Legislation Introduction Thread

[Gabu]

I dont think it would hurt to add a few Governors in there to rep. the regions, Master.

Er, why would we include the regions in a reform that only affects things at the federal level?

I don't think it's just a matter of which level this affects. The voting system is an integral component of the Atlasian political structure, and I think that it would not hurt to have a wide range of interests represented on the commission. (For instance, the Chief Justice would be a member, even though the reform is political, not judicial.)

I suppose.

I also should add that since this affects the President and people external to the Senate, shouldn't this be a bill, instead of just a resolution?

[Gabu]

I figured that it was mandating a temporary measure that would probably precede an actual bill (i.e. to change the system).  If you'd prefer it was a bill, that would be ok though.

Well, it's just that Senate resolutions are supposed to only be related to things that stay internal in the Senate.  The proposed idea requires the President to act, as well as people from the executive branch and private citizens.

[Gabu]

To continue on with some of my expansionist views here's this bill. I know some people will consider this a lowering of the qualitiy of bills but it isn't.

Atlasian Land Acquisition Act of 2005

1. After the passage of this bill Atlasia shall begin talks with Denmark for the purchase of Greenland.
2. After discussions with Denmark Atlasia shall agree to purchase Greenland for between $4,332,172-10,830,430.
3. If purchase occurs Greenland shall become a full territory of Atlasia, completely governed by its constitution and laws.

Uh, if we're going to begin talks with Denmark to purchase Greenland, why do we essentially have a set price already?

Also, as Sam points out, $10,830,430 is not exactly a lot of money.

[Gabu]

Manifest Destiny!

I'll manifest your destiny.

[Gabu]

I'm introducing this on behalf of Emsworth:

Pledge of Allegiance Act of 2005

§ 1.  The words "under God" shall cease to form a part of the pledge of allegiance of Atlasia.  The new pledge of allegiance shall read as follows:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of Atlasia, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

Questions and comments may be directed in his direction.

[Gabu]

I request the President pro tempore's consent to bring the Unified Electoral Code Bill to the floor of the Senate ahead of schedule. Otherwise, it would not be passed by the time elections are held. And, as this merely consolidates and corrects existing law, we need not wait until the Commission on Voting System Reform reports; that, I imagine, will take quite some time.

Emergency Niger Relief Act

Whereas, the people of Niger are suffereing from extreme poverty, famine, and lack of aid;

The Republic of Atlasia:

1. Approves an emergency budget of $25,000,000 to be given to the United Nations relief fund for direct aid for the people of Niger.

Again, in MUN format.

I would also like to ask the PPT to move this to the front of the line. It is really necessary.

Both of these requests seem fine to me.

[Gabu]

Given that the Senate seems determined not to let this come to a vote, I'm introducing it as an entirely new bill:

EDIT: And adding a bit to address what Ernest has said.

Pledge of Allegiance Bill II

§ 1.  There shall be no officially sanctioned pledge of allegiance to Atlasia, its flag, or its government that shall be given or suggested to private citizens to recite in or on the grounds of any public institution, including, but not limited to, public schools.

§ 2.  The content of section 1 shall not be construed to impose any illegality upon oaths of office given to individuals who have been elected or appointed to a government position.  Oaths of office in all cases shall remain untouched and shall continue to be required before any government service shall commence.

[Gabu]

Come on Senators, we need a few more bills!

Pretty soon, we'll have nothing more to do.

Bill Bill

1. This bill is hereby recognized as a bill.

2. If you pass it, there is a chance that something might happen.

3. If you do not pass it, there is a chance that something might not happen.

[Gabu]

Atlasian Symbols Act

1. The Senate recognizes that Atlasia is without symbols.
2. The Senate agrees to create the following symbols: National Motto, National Flower, National Bird, National Tree, National Fish and National Animal.
3. If passed each Senator shall submit themselves, or get from his constituents 10 options for each symbol to the Secretary of Forum Affairs.
4. After all options are received the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall administer a vote on each symbol, using preferential voting. Whichever symbol receives the most support shall become the national symbol for each option.

This sounds like an interesting idea, Senator. Could we add a flag as well?

We already have a flag:

[Gabu]

Really? I couldn't find any record of it in the statutes or elsewhere in the AtlasWiki, so I assumed that there wasn't one.

The issue of creating an Atlasian flag was brought up quite a long time ago, and we had a bunch of designs, and the one you see above created by htmldon won.

[Gabu]

I have one more bill to introduce but I don't know all the uses of Asbestos so if anybody else knows more they can help with the editing of this bill when it reaches the Senate floor.



Asbestos Bann

1. The Senate hereby banns the importation, exportation, transportation and sale of asbestos or products that use asbestos.

