Quote:IV. THE ASSEMBLY

Establishing legislative authority in the Assembly.

(1) The Assembly holds supreme legislative authority in the Coalition, and is comprised of all eligible legislators.

(2) The Assembly will elect a legislator as Chair for a term lasting four months. The Chair is responsible for maintaining order and decorum, and helping guide Assembly debate into the creation of bills. If a Chair is recalled, loses legislator status, or is otherwise not in office, a new Chair will be elected for a new term lasting four months. The date, time, and manner of electing the Chair will be set by the Assembly in a law.

(3) The Chair may appoint a deputy or deputies, to whom the Chair may publicly delegate any powers, responsibilities, or special projects of the Chair, subject to all regulations and restrictions imposed upon the Chair by law. The Chair may dismiss such deputies.

Legislator Eligibility

(4) A standing commission of legislators will be tasked with granting and revoking legislator status. All residents of the Coalition are eligible to attain legislator status through an application. Continued legislator status requires active membership and good behaviour.

Quote:XIII. AMENDMENT PROCESS

Setting a procedure for amendment of the Charter and constitutional laws.

(1) The Assembly may amend any provision of the Charter or constitutional laws passed by the Assembly with a three-fifths supermajority. These amendments must be constitutional in nature, and amendments to the Charter must address the structure or framework of government. Bills that may exist as general laws, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, should not be placed in the Charter or constitutional laws.

(2) Any amendment to the Charter or constitutional laws that directly affects the gameside community or its home governance, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, must also receive the consent of the gameside community before coming into force, where the consent shall not require more than a three-fifths supermajority in a vote. Additionally, the Local Council may originate amendments to its structure in the Charter, which must receive the consent of the Assembly before coming into force.

(3) The Local Council will determine the qualifications and processes for amendments to its own constitutional laws.

Quote:5. Office of the Chair

(1) Eight days before the end of a Chair's term, the Assembly will convene to elect the Chair of the Assembly.
a. Any legislator wishing to run for Chair may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform.
b. The campaign and debate period will last 5 days, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
c. The sole winner, as decided using Approval Voting, will be declared Chair of the Assembly by the Election Commissioner.

(2) The term for the incoming Chair will begin immediately following the conclusion of the election.

6. Vacancies of Office

(...) In the event that more than one deputy was appointed, the most senior deputy according to the order of appointment and availability will serve as Acting Chair. In the event that no deputy was appointed or is available, the Cabinet will designate a legislator to serve as Acting Chair.

Quote:3. Legislator Checks

(...)

(3) A legislator fails the voting requirement if they are absent for more than half of all votes finished in the previous calendar month, if a minimum of two votes occurred. Legislators who have an approved leave of absence from the Chair shall not be considered absent for votes in the given time frame.

(4) The Chair of the Assembly may order the Legislator Committee to suspend legislator privileges for disruptive members. Frequent suspensions may be grounds for ineligibility, if found appropriate in a fair trial by the High Court.

Quote:1. Legislative Rules

(1) Any legislator may propose a bill, resolution, or appointment, which will be debated and refined collectively in the Assembly under the guidance of the Chair.

(2) To be brought to a vote, a specific draft of a bill, resolution, or appointment must
a. receive a motion to vote by a legislator,
b. receive a second by another legislator,
c. be affirmed to be in proper formatting by the Chair, and
d. have been at debate for a minimum period of time equivalent to the length of its voting period.

(3) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and appointments will remain at vote for three days. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law, and treaties will remain at vote for five days.

(4) General laws, amendments, resolutions, and treaties require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Appointments, unless otherwise specified, require a simple majority of those voting to pass. Constitutional laws, constitutional amendments, and resolutions dealing with matters of constitutional law require a three-fifths supermajority of those voting to pass.

(5) Should a debate lead to multiple competing bills or resolutions on the same matter, the Chair will separately and simultaneously bring the competing bills or resolutions to vote, in the same manner as regular business is done. The bill or resolution that receives the most votes in favor and meets minimum threshold requirements for passage will become law.

