Commonwealth of Frémont • 13th Parliament

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I consent to be nominated for Speaker.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

For reference, reposting these from the last session:

AN ACT
to stop robbing the poor to feed the rich

Section 1 (Title & definitions)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Poor Tax Abolition Act." It may be cited as "PTAA."
ii. "Lottery" in this legislation shall refer to the practice of selling numbered tickets and awarding prizes to holders of numbers drawn at random, as well as to all other schemes wherein cards or tickets are sold and prizes are awarded to some holders.

Section 2 (Abolition of the lottery)
i. No state or other jurisdiction of Frémont shall operate or draw revenue from a lottery.
ii. All existing state and municipal lotteries are hereby disbanded.

Section 3 (Precluding complicity)
i. No revenue generated by a lottery shall be paid into the treasury of the Commonwealth.

Section 4 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall take effect with the Fiscal Year of 2021.

AN ACT
to recognize the cause of Kansan liberty

Section 1 (Title)
i. The long title of this Resolution shall be, the "John Brown—Kansan Liberty Resolution." It may be cited as the "Kansan Liberty Resolution."

Section 2 (Preamble)
WHEREAS, one hundred sixty years ago the people of Kansas waged a hard and bloody war for independence from the despotic dominion of border ruffians and the Southern slave power;

WHEREAS, in light of this history, the continued rule of the State of Kansas by the so-called Southern Region is injurious and contemptible;

WHEREAS, the late action of the Chamber of Delegates, by which the battle flag of the traitorous so-called "Army of Northern Virginia" is to be raised over Kansas, is equally contemptible;

WHEREAS, the referendum which informed the act of the Chamber of Delegates was ill-conceived and ill-ordered, the people having been denied the right to vote on all proposed designs for the flag;

WHEREAS, in any case the rebel flag flying above Kansas is an unacceptable outcome;

Section 3 (Resolution)
RESOLVED, the Parliament of Frémont do propose the "John Brown Flag" as the flag of Free Kansas, for the use of those who desire a uniquely Kansan and irredentist banner;
FURTHER RESOLVED, the design of the flag shall be: "nine horizontal stripes, alternating buff and red, forming a rectangle 2:3 in proportion; a blue canton, and in it twenty buff stars to represent the twenty free states who stood in solidarity with Kansas in her hour of need."

Appendix

AN ACT
to ensure honest wages for honest work

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Victims of Wage Theft Legal Expense Act." It may be cited as the "Expense Act."

Section 2 (Responsibility for paying expenses in wage theft cases)
i. In cases of alleged wage theft, where a court of this Commonwealth, or a jurisdiction thereof, should find an employer (hereafter "the defendant") withheld earned wages from an employee (hereafter "the plaintiff"), the defendant shall be responsible for all legal fees incurred by the plaintiff in the course of the case.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Huzzah!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to establish democracy throughout the Commonwealth

Section 1 (Title)
i. The long title of this Act shall be, the "Constituency Democratization Act." It may be cited as the "Democratization Act" or as "CDA."

Section 2 (Minimum age requirements)
i. Henceforward, every citizen of Frémont not disenfranchised as the result of a ruling by a federal court shall be eligible for election to any state or municipal office for which they are qualified to vote, regardless of age.

Section 3 (Voting rights for resident nationals)
i. Henceforward, every legal resident of Frémont at least sixteen years of age shall be eligible to vote in all municipal elections in which they would be eligible to participate if they were a citizen.

Section 4 (Abolition of gerrymandering)
i. In every state and municipal jurisdiction of Frémont where the members of the legislature thereof shall be chosen from districts or similar constituencies, the responsibility to draw and revise the boundaries of the said constituencies shall belong to an redistricting commission.
ii. In the case of the former, the commission shall be composed of two representatives of every party which shall have received at least 10% of the vote in the last election for governor of that state, and led by an independent chair appointed by the first minister of Frémont.
iii. In the case of the latter, the commission shall be composed of two representatives of every party which shall have received at least 10% of the vote in the last mayoral or county executive election in that jurisdiction, and led by an independent chair appointed by the governor of the state.
iv. In all cases, the constituency map shall take effect with the affirmative votes of a majority of the members of the commission.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to maximize citizen participation in state elections

Section 1 (Title & definitions)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Universal Suffrage Act."
ii. As used in this legislation, "non-apparent citizen" shall refer exclusively to non-playable characters, who by the constitutions and laws of Atlasia and the Commonwealth of Frémont, are citizens of Frémont and the state or territory in which they reside; and shall not be taken to refer to any person eligible to vote in federal and regional elections by virtue of their registration with the Census Bureau.

Section 2 (Automatic voter registration)
i. Every non-apparent citizen of Frémont, on attaining the age of sixteen, shall be automatically enrolled as a registered voter of the state or territory in which they reside.
ii. Every new non-apparent citizen of a state being sixteen years of age or older, and not being a registered voter of the state in which they reside, shall be eligible for enrollment from the moment of their actual residence in that state.
(a) New non-apparent citizens may cause themselves to be enrolled by submitting the date of their actual residence and two articles of documentary evidence giving their name and current address to the ministry of elections.

Section 3 (Calendar for state and municipal elections)
i. Effective 1 January 2020, all regular state (or territorial) and municipal elections in Frémont shall be on the first day of November, in the year in which those elections would have proceeded had this Act never been made.
ii. Effective 1 January 2020, the filing deadline for all state (or territorial) and municipal elections in Frémont shall be sixty-one days before the election.

