Southern Legislation Submission Thread - January / February 2024

[reagente]

This is the thread to submit legislation for the State Diet to vote on at the next voting assembly (scheduled February 16-18)

Guidelines:

1. Submit finalized legislation here. Members of the State Diet may create threads for proposed legislation to solicit feedback from other members (it might be helpful, though not required if those feedback threads were labeled "SB" or something indicating its a Southern bill), but any proposed legislation must ultimately be submitted in the Legislation Submission thread in order to be voted on by the State Diet.

2. Submit no more than two (2) bills. If a member of the State Diet submits more than two pieces of legislation to the Legislation Submission thread, only the first two pieces of legislation will be voted on.

3. Finalized legislation must be posted in the Legislation Submission thread by 11:59:59 pm EDT on the Wednesday preceding the first day of a session’s voting assembly (i.e. by 11:59:59 pm EDT on February 14, 2024). Legislation submitted or edited within twenty-four (24) hours of a voting assembly will not be voted on by the State Diet at that voting assembly.

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Just a reminder that this is still awaiting consideration by the Diet:

Senate Resolution
To Preserve Healthcare

Be It Resolved in the Atlasian Senate Assembled, that upon ratification by 2/3rds of the Regions, the Fifth Constitution of Atlasia shall be amended as follows:

(...)

Section 13
The right of citizens of the Republic of Atlasia to health care, including but not limited to care necessary to prevent and treat illness, shall not be denied. Furthermore, no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict healthcare when necessary to protect the patient's physical health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider. A region's decision to reject federal abortion funds, or decline to use its own funds to pay for abortions, shall not be interpreted as a violation of this section.

(...)

This Constitutional Amendment shall enshrine the freedom to healthcare access. This shall prohibit the national government, or any regional governments, from enforcing measures designed to outlaw or criminalize medically necessary procedures.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Peace and Quiet Act

Whereas, the Diet is tasked with protecting the public health and general welfare of the people of the South; and

Whereas, loud noises at inappropriate hours disturb the public peace and well-being and constitute a public nuisance; and

Whereas, regulating through noise ordinances is a commonly utilized power of the government to prevent such public nuisances;

Now therefore, the following act is hereby adopted for the purpose.

1. The Principality of the South is hereby declared to be a peace and quiet zone subject to a Regionwide noise ordinance governed by the requirements of this act. This ordinance shall supplement, not supplant, any existing State or local noise ordinance.

2. It shall be a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for a term of no less than forty (40) days and no more than one (1) year and a fine of $10,000.00, for any person to disturb the peace in a peace and quiet zone in any of the following manners:

A. By projecting any live or recorded human voice from a minaret when the sound thereof is audible to a person located on any public property or right-of-way or on any private property other than the property upon which the minaret is affixed.

B. By constructing any new minaret from which a live or recorded human voice could be projected, or by expanding a non-conforming minaret constructed prior to the effective date of this act.

3. This act shall take effect on Palm Sunday, 2024 Anno Domini.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I've Got 95 Problems and this is 1 Act

Whereas, the merciful sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ and flawless lamb or God, at Calvary granted remission before God of any temporal punishment due to sins for all who, through faith, accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior;

Now therefore, the Southern Diet ordains the following:

1. For purposes of this act the term indulgence means a remission before God of any temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which a parishioner gains from a religious organization. Temporal punishment includes but is not limited to punishment in purgatory.

2. Beginning in Fiscal year 2024, there is hereby imposed a tax on the sale or offering for sale of any partial or plenary indulgence occuring within the Principality of the South. Such tax shall be assessed at 100% of the value of any  consideration given or requested in exchange for an indulgence. Any valuable consideration received by a religious organization in exchange for an indulgence shall not be considered excludable charitable income under Southern law.

3. Beginning thirty (30) days from the passage of this act, any person who owns an obscene sex toy as defined by Southern law or who is required to register as a sex offender shall be required to register with the Southern Animal Abuser Registry (SAAR) as a condition of residing in or entering the Region. This shall include but not be limited to any person from without the South who travels into the South for any duration or length of time regardless of if such person committed such offense in the South or brings the obscene sex toy owned by him or her into the South. Failure to register with the SAAR shall be a felony punishable by imprisonment for no less than forty (40) years and no more than life and a fine of $1,000,000. Any such person shall be required to remain on the registry for ten (10) years following the conclusion of any punishment. In lieu of imprisonment and fine, any violator who identifies as a non-human animal, regardless of the "sapience" of such claimed non-human animal, may voluntarily elect to participate in a trap, neuter, release (TNR) program authorized by the Promoting Progressive Policies Act. Such participation shall not however relieve the person of his or her responsibility to register with the SAAR.