(6) Any bill, resolution or amendment which has been inactive for more than one month may be considered defunct and archived at the discretion of the Chair.

(7) Any legislator may motion to cancel voting and withdraw a bill that has been brought to a vote so revisions can be made. The Chair may cancel voting on the bill, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded. Should the motion and seconding be made within the final 24 hours of voting, the legislation shall not pass or fail until the Chair makes a ruling on the motion.

(8) Should any bill, resolution or amendment fail to become law, any proposal which is judged by the Chair as being substantially similar to that failed legislation shall be prevented from going to vote for two weeks after the closure of the vote. The Chair may waive this restriction should a legislator motion for them to do so, provided that there is a reason deemed sufficient by the Chair and no objection is raised within 24 hours of the motion being made and seconded.

(9) Should any bill, resolution or amendment become law, the document itself, its debate thread, and its voting thread and results shall all be archived.

2. Powers and Responsibilities of the Chair

(...)

(4) The Chair may correct typographical errors, grammatical errors, naming or formatting inconsistencies at any time, as long as these corrections do not alter the original intent of the law, following a three day period in which the corrections are presented to the Assembly for comments. Any such corrections must be recorded with the legislative history of each law.

(5) The Chair may delay votes for a reasonable time frame if done for the purposes of vote scheduling or to avoid preemption of active debate by a vote.

(...)

(08-12-2022, 09:03 AM)A bee Wrote: IV. THE ASSEMBLY

Establishing legislative authority in the Assembly.

(1) The Assembly holds supreme legislative authority in the Coalition, and is comprised of all eligible legislators.

(2) The Assembly will elect a legislator as Chair for a term lasting four months. Chair for a term limited only by: vacancy of the Chair, resignation of the Chair, the Assembly passing a recall of the Chair or the Chair losing legislator status. The Chair is responsible for maintaining order and decorum, and helping guide Assembly debate into the creation of bills. If a Chair is recalled, loses legislator status, or is otherwise not in office, a new Chair will be elected for a new term. lasting four months. The date, time, and manner of electing the Chair will be set by the Assembly in a law. resolution about the rules of procedure

(3) The Chair may must, at some point appoint a deputy or deputies, to whom the Chair may publicly delegate any powers, responsibilities, or special projects of the Chair, subject to all regulations and restrictions imposed upon the Chair by law. The Chair may dismiss such deputies.

Legislator Eligibility

(4) A standing commission of legislators will be tasked with granting and revoking legislator status. All residents of the Coalition are eligible to attain legislator status through an application. Continued legislator status requires active membership and good behaviour. The legislator status is maintained by following laws within the "Legislator Committee Act".

(08-12-2022, 09:03 AM)A bee Wrote: XIII. AMENDMENT PROCESS

Setting a procedure for amendment of the Charter and constitutional laws.

(1) The Assembly may amend any provision of the Charter or constitutional laws passed by the Assembly with a three-fifths supermajority make amends to any constitutional laws, including the Charter, through a three-fifths supermajority. These amendments must be constitutional in nature, and amendments to the Charter must address the structure or framework of government. Bills that may exist as general laws, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, should not be placed in the Charter or constitutional laws.

(2) Any amendment to the Charter or constitutional laws that directly affects the gameside community or its home governance, as determined by the Chair of the Assembly, must also receive the consent of the gameside community before coming into force, where the consent shall not require more than a three-fifths supermajority in a vote. Additionally, the Local Council may originate amendments to its structure in the Charter, which must receive the consent of the Assembly before coming into force.

(2) Amendments of the constitutional laws which directly or collaterally effect a specific community within The Coalition of the South Pacific must also receive consent of that community before coming into force. The ways and thresholds of determining consent of a specific community will be set by the Assembly in a resolution about the rules of procedure.

