Pacific Legislature Official Thread

[Ebowed]

Hugh, sexual orientation does not refer to pedophiles.  There is legislative precedent within Atlasian law specifically defining 'orientation' as not including attraction to children.

[Ebowed]

Light Bulbs Bill

1. The production and/or sale of incandescant light bulbs will be illegal effective July 1, 2009.
2. Persons wishing to switch from incandescant light bulbs to more energy-effecient light bulbs will be reimbursed in whole for all related expenses effective immediately upon the passage of this act into law until January 1, 2012.


Universal Health Care Bill of 2007

1. The Pacific Region hereby establishes a single-payer universal health care program.
2. This program will be open towards any resident or citizen of the Pacific Region regardless of previous health conditions, disability, citizenship status, criminal record, or economic status.  No person will be required to pay for access to health care.
3. All medical services, including preventative treatment and dental care, will be covered under this system.
4. All subsidies towards health maintenence organizations ('HMOs') are abolished.

[Ebowed]

*note: adoption is already free in the Pacific, and childbirth will be covered in the Universal Health Care Bill.
*re: clause 3, third trimester abortions are already legal in the Pacific, this just repeals a law that was never officially repealed

Public Funding in Abortion Bill

1. Any woman who obtains an abortion, at any stage in pregnancy, regardless of the reason the abortion was obtained, will be eligible for a full reimbursement on behalf of the Pacific Abortion Fund Office.
2. The Pacific government will invest $10 million in regional reproductive health clinics to lower costs of abortion and improve facilities.
3. The Third Trimester Abortion Ban Act is repealed.
4. No restriction shall exist within the Pacific region on the so-called "partial birth" abortion procedure.

[Ebowed]

Electric Water Heating Bill

1. Effective January 1, 2010, electric water heating systems will be banned.
2. An exception will be made for:
a.) Components of solar systems which rely on electricity.
b.) Multiple-storey apartment buildings.
3. The Pacific Government will reimburse in full the costs of all citizens switching to a different water heating system until January 1, 2010.

Mandatory Handgun Confiscation Bill

1. Effective three months upon the passage of this act, the Pacific Region declares itself a handgun free area.
2. Handgun owners will have three months to give handguns to any local Handgun Amnesty Office without penalty.
3. Three months upon the passage of this act, possession of a handgun will be a crime eligible for up to a $5,000 fine and/or up to six months in prison.

[Ebowed]

Aye to all

[Ebowed]

Resolution to Express the Sense of the Pacific Region on Racists

1. The Pacific Region wholeheartedly condemns racism, xenophobia, and nationalism.
2. The Pacific Region condemns people who post on White Nationalist forums.
3. The Pacific Region invites any person who fits the qualification outlined in Clause 2 to leave the Region and/or deregister from Atlasia.

[Ebowed]

Aye

[Ebowed]

Guaranteed Minimum Income Bill
1. The Pacific Government will ensure that every resident over the age of 16 will be given a minimum income of $14,900 per year.
2. To apply for this minimum income, a resident over the age of 16 must be earning less than $14,900; a citizen earning less than the amount will be given the necessary sum to total an income of $14,900.
3. Residents who do not earn income, including welfare recipients, will be eligible for the full annual $14,900.
4. The guaranteed minimum income will also be open to immigrants including those not documented with the federal government.

Free Our Prisons Bill
1. No law shall exist criminalizing the possession, consumption, or sale of any Schedule I or Schedule II drug.
2. Persons incarcerated for violations of drug law will be given automatic release from prison, assuming they have not committed any other crimes, upon passage of this bill.
3. Funds from the regional "War on Drugs" shall be redistributed to drug education and drug addiction treatment programs.
4. "Crimes" in Section 2 shall not be construed as to include being an undocumented immigrant.

Metric System Bill
1. The Pacific Government shall convert to use of the Metric system in all relevant affairs, effective two months after passage.

Local Restrictions Bill
1. Any local laws restricting the sale of alcohol on the basis of the day of the week, or time of the day, is repealed.
2. Any local laws restricting the sale or possession of water-pipes, glass pipes, rolling papers, rolling filters, or cigarette rolling machines is repealed.
3. Any local laws restricting the right to grow tobacco at home is repealed.
4. No age restriction shall exist to purchase a lighter or safety matches.

Affirmative Action Restoration Bill
1. The Affirmative Action Bill is repealed.
2. The Pacific Government will establish an affirmative action in employment program to increase racial and gender diversity in regional employment.

Income Tax Increase Bill
1. A new income tax bracket, of 45.5% on annual income exceeding $50 million, is hereby established.

Selective Education Bill
1. Effective August 1, 2012, private schools from K-12 will be illegal.

[Ebowed]

edit section 1 to "...that every adult citizen will be...".

I have updated the bill to say "every resident over the age of 16."

Section three is problematic. Do pensions count towards the minimum income?

Any money earned would be subtracted from the $14,900 total.

edit to "...affairs, two months after the date of passage."

Done.

I like hands off, but I also like better policy than this. What are the effects of this legislation? I'd like to hear some serious discussion on this-I particularly would like to hear from shopkeepers and educators.

