SENATE BILL: Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood
1. The territory of the Virgin Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting Citizenship
1. All Atlasian nationals within the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor: OntarioProgressive
Senate Designation: SB 9013

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senator OntarioProgressive has 24 hours to begin advocating for this bill. Senators shall have 72 hours generally to respond to this bill and make comments, ask questions etc. Failure to do so in that 72 hours.....you'll see what happens!

YOU'll SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!!!


YOU'll SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!!!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood
1. The territory of the Virgin Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting Citizenship
1. All Atlasian nationals within the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: None Given
Status: Need Sponsor Feedback!!!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

An amendment would merely add them to existing regions, since we don't give States representation either.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Does population really matter for gameplay purposes? Should it stop ppl from registering (in game) in these locations?

To be fair, I imagine it really doesn't for gameplay purposes (states in general are quite unimportant). Then again even if they were to remain as territories it shouldn't stop people from registering there in theory.

We allow people to register in DC after all.

DC was added to the former Mideast region in the mid 2000s if memory serves me. I don't think it was originally like that at the beginning of the game in 2004 but I am not 100% sure.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ontario was this friendly or Hostile? I don't see where you clearly answered.

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood
1. The territory of the Virgin Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting Citizenship
1. All Atlasian nationals within the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: None Given
Status: Need Sponsor Feedback!!!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood
1. The territory of the Virgin Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting Citizenship
1. All Atlasian nationals within the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: Friendly
Status: Senators have 24 hours to object

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The amendment has been adopted.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So what now?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We could amend the underlying bill into a text that mandates such referendums.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It seems the Senate's mind is made up, but for the record, as I believe I am the first person to advocate for admitting these territories to the Union post-reset, I fail to see how a referendum is remotely useful from a gameplay perspective. Because there are no players currently registered in these territories (and presumably no-one could legally register there, at least not without losing their right to vote in Atlasian elections), such a poll would be simulated entirely by the GM—which from my standpoint at least, strays a little too far towards giving the GM a vote on political questions.

Frankly, the arguments against this bill all strike me as very poor, but then I don't know what I was expecting.

Never presume anything to be case in terms of Senate support.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

My 2 cents.

If entrusted to simulate elections I intend to see results as reflective of reality as possible from the standpoint on the NPCs after some research. Its sort of hard to reconcile some aspects of political mergers in game with reality. Frankly, I still dont understand whatever this quasi union thing we have with the UK is. Its probably the least realistic (and goofiest) part of the lore, it makes no sense, a realistic UK would never have agreed to it, and if I wasn't trying to preserve earlier GM stories al a stare decisis I'd probably nullify it for being so nonsensical. So if I simulate the elections I intend to base them off research into how the citizens of the territories would actually vote, rather than adopting the previous mentality of everyone everywhere will always merge with us as well as my own mentality which is statehood is unnecessary.

So referendums may call for statehood or they may not; they may or may not be uniform answers. I honestly cant project at this point without research. But I do intend to divorce my political views from whatever outcome results if I am asked to simulate elections. Part of the fun of being GM is getting into the headspace of the NPCs and predicting what they'd want.

That is the best approach a GM can take really.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So are we amending the underlying text?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So who wants to rewrite the bill?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So who wants to rewrite the bill?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Since statehood is pretty much eternal, I would be in favour of supermajority requirements if we are going to make statehood inmediate after the referendum (as opposed to a second bill to confirm their statehood)

Is this an objection to the proposed Amendment?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood referenda to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood Referenda
1. The territoryies of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood referenda on October 1stTBD, 2019
2. For any individual territory, a simple majority must vote in favor of statehood for the referendum to pass.
2. The state of the Virgin Islands shall be located within the Lincoln Region
3. The territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
4. The territory of Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood on October 1st, 2019
5. The states of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be located within the Fremont Region

Section 3: Granting CitizenshipReferenda Passing Impact
1. If a referendum passes in any given territory, the impacts will be as follows:
a. All Atlasian nationals within those territories listed above that pass a referendum in favor of statehood shall be granted citizenship immediately upon their statehood.
b. Any person born within the territories listed above shall be granted citizenship immediately upon statehood.
1. All Atlasian nationals within theany of the territories of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship.
2. Any person born in the territory of Guam, Atlasian Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands shall be granted citizenship

Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: Origination
Status: Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The amendment has been adopted without objection.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Been doing some "light" reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_Cases

If the goal is to overturn the bad parts of the Insular Cases, I just wanted to point out that there are varying degrees of citizenship that can be conferred short of forcing the existing governments of the territories to adopt statehood and the related changes. By statute Congress can confer the protections of the Bill of Rights to persons in its territories, similar to the Indian Bill of Rights which does the same with tribal governments.

I once referred to Wealth of Nations as "light reading".

That is an interesting point, but would the ramifications of this citizenship gradient be and the likelihood that the demand for full or complete citizenship would follow later?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood referenda to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood Referenda
1. The territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood referenda on TBD, 2019
2. For any individual territory, a simple 2/3 majority must vote in favor of statehood for the referendum to pass.


Section 3: Referenda Passing Impact
1. If a referendum passes in any given territory, the impacts will be as follows:
a. All Atlasian nationals within those territories listed above that pass a referendum in favor of statehood shall be granted citizenship immediately upon their statehood.
b. Any person born within the territories listed above shall be granted citizenship immediately upon statehood.


Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: Need Feedback
Status: Awaiting Sponsor Feedback

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood referenda to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood Referenda
1. The territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood referenda on TBD, 2019
2. For any individual territory, a simple 2/3 majority must vote in favor of statehood for the referendum to pass.


Section 3: Referenda Passing Impact
1. If a referendum passes in any given territory, the impacts will be as follows:
a. All Atlasian nationals within those territories listed above that pass a referendum in favor of statehood shall be granted citizenship immediately upon their statehood.
b. Any person born within the territories listed above shall be granted citizenship immediately upon statehood.


Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

Sponsor Feedback: Hostile
Status: A vote is now open on the Amendment, Senators please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Vote on Amendment S17:19 by Tack50

Aye (1): Tack50
Nay (3): Devout, Maineiac and Ontario Progressive
Abstain (0):

Didn't Vote (2): NC Yankee and Vern1988

The amendment has been rejected.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So where are we at now?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To provide statehood referenda to the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Title
1. This act shall be titled the “Atlasia Territorial Statehood Act”

Section 2: Granting Statehood Referenda
1. The territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Atlasian Samoa shall be granted statehood referenda on TBD, 2019
2. For any individual territory, a simple majority must vote in favor of statehood for the referendum to pass.

Section 3: Referenda Passing Impact
1. If a referendum passes in any given territory, the impacts will be as follows:
a. All Atlasian nationals within those territories listed above that pass a referendum in favor of statehood shall be granted citizenship immediately upon their statehood.
b. Any person born within the territories listed above shall be granted citizenship immediately upon statehood.


Section 4: Implementation
1. This act shall go into effect immediately

People's Regional Senate
Pending

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I’m going to suggest that statehood or not, these locations referenced here should be admitted to the regions as territories. They’re part of the US IRL after all so they should be part of this game.

Preset many of these locations, in the Pacific Ocean were added to the Pacific region as a single state called oceania or something like that.