Asbestos is mostly used as for insulation or for fire-proofing.  Here's a list of common things in which asbestos may be found:

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/asbuses.pdf

[Gabu]

Having seen the idiocy over discounting presidential votes simply because the voter forgot to list the VP candidate, I'm introducing the following:

Definition of Allowable Presidential Votes Bill

§1. Section 6 of the Unified Electoral Code Act is stricken and replaced with the following:

Section 6: Miscellany Regarding Presidential Elections

  1. Any instance of the word "candidate" in Sections 1 through 5 shall be read as "ticket" in the case of presidential elections.
  2. If only one candidate is listed in a vote in a presidential election, and if the candidate listed is a presidential candidate with a chosen running mate, then the vote will be assumed to be for the ticket containing the listed candidate.

[Gabu]

Okay, this giant is done.  I present it to see what you think; this is a first draft only, and there may be things I've missed.

First, we need a constitutional amendment to clear up the constitutional issues relating to the secret ballot:

Amendment to Allow a Secret Ballot

§1. The text "All elections to the Senate shall be by public post." in Article I, Section 4, Clause 6 of the constitution is hereby stricken and replaced with "All elections to the Senate shall be by either public post or secret ballot."

§2. The text "All elections to the Presidency shall be by public post." in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the constitution is hereby stricken and replaced with "All elections to the Presidency shall be by either public post or secret ballot."

Once that is cleared up, here is the bill I have drafted in its current form.  It's designed to replace the Unified Electoral Code Act, because quite frankly fitting all of these bits and pieces into that act was getting very tedious, and I think just scrapping the whole thing and bringing in a whole new bill is easier:

Electoral System Reform Bill

Definitions:

Class A invalid vote: A vote that is invalid, but which is invalid under such a circumstance that the vote may be discarded such that the voter may vote again.
Class B invalid vote: A vote that is invalid under such a circumstance that no new vote may be made; a vote that must be disqualified.

§1. Form of the Voting Booth.

   1. Whenever possible, the Secretary of Forum Affairs, or the Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs, shall be the administrator of the voting booth. If both shall be absent or unable to administer the voting booth, then the President shall designate an executive officer to do so instead.
   2. The administrator must post a voting booth that includes a usable ballot that lists all declared candidates as well as two sections below the list of candidates, one for the purposes of voting for "None of the Above", and one for the purposes of writing in a candidate.
   3. To the left of every name, and to the left of both "None of the Above" and the section for writing in a candidate, the administrator must include a designated space in which a voter can place a mark to indicate his or her choice of candidate.
   5. The administrator must include links in the voting booth to all relevant statute pertaining to election law.
   6. The administrator must include a list in the voting booth of all criteria that make a voter's vote invalid.
   7. The administrator shall be free to design the voting booth however he or she sees fit as long as the requirements detailed in clauses 2 through 5 are satisfied.

§2. Voting.

   1. To vote in an election, any eligible voter must make a copy of the ballot provided by the administrator, make some form of mark in one and only one of the spaces provided in clause 3 of section 1, and then post the completed ballot in the voting booth.

§3. Closing of the Voting Booth and Election Results.

   1. After the time has expired allotted either in Article I, Section 4, Clause 3 or in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, whichever is relevant, the administrator of the voting booth shall declare voting to be closed and proceed to tally the votes.
   3. Once the administrator has tallied the results of the election, the administrator must post the final results and certify them as being official.
   4. Once certification has occurred, the administrator must publicly post a full list of all votes that were not counted with a full description beside each uncounted vote explaining why the vote was not counted.  The list of votes that must not be counted includes, but is not limited to, unreplaced class A invalid votes and all class B invalid votes.
   5. If a candidate has received a majority of the votes, that candidate is declared the victor and no runoff shall occur.
   6. If no candidate has received a majority of the votes, then all candidates either who have been beaten by None of the Above or who have received at most a percentage of the vote equal to one hundred, divided by three, divided by the number of candidates in the election, will be eliminated.
   7. After the preliminary round of elimination in clause 6, to determine the number of candidates to advance to a runoff, take the number of candidates remaining, divide by two, and round up to the nearest whole number, unless the nearest whole number shall be one, in which case the number shall be incremented to two.  The candidate with the most votes advances, then the candidate with the second most votes, then the candidate with the third most votes, and so on, until there are as many candidates advanced as the number specified in the previous sentence.

§4. Runoff Administration.

   1. If a runoff is required due to the clause 5 of section 3 being unsatisfied, the runoff shall take place in the 72 hours spanning the beginning of the next Friday to the end of the next Sunday in the weekend following the initial election.
   2. The election shall be run equivalently to the initial election, except that the only candidates on the ballot provided shall be those who advanced according to clause 7 of section 3, that "None of the Above" and an option to write in a candidate shall not be available, and that the candidate receiving the plurality of votes, not necessarily a majority, shall be declared the victor.

