Legislation Introduction Thread

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Resolution on the Middle East Conflict

Recognising that the security and stability of the Middle East is threatened by the current conflict between Hizbollah and Israel,

The Atlasian Senate hereby recognises that;
(1) the terrorist group, Hizbollah, is acting without legitimate cause or grievance;
(2) it is acting with the tacit support of the Syrian and Iranian governments;
(3) should this support continue the government of Atlasia should not stand idly by, but should actively support the state of Israel in dealing with this foreign aggression;
(4) while the state of Israel is entitled to be strong and secure within its borders, attacks on non-military targets, inflicting fatalities and serious injuries on foreign citizens, are actions contrary to generally recognised human rights and should be discontinued.
If possible, I would request that this resolution be brought to the Senate floor as soon as possible.

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Impeachment of Vice President Q

By his prolonged absence from the office of Vice President of Atlasia, Q has failed in his duties of office. Since 17 July 2006, he has been inactive in Atlasia, causing undue delay to Senate business. In order to attain an active replacement, impeachment and removal from office is necessary and so brought forth.

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I don't know the appropriateness or otherwise of the following, but I do believe the issue of the GM to be of great importance. In my opinion the existence of an active GM would go a long way toward the rehabilitation of Atlasia.

GM Resolution

Whereas the Senate recognises the importance of an active GM in Atlasia,
Recognising that that current GM, Atlasia World News, has not maintained an adequate level of activity,
The Senate hereby calls for the President to officialy act towards putting in place a new and active GM, for the good of Atlasia.

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Constitutional Amendment on removing the Vice President
That the following shall be added as Article II, Section 3, Clause 6 of the Constitution:
"Whenever the President and a two-thirds majority of the Senate sign a declaration that the Vice President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the office of the Vice President shall immediately be deemed vacant."

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Assuming the passage of the Cabinet Restructuring Bill, I present the following bills for the consideration of the Senate.

Line of Succession (Amendment) Act

(A)
The Line of Succession Act (F.L. 6-5) is hereby repealed.

(B)
The presidential line of succession shall be in the following order:
1. Vice President of Atlasia
2. Secretary of Forum Affairs
3. Secretary of External Affairs
4. Attorney General
5. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
6. Dean of the Senate
7. Each Senator in order of longest continuous service
8. Chief Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
9. Senior Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
10. Junior Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
11. Each of the Governors in order of longest continuous service

Constitutional Amendment on the Removal of the President

Article II, Section 3, Clause 5 of the Constitution is amended to read as follows:
Whenever the Vice President and a two-thirds majority of the Senate sign a declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. Thereafter the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office upon his declaration that he is capable of discharging the said powers and duties, or when the Vice President and Senate annul their previous declaration.

[Јas]

Constitutional Amendment Removing Presidential Term Limits

That Article II, Section 3, Clause 3 of the Constitution shall be removed and subsequent clauses shall be renumbered accordingly.

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I was glancing at the Constitution and noticed Article II, Section 3, Clause 1:
"If the Presidency shall ever fall vacant, the Vice President shall become President. If the Vice Presidency is also vacant, then the Senate President pro tempore shall become President. The Senate may provide by Law for the vacancy of the Senate President pro tempore also."

It would thus seem that the recent Line of Succession (Amendment) Act is unconstitutional insofar as it demotes the PPT in the succession. I can only apologise for failing to notice this provision earlier.

It would seem that two options are open a constitutional amendment or a statutary replacement. Given the hurdles a constitutional amendment poses, I have opted to send a new bill to the Senate.

Once agian, I offer my sincere apologies to the Senate for the oversight.

Line of Sucession (Amendment No. 2) Act
(A)
The Line of Succession Act (F.L. 15-6) is hereby repealed.

(B)
The presidential line of succession shall be in the following order:
1. Vice President of Atlasia
2. Secretary of Forum Affairs
3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
4. Secretary of External Affairs
5. Attorney General
6. Dean of the Senate
7. Each Senator in order of longest continuous service
8. Chief Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
9. Senior Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
10. Junior Associate Justice of the Atlasian Supreme Court
11. Each of the Governors in order of longest continuous service

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Resolution on Trade Bills

1. That no more than two trade bills should be laid before the Senate at any time when a sufficient quantity of other legislation exists to fill up the remaining slots available for debate.

