Northeast Assembly Thread

[cinyc]

Nay.

[cinyc]

By a vote of 3-4 with one abstention and one absence, the proposed amendment fails.

We shall now vote on final passage of the unamended bill:

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This vote shall remain open until 2:15 PM on Sunday April 18, unless all Representatives shall have voted sooner.

[cinyc]

Nay

[cinyc]

By a vote of 2-4 with 3 unexcused absences, the Northeastern Insurance Company Regulation Act fails.

As the legislative session will come to an end within 36 hours, there is not enough time to place additional legislation on the floor.  Floor action shall remain suspended until Tuesday, w hen the new Assembly is sworn in.  The first action on Tuesday shall be to elect a new speaker.

[cinyc]

FYI -

I now have access to the Wiki (but no authority to change the Assembly pages).  But if you want me to update or create your personal pages, please PM me with what you want me to put there.  I've updated the Governor and Lt. Governor's pages, as well as the main page.  Eventually, I'll get to the Constitution and (hopefully) Assembly page, if given the Lt. Governor's permission.

[cinyc]

Speaker cinyc,

I would like to appoint you to update the Wiki, which has been in dire need of revision.

(Also if you could give me some tips on how you managed to get your own Wiki account, that'd be great too )

Lt. Governor Libertas

I complained about it on the SoFA thread when someone there complained about the state of the Wiki.  Peter realized he had the ability to add wiki accounts - and gave me one.  The new instructions on the Wiki page say to PM him for an account.

I have only begun to edit the Wiki.  I'll do some more tomorrow, if I have time.  The Constitution and Assembly pages are in a dire need of upgrading.  I'm also going to try to find the laws passed during the missing period.

[cinyc]

FYI -

The Atlasian Supreme Court has overruled the CJO's decision to award damages for the strike.  The exact import of the opinion is unclear because the first opinion wasn't good enough - probably not sufficiently pro-union to the leftists who wrote the majority opinion, one of which commented on the law as it was written and ought have recused himself.

Basically, according to the court, unions are special and can breach their contracts without any remedy or recourse.   The right to collectively bargain includes the right for union workers not to live up to their contractual obligations.

So union contracts are basically not worth the paper they are printed on - well, the current opinion claims the contract has been unilaterally invalidated, but I'm sure that will be "clarified" to mean the union gets to do whatever they want and we can do nothing.  Why should we bother even negotiating?

I'm sure the court's new and improved revised opinion won't let us do this, but I'd suggest the next Assembly take up a bill to fire the strikers and hire replacement workers at 75% of current pay, require contributions to pay for health care premiums and no more gilded pension obligations.  

[cinyc]

The Atlasian Supreme Court has overruled the CJO's decision to award damages for the strike.  The exact import of the opinion is unclear because the first opinion wasn't good enough - probably not sufficiently pro-union to the leftists who wrote the majority opinion, one of which commented on the law as it was written and ought have recused himself.

I'm sorry for butting in here and I'm not going to speak about the decision itself.

However, if you think the court is dominated by the leftists, isn't it unwise to push forward in such a manner that would set forth what you'd probably find to be some very bad caselaw?

No.  Public employee unions have gotten out of hand.  They live in a fantasy world where there's no recession and they deserve raises and perqs that people who work in the real world aren't getting.  Their actions have been completely unreasonable and out of proportion to a law that merely set a framework for future negotiations.

Besides, so far, the actual law wasn't struck down, just the CJO's decision to award damages for breach of contract - an opinion I find puzzling and would have never expected at all.  Live up to your damn contractual obligations.  Don't strike in the middle of it.  Otherwise, you should be sued for breach and be required to pay damages.  Period.  But for reasons the majority opinion doesn't explain, unions are extra special and don't have to live up to their contractual obligations like the rest of us.

[cinyc]

The Atlasian Supreme Court has overruled the CJO's decision to award damages for the strike.  The exact import of the opinion is unclear because the first opinion wasn't good enough - probably not sufficiently pro-union to the leftists who wrote the majority opinion, one of which commented on the law as it was written and ought have recused himself.

I'm sorry for butting in here and I'm not going to speak about the decision itself.