§5. Tie Breaking.

   1. In the case that a tie arises in the stage of elimination in clause 7 of section 5 such that it cannot be determined who should advance and who should be eliminated then the members of the Senate shall vote for exactly the number of people still required to advanced from a list of candidates who are present in the tie.  The candidates receiving the least amount of votes shall be eliminated until enough candidates have been eliminated to be able to advance the rest to the runoff.
   2. In the case that a tie arises for first place in a runoff, there are two options that may be taken, which must be unanimously decided upon by all of the candidates present in the tie:
      a. Senate Vote: The Senate shall vote to break the tie under quorum rules, with the Vice President casting a deciding vote as necessary.
      b. Term Splitting: The candidates in the tie shall agree upon a schedule according to which the candidates shall divide the term among themselves. The schedule shall be allowed to be whatever the candidates agree upon, provided that its total length does not exceed the term to which a candidate would have been elected to had he won in his own right.
      c. Failure to Agree: If, within five days of the necessity of tie breaker being known, the candidates have not agreed on a method to break the tie, then the method described in subclause (a) shall be used to break the tie.

§6. Victory by None of the Above.

   1. If, in an election, the None of the Above option shall have gained more votes than each candidate, then a new initial election shall be held beginning at midnight Eastern Standard Time on the second Friday after the election, and ending 72 hours thereafter.
   2. None of the candidates defeated by the None of the Above option in the original may be declared candidates in the new election. However, a voter may still write in any such candidate.
   3. The candidacy declaration deadline for the new election shall be the same as that for special elections.
   4. Except where a contradiction arises with clause 2 of this section, all provisions of section 1 of this act shall apply to the new election.

§7. Invalid Ballots.

   1. Any voter who votes more than once shall have all of his or her ballots declared to be class B invalid votes.
   2. Any voter who makes on his or her ballot either no mark in the spaces provided in clause 3 of section 2 or who makes a mark in more than one of the spaces shall have his or her vote declared to be a class A invalid vote.
   3. Any voter who edits the ballot such that the names present on the ballot are altered in any way, except in the case to add a name in the space provided for writing in a candidate, shall have his or her vote declared to be a class A invalid vote.

§8. Handling of Invalid Ballots.

   1. If any vote is determined to be a class A invalid vote, the administrator must inform the voter of this fact as soon as possible.  The voter shall be permitted to submit another ballot, but must not delete the invalid ballot.  If the invalid ballot is deleted, all subsequent ballots shall become class B invalid votes.
   2. If any vote is determined to be a class B invalid vote, the administrator is not required to take any action, save for that in clause 4 of section 4.

[Gabu]

§9. Miscellany Regarding Presidential Elections.

   1. Any instance of the word "candidate" in sections 2 through 7 shall be read as "ticket" in the case of presidential elections.
   2. If only one candidate is listed in a vote in a presidential election, and if the candidate listed is a presidential candidate with a chosen running mate, then the vote will be assumed to be for the ticket containing the listed candidate.

§10. Concession of Victory.

   1. If a candidate shall concede his or her victory of a Senate election after the certification of the election result, then the candidate with the next greatest number of votes in the election in which a victor was declared shall then be declared victor.
   2. If both members of a Presidential ticket shall concede their victory in the Presidential election after the certification of the election result, then the members of the ticket with the next greatest number of votes in the election in which a victor was declared shall then be declared victors.
   3. If a victor who has conceded shall wish to retract his or her concession, then he or she shall only be able to do so with the permission of the newly declared victor.
   4. Concessions made before the certification of election results, or on or after the date on which the newly elected official is due to be sworn in, are of no legal effect whatsoever.

§11. Statute of Limitations.

   1. Lawsuits challenging the validity of certified election results shall only be valid if filed with the Supreme Court within one week of the certification of such results.
   2. Lawsuits challenging the validity of election results certified on or before October 24, 2005 shall not be valid.

§12. Federal Activity Requirements.

   1. All those persons who have posted at least 25 times in the 8 weeks (56 days) prior to the commencement of an election shall be defined as active for the purposes of that election.
   2. Those persons considered inactive (defined as not active) shall not be qualified to vote in a particular election.
   3. Anyone who has cast an absentee ballot shall be regarded as an active voter, provided he or she fulfills the definition by the time the election commences for which the ballot was cast, of an "active voter"; However, the post containing the ballot shall not count towards the total number of required posts.

§13. Public Vote for Implementation.

   After passage in the Senate, this bill shall not be put into place unless a majority of registered voters shall vote in favor of its enactment in a public poll administered by either the Vice President or the President Pro Tempore.

§14. Repealed legislation.

   The Unified Electoral Code Act is hereby repealed.

