Chancellor Stella Kaufman addresses the National Assembly

Stockholm (KTN) — On Tuesday, the Citizens Assembly voted 27–23 in favour of the Expansion of Security Powers Act 2019, which brings comprehensive reforms to the security services of the Valkyrian government. The legislation, which has come to be known as ESPA 19, has been pursued by Chancellor Stella Kaufman since June 2017, long before she was in government. ESPA 19 has been a source of controversy with Opposition Leader Avianna Aldridge calling it a "bill of authoritarianism". However, Kaufman rationalised ESPA 19 as a "tool to eliminate all threats to the Valkyrian Republic". Shortly after the bill's passage in the Citizens Assembly, several opposition leaders have stated that they will pursue constitutional litigation against ESPA 19, claiming that the legislation is a violation of the right to privacy.

With the passage of ESPA 19, the legislation authorises the creation of the Strategic Intervention, Emergency Guard, and Enforcement (SIEGE) Component, a government agency given intelligence, military, and police powers. Now that SIEGE has been created, the agency will assume jurisdiction over the Special Operations Centres of the Intelligence Directorate-General, the Valkyrian Special Services within the military, and the National Tactical Intervention Force within the National Police. The agency will also oversee all special operations that the Departments of Defence and Intelligence used to do in conjunction. SIEGE will consist of six sections: administration, medical, operations, police, support, and technology. ESPA 19 intends for each section to be complementary in the execution of special operations.

The new government agency will be headed by a director, who will be accountable to a three-member body called the SIEGE Oversight Council (SOC), which shall consist of the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary, and the Defence Secretary. Each of the six sections will be led by a chief appointed by the director. By creating SIEGE and giving it powers similar to the Valkyrian Defence Forces, the agency circumvents the Valkyrian Constitution, which requires parliamentary authorisation for the deployment of the VDF to conduct military operations. With SIEGE in existence, the agency will have the power to conduct operations anywhere in the world without the approval of Parliament. While Opposition Leader Aldridge states that ESPA 19 is "taking advantage of a constitutional loophole", the Coalition says that the SOC will provide adequate oversight.

The new law further defines state of emergency in Valkyria, which was given a broad definition in the Constitution. ESPA 19 establishes three levels of state of emergency: Class 1 for warfare and insurgency, Class 2 for organised mass civil disobedience, and Class 3 for natural disaster. However, Socialist leader Amalia Rollins argues that the Class 1 state of emergency provisions of ESPA 19 are "tantamount to imposing martial law". A Class 1 state of emergency immediately mobilises the National Gendarmerie and a clause entitled Procedure 94 enforces a shoot-to-kill policy for civil and military police. Home Secretary Nicole Chancellor stated that the provisions were necessary to protect to the Valkyrian Republic from invasion and insurgency, "These provisions are essential to the security of the state."

ESPA 19 introduces reforms to the National Police by closing the Office of Cultist Movement Investigations (OCMI) and opening the Office to Counter Political Repression (OCPR). In her unveiling of the final bill, the home secretary denied the existence of cultist groups in Valkyria and stated that it was a "left-wing conspiracy theory". Instead, the National Police has been given a mandate to investigate claims that a person's freedoms and liberties are being infringed upon. Chancellor said that religious groups and right-wing personalities were being "silenced by the left" and it was for this reason to create the OCPR. The Leader of the Populists of the Left, however, disagrees. In a press conference, Taeler Shaw warned that the OCPR was being formed with the intent to "suppress the political power of her party in favour of The New Right".

Despite the passage of ESPA 19, President Kate Murphy has stated that she will pursue judicial review of the legislation to determine its constitutionality. This is distinct from signing the bill outright.