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Procedure to the Great Assembly [Discussion]
Topic Started: Apr 2 2013, 01:26 PM (361 Views)
Battlion
The Procedure in the last Parliament was basic and very poor in my opinion, it only allowed one bill to be passed at a time and didn't give a damn about the significance of some legislation over others.

I'd like to propose an agreed Procedure for The Great Assembly, ideally this should have been before the Repeal CORR Act, that should take effect immediately...

Here is the Proposal...


Bill Presented to the Great Assembly
The Bill either in full or in principle is placed inside the Great Assembly to be checked for errors or mistakes and to gather an early indication of the mood of the Assembly. This shall not result in a vote and can last as long as the Bill's Introducer wishes for the bill to be presented.

Bill applied to a Track
The Introducer motions that their bill be placed upon a track, the Bill is reviewed by the President on 4 criterion as stated below...

Regional Importance - (Will it massively affect the region?)
Presidential Bill - (Is it a Presidential/Governmental proposal?)
Election Time - (Is an Election close?)
Private Bill - (Is it a Bill proposed by someone outside the Regional Government?)

The Tracks that the Bill could be placed on would be as follows...

Fast Track - (Bills of a High Importance to the region, either via Security or any other means, Shorter Debate time)
Election Track - (Bills applied within a week of an Election of the President, Presented to the Assembly and Protected from End of Assembly Cuts)
Government Track - (Bills coming from the Government, specifically an election pledge, Limited Debate Time )
Citizen Track - (All Other Bills, Debate Time set by Bill Introducer within limits )

Tracks would sit on different days...

The Fast Track may call a vote on any day requested
The Election Track may call a vote as soon as a new Government is in place
The Government Track may call a vote on Wednesdays and Fridays
The Citizen Track may call a vote on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays

Debate

Depending upon the track will depend on the time of Debate, so it's important that Members are active to get a say in policy and to ensure their opinions are heard. It will also allow a more structured timetable. Debate will be set up by the President and the time limit as displayed by the track.

Vote
Depending on the track will depend on the times for Voting, a Bill should last for 3 days of voting unless it is on the Fast Track where this is reduced to 2. A Poll shall be formed to allow citizens to vote without fear of identification.

Presidential Action
If Approved by the Great Assembly the bill shall be moved to the Presidential Office for Approval or Veto, if a Bill is left unsigned for 5 days it shall immediately become law unless it comes to an end of Presidential term where it shall be cut.



Under this Proposal we would have much stricter procedure but with the reward of efficiency, Bills can only last as long as the GA Term they're proposed in and if they have not reached the Voting Stage by then it will simply be cut and shall not be taken further. This promotes responsible law-making and allows for multiple pieces of legislation to be proposed at once...


Suggestions, Comments and Alternatives?
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Falsea
Well done for finally getting this one up, Battlion. Though one of my concerns is that the president handles most of the legislative procedures, I fear that in his absence, progress of laws might be halted.

Might I suggest that we have a Speaker of the Assembly/Vice President do all of these things in the absence of the president in let's say, 3 days?

Overall, looks good to me.
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Battlion
I'd suggest the GA elects an Officer or we leave it as the Founder.
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Kingborough
I agree with Batt.
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Ikarius
Battlion
Apr 2 2013, 01:26 PM
The Procedure in the last Parliament was basic and very poor in my opinion, it only allowed one bill to be passed at a time and didn't give a damn about the significance of some legislation over others.

I'd like to propose an agreed Procedure for The Great Assembly, ideally this should have been before the Repeal CORR Act, that should take effect immediately...

Here is the Proposal...
Ikarius sighs.

Why... alright fine, let us have it.

Quote:
 
Bill Presented to the Great Assembly
The Bill either in full or in principle is placed inside the Great Assembly to be checked for errors or mistakes and to gather an early indication of the mood of the Assembly. This shall not result in a vote and can last as long as the Bill's Introducer wishes for the bill to be presented.

Ikarius checks his stopwatch.

Five seconds and I have a problem with this... I must be becoming disagreeable with everything. :P

I am concerned with the last line of this quote. It seems to give the Author of the Bill the power to bring the bill to a vote at any point they wish. I would be more comfortable with the mainly standard procedure of motioning a bill to a vote, and then requiring a second by another member of the Great Assembly. Also, introducer isn't a word... it's "Author."

Quote:
 
Bill applied to a Track
The Introducer motions that their bill be placed upon a track, the Bill is reviewed by the President on 4 criterion as stated below...

This only seems to confirm my fears of what I just stated above. I fear that this could go one of two ways:
1. President could block bills they don't like from going to the floor for a vote or,
2. Stupid proposals can be placed to a vote and there would be nothing we can do to stop it.

Quote:
 
Regional Importance - (Will it massively affect the region?)
Presidential Bill - (Is it a Presidential/Governmental proposal?)
Election Time - (Is an Election close?)
Private Bill - (Is it a Bill proposed by someone outside the Regional Government?)

Regional Importance is vague here. What counts as "massively affecting the region" in this case? Also, why should it matter if it is a bill proposed by someone outside the regional government... come to think of it, why are we letting people not in the Great Assembly propose bills at all?

Quote:
 
The Tracks that the Bill could be placed on would be as follows...

...Tracks?

...Please God no, don't let it be what I think it i-

Quote:
 
Fast Track - (Bills of a High Importance to the region, either via Security or any other means, Shorter Debate time)
Election Track - (Bills applied within a week of an Election of the President, Presented to the Assembly and Protected from End of Assembly Cuts)
Government Track - (Bills coming from the Government, specifically an election pledge, Limited Debate Time )
Citizen Track - (All Other Bills, Debate Time set by Bill Introducer within limits )

...Why. Why would you do this to us? That... oh dear Lord.
1. That is so complex and ineffective that even the UN can get more shit done.
2. The Election Track shouldn't even EXIST... actually, no tracks should exist. Why do we need to needlessly complicate everything?
3. Allowing the Author to set time limits is a ridiculous idea. That is way open for abuse.
4. Citizen Track? Seriously? Why do we need this at all?

