Northeast Assembly Proposed Leigslation Thread

[Barnes]

I hereby close the Proposed Legislation Thread. All members please wait to propose any Bills until  the New Assembly starts, on Tuesday.

[Barnes]

The Proposed Legislation Thread is now open for the Second Assembly.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Anti-Discrimination Act

1. The Northeast Government pledges to uphold the rights of all citizens regardless of race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.
2. The Northeast Government will hereby refuse government contracts to any company or organization which is found to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.
3. The Northeast Government, in hiring, and in representation, shall not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Pornography and Age of Consent Act of 2010

An act to liberalise laws restricting sexual activity and to amend the Pornography and Age of Consent Act of 2005

1.   In accordance with the federal Bow Chicka Bow Wow Act of 2009, All individuals 14 years of age or older shall have the right to buy, possess, and view pornography depicting only persons of 18 years of age or older.

2.   All those persons of 14 years of age or older not incarcerated for crimes shall have the right to give consent to engage in sexual acts with other persons of 14 years up to the age of 21 years.

3.   Any person of 21 years of age or older who engages in a sexual act with a person of 14 years of age or younger is guilty of statutory rape.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Cleaner Water Act

1. $15 billion shall be appropriated to the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission for the purpose of restoring the region's rivers and cleaning polluted fresh waters in the region.

2. $6 billion shall be appropriated to the  New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission for the purpose of restoring inland wetlands and the surrounding ecosystems.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Northeast Economic Recovery Stimulus Act

The 100 billion dollars received by the Northeast Region from the Federal Government of Atlasia in accordance to Section 4 a) of the 2009 Atlasian Relief and Recovery Act shall be employed as follows.

Section 1 : Regional Fund for Economic Recovery

1. The Regional Fund for Economic Recovery (RFER) is hereby established.
2. The RFER shall receive $20 billion dollars for its functioning.
3. The RFER shall have the authority to provide loans to any business expressly asking for which is in a situation close to bankruptcy. Said loans shall be considered as a monetary help coming from the Northeast Region.
4. The RFER shall be free to negotiate interest rates with businesses.
5. The RFER shall be effective at January 1st, 2010, and shall be dismissed at December 31st, 2014, unless the Northeast Legislative Assembly provides otherwise by a majority vote.

Section 2 : Help to green jobs

1. The Northeast Region shall invest $5 billions in renewable energy.
2. Businesses in the economic sector of renewable energy shall receive a monetary help from the Northeast Region, whose total amount shall be $5 billions. The amount of money received shall be proportional to the number of employees of each business.

Section 3 : Help to the lower classes

1. $10 billions shall serve to establish the Economic Recovery Allocation (ERA). The ERA shall be granted to any household of the first and second tax brackets, as defined by the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Its amount shall be the same for any household.
2. $10 billions shall be dealt at December 31, 2010, between every business having employed at least 10 individuals who had been unemployed for more than one year after January 1, 2010.

Section 4 : Budget severity

The remaining $50 billions shall be integrated to the budget of the Northeast Region and used for normal functioning expenses.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Amendments to the SOAP for a faster legislative work

1. Section 3, subsection (a) of the SOAP is hereby amended to read : All proposed legislation shall be open for debate for no less than fourty-eight (48) hours after the Lt. Governor places it on the Northeast Assembly floor. The Lt. Governor shall have the authority to extend the debating period upon ask of any Representative. No extension of the debate period shall exceed 48 hours, and no shortening shall exceed 24 hours.
2. Section 3, subsection (f) of the SOAP is hereby amended to read : A final vote on the proposed legislation shall take place after the Lt. Governor certifies the vote on any proposed amendments (or, if there are no such amendments, at the end of the debate period). Such votes shall be open for twenty-four (24) hours, or until an absolute majority of all Representative has voted in favor of said legislation, if earlier. A piece of proposed legislation shall pass if a majority of Representatives vote in favor of it (with abstentions and absences not counted as votes).
3. Section 3, subsection (h) of the SOAP is hereby repealed.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Vacancy filling Act

In accordance to Article V, section ix) of the New Northeast Constitution, vacancies in the Legislative Assembly shall be filled in the following manner :

1. In the case when a vacancy in the Northeast Legislative Assembly is the result of the voluntary resignation of a Northeast Representative, said Representative shall appoint a Northeast Citizen to replace him in the Assembly.
2. In the case when a vacancy in the Northeast Legislative Assembly has another reason that what is mentioned in section 1, the Governor of the Northeast Region shall appoint a Northeast Citizen to fill said vacancy.
3. In the case mentioned in Section 1, if the resigning Northeast Representative doesn't appoint anybody to replace him within a week following his resignation, the Governor of the Northeast Region shall appoint a Northeast Citizen to fill said vacancy.