Well, basically, some counties are "dry."  Since it is within the Region's power to remove these restrictions, and "dry laws" are an infringement on the rights of our residents, I am hoping to do exactly that.  The restrictions on rolling papers, etc., comes from a desire by anti-marijuana politicians to simultaneously curb the availability of any type of tobacco except corporate tailor-made cigarettes.  The restrictions are unnecessary, especially now that marijuana is legalized in the Pacific.

[Ebowed]

Is selling alcohol at 9am really a good idea? Is it a bad idea? Let's hear from the community a bit.

Well, I'm sure there are plenty of plausible reasons why someone would want to buy alcohol at 9 in the morning.  They might be preparing for a party they're hosting later that day, or maybe they're buying groceries and stocking up on whatever they like to drink at the same time.  I can't really begin to speculate on every possible reason as to why someone would want to do it, but needless to say I think there are many legitimate reasons that someone may want to buy alcohol at an odd hour of the day.

The real issue at stake here is whether the business can decide when it can sell its alcohol, or whether religiously-influenced local restrictions will decide that for them.

[Ebowed]

Aye to all

[Ebowed]

Resolution Concerning the View of the Pacific Region on Capital Punishment

1. The people of the Pacific Region recognize the act of capital punishment as being a form of the government taking the lives of its own residents in a time of peace.
2. The people of the Pacific Region recognize capital punishment to be immoral and wrong.
3. The people of the Pacific Region wholeheartedly condemn the majority of the Southeast, as well as the Northeast Governor, in taking every effort possible to preserve and strengthen capital punishment within the Atlasian regions.
4. The people of the Pacific Region call for the immediate resignation of Governor MAS117 due to his shocking lack of moral character in supporting capital punishment.

[Ebowed]

Aye to all

[Ebowed]

Electroshock Weapons Restrictions Bill:  Aye
Abstain Bill:  Aye

[Ebowed]

Resolution Concerning the Federal Military

It is the position of the people of the Pacific Region that no person should serve in the federal military unless their sexual orientation is of a homosexual persuasion.

School Vouchers Bill

No person paying taxes from within the Pacific Region will be expected to pay taxes towards any hypothetical federally funded school voucher systems.

[Ebowed]

I'll withdraw the School Vouchers Bill.

Election Day Bill

1.   All Election Days in the Pacific shall be designated as official government holidays.
2.   No employer may fire or otherwise carry out any reprisal against any employee on the basis of their choice not to work on an Election Day in the Pacific.
3.   The above shall not apply to Regional or other government employees essential for the running of elections or for other functions as deemed necessary for the day-to-day maintenance of government.

[Ebowed]

2.   No employer may fire or otherwise carry out any reprisal against any employee who chooses not to work on an Election Day in the Pacific.

I think that you may want to rephrase that some.

y?

[Ebowed]

2.   No employer may fire or otherwise carry out any reprisal against any employee who chooses not to work on an Election Day in the Pacific.

I think that you may want to rephrase that some.

y?

Literally, it would mean taking off that one day would make someone fire-proof.

I'd suggest using "because."

Ah, Alcon, you've discovered my covert plan.   I'll change it.

[Ebowed]

Protection of Personal Gambling Bill

1. No municipality within the Pacific may prohibit or restrict gambling among those 16 years of age or older that is organized only among those who are participating in the gambling among themselves and does not involve a "house fee" or any other type of overhead cost.
2. Courts shall be permitted to issue exemptions to this among individuals on parole or who have been convicted of a felony (excluding nonviolent drug or prostitution related offenses).

[Ebowed]

Resolution Concerning the Federal Military:  Aye
Election Day Bill:  Aye
Protection of Personal Gambling Bill:  Aye

[Ebowed]

Prison Diet Bill:  Nay
Rocky Dennis Memorial Bill:  Aye

[Ebowed]

Is this a joke?

How does forcing vegetarianism on inmates help the prisons do their job, which is to protect society from criminals?

Very surprised that a supposedly legitimate Senate candidate would vote for this nanny statist trash!

[Ebowed]

The purpose isn't to help "prisons do their job," read the bill again to see what the real purpose is.

And this is no more "nanny statist" than putting criminals in prison in the first place.

Why not regulate what prisoners can eat in other areas too then?  How about banning them from having access to GM fruits and vegetables?

Prison is a necessary evil, as long as all inmates have a fair trial and a fair sentence.  Unnecessarily regulating their diet is fascist.

Sorry, but if Joe Convict wants to put chicken salt in his noodles, then I think that's one of the perks he ought to have unless he wants to go even more insane dawdling around in prison for ten years.

[Ebowed]

I don't think a less expensive diet for prisoners is fascist.

If your argument is that prison is a violation of rights in the first place, so it's okay to deprive inmates of meat, why are you arguing in favor of cutting the money we spend on them?

Frankly, the savings made from this will be so inconsequential that I have to wonder whether your own personal vegetarianism is the main rationale behind this legislation.

Lack of chicken salt does not cause insanity, as far as I know.

Stop being an idiot.

Being in prison every single day causes people to go nuts.  I think it's fair that they're allowed to eat things that normal people are able to enjoy everyday.

[Ebowed]

Gasoline Consumer Protection Act:  Nay
Regional Motto Bill:  Aye
Rocky Dennis Memorial Bill, Part II:  Aye
Resolution concerning human colonization of outer space:  Aye
Renaming of Interstate 5 Bill:  Aye
Resolution concerning the Midwestern dictatorship:  Aye
Smoking Rights Amendment:  Aye