2. The determination of what constitutes a trade bill shall be within the powers of the PPT, though his decision may be challenged when 2 Senators motion such, and overturned by a majority of the Senate.

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Resolution on Senate Procedure

1. The Senate's consideration of legislation shall not be unduly interupted by the official end of the Senate term and the introduction of new Senators. There shall be no need to deem legislation expired.

2. Any new Senator may change the vote of his/her predecessor unless the time for allowing the changing of votes has passed. If no change is made, the vote of the outgoing Senator shall remain valid.

3. From the beginning of the new Senate term, the President of the Senate shall preside over all Senate business until a PPT is elected. In any matters which require the assent of both the President of the Senate and the PPT which arise during the period before the PPT has been elected, the Dean of the Senate shall be empowered to give assent in place of the PPT.


GM Bill

1. The President shall appoint the GM, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

2. The GM may be removed by the agreement of the President and the majority of the Senate.

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Just a note to flag that I've amended my Senate Procedure resolution slightly.

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Something to consider...

Constitutional Amendment on the Budget

That Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution shall be removed.

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Atlasia Revitilization Committee Report Resolution

The Senate of Atlasia requests that the Atlasia Revitilization Committee (established under F.L. 15-3 Atlasia Revitilization Act), through a nominated representative, will deliver to the Senate a report of it's progress to date, any findings or reccomendations it has agreed so far, or any other matters which it deems worthy of the Senate's consideration, on or by the 29th of December 2006, three months after the committee's establishment.

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New Mexico Regional Transfer Resolution

Pursuant to Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, the Senate hereby consents to the transfer of the state of New Mexico from the Pacific region to the Midwest region.

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OSPR Amendment Resolution

Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2 of the OSPR shall be amended to read as follows:
There shall be seven slots available for debating legislation on the Senate floor. Of these slots, three shall be available for any purpose; two shall be available for any purpose except the debating of Amendments to the Constitution; one shall be available only for legislation that the PPT considers to be related to forum affairs or emergency legislation which can be introduced pursuant to Article 7, Section 1 of this resolution; and one shall be available for debating veto overrides pursuant to Article 5, Section 3.


The suggested amendments are highlighted in green. It amounts to creating one new slot for dealing with general legislation.

I introduce this because I feel that we need to be able to deal with the backlog of legislation more quickly and because I don't feel that one extra slot will overburden Senators ability to scrutinise legislation.

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OSPR Amendment (Absent Senators) Resolution
That the following be added to the OSPR as 'Article 10: Absent Senators':

1. Where a Senator fails or neglects to post on any matter of Senate business for a period of not less than 14 days, said Senator shall be considered 'absent'.
2. During such time as a Senator is considered 'absent', he shall not be considered to add to the quorum of the Senate, until such time as he once more posts on a matter of Senate business.


OSPR Amendment (Absence of PPT) Resolution
1. That in Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1b of the OSPR, the terms "seven (7)" be amended to read "three (3)".
2. That in Article 2, Section 3, Clause 1 (ii) of the OSPR, the term "five" shall be amended to read "three".
3. That in Article 2, Section 3, Clause 1 (iii) of the OSPR, the term "five" shall be amended to read "three".

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Senate Resolution of Expulsion (Gully Foyle)

Whereas,
1. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution gives the right to the Senate to expel one it's member;
2. The Senator for District 1 has not involved himself in Senate proceedings since 6 February 2007, but has continued forum activity outside Atlasia;
3. The citizens of District 1 deserve equal representation;

It is hereby resolved that:
1. Senator Gully Foyle be expelled from the Senate;
2. The PPT shall give notice of this expulsion to the Secretary of Forum Affairs such that an election may be held to fill the seat with due haste.


I would ask that this matter be brought to the floor for consideration and vote as soon as possible.

