S.20.3-8: Protecting our History Act (Law'd)

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I'm very concerned about people tearing down statues in the south. While I may agree on some confederate soldier statues being torn down, it should be done by a vote of the public as opposed to vigilante justice. It's a slippery slope to allow people to tear down confederate statues, as some other anarchists have chosen to tear down statues of Jefferson and Grant. I want to dissuade anarchists from doing this by increasing fines, as well as giving funding to police departments in places where statues are torn down. While the second part may seem weird, it discourages the anarchists because many of them are not discouraged by fines but do not want to see police funding be increased.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Nay

I'll object, only because I'd like the issue of Confederate Statutes to be separate from this, since many statutes that do not have anything to do with the Confederacy are being targeted by vandals.

Also I think DTC is right that these vandals would likely only be discouraged if the police got more funding - especially now that crowdfunding will allow people to pay off these fines (unless they are prohibitively high).

I encourage tmthforu94 to propose a separate bill regarding removing Confederate statues, since that's a worthwhile discussion to have.

I agree with everything in this post.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I support Tmth's amendment that addresses Truman's concerns. I believe the change in language makes this bill better.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

This is what I had meant:

AN ACT
to protect statues of historical figures in the South

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Protecting Our History"

Section 2 (Protecting Statues)
i. Anyone who takes down or participates in taking down the vandalism of a statue of a historical figure will be fined $500 for destroying public property. Citizens may choose to permanently take down a statue only by a ballot referendum in an election.
ii. Police departments in jurisdictions where a historical statue is taken down vandalized will be compensated $250.

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

This amendment has been adopted with no objections. The updated version of the bill is in the top post.
https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=389099.msg7528920#msg7528920


24 hours for the objection to DTC's amendment.

With a better understanding of what clause 2 is, I don't fully support it, I don't think it'll deter people from taking down the statues and it seems a little petty to be completely honest. I won't object to this amendment, though, as all it does is provide clarification. I do plan to offer an amendment after this.

I think it's the only way of deterring some people. Some protesters may have the financial means to pay off any fines, and they can always pay off the fines via crowdfunding. It should be fairly easy for a vandal to pay off the fines via crowdfunding through Twitter given the political nature of the site. This may be an unconventional solution, but I honestly think it's the only effective solution without heavily punishing people with excessive fines.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I object to this amendment for the reasons I stated before.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Nay

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

AN ACT
to protect statues of historical figures in the South

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Protecting Our History"

Section 2 (Protecting Statues)
i. Anyone who takes down or participates the vandalism of a statue of a historical figure will be fined $500 for destroying public property. Citizens may choose to permanently take down a public statue only by a ballot referendum in an election or by the regional legislature.

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

proposed amendment

I object without knowing your reasoning behind this. Why would you want to remove that part?

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

After thinking about this more, TimTurner's sentiment makes sense.

AYE

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

AYE