Southern Regional Committee

[tmthforu94]

I will be proposing a constitution for the region later this evening. It is a mixture of how the Northeast and Mideast governments were set up. This is by no means a final proposal, and I'm not sure if I necessarily support every aspect of it. However, I think it is good for us to have a framework to begin with.

[cinyc]

I will be proposing a constitution for the region later this evening. It is a mixture of how the Northeast and Mideast governments were set up. This is by no means a final proposal, and I'm not sure if I necessarily support every aspect of it. However, I think it is good for us to have a framework to begin with.

Remember - there can't be a CJO under the new constitution.  An Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court is now the ultimate authority on regional law.

[tmthforu94]

I will be proposing a constitution for the region later this evening. It is a mixture of how the Northeast and Mideast governments were set up. This is by no means a final proposal, and I'm not sure if I necessarily support every aspect of it. However, I think it is good for us to have a framework to begin with.

Remember - there can't be a CJO under the new constitution.  An Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court is now the ultimate authority on regional law.

Already have that covered. Thank you for the reminder, though!

[tmthforu94]

Here is my initial proposal. There are a number of items to be discussed and some can be decided by a principle vote. Here are some of the items I have recognized:
- Confirmation of region's name and capital
- Editing of Bill of Rights
- Determine whether or not we want a Lt. Governor
- Determine the size of our legislature and how we want it structured
- Determine when we want elections to be conducted and how
- Determine who is responsible for proposing a budget
- Determine how regional senators are elected and how they are replaced
- Determine the recall and amending procedures

Personally, I think it would be best to go through the constitution, article by article. Something else to consider: The Northeast has information about elections in each article rather than a separate article for elections. If we want to take that route for a "cleaner" look, that is also a possibility.


Here it is:

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-continued-

[tmthforu94]

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[NeverAgain]

Tmth, holy crap. Nice work.

I propose we make a to-do list in a certain order, I'll take Tmth's great examples.

1. Determine when we want elections (and referendums) to be conducted and how we do so. Personally, I think this is the most important and should be debated on first before we get to the humdrum things.

2. Determine how regional senators are elected and how they are replaced In case something happens (god forbid) to our senators I think we need to work on this to ensure a safe transition

3. Determine whether or not we want a Lt. Governor and determine the size of our legislature and how we want it structured (and its powers) Basically the Southern Government and what we want how we want to structure it.

4. Determine who is responsible for proposing a budget and determine the recall and amending procedures Basically more bureaucratic stuff, important but tasky.

5. Editing of Bill of Rights Considering we have a Constitutional Bill of Rights we can hold off on this until we establish the first 4 IMO.

6. Confirmation of region's name and capital Saving the best (and most fun IMO) for last.

I just figure if we have a plan this will work much smoother.

[tmthforu94]

NeverAgain is right - we should go through it by importance, not by article. I completely agree with your list!

Luckily, by getting it all set up beforehand, I don't think we'll have to worry too much about stylistic changes - just about everything we determine can quickly be edited in this format, unless we decide to give election procedures it's own article.

[Leinad]

You guys are doing great at this!

Anyway, just to confirm, with 3 members voting Pingvin, 1 voting Peebs, and 1 not voting, Pingvin is elected Class I Senator.

I think Tmth's draft is a great starting point, and NeverAgain's to-do list is probably the best order for us to follow. So, that's a majority that supports both of those ideas.

Has Tmth's rules of order been passed since no one objected, or should I call a vote on that?

If not, determining elections is the next order of business. As far as the date, we could have it simultaneous, right before, or right after the Federal elections (should there be Federal elections that month), or, since they have not yet set Federal election dates, we could simply set dates ourselves, regardless of the Federal dates.

[NeverAgain]

It has not, but I personally do not see one as the majority obviously support it, unless it is necessary to the committee. I would propose they are adopted without a vote.