(3) The Local Council will determine the qualifications and processes for amendments to its own constitutional laws.

(3) Every specific community within The Coalition of the South Pacific is within its jurisdiction and obliged to follow its laws.

(08-18-2022, 12:45 PM)HumanSanity Wrote: I don't understand, and almost certainly oppose, your changes which talk about "specific communit(ies) within The Coalition".

Quote:Even beyond my philosophical disagreement that the Assembly is a democratic convening place for the entire community and citizenry of the Coalition

Quote:this phrase is so poorly defined it becomes unenforceable, and I'm not sure what it's getting at. Even if post-GC we decide to keep the current system of on-site federalism, the current laws are simply clearer and provide better protection for the on-site community's autonomy/self-governance than this modification, and I'm not sure what other community/-ies you're attempting to give protection to.

Quote:I actually do think the idea of removing Chair terms/term limits has some merit. It is already the most deregulated term of office of any elected official and it is one of the most professionalized and least political. I'd be interested to hear more arguments both ways on that.

(08-18-2022, 02:07 PM)A bee Wrote: That has been revised.

(08-18-2022, 02:07 PM)A bee Wrote: They may set their own "rules" but they are still all under TSP jurisdiction. This is important as - if I were to break RMB rule of multi-posting or single-word posting, I'd be under RMB jurisdiction. This makes no sense to me. Instead, the RMB can agree to formulate such a rule within their own community and impose small-scale sanctions against non-compliers. However, the ultimate authority should lie within the TSP. Essentially, my issue is with the "constitutional laws".

(08-18-2022, 02:26 PM)HumanSanity Wrote: Where? I'm not seeing a change in the post where your draft is.

Quote:I don't think this is what your proposal does. From my perspective, what your proposal does is expand the requirement for sub-community "consent" to Assembly legislative changes, without defining what those sub-communities are, which just creates an imprecise mess for actual implementation.

Quote:5. Office of the Chair

(1) Eight days before the end of a Chair's term, the Assembly will convene to elect the Chair of the Assembly. Not sure about the 8 days rule.
a. Any legislator wishing to run for Chair may declare their candidacy, and the Assembly will debate the merits of their platform.
b. The campaign and debate period will last 5 days, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
a. Deputies and other subsidiaries will form the ballot of candidates for voting.
b. The campaign and debate period will last a total of 3 days, after which the Assembly will vote for 3 days.
c. The sole winner, as decided using Approval Voting, will be declared Chair of the Assembly by the Election Commissioner.

(2) The term for the incoming Chair will begin immediately following the conclusion of the election.

6. Vacancies of Office

(...)
(3) If a Chair is no longer in office prior to the election of a new Chair, a deputy appointed by the outgoing Chair will serve as Acting Chair to exercise all powers and responsibilities of the office of the Chair, subject to all regulations and restrictions imposed upon the Chair by law. In the event that more than one deputy was appointed, the most senior deputy according to the order of appointment and availability will serve as Acting Chair. In the event that no deputy was appointed or is available, the Cabinet will designate a legislator to serve as Acting Chair. The Delegate will designate one legislator to serve as Acting Chair.

Quote:3. Legislator Checks

(1) Continued legislator status requires active membership and good behaviour. (Already stated in the Charter).

(...)

(2) A legislator fails the voting requirement if they are absent for more than half of all votes finished in the previous calendar month, if a minimum of two votes occurred. Legislators who have an approved leave of absence from the Chair shall not be considered absent for votes in the given time frame. Open to suggestions on this.

(3) The Chair of the Assembly may order the Legislator Committee to suspend legislator privileges for disruptive members. Frequent suspensions may be grounds for ineligibility, if found appropriate in a fair trial by the High Court. losing legislator status. This may be brought to court by the expelled legislator only afterwards.

(08-18-2022, 10:50 PM)Kris Kringle Wrote: Would this mean that legislators have no ability to directly nominate themselves for Chair?