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Resolution Amending the Position of Dean of the Senate

1. Article 2, Section 2, Clause 3 of the OSPR shall be amended to read as follows:
"In the event that the President of the Senate should be absent by reason of (a) exercising responsibility as Acting President of the Republic of Atlasia under the Constitution; (b) vacancy of the Vice Presidency; or (c) having failed to post in the Atlas Forum for a period of no less than 7 days, then the powers given by this Resolution to the President of the Senate shall instead be exercised by the Dean of the Senate."

2. Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the OSPR shall be amended by the addition of the following to the existing clause:
"The Senate may, by a two-thirds majority vote on an ordinary resolution, pass the title, powers and responsibilities of the Dean of the Senate, to the next longest serving Senator (not having been removed from the position by the Senate previously), for any reason whatsoever."

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Introduction to Atlasia Act

Whereas the Senate finds that it is beneficial to new citizens (hereinafter ‘newbies’) of Atlasia to have ease of access to basic information regarding the nation:

1. It shall hereinafter be the responsibility of the Secretary of Forum Affairs (hereinafter ‘SoFA’) to maintain an introductory thread in the Atlas Fantasy Elections Forum containing therein such matters which may be of use or benefit to newbies.

2. This thread shall include the following opening statement:
Welcome to Atlasia, a political/governmental simulation wherein participants take part in elections and referenda which shape the nature and laws of the nation. Atlasia operates as a federal state with five regions. The federal government has three branches: executive (President and Cabinet); legislative (Senate); and judicial (Supreme Court). Elections to the Presidency and Senate are held regularly.

The five regions are the Mideast; Midwest; Northeast; Pacific and Southeast. Each comprises around 10 states. Citizens of each region can participate in the regional government either as elected representatives such as the Governor or simply as proposers of legislation at the regional level. Each region has developed their own constitutions which set out their system of government.

Parties
Numerous parties exist in Atlasia encompassing a wide range of ideological positions. Many parties have a leadership, organise a platform and put forward and endorse candidates for elections. A brief summary of the ideology of the major parties is provided below. There are also numerous Independents in Atlasia who act outside of any party structure.

Registration
To join Atlasia, you must register in the Registration Thread. Simple state your name; preferred state of residence; and the party you wish to register with. You can register at any time, however there are rules in place limiting rights to vote to those who have reached a total post count on the forum of 50; have posted more than 25 times in the previous 8 weeks; and have registered more than 10 days prior to the election.

Further Information
If you want to learn more about Atlasia, you can explore the Atlas Wiki which stores the Atlasian and regional Constitutions and laws, as well as information on current office holders and some details about many of the current (and past) participants in Atlasia.

Also, you should feel free to post any questions you have about Atlasia in this thread and someone should shortly be able to provide some guidance.

3. Following the above opening statement, the SoFA shall post short statements from each of the major parties (i.e. those having 5 or more registered members). It shall be the responsibility of each party to provide a short statement (no longer than 100 words) outlining the ideology of the party to the SoFA for posting in this thread. The party may also include a link to another site (such as the party’s wiki page) which shall not count towards their word limit. Parties shall not be obliged to produce any such details should they so choose. Those which do not shall forfeit their entry. Major parties may at any time give to the SoFA an amended statement for posting.

4. The SoFA shall be free to edit the opening statement such that it correctly represents the law or state of affairs of Atlasia.

5. Each new SoFA shall create a new Introductory Thread within the terms of this Act. The SoFA shall make such representations and efforts as are necessary to ensure that his new thread shall be ‘stickied’ such that it shall always be easily accessible to newbies.

6. The SoFA shall be allowed to include in the thread such other information as he considers desirous or useful for newbies to be made aware of.

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Expansion of Presidential Line Item Veto Power Amendment

Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution shall be amended to read as follows:

Whensoever the Senate shall pass a bill and present it to the President, he shall have the option to amend the bill and return it to the Senate in amended form. The President shall have this option only once with any particular bill presented to him. The sponsor of the bill shall then have the following options:

(a) motion to approve the President’s redraft by simple majority and return it to the President for his signature or veto – should this motion fail, the bill, as it was prior to being redrafted, shall be returned to the President for his signature or veto;

(b) motion to reject the President’s redraft in it’s entirety by simple majority and return it to the President for his signature or veto – should this motion fail, debate on the bill, in its redrafted form, shall resume in the Senate;

(c) direct for resumed debate on the bill as presented to the president;

(d) withdraw the bill.