[UlmerFudd]

Dangerous Vandalism Act

Beginning ten (10) days from the date this law passes, it shall be a crime punishable by imprisonment for no more than a year and a fine of $10,000 for any person to commit dangerous vandalism by breaking, smashing, or shattering any ceiling or roof constructed of glass.

[UlmerFudd]

KENergy Resolution

Be it resolved by the Southern Diet that the Principality of the South agrees with and supports the recent decision on the Academy to nominate Ryan Gosling for best supporting actor for his kentastic portrayal of the everyman hero Ken as well as the decision to not nominate either radical misandrist Margot Robbie for her uninspiring portrayal of bigoted antagonist Barbie or low-brow director Greta Gerwig for her dystopian horror film Barbie.

[DieselDogg]

An Act Concerning the Pagans

Quote
1. We decree that astrologers shall not only be banished from the City of Nashville, but also from all other cities; unless, having burned all the books containing their errors under the eyes of the bishops, they are resolved to embrace the Christian religion, and never to return to their former errors. If, however, they should not do this, and should be found in any city, in opposition to Our Decree, or should teach the secrets of their false doctrines or profession, they shall be punished with deportation.

2. Let no mortal have the audacity to make sacrifices, and by the inspection of the liver of the victim, and by presages, obtain the hope of vain promise, or (which is even worse), endeavor to ascertain the future by means of a detestable consultation; for he will be liable to even a more severe punishment who, in opposition to what has been forbidden, attempts to ascertain the truth of present or of future events.

3. It is the position of the Principality of the South that We desire that the pagan temples be immediately closed in all cities, and access to them forbidden to all, so that permission for further offending may be refused to those who are lost. We also wish everyone to abstain from sacrifices, and if any person should do anything of this kind, he should be laid low with the avenging sword; and We desire that his property, after having been taken from him, shall be confiscated to the Treasury, and that the Governors of the States shall also be punished, if they have neglected to suppress these crimes.

4. It is the position of the Principality of the South that We desire that no one, for the purpose of reverence or worship, should reopen the temples of the pagans, which have already been closed, in order that the honor which was formerly shown to their idols and their infamous and execrable rites may be removed from our age; for it is held to be sacrilege instead of religion to adorn the impious portals of shrines with garlands; to kindle profane fires on the altars; to burn incense upon the same; to slaughter victims there, and to pour out libations of wine from bowls.

5. Anyone who attempts to perform sacrifices contrary to this Our decree, and against the prohibition of the most sacred ancient constitutions, can be lawfully accused of the crime before any judge, and, if convicted, shall suffer the confiscation of all his property, and the extreme penalty, and the accomplices of the crime as well as the ministers of the sacrifices shall undergo the same penalty to which he was sentenced; so that, terrified by the severity of this Our law, they may desist from celebrating forbidden sacrifices through the fear of punishment. If, however, the most illustrious Governor of the State as well as the judge himself, when the accusation has been lawfully made and the crime established, should, after proper examination, neglect to punish an offence of such gravity, they shall each immediately be compelled to pay fifty pounds of gold into Our Treasury.

6. These orders and decrees shall take effect on the Kalends of July, 2024.

[DieselDogg]

Resolution Against Heresies

Quote
The Principality of the South hereby declares the following positions to be an expression of its views:

1. We desire that all peoples subject to Our benign Principality shall live under the same religion that the Divine Jesus, gave to the world, and which the said religion declares, in accordance with the rules of apostolic discipline and the evangelical doctrine, we should all believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single Deity, endowed with equal majesty, and united in the Holy Trinity.

2. We desire all those who follow this law to assume the name of Christians, and considering others as demented and insane, We order that they shall bear the infamy of heresy; and when the Divine vengeance which they merit has been appeased, they shall afterwards be punished in accordance with Our resentment, which we have acquired from the judgment of Heaven.

3. We desire that no place be afforded to heretics for the conduct of their ceremonies, that no occasion be offered for them to display the insanity of their obstinate minds, and that all bodies of heretics be prevented from holding unlawful assemblies, and that the name of the only and the greatest God be celebrated everywhere, and that the observance of the Nicene Creed, recently transmitted by Our ancestors, and firmly established by the testimony and practice of Divine Religion, always remain secure.

4. We say Let those who do not accept these doctrines cease to apply the name of true religion to their fraudulent belief; and let them be branded with their open crimes, and, having been removed from the threshold of all churches, be utterly excluded from them, as We forbid all heretics to hold unlawful assemblies within cities. If, however, any seditious outbreak should be attempted, We order them to be driven outside the walls of the City, with relentless violence, and We direct that all Catholic churches, throughout the entire world, shall be placed under the control of the orthodox bishops who have embraced the Nicene Creed.

5. As Fabianus, of venerable memory, Bishop of Constantinople was held in such high esteem by the almost innumerable ecclesiastics assembled at Chalcedon, that Eutyches, who held contrary religious opinions, was, with all his wicked doctrines, unanimously condemned, we desire the impious memory of Eutyches be consigned to oblivion, and the praiseworthy memory of Fabianus be exalted.