[tmthforu94]

I've put quite a bit of thought into this, and am still not sure where I stand. The proposal in the constitution would have regional elections in the month opposite of federal elections. I came to this conclusion after talking to Leinad earlier - elections are probably the key aspect of the game, so does it make sense to pack them all into the same 6 months? Now, the only thing mandated federally is that regional senators are elected at the same time as other federal elections. My concern with having it the same weekend is that it drives turnout down if people vote in two separate voting booths. This could potentially be solved if we handed over the power to run senate elections to the federal government, but then that creates a long ballot and we would probably need all 3 regions to sign on.

Another thought I had was compelling the federal government to move regional senate elections to off-months - that way in the months January, March, etc., all regional elections are held, and in February, April, etc., all federal elections are held.

Bit of a word vomit - curious to hear what others think. I think a principle vote will probably be the best way to solve this.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Would it be possible to have the Senate elections earlier than the date required? Does the constitution specify elected on the same date or "by" the same date.


If we had some more flexibility on this score, it would give us more options as well.

[tmthforu94]

Would it be possible to have the Senate elections earlier than the date required? Does the constitution specify elected on the same date or "by" the same date.


If we had some more flexibility on this score, it would give us more options as well.

I think it just says the months they have to be elected in. Hypothetically we could hold a one-day election on June 1st and it would be constitutional, I think.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Would it be possible to have the Senate elections earlier than the date required? Does the constitution specify elected on the same date or "by" the same date.


If we had some more flexibility on this score, it would give us more options as well.

I think it just says the months they have to be elected in. Hypothetically we could hold a one-day election on June 1st and it would be constitutional, I think.

The month. Well my theory was that we could somehow attached it to the Regional legislative election ballot and boost turnout for that, but a month in advance is pretty long.

[Leinad]

Yes, the Constitution specifies two things: the months that we have elections, and that the regions are in charge of the matter. Changing either would be above the jurisdiction of this Committee, and instead would require a Constitutional Amendment. But outside of those two things, we can do basically whatever we want, as long as we have 2 Senators elected to 4-month terms (oh yeah, so I guess it's 4 things ).

I like how the South did it--Regional Legislative elections in odd-numbered months, and Gubernatorial elections at the same time as the midterm Federal election. Although I could also see the rationale for having the Gubernatorial elections on odd-numbered months, too, to have a nice federal/regional split.

[Leinad]

As outlined in Article I, Section 3 of our Committee's Rules of Order, I motion to remove Southern Gothic from this Committee, as he has been entirely inactive.

I also would support Peebs as his replacement--one the most active and eager citizens of the region not on the committee already.

[tmthforu94]

I support the motion to expel Southern Gothic and also to appoint Peebs to replace them!

[tmthforu94]

I think a principle vote is needed here. The problem with setting regional senate elections with regional elections is that it will throw off sessions for Congress since a new batch would be swear in every month.

[Leinad]

Vote for Removal of Member

Should Southern Gothic be removed from this Committee?

[ ] Yes
[ ] No

The vote will last 24 hours or until 4 members support removal, or 1 opposes removal (therefore making it impossible for the vote to be "unanimous among other members" as specified in the Rules of Order).

[Leinad]

Vote for Removal of Member

Should Southern Gothic be removed from this Committee?

[X] Yes
[  ] No

[tmthforu94]

Should Southern Gothic be removed from this Committee?

[X] Yes
[  ] No

[NeverAgain]

Should Southern Gothic be removed from this Committee?

[X] Yes
[  ] No

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Should Southern Gothic be removed from this Committee?

[X] Yes
[  ] No

I tried to post this yesterday morning, but it was during that 3:30 AM site slowdown crap and it must not have gone through.

[NeverAgain]

I'll wait for Leinad to do his declaring as chair of this committee, but I will say that after this I think we can unanimously appoint Peebs (As I think we all agree, I may be wrong though).

[tmthforu94]

I'll wait for Leinad to do his declaring as chair of this committee, but I will say that after this I think we can unanimously appoint Peebs (As I think we all agree, I may be wrong though).

I concur, as long as she is willing to join!

[Trans Rights Are Human Rights]

I'll wait for Leinad to do his declaring as chair of this committee, but I will say that after this I think we can unanimously appoint Peebs (As I think we all agree, I may be wrong though).

I concur, as long as she is willing to join!

Well, I am willing to join, so it's all good!