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People’s Referendum Amendment

Article 1, Section 3, Clause 5 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be created to read as follows:

Whensoever legislation becomes officially enacted, any citizen may submit for a national referendum to be held on the legislation. To do so, he must:

(a) create a new thread (entitled with the name of the legislation in question) containing the Act as signed by the President and stating the wish that a national referendum be held on the Act;

(b) receive the signitures of 20% of the registered citizens of Atlasia within 7 days of creating the thread.

When these requirements are met and verified by the Secretary of Forum Affairs, the Secretary shall organise a special referendum on the legislation on the next weekend falling not less than 4 days from the date on which he verified that the above requirements were met.

The question put to he people shall be a simple approval or disapproval of the legislation. A simple majority of the people voting against the legislation shall render it null and void.

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Popular Initiative Amendment

Article I, Section 3, Clause 5 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be created to read as follows:

Any ordinary citizen of Atlasia may propose legislation for consideration by the Senate. To do so, he must:

(a) create a new thread (entitled with the name of his proposed legislation) containing his proposal;

(b) receive the signitures of 15% of the registered citizens of Atlasia within 28 days of creating the thread.

When these requirements are met and verified by the Secretary of Forum Affairs, the proposal shall be added to the list of legislation to be considered by the Senate. The citizen who creates the thread for the legislation shall be thence considered the sponsor of the legislation.

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Judicial Term Limits Amendment

Article III, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be created to read as follows:

Supreme Court Justices shall serve terms not exceeding 12 months. At the end of that time, the seat shall be considered open to re-nomination. The President shall be free to re-nominate the same citizen to serve on the Court in the same capacity. The sitting Justice shall continue to serve until such time as the Senate confirms the President’s nominee.

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Proportional Representation Bill
1. Hereinafter Class B Senators shall be elected using the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (hereinafter ‘PR-STV’).

2. For the purposes of these elections the whole of Atlasia shall be treated as a single electoral constituency.

3. Sections 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of F.L. 14-2 Consolidated Electoral Reform Act shall also apply to PR-STV elections.

Rules on the counting of votes in PR-STV elections
4. After the close of polls, the ‘total valid poll’ shall be calculated, this being the total number of valid votes cast in the election.

5. The ‘quota’ (i.e. the number of votes required to be deemed elected) shall then be calculated as the whole number (disregarding any attached fraction) resulting from the following equation:
[Total Valid Poll/(Number of seats to be filled + 1)] + 1

6. A first count shall then be made quantifying the total number of first preferences each valid candidate did receive. Any candidates receiving more than the quota shall be deemed elected.

7. Where candidates are tied they shall be ranked by the total number of second preferences received and so on. Where this method proves indecisive and the tie must be broken to materially progress the count, a condorcet count between the tied candidates shall be decisive.

7. (a) Where candidates are tied at any stage in the count, they shall be graded according to their status on the preceding count and so on. Where candidates are tied at each such stage, they shall be graded according to their total number of second preferences.
(b) Where still tied, by a similar analysis of their third preferences and so on.
(c) Where this method proves indecisive and the tie must be broken to materially progress the count, a condorcet count between the tied candidates shall be decisive.

8. The order of priority for distribution of votes shall be as follows:
(a) candidate’s surpluses which may materially affect the progress of the count. (Where more than one such surpluses exist they shall be distributed in the order in which the candidate was deemed elected.);
(b) distribution of the votes of the candidate placed last in the last preceding count.

9. Where there exists such surpluses as that in total they could materially affect the progress of the count, but no individual surplus meets this requirement, the surpluses shall be distributed in order of magnitute even though no individual surplus may materially affect the progress of the count. The distribution of such surpluses shall continue until such time as the totality of the remaining surpluses shall not be capable of materially affecting the progress of the count.

10. A distribution shall be deemed to materially affect the progress of a count, when it is of such quantity as it would be sufficient to bring about the election of another candidate or would be sufficient to raise the lowest placed remaining candidate above the next lowest remaining candidate.