6. We desire that all pragmatic sanctions which are contrary to ecclesiastical canons and have been obtained through favor or political intrigue, shall be deprived of all their force and authority.

7. We desire that privileges granted in consideration of religion should only benefit those who observe the rules of the Christian Faith. We do not wish heretics to absolutely be excluded from these privileges, but that they should merely be restrained, and compelled to accept employment for which the said privileges afford exemption.

8. We desire that all heresies forbidden by Divine Law be forever suppressed, that no one hereafter attempt either to teach or to learn any precepts which he has ascertained to be profane, that no bishops venture to teach the faith which they do not profess, and appoint ministers which are not such; and that audacity of this description should not be neglected and permitted to increase through the connivance of magistrates, and of all those who are directed to have charge of matters of this kind.

9. We desire that all heretics know positively that their places of assembly shall be taken from them, whether these are designated under the name of churches, or are called deaconates, or deaneries, or whether meetings of this kind are held in private houses; for all such private places or buildings shall be claimed by the Catholic Church.

10. We desire to pursue, with exemplary severity, Manicheans of both sexes, and Donatists. Therefore, they have nothing in common with the human race, so far as either customs or laws are concerned.

11. We desire that Arians, Macedonians, Pneumatomachians, Appollinarians, Novatians or Sabatians, Eunomians, Tetradites or Tessarecaidecadites, Valentinians, Paulians, Papianists, Montanints or Priscillians, Phrygians, Pepuzites, Marcionists, Borborites, Messalians, Euchites, or Enthusiasts, Donatists, Audians, Hydroparastetes, Tascodrogites, Batracites, Hermogenians, Photinians, Paulinists, Marcellians, Ophites, Encratitians, Carpocratitans, Saccophores, and Manicheans, who are to be classed as guilty of the worst of all heretical crimes, shall never have the power to assemble or reside in the Principality of the South. Moreover, Manicheans should be expelled from towns, and delivered up to extreme punishment, for no place should be left them in which they may cause any injury even to the elements.

12. We believe that those who follow the profane perversity of Eutyches, and hence do not acknowledge the Divine Faith, as established by the three hundred and eight Holy Fathers of Nicea, and the one hundred and fifty other reverend bishops who subsequently assembled in the fair city of Constantinople, and which Athanasius, Theophilus, and Cyril of holy memory, Bishops of the City of Alexandria, adopted, and whom also the Synod of Epheses (over which Cyril, of blessed memory presided, and in which the error of Nestor was rejected), unanimously followed, which recently the venerated Synod of Chalcedon approved, and which agrees in every respect with the decisions of former ecclesiastical councils, neither taking anything from, or adding anything to the Holy Symbol, but condemning the fatal dogmas of Eutyches, knowing that they are Apollinarian heretics, for Eutyches and Dioscorus, with sacrilegious intent, sanctioned the most infamous sect of Appollinaris.

13. We further desire that the Apollinarians, that is to say, the Eutychians, who only differ from the former in name, and are united with them in the wickedness of their heresy, their appellation being different, but their sacrilege the same, and who do not believe as the aforesaid venerable fathers believed, nor share the Divine Faith with Procerius, the most reverend Bishop of the City of Alexandria, be forbidden to create and have bishops, priests, or any other members of the clergy, either in this Fair City or in the different States. We desire the Eutychians and Apollinarians to know that if any of them dare to apply the name of bishop, priest, or clerk to anyone, they, as well as those who have suffered such titles to be given them, and who have allowed themselves to retain a sacerdotal designation, should suffer the penalty of exile and loss of their property.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Reasonable Act

1. It shall be unlawful for any person who is an alien to enter or attempt to enter the Principality of the South directly from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry.

2. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this act that the federal government has granted the defendant lawful presence in Atlasia or asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158 or the defendant ’s conduct does not constitute a violation of 8 U.S.C. 1325(a).

3. A violation of this act shall be punishable by imprisonment for no less than one (1) year and no more than five (5) years and a fine of $10,000. In lieu of imprisonment and fine a violator may alternatively return to his or her country of origin or to some other country. A subsequent violation of this act in any five (5) year period shall be punishable by imprisonment for no less than five (5) years and no more than ten (10) years and a fine of $25,000. Any such subsequent violator must serve 25% of the sentence and pay 25% of the fine before electing to self-deport in lieu of punishment.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Read the Riot Act Act

1. Prior to the use of force by any government in the South to disperse a riot or unlawful assembly, the following command shall be read aloud:

Hear ye, hear ye! Our Sovereign Lord the Prince chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the F. U. Rioters Act, passed in the year of our Lord 2022, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies.

God save the South!

2. This Act shall take effect July 1, 2024.