Northeast Assembly Thread

[cinyc]

Aye

[cinyc]

By a vote of 6-0 with one express abstention, the Northeast Natural Gas Leasing Act passes and will be presented to the Governor for his signature or veto.

Next bill - well, it can be one of two, depending on what we do with the fact that Rep. Doctor Cynic left the Assembly for a time.  Since we'll get to the only other two bills currently in the queue not sponsored by Rep. Antonio V or a departed Assemblyman next, it doesn't matter.  Note: this should not serve as a precedent for determining bill order in cases where it really matters.  Anyway, here's the bill:

Northeast Anti-Obese Discriminatory Act

1. The Northeast officially takes the position of non-discrimination for all classes, creeds, and sexes.

2. The Northeast also recognizes the discrimination of those who struggle with issues of obesity.

3. All businesses are required to fair and equal treatment of any obese or otherwise disabled individual.

4. Airlines that charge obese passengers for two seats on any flight within the northeast are required to provide the two seats to that passenger.

5. Obese individuals shall henceforth recieve equal treatment and service within any Northeastern business establishment.

Sponsor: Rep. Doctor Cynic

The question is whether the bill should be considered?

The ayes have it.

Debate on this bill will continue until at least 2:30PM Eastern on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, unless the debate period is extended or shortened in accordance with the SOAP.

The Sponsor, Representative Doctor Cynic, has the floor.

[cinyc]

FYI - when pasting the bill into the thread, my browser's automatic spell check showed that "receive" is spelled incorrectly in paragraph 5.   I'd ask Rep. Doctor Cynic for a friendly amendment to fix that.

[cinyc]

I approve. Aye

Welcome to the Assembly! 

We're still debating the bill, not voting on it yet.

I am concerned about Sections 3 and 5 of the bill.  Equal treatment and service could mean many things.  For example, would a plus-size clothing line be required to hire skinny models (or vice versa)?  That seems absurd, but could become an issue depending on what "fair and equal treatment" means. 

[cinyc]

Seeing no proposed unfriendly amendments to the bill, we shall vote on its final passage:

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This vote shall be held open until  2:30 PM on Thursday, January 28, 2010 unless all Representatives shall have voted earlier.

[cinyc]

Nay

[cinyc]

By a vote of 4-4, we have a tie, to be broken by Lt. Governor Smid.  He has been notified.

[cinyc]

With the Lt. Governor casting the vote to break the tie, the bill fails.

I hate introducing things this late, but in the interests of keeping things moving, the next bill is:

Amendments to the Northeast Gun Safety Act

1. Any person who has committed a non-murder felony while under the age of 21, will automatically have his rights restored at age 35.
2. Whenever a gun is used as an instrument in the crime, an additional five years will be added to the sentence.

Sponsor: Rep. Dallasfan65

The question is whether the bill should be considered?

The ayes have it.

Debate on this bill will continue until at least 2:00AM Eastern on Sunday, January 31, 2010, unless the debate period is extended or shortened in accordance with the SOAP.

The Sponsor, Representative Dallasfan65, has the floor.

[cinyc]

Does someone want to make a motion to end debate as of 11PM Eastern on Saturday, instead of 2AM on Sunday?  I don't like opening votes at 2AM - I can't guarantee I'll be around.

[cinyc]

Law Enforcment/Military             $96.0    $190,500

Why so much ?

Because this has to fund every City Officers, County Sheriffs, State Police, and National Guards for the largest region in Atlasia.

Does that money go to fire departments as well?

[cinyc]

On the Northeast Gun Safety Act -  under current law, I can only see one situation where the automatic restoration at age 35 matters - where a federal judge has decreed someone who has committed a federal felony lose their federal gun rights for life.  I don't see why we should be second-guessing a court's determination - or creating a wedge between Atlasian federal and Northeast law.

As to the increased penalties, what's so special about a gun that shouldn't apply to someone who commits a crime using a knife or some other violent weapon.  Plus, how can this possibly apply to misdemeanors?  It would make them felonies.

[cinyc]

Seeing no amendments, it is now time to vote on final passage of the following bill:

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This vote will be open until the earlier of 11:00PM Eastern on Sunday, January 31, 2010, or when all Representatives shall have cast a vote.

Note: we will take up the budget next.  Technically, it needs to be approved in January - but I don't think we're going to vote on it until February 1 at the earliest, if we go with a 24-hour debate period.

[cinyc]

Nay

[cinyc]

By a vote of 5-2 with 1 absence, the Northeast Gun Safety Act  passes and will be sent to the Governor for his approval or veto.