...Please tell me it doesn't ge-


Quote:
 
The Fast Track may call a vote on any day requested
The Election Track may call a vote as soon as a new Government is in place
The Government Track may call a vote on Wednesdays and Fridays
The Citizen Track may call a vote on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays

That's it. We're stopping right here. I'm not even commenting on the rest of the Procedure. This is beyond salvageable and it is a brutal waste of time.

I respect you Battlion. I really do respect you. However, this is a very bad Procedure. I can not in good conscience support this for the following reasons:
1. This is a grossly prejudiced system, where certain bills are labelled "unimportant" in comparison to others.
2. Going along with 1, you actually set days where we can call a vote on certain bills on certain "tracks?" Not only is this a bad idea, but what about time zones? There are people in other parts of the world... for example, Kingborough is often a day ahead of me. What happens then?
3. This is overly complex and most parts are gratuitous when looked over... the whole system just seems wastefully huge.

I really don't have the time to write my own Procedure. However, if no one else comes forth with a new procedure, I will go right ahead and write one. This is a bad Procedure in general and I don't see any way to see it as anything else.
Edited by Ikarius, Apr 3 2013, 01:49 AM.
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Kingborough
My proposal;

Quote:
 
Article I.
Section I. The President shall be Speaker of the Great Assembly.
Section II. The Speaker shall be responsible for the management of the Great Assembly.
Section III. The President shall possess no vote on matters of the Great Assembly.

Article II.
Section I. Any Resident of Nysa may propose an item to the Great Assembly.
Section II. One proposed, an item shall receive a minimum of 48 hours of debate.
Section III. Once the debate period has passed any Resident of Nysa may motion for a vote on an item, and should that motion be seconded by another Resident, the item shall be taken to a vote.
Section IV. The President shall open the vote, which shall last for four days.
Section V. Once passed an item shall be moved to the Presidents Office for approval, or should it fail it shall be archived in the appropriate forum.
Section VI. Should an item be approved by the President, it shall be moved to the Passed Legislation forums and the President shall be responsible for posting the law in the listing of Nysan laws in the Great Assembly chambers.
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Falsea
Again, I'm concerned that if the President takes an unexpected leave of absence for, let's say OoC reasons, I'm concerned that this might slow down the progress of passing legislation on the bill.

I'd like to recommend that there be a vice president or chairman of the grand assembly to take the roles of the president if he/she has been absent for a few days or so.

Also, "Any resident of Nysa"?, is everyone within the region automatically a member of the Grand Assembly? what if they had IC reason for not joining the organization and therefore should not have voting rights?

I'd like to voice my support for Kingborough's version. While it would seem like that King's version is similar to the one we previously used in the Nysan Parliament, I'd have to say that simpler is better, instead of going through all those processes of setting tracks and stuff.

Such complex details will be further worsened if the President holds all power in dealing with them, so yeah.
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Battlion
We abolished Vice-Presidency because it was useless and bureaucratic, an Officer would be suitable but I can support King's version.

I think we should set a Back up in the procedure in case the President is away.
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Kingborough
Quote:
 
Also, "Any resident of Nysa"?, is everyone within the region automatically a member of the Grand Assembly? what if they had IC reason for not joining the organization and therefore should not have voting rights?


Residents of Nysa are anyone who has a nation in Nysa; Per the constitution they have the right to drop their vote correct.
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Battlion
Every Nation has the right to vote, and that won't change.

Personally unless we change elections, again, this won't change unless we allow the GA to legislate at any point of resignation or dismissal to mandate someone to run the election.

Easiest way
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Kingborough
In any case, we need to get this done. Any other objections?
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Battlion
I need stuff in there regarding if the President isn't around, it needs to include that the GA will take the initiative to mandate someone with the powers of the GA till an election is held.
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Ikarius
I propose the following Amendments to Kingborough's draft:

Kingborough Proposal for Procedure of the Great Assembly
 
Article I.
Section I. The President shall be Speaker of the Great Assembly.
Section II. The Speaker shall be responsible for the management of the Great Assembly.
Section III. The President shall possess no vote on matters of the Great Assembly.
Section IV: Should the office of President be vacant or the President be unable to act in the capacity of the Speaker of the Great Assembly for a period greater than seven consecutive days, the Founder of the region of Nysa shall act as Speaker Pro Tempore of the Great Assembly.

Article II.
Section I. Any Resident of Nysa may propose an item to the Great Assembly.
Section II. One proposed, an item shall receive a minimum of 48 hours of debate.
Section III. Once the debate period has passed any Resident of Nysa may motion for a vote on an item, and should that motion be seconded by another Resident, the item shall be taken to a vote.
Section IV. The Speaker of the Great Assembly shall open the vote, which shall last for four days.
Section V. Voting for legislation will require a statement of "Aye" for Support, "Nay" for Opposition, or "Abstain" for Abstention.
Section VI. Once passed an item shall be moved to the Presidents Office for approval, or should it fail it shall be archived in the appropriate forum.
Section VII. Should an item be approved by the President, it shall be moved to the Passed Legislation forums and the President shall be responsible for posting the law in the listing of Nysan laws in the Great Assembly chambers.


Changes to existing lines are in Red, Additions are in Blue.
Edited by Ikarius, Apr 5 2013, 06:14 PM.
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Battlion
I believe we should make these official procedure, does anyone agree?
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Kingborough
I move to a vote
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