[Gabu]

I withdraw the Definition of Allowable Presidential Votes Bill, as this bill includes its provisions.

[Gabu]

Okay, having seen what we need to do to balance the budget, I'm getting suitably scared enough to introduce the following:

Amendment to Remove the Balanced Budget Requirement

§1. Clauses 8-10 of Article I, Section 8 in the Constitution are hereby stricken.

[Gabu]

While you can certainly classify me as one of those concerned citizens, I fear that this amendment takes it too far in the opposite direction.  While I am opposed to the abolition of the public school system, I am also not supportive of writing a "right to education" into law:  I believe that parents may withhold their children from regular schooling if they wish, whether it be for homeschooling or for other purposes.  Therefore I would be opposed to the amendment in its current form.

I don't see anything in that amendment prohibiting homeschooling.  All it's saying is that, if someone is homeschooled, it needs to be a "full-time systematic instruction of basic life skills and knowledge", given by an adult.  The adult may very well be the child's parent.

[Gabu]

Is this going to lead to Government testing?  Because I'd really hate that…

I never said that I supported the amendment, only that it wouldn't ban homeschooling.

[Gabu]

Is this going to lead to Government testing?  Because I'd really hate that…

I never said that I supported the amendment, only that it wouldn't ban homeschooling.

Oh, I know!  I wasn’t saying you did, but I was just asking if you thought it would.

I don't immediately see why it would.

[Gabu]

the only person who can define the meaning of those words is the PPT; there is no one, absoultely no one, to go and complain to about this.

The OSPR says the following, immediately after the section that CheeseWhiz quoted:

"The sponsoring Senator of the legislation shall have seventy-two (72) hours to challenge this action in a public post, and with the concurrence of one-third (1/3) of office-holding Senators in the affirmative (excluding the PPT), may override the actions of the PPT."

It seems to me that that section does not give the PPT carte blanche to simply exercise his will over introduced legislation.

Al, we voted to delay working on the Budget, that doesn’t mean we can’t vote on cutting or reducing the budget of some of these programs.

It's fairly pointless to make them separate bills when we're going to need to do a comprehensive budget in a big hurry soon.  When we're working on the budget as a whole, we can just implement everything in one big chunk.  No need to make it a bunch of separate bills - that's only for when we aren't going to be working on the budget for a while.

[Gabu]

It seems to me that that section does not give the PPT carte blanche to simply exercise his will over introduced legislation.

True, but it doesn't change the fact that there's no one to complain about the definition of the wording to.
I am probably be unduely negative, but that's just me I'm afraid. Sometimes I can't see a positive thing if it walks up and hits me...

Well, the concept of "frivolous" and whatnot is indeed entirely subjective and unscientific, but we essentially have two options: do it like that, or not have any safeguards against Nasolation.  I prefer the former, myself.

Fine, whatever, doesn’t look like I’m gonna have any say in the matter *sigh*

I just think that was put into the OSPR for bills that Naso would propose, not legitimate bills that have support from more than one Senator.  I think doing this is over stepping your bounds, even if it isn’t against the rules.  I hope Daniel challenges this, these bills have every right to get their time on the floor.

But the bills will get their time when we go back to finish the budget.  When we're working on the budget, we can make any changes we need to make.  I don't see why we need to do it one at a time in bill form.

[Gabu]

I’m just saying that cutting programs isn't exclusive to creating the budget.  I see no urgent legislation, so I can't understand why Al is removing this.

But the thing is that appropriation bills are only for times after a budget has already been approved.  If you still have a budget pending, there is literally no purpose in considering spending bills because we can just apply all of them in one big package to the budget instead of allocating debate time for and voting on each one individually.

[Gabu]

But, does the PPT have anyway to suspend them or something?

I'm not sure I understand this question.

[Gabu]

But, does the PPT have anyway to suspend them or something?

I'm not sure I understand this question.

Sorry, I still haven't had enough time to read over the OSPR.  What would tabling them do?

Tabling a bill is essentially a motion that any senator can bring on a bill that will remove the bill from consideration before debate time is up if a majority of senators (or two-thirds... I don't remember which) vote in favor of the motion.  It's essentially another safeguard against time-wasting legislation that will obviously fail for when the PPT doesn't remove the bill from consideration.

[Gabu]

Term Limits Amendment

Section 1
Subsection 1
1. No person shall be elected to the office of Senator more than two consecutive terms, weather for the same District or Region, of for different ones.

2. No person shall be elected to the office of President or Vice-President more than one consecutive terms.

If we need to have twelve new people every eight months, it seems to me that we will very quickly run out of good candidates.  What happens if we have no eligible candidates as a result?  2006 will likely see a spike in membership, but then that'll settle off and we'll have roughly the same people hanging around until 2008.