Next, unless there is an objection, we will take up Gov. AndrewCT's proposed budget:

2010-2011 Northeast Budget

State Populations: 49

Connecticut (1)
Delaware (1)
Maine (6) -  
Massachusetts (6)
New Jersey (6)
New Hampshire (3)
New York (11)
Pennsylvania ( 8 )
Rhode Island (4)
Vermont (3)



Northeast Budget:

State                                      Revenue (In Millions)
Connecticut                            $28,495    ($15,918) -2
Delaware                               $6,950      ($15,918) No Change
Maine                                     $8,642      ($92,174) +5
Massachusetts                       $31,285    ($92,174) +3
New Jersey                             $45,785    ($92,174) +1
New Hampshire                      $17,890    ($47,754) No Change
New York                                $78,801    ($175,098) +6
Pennsylvania                          $62,375    ($127,344) +2
Rhode Island                          $7,400      ($63,672) +3
Vermont                                 $15,482     ($47,772) No Change

TOTAL                          $303,105 last year   $769,998 Projected

Expenditures (In Millions)

Law Enforcment/Military             $96.0    $190,500
Education                                   $66.5    $128,650
Health Care                                $56.4    $59,900
Local Government                      $28.00   $145,234
Environment                               $15.8    $105,737
Infrastructure                             $9.8     $43,825
 
TOTAL                                       $278.70    $673,846

Remaining                                       $96,152

Debate on the budget shall remain open until 11:05PM on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, unless shortened or lengthened in accordance with the SOAP.

Gov. AndrewCT has the floor, if he so chooses.

[cinyc]

Is this budget realistic?  We had a little bit of a deficit last quarter and I see nothing for debt service or paying off that debt.

[cinyc]

Seeing no proposed amendments, we shall now proceed to vote on the budget resolution:

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The vote on the budget shall remain open until 11:10PM on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, unless all Representatives shall have voted sooner.

[cinyc]

Aye

[cinyc]

By a vote of 6-1 with 1 absence, the Northeast Budget passes.

Next bill:

Deletion Comendation Resolution

The Northeast Assembly is strongly condemding recent acts committed by Atlasia Moderators: deleting a votes and statement mades by Representatives on the Assembly floor, relating to actual business.

We demand that a Troll List enforcement will never again affect or obstruct strickly legislative affairs.

Sponsor: Rep. Kalwejt

The question is whether the bill should be considered?

The ayes have it.

Debate on this bill will continue until at least 11:10PM Eastern on Friday, February 5, 2010, unless the debate period is extended or shortened in accordance with the SOAP.

The Sponsor, Representative Kalwejt, has the floor.

[cinyc]

I propose a few changes to fix a few typos, which I hope will be friendly:

The Northeast Assembly is strongly condemding condemns recent acts committed by Atlasia Moderators: deleting a votes and statement mades statements made by Representatives on the Assembly floor, relating to actual business.

We demand that a Troll List enforcement will never again affect or obstruct strickly strictly legislative affairs.

[cinyc]

I'd like to move to shorten the debate period to 12 hours.

I'm not going to give you 12 hours, especially when the sponsor hasn't spoken yet.  Assuming the sponsor speaks and decides whether my amendment is friendly, I'll give you a 20:50 debate period, putting us back on the 8PM Eastern open for voting periods that I prefer anyway.   I'm almost always available around then.  

[cinyc]

Just a quick thought: The current rules for this body make it difficult for emergency matters to be addressed. It does provide a certain amount of equity, in that everything gets its proper turn, but it also makes it difficult for you to respond to short-term events (as exemplified by taking up the current resolution long after the matter has ended).

Perhaps this is something to look into.

I think that the mover, Rep Kalwejt, could withdraw the motion if he so desired.

Even if he did, it would take quite a while to get to legislation dealing with current issues. Just makes my job hard when you can't react to my reports in a timely fashion (not that most people react at all ).

We have a process for putting more than one item on the agenda at a time - IIRC a vote is held to see if the members want to do it.  It was used by Representative Hamilton in the last session to place a resolution supporting New Mexican independence on the floor, which went down in flames.

For whatever reason, Rep. Kalwejt and the rest of us didn't move to place this item immediately on the agenda when it was more urgent (though it's still relevant today).

We can have legislation for any emergency matter put on the floor within 24 hours of it being drafted - or sooner, if all Reps vote sooner.

BTW - Rep. cutie_15 has a proposed Health Act that we'll probably get to before the end of the session which is a direct response to your news about obesity in the Northeast.

[cinyc]

Mr. Speaker. I realize this thing is rather out-of-date since things returned now to "normalcy". While it was a really huge problem for Assembly works, there are more urgent matters now indeed. So, I hereby withdraw this resolution.

Okay.   The resolution is withdrawn.



Next bill:

Lt. Governor Vacancy Amendment

1. Article IV, Section viii of the New Northeast Constitution shall be amended and replaced by the following:

If the office of Governor is to become vacant at some point while he or she is in office, than the Lieutenant Governor is to be immediately sworn in as Governor of the Northeast Region.  If the office of Lieutenant Governor is to become vacant at some point while he or she is in office , than the Governor may appoint a new one after the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the Northeast Region at any time more than two weeks before the next scheduled gubernatorial election, an election shall be held to replace the fill the vacancy.  The Chief Judicial Officer of the Northeast Region will open the booth for such election on the second Friday after such vacancy occurs at 12:00:00am Eastern Standard Time, and will close said both on the following Sunday at 11:59:59pm Eastern Standard Time. Every citizen will be given the opportunity to vote during this time.  Candidates for Lieutenant Governor will be given until the second Wednesday after such vacancy occurs  to announce his or her candidacy.

