thought I'd put it here since nothing similar has been done in Lincoln yet.

[Sestak]

Chancellor Emeritus and Gubernatorial and Special Election Fixes Amendment

To clarify the line of succession, set out procedure for lapsing of the chancellorship, and modfiy timings for gubernatorial and special elections

1. Article II, Sections 5 and onward of the Constitution of Lincoln are amended as follows:

5. The chancellor, who must be a member of the Council, shall have the power to carry out all acts in association with their role as the head of government of the Region; to lead the government, so long as they command the confidence of the Council; and to administer the functions of the head of state as acting governor upon the death, impeachment, recall, or resignation of the governor, or whenever they should otherwise become unable to execute the duties of their office. The chancellor shall not forfeit their office upon ascending to the position of acting governor; but should the chancellor be elected governor in an ensuing by-election, they shall forfeit his offices in the Council, including the chancellery.

6. Should the governorship fall vacant or the governor be unable to execute the duties of their office while there is no sitting chancellor but the Council remains in session (and has selected a chancellor successfully at least once), the Speaker of the Council shall administer the functions of head of state as acting governor until a new governor or chancellor is selected. Should there be no Speaker, this duty shall fall to the most senior member of the Council. Should there be no available members of the Council, the President of Atlasia shall appoint an emergency commissioner to serve as acting governor until the regional government can be restored.

7. Should the Council not be in session (or should the sitting session of the Council have not yet successfully selected a chancellor at least once) , the serving chancellor at the most recent dissolution of the Council shall hold the officer of chancellor emeritus, in which they may carry out the executive functions of the chancellorship on an emergency basis. Should there be no sitting chancellor at the time of dissolution or the chancellor emeritus no longer be a registered resident of Lincoln, the Governor may name any citizen of Lincoln to serve as Chancellor emeritus. Should the governorship also be vacant, the position shall fall to the Speaker of the Council at time of dissolution. Should the Speakership have been vacant at dissolution or the Speaker no longer be a registered resident of Lincoln, then the position shall fall to the most senior member of the Council at dissolution who remains a registered resident of Lincoln. Should there be no such available members, the President of Atlasia shall name an emergency commissioner to serve as acting governor and chancellor emeritus until the regional government can be restored. Should the governorship fall vacant while the Council is out of session (or while the sitting session of the Council has not yet successfully selected a chancellor), the chancellor emeritus shall become acting governor and remain in that position until a chancellor has been selected. Once an incoming Council has elected its first chancellor, the position of chancellor emeritus shall be void.

68. After the Council has been elected, the outgoing chancellorchancellor emeritus, should they be a member of the incoming council, shall have the first right to form a government and seek appointment from the governor to reach a confidence vote. However, if the incumbent chancellorchancellor emeritus is not a sitting member of the new Council, the Council may suggest an alternative candidate for chancellor to the governor who it believes holds the confidence of the Council. If the governor has determined that a government cannot be formed, writs of election may be issued.

2. Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution of Lincoln is amended as follows:

3. Should a vacancy occur in the representation of this Region in the Senate, the governor shall appoint an Acting Senator to serve until a replacement may be elected. Special elections for the Senate shall begin on the Friday following the creation of the vacancy; but if the vacancy shall occur on a Wednesday or Thursday, the special election shall begin on the second Friday following the creation of the vacancy.However, should a vacancy occur less than 16 days (but more than 48 hours) prior to any regularly scheduled Senate, Council, or first round gubernatorial election, the special election shall instead be held concurrently with that election.

3. Article V, Sections 6-7 of the Constitution of Lincoln are amended as follows:

6. Candidates for governor, Council and federal Senate must declare their candidacy in the appropriate thread by 12:00:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time, on the Wednesday preceding the election at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled start of any regularly scheduled election and at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled start of any special election in order to appear on the ballot. Party identification of gubernatorial candidates may not be displayed anywhere on the ballot. Party identification for candidates for any other office may be displayed below their name.

7. Except in December, all elections for governor, Council, and federal Senate shall begin on the penultimate Friday of the given month. In December, all elections shall begin on the second Friday of the month. All special elections for governor and by-elections for Council shall begin on the second Friday following the creation of the vacancy to be filled; but if the vacancy shall occur on a Wednesday or Thursday, the special election shall begin on the thirdsecond Friday following the creation of the vacancy. However, should a vacancy occur less than 16 days (but more than 48 hours) prior to any regularly scheduled Senate, Council, or first round gubernatorial election, the special election shall instead be held concurrently with that election. Should a vacancy in the Council arise less than 16 days before the scheduled election of the next Council, the seat shall remain vacant for the remainder of the current Council and no special election shall be held. The appropriate election administrator shall open the voting booth at 12:00:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time (or Eastern Daylight Time from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.). Voting shall continue for 72 hours, and no vote cast more than 72 hours after the voting booth was opened shall be considered valid. The election administrator must accept any absentee ballots cast no more than 168 hours prior to the commencement of the election

4. Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Lincoln is amended as follows:

10. The terms of the elected governor and councilors shall begin at 12:00:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on the Tuesday following their election. Prior to assuming office, all officers shall swear the following oath: “I, [A.B.], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of [state office name] and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitutions of the Lincoln Region and the Republic of Atlasia.” Appointment of the chancellor by the governor may not be made before this time. The term of an elected governor shall begin at 12:00:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, on the Wednesday following the scheduled second round of their election, regardless of whether or not the second round was actually held.