11. Where no candidate receives a number of votes equal or greater to the quota, the lowest polling candidate shall be eliminated and his votes distributed in according with his next preference for a remaining candidate. This process shall continue until such time as a count results in the election of a candidate or candidates.

12. Where an elimination is to be made, a double elimination may be made where the distribution of the lowest remaining candidate’s votes alone would not materially affect the progress of the count. Similarly, a triple elimination may be made where the distribution of the two lowest remaining candidate’s votes alone would not materially affect the progress of the count, and so on.

13. Where a surplus is to be distributed, the entirety of the votes of the elected candidate shall be transferred to the candidates still capable of election at a reduced value called the ‘transfer value’. This value is calculated by the following formula:
Number of candidate’s surplus votes/Candidate’s total votes

14. Where a candidate has a surplus to be distributed, any such votes contributing to his election which were gained at a reduced transfer value as described above in a previous count, such votes shall transfer at a re-reduced value which shall be equal to their standing transfer value multiplied by the new transfer value to be applied o all of the votes to be distributed.

15. Where an eliminated candidate’s votes are to be distributed, the votes shall not be reduced in value any further than they may have been during the process to that point.

16. Counting shall continue until such time as the number of candidates deemed elected equals the number of available seats or until such time as no further distributions which can materially affect the count exist, in which case the candidates not reaching the quota shall be deemed elected in the order in which they rank until such time as all of the available seats are filled.

17. At the discretion of the SoFA, transfer values and vote totals (where appropriate) may be rounded off to three decimal places for simplification or presentational purposes.

Vacancies
18. Where a single Class B Senate seat vacancy exists, the election to the seat shall be conducted on a nationwide basis and in accordance with F.L. 14-2 Consolidated Electoral Reform Act.

19. Where multiple vacancies of Class B Senate seats exist and by law the election to fill the vacancies fall is to occur on the same weekend, the election shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures outlined above.

Repeal of Census Legislation
20. Section 1 of F.L. 4-4 The Miscellany Act, mandating the conduct of censii, is hereby repealed.

Commencement Order
21. This Act shall not take effect until directed by an Executive Order of the President of Atlasia directing same.


End to Districts Amendment
That the following changes shall be made to the Atlasian Constitution.
1. Article I, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be amended to read as follows:
The Senate shall be composed of ten Senators, each with a term of four months.

2. Article I, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be amended to read as follows:
No Person shall be a Senator who has not attained a hundred or more posts and, in the case of Regional Senators, is not a registered voter in the Region that they represent.

3. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be amended to read as follows:
The Senate shall be divided into two classes: Class A, which shall comprise the Senators elected from the Regions, and Class B.

4. Article IV, Section 4 of the Atlasian Constitution shall be repealed.

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Change of Registration Bill

1. Citizens who seek to register a change of state with the Department of Forum Affairs, but are restricted in the timing of such registration by Article V, Section 2, Clause 7 of the Constitution, shall be deemed to have made a valid change of state registration from the moment the constitutional time requirement passes.

2. Citizens may revoke such registrations at any point up until this time by making a declaration with the Department of Forum Affairs requesting said registration be ignored or discounted.

3. No particular series of words shall be required to effect clause 2 of this Act, simply that a reasonable determination of intent can be read by the Secretary of Forum Affairs to have the registration ignored or discounted.

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Consolidated Electoral System Reform Act (Amendment) Bill

1. Section 6 of F.L. 14-2, the Consolidated Electoral System Reform Act, shall be amended by the addition of clause 5 as follows:
In the case of run-off elections, an absentee booth shall be opened as soon as possible after the declaration by the Department of Forum Affairs that a run-off election is to be held.

2. Section 13 of F.L. 14-2, the Consolidated Electoral System Reform Act, shall be amended by the addition of clause 3 as follows:
Clause 1 shall not apply in the case of elections resulting in a run-off, in which cases, lawsuits challenging the validity of certified election results shall only be valid if filed with the Supreme Court before the official opening time of the official voting booth (not including any associated absentee voting booth) for the associated run-off election.