2. Article IV, Section xiii of the New Northeast Constitution shall be amended and replaced by the following:

The Lieutenant Governor of the Northeast Region shall be charged with the responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly of the region. He or she shall ensure that the Legislative Assembly has the ability to propose legislation that they are able to be debated on, and voted on during appropriate periods. In the temporary absence of the Lieutenant Governor, than the Governor the Speaker of the Northeast Assembly may take up these responsibilities.

3. Article IV, Section xiv of the New Northeast Constitution shall be amended as follows:

In the temporary absence of the Governor, then the Lieutenant Governor may be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor. The Speaker of the Northeast Assembly shall never be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor if acting in the temporary absence of the Lieutenant Governor pursuant to Article IV, Section xiii) of this Constitution.

Sponsor: Rep. cinyc

The question is whether the bill should be considered?

The ayes have it.

Debate on this bill will continue until at least 2:45PM Eastern on Saturday, February 6, 2010, unless the debate period is extended or shortened in accordance with the SOAP.

The Sponsor, Representative cinyc, has the floor.

[cinyc]

This is my promised constitutional amendment fixing the Lt. Governor vacancy process.  The current process is unclear and undemocratic.  The Assembly must recommend a replacement to the Governor before he can fill the vacancy, but it's not clear if the Governor must name the person the Assembly recommends.  And since the Assembly is no longer all the citizens of the Northeast, an important elected position is replaced by someone other than the voters.

The amendment calls for an election to fill the vacancy if it occurs at any time more than 2 weeks before the regularly scheduled Gubernatorial election.  The election will be held over the weekend of the second Friday after the vacancy occurs, allowing for time for candidates to declare and campaign.  In the interim, the Speaker takes over the role of Lt. Governor in running the Assembly (technically, the Governor does under the current Constitution), but doesn't get to break ties or automatically fill the shoes of the Governor should that office remain vacant.

[cinyc]

Mr. Speaker,

Since I've recently introduced a project of the Act which clarifies the issue of gubernatorial absention, voluntairly and unvoluntairly alike, I think it's better to include this to your amendment.

Would you consider these amendments friendly?

3. Article IV, Section xiv of the New Northeast Constitution shall be amended as follows:

In the temporary absence of the Governor, then the Lieutenant Governor may be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor. The Speaker of the Northeast Assembly shall never be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor if acting in the temporary absence of the Lieutenant Governor pursuant to Article IV, Section xiii) of this Constitution.

The Governor may declare his absence, thereby allowing the Lieutenant Governor, or the Speaker if Lieutenant Governor is not avaviable or office is vacant, to temporarily conduct the duties of the office, under a title of the Acting Governor of Northeast.

If the Governor is inactive for a period longer than six days, Lieutenant Governor (or speaker as mentioned before) shall automatically assume temporarily conduct the duties of the office.

The Governor shall resume the powers and duties of the office by smilliar declaration.

I'm not so sure about your proposal.  There's an inherent separation of powers issue and huge potential conflict of interest with allowing an elected member of the Assembly (legislature) to assume the powers of the Governor to veto bills.  Some states seem to do it (like New Jersey, where the Senate Majority Leader can become Acting Governor, but that's probably because NJ, until this cycle, didn't have a Lt. Governor.)

[cinyc]

Mr. Speaker,

Since I've recently introduced a project of the Act which clarifies the issue of gubernatorial absention, voluntairly and unvoluntairly alike, I think it's better to include this to your amendment.

Would you consider these amendments friendly?

3. Article IV, Section xiv of the New Northeast Constitution shall be amended as follows:

In the temporary absence of the Governor, then the Lieutenant Governor may be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor. The Speaker of the Northeast Assembly shall never be allowed to temporarily conduct the duties of the Governor if acting in the temporary absence of the Lieutenant Governor pursuant to Article IV, Section xiii) of this Constitution.

The Governor may declare his absence, thereby allowing the Lieutenant Governor, or the Speaker if Lieutenant Governor is not avaviable or office is vacant, to temporarily conduct the duties of the office, under a title of the Acting Governor of Northeast.

If the Governor is inactive for a period longer than six days, Lieutenant Governor (or speaker as mentioned before) shall automatically assume temporarily conduct the duties of the office.

The Governor shall resume the powers and duties of the office by smilliar declaration.

I'm not so sure about your proposal.  There's an inherent separation of powers issue and huge potential conflict of interest with allowing an elected member of the Assembly (legislature) to assume the powers of the Governor to veto bills.  Some states seem to do it (like New Jersey, where the Senate Majority Leader can become Acting Governor, but that's probably because NJ, until this cycle, didn't have a Lt. Governor.)

I understand, but you yourself inluded a proposal of Speaker in the chain of command.

Actually, my point is to include a clear procedure what to do if Governor is absent. I hope you'll accept this part.

(and in NJ it's Senate President, FTR )

My Speaker provision merely formalizes the procedure we already have in the SOAP.  The SOAP and Constitution shouldn't be at odds with each other.

Please provide me the actual language you'd propose.