However, if you think the court is dominated by the leftists, isn't it unwise to push forward in such a manner that would set forth what you'd probably find to be some very bad caselaw?

I doubt any decision will change because of what cinyc does or doesn't do.

That wasn't Bullmoose's point.  Bullmoose's point is that the Northeast shouldn't be passing conservative laws because this leftist court will just strike them down, creating bad precedent.

But whatever.  I'm out of office once the new Assembly is sworn back in and intend to slink back to the shadows where I belong.

[cinyc]

I am incredibly tired of your attitude, cinyc. Almost all of our decisions in the past I have made in concert with Spade himself (let's no beat around the bush here gentlemen and act like you're not talking about me) and I've taken the time to very carefully consider everything at hand.

I don't dick around on the court and just make decisions without thinking about them nor do I try and just find ways for Opebo and I to agree on something so we can tick off Spade. I really like Spade, and I've made alot of effort in the past to find areas of agreement with him whenever possible. (The HAEV case, for instance, was unified because Spade and I wanted to be absolutely sure all three of us were standing together, so I made a considerable effort in coming to the middle to meet Spade when I absolutely did not have to.)

You have no idea the amount of time and energy I put in to considering every case before me.

And this "dominated by lefists" thing is so absurdly paranoid and just designed to try and get people to oppose my efforts on the court. In the Libertas decision, Spade and I were in agreement on the conclusion. In the SPC decision on the smoking ban, Spade and I were in agreement on the conclusion. In the HAEV decision, Spade and I were in agreement on the conclusion. In the Jbrase decision, Spade and I were in agreement on the conclusion. Even in this union case, though in the new opinion still to-be published there are many things Spade doesn't like, I've still heard some level of agreement from him on at least on part of it. (And I sought out his opinion trying to find areas of agreement before I took up the task.)

This idea that Opebo and I are ruling the court in some sort of tyrannical left-wing way is absurd and objectively wrong and it's about time you drop it.

At every possible turn you've tried to stir up trouble against me, and I'm getting tired of it right quick. People are allowed to express their opinions, and I've been remarkably more restrained since I took the position precisely because of attitudes like yours. This is a game, there's only a handful of extremely active individuals, and we all have opinions.

In short, you're getting pissed off because I express my carefully thought out opinions on fictional legal matters. Something I really put alot of my energy into trying to very precisely express myself. You have absolutely no right to act like a complete jerk to me because you just don't like my opinion.

I haven't tried to stir up trouble against anyone.  I've accurately predicted that the Atlasian Supreme Court would side with the unions no matter what.  Your comments on this thread about the bill when we were passing it made that a foregone conclusion.   And I have an absolute right to criticize court decisions and the out-of-court behavior of the Justices - you can characterize it as whining or paranoia or whatever - but I do.  The court made it clear when the question of recusal was raised in a prior case that it there is no procedure for it and therefore, raising it would be futile.

At the end of the day, it no longer matters.  I did not run for reelection to the Assembly and don't expect to be running for anything else in the future.  I'm going back to the shadows, where I belong.  You win.

[cinyc]

With the new Assembly in session, I pass the gavel to the Lt. Governor to commence the speaker election. 
The gavel is here: http://i48.tinypic.com/10gfeoi.jpg

Please note that the GM says the union is willing to negotiate the contract.  I assume that means they will not immediately go on strike.  The Governor and Assembly are going to have to figure out what to do.  I will no longer act as counsel on the Northeasts' behalf if you want to take this further through the courts.

Good luck in the new session!

[cinyc]

Did we ever get a ruling regarding whether the 3 people who wrote themselves in should have been deemed elected?   Given the Northeast's recent past electoral history, they should have.

[cinyc]

I hearby sign the bill, since it wasn't posted in my office thread.

Please post these things in your office thread, preferably using the Northeast seal when you sign it.  Otherwise, it becomes impossible for someone to track down should the Wiki get out of date again.

[cinyc]

I hearby sign the bill, since it wasn't posted in my office thread.

Please post these things in your office thread, preferably using the Northeast seal when you sign it.  Otherwise, it becomes impossible for someone to track down should the Wiki get out of date again.

Nevertheless, I think it was passed with a veto-proof majority, so it doesn't need the Governor's signature.

