Why be a legislator?

If you're a legislator, you can propose and vote on laws in the assembly. You can also vote and run in elections. Becoming a legislator gives you a voice in our government and a way to influence our laws.

What is the Assembly?

The Assembly is the legislature of the South Pacific. All legislators are part of the Assembly. We elect the Delegate, Ministers of the Cabinet and the Chair of Assembly, so even the most powerful figures in the region serve the mandate of the Assembly. We decide on the laws that create our government.

The cabinet can also affect laws through executive orders (though the Assembly has the final say on this), and the High Court can judge on whether laws violate the Charter. But these cases are pretty rare: the power is essentially in the Assembly.

Here's a diagram, made by USoVietnam, that shows the overall structure of the South Pacific government:


Why vote in the Assembly?

Voting in the Assembly allows you to remain a legislator. If a month has two or more votes, each legislator must vote in at least half to keep their status. If you don’t have any opinion on the vote, you can abstain. If you are too busy to vote, you can file a leave of absence, or display other activity in the Assembly. Don’t worry if you’re new - your status won’t be removed in your first month.

How can I vote in the Assembly?

When an Assembly vote opens, you’ll be notified by dispatch and in the legislators’ channel in the South Pacific Discord server (which I strongly recommend joining as a lot of debate happens there). Vote by poll if possible, by post if you can’t vote on the poll. Please don’t vote on both, and please don't discuss in the vote thread. That's what the discussion thread is for.

Where can I find our current laws?

You can find a list of our current laws here. Each has a thread in the MATT-DUCK Law Index forum which shows the full law and its history of amendments. The most important law is the Charter, which establishes the government of the South Pacific. You don’t have to memorize the laws, but it does help to be aware of them.

How can I propose a law?

You can propose a law or amendment by posting a draft here in the Assembly forum. When proposing an amendment, cross out and color red any deletions, and color additions green. Make sure the formatting of the proposal matches what's laid out in the Law Standards Act - you can check any law in the Law Index to see it in action. The Law Standards Act itself has a nice example:

Quote:2. Formatting of Bills and Amendments

(1) Titles should be bolded and centered.

(2) Subtitles should be italicized and centered.

(3) The following should be observed for articles, sections, and sub-sections:
a. Articles should be numbered and bolded.
b. Sections should be numbered with parentheses, unless there is only one section without any sub-sections.
c. Sub-sections should be lettered with lowercase letters.

Once posted, your proposal is now open to debate. To be moved to vote, the latest draft must receive a motion from one legislator and a second from another. The Chair of Assembly will create a voting thread in the Voting Chamber and notify legislators. If the Chair of the Assembly doesn’t do this in a reasonable time then legislators may create votes.

There is a mandatory debate period of at least three days before your proposal can be brought to vote (three days for most laws, five for constitutional laws, which are considered more fundamental than general law). This can be waived if a legislator makes a motion to waive and it is seconded - if nobody objects within 24 hours, the law can be brought to vote immediately.

Once your law has been brought to vote, it’s all up to the Assembly’s choice - good luck!

What if I have more questions?

Feel free to ask in this thread, or to talk to the CoA (currently Amerion).