[Sewer]

Bill Frist Act
1) All testing on non-human vertebrate animals is hereby banned in the Northeast Region.
2) Violation of this ban shall result in up to five years in prison and up to one million dollars in fines.

[cinyc]

Northeast Natural Gas Leasing Act
1) The Northeast shall publish an Invitation For Bid (IFB) on leaseholds to drill for natural gas on all Northeast public lands other than public parks, historical sites, highway rights-of-way or any portion of public lands within 660 feet of any inhabited dwelling, school or place of worship. 
2) Bidding Requirements
a) The IFB shall specify the size and location of parcels subject to bidding.
b) The initial term of any leases shall be five years.  The lessor shall have an option to extend the lease for two additional 5-year terms if a well on the parcel produces a commercially marketable quantity of natural gas at any time during the previous 5-year period.
c) The minimum fixed lease bid shall be $2,500 per acre per year.
d) The minimum royalty bid shall be 15% of the market value of the natural gas produced on the leased parcel. 
e) The market value of gas at the mouth of the well is determined by ascertaining the producer's actual marketing costs and subtracting those costs from the producer's gross cash receipts from the sale of the gas. Marketing costs are the costs incurred by the producer to get the gas from the mouth of the well to the market, including:
(i)  costs for compressing the gas sold, (ii)  costs for dehydrating the gas sold, (iii)  costs for sweetening the gas sold, and (iv)  costs for delivering the gas to the purchaser. Marketing costs do not include (i) costs incurred in producing the gas, (ii)  costs incurred in normal lease separation of the oil or condensate, or (iii) insurance premiums on the marketing facility.
3) Environmental Requirements
a) All successful bidders shall be required to secure a $50,000 lease bond for each lease and $100,000 plugging bond for each well drilled.  The Northeast shall be entitled to the proceeds from such bond to remediate any environmental damage caused by drilling or the cost of properly plugging the well.
b) Any successful bidder who drills for natural gas shall provide the Northeast with evidence that it has a Drilling-Well Control Insurance Policy of at least $25,000,000.   The Northeast shall be entitled to the proceeds from such policy to remediate any environmental damage caused by drilling not properly repaired by that bidder.
c) No successful bidder may drill more than one well per square mile on any parcel.
d) All successful bidders shall drill in an environmentally friendly manner without disrupting the water quality of the area drilled, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Northeast Department of Conservation.  In particular, all wastewater shall be properly treated by the driller in accordance with such regulations and shall not otherwise be disposed of in any lake, stream, river or watershed area.
e) All successful bidders are strictly liable for any environmental damage caused by drilling and drilling-related activity, and shall remediate all environmental damage caused by such activity as soon as possible, and no later than 2 years of the end of the lease term.
f) All successful bidders must submit the location of any proposed drill site, access road, facility or pipeline to the Northeast Department of Conservation.  The Northeast Department of Conservation may require that a successful bidder move any proposed site, road, facility or pipeline to mitigate any potential adverse environmental effects.
4) Use of Proceeds from Leases.  The government of the Northeast region may not borrow, pledge or transfer any proceeds from leases made under this Act except as follows:
a) 5% shall be transferred to the Northeast Department of Conservation to offset the cost of monitoring compliance with this Act and all other related environmental regulation and legislation.
b) 10% shall be transferred to the Northeast Department of Conservation to purchase additional public lands.
c) 35% shall be transferred to the Northeast Rainy Day Fund.  The Northeast Comptroller shall conservatively invest the corpus of the Northeast Rainy Day Fund and shall not transfer any portion of the Northeast Rainy Day Fund to any person or government fund, entity or agency unless the Northeast budget is in deficit and the Northeast unemployment rate is greater than 10% or the Northeast GDP has fallen by an annualized rate of more than 1% in two of the last four quarters.
d) 50% shall be transferred to the Northeast Permanent Dividend Fund.  The Northeast Comptroller shall conservatively invest the corpus of the Northeast Permanent Dividend Fund.  If the corpus of the Northeast Permanent Dividend Fund exceeds $7,000,000,000, every citizen who has been a permanent resident of the Northeast for at least 183 days in the prior year shall be entitled to a dividend from such fund.  Eligible residents shall file a dividend request on January 1 of each year, along with any information required by the Comptroller to establish such residency.  The gross amount of the dividend to be paid to all eligible residents shall be equal to (i) 30% of the gain in the Northeast Permanent Dividend Fund over the past two years or (ii) if there has been no such gain, the lesser of (1) 0.5% of the amount of the Fund that is over $7,000,000,000, adjusted for inflation after 2015, or (2) the maximum payment over the past 5 years.   The Comptroller shall mail or electronically transfer every eligible resident an equal share of the dividend on May 1.

