7th Pacific Council Legislation Introduction and Discussion Thread

[President Tyrion]

Welcome to a new term, Councillors. All pending legislation from the previous session are automatically added to the queue for the next session, because I said so.

1. The first order of business is for all 5 of you to swear in.
2. Seatown, you need to decide whether you want to remain speaker. You may appoint a new speaker if you so desire.
3. Here is the new legislative queue. Please only open 5 threads at a time. 10-15 is too many; it clogs up the boards. Ultimately, we passed more legislation last session than in any other 2 month period, so speed is no longer an issue.

Current Queue:
1. High Speed Rail Initiative
2. Fixing the Third Pacific Constitution, Part 1
3. Pacific Regional Parks Act
4. Pacific Town Hall Act
5. If This Region's Gonna Exist, It Might As Well Be Giving Me Free Pot Act
6. Revised Discussion Time Act

[President Tyrion]

I'm so glad all of us are here! Now we have to get to work to try to get people to work, a 15% unemployment rate has been unheard of a region with so many people since the late 1930's. I wanted to inquire about how much of our stimulus is left, we got $40 billion in aid, and do we have any left?

We haven't spent any of it yet because the HSR act never went through.

This session, I want to pin some infrastructure repair (road repair, maintenance, improvement) onto that HSR bill so we can spend the entirety of the $40 billion.

[President Tyrion]

Bartelome Day
1. Get rid of Columbus Day in the Pacific
2. Replace it with Bartelome (Protector of the Indians) Day

(I'll gladly explain why when the discussion for this opens up.)

I mean, I'm totally supportive of this. I didn't think Columbus Day was a federal holiday though; I vaguely recall something like that coming up federally and there being a rather different list of holidays (not including Columbus Day).

[President Tyrion]

Note: FTR Jacob's vote on the RACO amendment was an aye. (It was highlighted green)

Note: FTR Jacob's vote on the RACO amendment was an aye. (It was highlighted green)

I must have missed that, can you point me to the legislation relating to highlighting and the implications for the vote?

Isn't that literally what you guys were voting on?

Since the rule allowing green highlights in different languages to be treated as Ayes isn't law yet, I think that oakvale treated it correctly as an abstention.

[President Tyrion]

Note: FTR Jacob's vote on the RACO amendment was an aye. (It was highlighted green)

Note: FTR Jacob's vote on the RACO amendment was an aye. (It was highlighted green)

I must have missed that, can you point me to the legislation relating to highlighting and the implications for the vote?

Isn't that literally what you guys were voting on?

Yes

Oh sorry, I was editing my post. I didn't figure you would respond immediately

[President Tyrion]

Are any of our bills going to the floor?

There's currently a vote open on an amendment.

[President Tyrion]

It's vital that we have a working Constitution, and I encourage the Council to immediately begin reading, digesting, and debating the proposed version so we can better serve the people with a workable doctrine.

This, for the record, is the Sixth Pacific Constitution.

[President Tyrion]

PJ, I'd like to focus on the constitution, for the record. If you want to bring up some noncontroversial bills through, that's fine, but I'd like to keep people focused on the main goal here, and that's saving the region.

[President Tyrion]

Do we have social security in this region? How about welfare? Do we have any desalination plants to bring water to places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Albuquerque? 

All entitlements are covered by the federal government, and there's a basic income guarantee and social security. 

Desalination? I'm pretty sure all of those places get their water from non-saline aquifers and rivers. Desalination plants are more for coastal cities, after all, and is by far the most expensive process by which we can obtain drinking water. It's only really feasible in places which have literally exhausted all other options.

[President Tyrion]

I hereby resign as Governor of the Pacific.

[President Tyrion]

So I don't forget it later:

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Side note: I'm going to see if we can have one piece of legislation at a time in addition to the Great Reform Amendment, as it will take a long time to get this passed through.

Yeah, might as well. At this point, there might as well be a whole session devoted to the constitution, considering how long it's taking.

[President Tyrion]

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The national law similar to this has a clause:

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I suggest that something similar be put into effect, here. We don't want people deleting laws and then saying they're invalidated because they're not on the books.

[President Tyrion]

Holy cripes.

I guess I'm not going to be the most prolific Pacific legislative sponsor for long

[President Tyrion]

Hello, the Semi-Presidentialism Amendment and the Honest Term Limits Amendment have passed the Senate and have been sent to the regions.