Northeast Assembly Thread

[tpfkaw]

Aye.

[tpfkaw]

Aye.

[tpfkaw]

Nay.

I agree wholeheartedly with the content of this bill, but due to my strong decentralist views I do not believe in imposing it on municipalities.  I don't see how it would be imposed on municipalities based on the wording, but if Scott is insisting it does, I can't support it.

[tpfkaw]

Coming soon:  Every lemonade stand gets a $150,000 fine!

(Or would it be multiple $150,000 fines, considering that they're simultaneously food producers and retailers?)

[tpfkaw]

Suppose we had a fictional country known as the "United States of America."

In that fictional country, the highest individual income tax rate levied by any state is 11%, on high-earners in Oregon and Hawaii.  And the highest corporate tax rate, on corporate income above $250,000, is 12% in Iowa.  I might remind you that these are all different states and atypically-high rates.  This proposal, to put it mildly, is batsh**t insane.

[tpfkaw]

This plan imposes taxes even higher than the plan proposed by Jerseyrules, a plan that Napoleon, the Liberal Party candidate for governor, has attacked as taxing Northeast citizens far too high.  I vote nay on this extremist proposal.

[tpfkaw]

Nay.

[tpfkaw]

Aye.

[tpfkaw]

Aye on both.

[tpfkaw]

Nay.

The increasing partisanization of the role of Speaker and the marginalization of the assembly in favor of the executive are not trends that ought to be encouraged.

[tpfkaw]

Nay.

The increasing partisanization of the role of Speaker and the marginalization of the assembly in favor of the executive are not trends that ought to be encouraged.

Please explain how the Assembly is being marginalized in favor of the executive.

Giving governor-introduced legislation (a bad idea in and of itself) priority over assembly-introduced legislation.

[tpfkaw]

Nay.

The increasing partisanization of the role of Speaker and the marginalization of the assembly in favor of the executive are not trends that ought to be encouraged.

Please explain how the Assembly is being marginalized in favor of the executive.

Giving governor-introduced legislation (a bad idea in and of itself) priority over assembly-introduced legislation.

Governors have always been able to introduce legislation. Dedicating one of three slots to that purpose has no net negative effect on the Assembly's ability to pass legislation. I even reduced gubernatorial power by removing the executive from the amendment process.

Governors have not always been able to introduce legislation, under the old constitution the governor needed an assembly member to sponsor legislation for it to be considered.  This bill would mean that all gubernatorial legislation is considered immediately while assembly legislation is only considered in the order that the speaker decides and at his discretion.  I don't see what making the Assembly into essentially a rubber-stamp institution accomplishes.

[tpfkaw]

You should check out the Old Constitution because you have been misinformed. This does not interfere with Assembly-introduced legislation relative to the status quo. I don't understand where you are coming from with your rubber stamp claim.

I would check out the old constitution, if it hadn't been mysteriously deleted from the Wiki, although I would challenge you to provide a single example of legislation the governor introduced into the assembly that was not sponsored by an assemblyman on the governor's behalf (hint: you may spend a while looking).  Making the governor into a super-legislator who can not only propose legislation but give it precedence over all assembly-introduced legislation, and giving the Speaker the power to choose when and even if legislation is considered, gives those two offices complete control of the region.  In effect, it changes the Assembly into the Politburo - rather than a legislature that proposes laws, instead the executive proposes laws and then the assembly chooses whether to "veto" them (an ass-backwards and extremely authoritarian setup, hence why it was used in the Soviet government), and rather than an assembly that hears all points of view, it is restricted to the narrow interests of the Speaker, who can (and often will be) be elected with a majority of one.

[tpfkaw]

Unfortunately, I have to put 20-page papers I have to write ahead of assembly debates, important as they may be.

[tpfkaw]

As opposed to certain individuals who never say anything at all?  Don't throw stones in glass houses.  If that's seriously the reason why you are voting for this despicable legislation that literally makes the Northeast a dictatorship, I have zero respect for you.

[tpfkaw]

I'll nominate myself