Every bill needs the governor's signature or inaction.   That it was passed by a veto-proof majority is irrelevant.

Trust me - it's a lot easier to track down legislation when signed in the Governors' thread under the Seal of the Northeast.

[cinyc]

Electing a Speaker is the first order of Assembly business.  Legislation generally cannot be placed on the floor until a Speaker is elected.

[cinyc]

who is our lieutenant governor and where is he?

fezzyfestoon and perhaps you or another member of the Assembly should PM him.

[cinyc]

I guess we should just wait until Andrew resigns and hold them both on the same day to make it easier.

Actually, under Article V, Section iv of the New Northeast Constitution, there should have been an election for the whole Assembly last Friday.  This Assembly's time is up.

[cinyc]

I guess we should just wait until Andrew resigns and hold them both on the same day to make it easier.

Actually, under Article V, Section iv of the New Northeast Constitution, there should have been an election for the whole Assembly last Friday.  This Assembly's time is up.

Well that's dumb. We should have Assembly elections the same time as the Gubernatorial and Lt. Gubernatorial ones.

By the by, did anyone even declare to run for Assembly? That's probably why I forgot about it.

It's not dumb.  Just as in most states, state governors are elected every 4 years and state reps more frequently, Northeast Representatives are elected for a 2 month term, not 4 months.  And the elections generally run concurrent with the Senate elections (except in December, due to a quirk in the Senate election schedule).

[cinyc]

Can I just fire him or does the assembly have to do something?

Hopefully we can get some clarification on that. In any case, according to my count, these would be the winners. I double checked everything, so this should be right. Not listing in any particular order, the winners...

Hantheguitarman...
JustW...
FallenMorgan...
Red Commander...
Electoral Jew...
Wormguy...
Zacofthetaxes...
Cinyc...

There is what should've been this term's Assembly based on ballots and write ins.

Except that I and others did not accept write ins.

Let's just assume these are the winners. Anyway the election for the next assembly's coming up shortly.

The Governor or the Lt. Governor could have certified the ballot.

True.

[cinyc]

Shouldn't the Northeast local elections be open?

[cinyc]

The Northeast Wiki is in sorry shape.  

I've been making some minor edits to the officeholder section, but under the SOAP and Wiki Emergency Act, it's the Lt. Governor's job to update the Wiki, unless he names someone else.  I don't have the time to do much else, so if our newly appointed Lt. Governor doesn't have a wiki account or time to update the Wiki, I suggest he name a volunteer who does.  In particular, the Assembly and Assembly legislation pages haven't been updated since last August and June, respectively.  If we can't easily find our laws, they're pretty much useless.

[cinyc]

Would a convention legitimately solve that problem?  If not, I can't support one.

Well, if we were able to eliminate the quorom requirement then it would.

The quorum requirement itself isn't the problem, especially since it has been watered down to one-third.  In order to have the best chance of passing, Constitutional Amendments ought to be passed and signed into law by the governor after the Second Friday of January, March, May, July or September  in order to be put on the ballot in a regional election that most likely coincides with a federal election.  Amendments proposed earlier in those months or after the second Friday in February, etc. end up getting voted on in an irregular third-Friday election, which almost always has lower turnout.  No constitutional amendment gets put to an immediate vote because we thought it would be easier to get a quorum in a more regularly scheduled election.

We really have nobody to blame but ourselves if we can't get 14 out of 40 citizens to vote for a constitutional amendment.  I've always said that it is up to proponents of constitutional amendments to publicize it and give good reasons why a change is necessary.  There was a legitimate debate over whether to fix the size of the Assembly.  Some folks simply didn't agree it was necessary.

[cinyc]

I hadn't realized I won a seat, folks. Where do I sign in? Here?

The swearing-in thread is here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=36934

[cinyc]

Two things:

1) Note that if this proposed amendment is passed and signed by the Governor before May 13, it will be put for a vote in a May special election, which usually has lower turnout than a regular June election.

2) If you're amending the relevant provisions anyway, it might make sense to formalize procedures where someone else can open a voting booth if the CJO fails to do so or that position is vacant.

[cinyc]

Well, we do have a Wiki page, listing government officials.  That it hadn't been routinely updated over the past year or so is the bigger issue.