[Dr. Cynic]

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.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Term limits amendment

no more than 2 for governor or lt governor
no more than 3 for representative

[Alexander Hamilton]

Repeal of the Pronoun Gender Equality In Government Act

Whereas this region should be as gender neutral or accomodating as possible in order to promote equality between the sexes, and

Whereas our governmental officials, legislation, and other documents may use the generic pronoun he

Be it resolved that any failure to use a gender neutral pronoun, gender inclusive (such as we, or they) or both the masculine and the feminine pronoun (i.e. he or she or he and she etc) by a governmental official shall be considered a felony punishable with a month's suspension from office.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Cellular Telephone Safety Bill

1. The operator of a motor vehicle shall not use any cellular telephone, including hands-free devices, for any purpose whatsoever, except to place an emergency 911 call, while the vehicle is in motion on any public road.

2.  The penalty for violation of this legislation shall be as follows:
a. $250.00 for a first violation;
b. $500.00 for a second violation;
c. $1000.00 for any subsequent violations.

3. This legislation shall come into effect 90 days after passage.

[Alexander Hamilton]

I stole this and fixed the spelling (Southeast schools must suck compared to the great Northeast!)

Northeast Health Care Improvement Initiative

1. Participation in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) shall no longer be a requirement of participation in a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).
2. There shall be no maximum limit on the amount of unused funds that can roll over in HSA's and HRA's.
3. All money spent on health care, including but not limited to premiums and services provided, by individuals or third parties such as employers, shall be tax deductible.
4. The regional government of the Northeast shall work with other regional governments to allow health insurance companies to offer services across regional boundaries.
5. The list of mandatory services that policies shall be required to include shall be eliminated. Customers shall be able to choose which services their policies shall cover.
6. When billing for services, all health care service providers shall include an itemized breakdown of all costs being billed for.
7. The cost of services provided for free or a reduced by health care service providers for persons unable to pay shall be tax deductible.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Animal Cruelty Prevention Act

1. The Northeast recognizes animal torture as knowingly torturing, tormenting, needlessly mutilating or maiming, cruelly beating, poisoning, needlessly killing, or committing any other act of cruelty against a companion animal.

2. Any events featuring physical combat between two or more animals is hereby forbidden in the Northeast. Hosting an event of this nature is punishable by a minimum fine of $5,000 and minimum sentence of 60 days in regional prison. Attendance of an event of this nature is punishable by a minimum fine of $500.

3. Violation of Section 1 is punisable by a maximum fine of $2,000 and maximum sentencing of 1 year in regional prison.

[Sewer]

sentencing to week

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Regarding Animal Cruelty Act, I believe we should also specify maximum punishment

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I propose to modify following sentence in secion 2:

Hosting an event of this nature is punishable by a minimum fine of $5,000 and minimum sentence of 60 days in regional prison to maximum fine $10,000 and minumum sentence of 2 years in regional prison.

[Sewer]

Regarding Animal Cruelty Act, I believe we should also specify maximum punishment

maximum punishment laws sux

[Alexander Hamilton]

Repeal of Northeast Speed Limit Standardization Act

Whereas the member states of the Northeast Region need a cohesive standard for speed limits; therefore,

Be it resolved that:

1. The Northeast Region set a maximum speed limit on Interstate Highways as reasonably close to the "85th Percentile Speed" as possible, not to exceed 70 miles per hour.

2. The Northeast Speed Limit Standardization Act shall go into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Northeast Anti-discrimination Act

1. The Northeast Government pledges to uphold the rights of all citizens regardless of race, gender, gender identity, size, socioeconomic status, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.
2. The Northeast Government will hereby refuse government contracts to any company or organization which is found to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, gender identity, size, socioeconomic status, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.
3. The Northeast Government, in hiring, and in representation, shall not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, gender identity, size, socioeconomic status, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and disability status.

Co-sponsored with Rep. Dr. Cynic, from an original bill of Rep. Hamilton.

[Sewer]

Northeast SMOKING KILLS Act

All cigarette boxes must say in large type "SMOKING KILLS".

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

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.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

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.