Section 4 (Vote-By-Mail)
i. Every state and external territory of Frémont shall institute statewide Vote-By-Mail for all state and municipal elections on or before 1 July 2020.
(a) For elections scheduled to take place between 1 July 2020 and 1 July 2022, all non-apparent citizens shall have the option to vote by mail.
(b) After 1 July 2022, all state and municipal elections shall be conducted exclusively by mail.
ii. No sooner than sixty days before the election, and no later than thirty days before, the ministry of elections will send to every non-apparent citizen an envelope prominently labeled: "CONTAINS ELECTION MATERIALS." The envelope will include
(a) a blank ballot,
(b) a form to update voter registration,
(c) instructions to vote by mail and update voter registration;
(d) a postage-paid envelope to return the completed ballot and voter registration form.
iii. All ballots postmarked on or before the date of the election will be accepted.
iv. Any eligible non-apparent citizen may request a new envelope on or before the day of the election in the event the original was not delivered, was incomplete, or was damaged.
v. A state may elect to implement digital Vote-By-Mail in addition to the provisions described by §3(ii) and §3(iii) above, or instead of the regionally-prescribed Vote-By-Mail system with the approval of the Frémont Ministry of Elections.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to address rising inequality in wages

Section 1 (Title & definitions)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Workers' Just Compensation Act of 2019." It may be cited as the "WJCA."
ii. As it appears in this legislation, "non-exempt company" shall refer to any proprietorship, partnership, or corporation which employs persons to do work in Frémont in a given fiscal year.
iii. As it appears in this legislation, "employee" shall refer to any person employed by a non-exempt company to do work in Frémont in a given fiscal year.

Section 2 (Minimum share of net profits paid as wages)
i. No less than 60% of the net profits of any non-exempt company shall be budgeted annually for the payment of salaries to its employees.

Section 3 (Addressing wage inequality)
i. No employee of a non-exempt company shall earn a monthly salary equal to more than 300% of the lowest monthly salary paid by that company.

Section 4 (Implementation)
i. This Act shall take effect on the first day of the 2021 fiscal year.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to establish the thirty-two hour week

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this Act shall be the "Thirty-Two Hour Week Act."

Section 2 (Thirty-two hour week)
i. No employee shall be required to work more than thirty-two hours a week.
ii. Any employee who should voluntarily work more than thirty-two hours in a given a week shall be compensated at 120% of their regular hourly salary for every hour they work after the thirty-second.

Section 3 (Adjusting the minimum wage)
i. §3(i) of the Rights of Working People Act of 2017 shall be amended to read as follows:

The minimum hourly rate of compensation shall be equal the calculated Living Wage in the county wherein the work was performed.
(a) The Living Wage shall be calculated according to the following formula.

Living Wage =
{(Food) + (Child Care) [(Insurance Premium) + (Medical Care)] + (Housing) + (Transportation) + (Other Necessities)} ÷ 1,664

Section 4 (Implementation)
i. This Act shall take effect on the first day of the 2021 fiscal year.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to reorganize state legislatures

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Local Reorganization Act."

Section 2 (State legislatures)
i. On the fifteenth day of December 2019, and afterwards on the first day of November in every third year thereafter, each of the constituent states of Frémont shall conduct new legislative elections. The members so elected will take office on the first day of January 2020, and the terms of legislators of the states now in office will then end.
ii. The members elected pursuant to §2(i) of this Act will comprise the Legislature of that state, which shall comprise of a Senate and a House of Commons.
iii. Each House of Commons shall consist of between 60 and 120 members, according to the population of the state, chosen from single-member constituencies, the boundaries of which to be revised according to the terms of the Universal Suffrage Act every tenth year.
iv. Each Senate shall consist of between 30 and 60 members, according to the population of the state, chosen at-large by closed party-list proportional representation.
v. The assent of a majority in both chambers shall be necessary to adopt legislation.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to guarantee fair paid leave for all workers

Section 1 (Title & definitions)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Paid and Long Service Leave Act of 2019." It may be cited as the "Paid Leave Act" or as the "PLA."
ii. As it appears in this legislation, "employee" shall refer to any person employed to do work in Frémont.
iii. As it appears in this legislation, "long-time employee" shall refer to any person employed by the same company for a period of or exceeding ten years, whether consecutively or with interruption.

Section 2 (Annual paid leave)
i. Every employee shall be entitled to thirty days' paid leave a year.

Section 3 (Long service leave)
i. Every long-time employee shall be entitled to no less than twelve weeks' paid leave every decade, beginning the tenth year of their employment.

Section 4 (Implementation)
i. This Act shall take effect January 1, 2020.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AN ACT
to combat the rising cost of higher education

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Second Affordable College Education Act." It may be cited as "ACE II."

Section 2 (Tuition)
i. No college or university funded in whole or in part by the Commonwealth of Frémont, or by any state or other jurisdiction thereof, shall charge tuition exceeding $8,000 annually after August 1, 2020.
ii. No college or university funded in whole or in part by the Commonwealth of Frémont, or by any state or other jurisdiction thereof, shall charge tuition exceeding $5,000 annually after August 1, 2022, subject to annual adjustment for inflation.
iii. No college or university funded in whole or in part by the Commonwealth of Frémont, or by any state or other jurisdiction thereof, shall charge more than $1,000 annually in mandatory fees additional to annual tuition, including but not limited to charges for meals and room and board.
iv. All need-based financial aid awards granted by the Commonwealth of Frémont, by any state or other jurisdiction thereof, or by any college or university funded in whole or in part by one of the same, shall be adjusted annually to compensate for any change in the cost of attendance.