SE House legislation introduction Thread

[tb78]

This is where the new legislation is first posted, and where matters such as the speaker of the Legislator will be determined.

So, who wants to be the Speaker?

[SPC]

Self Defense Act

1. The Dirty South shall protect the right of any citizen to use lethal force to protect his life, liberty, or property.
2. The Dirty South shall prosecute any person who attempts to violate someone else's right to life, liberty, and property to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of the suspect's profession.

I'll only be Speaker if nobody else volunteers.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     I guess I would be the logical choice, having the most legislative experience. So, I'll go for it.

[tb78]

Would you guys like to make a vote for it on the main thread?

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

Would you guys like to make a vote for it on the main thread?

     Let's wait until Deldem has a chance to weigh in on the Speakership, then open the vote.

[Χahar]

Is this thread necessary?

[Deldem]

I have no desire for the Speakership. So I guess it's PiT's?

[tb78]

Let's make a vote for it on the main board.

[tb78]

The Speaker has been chosen. Congrats to PiT. Now back to business.

[tb78]

The southeast elections begin tomorrow night

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Abortion Rights Bill

1. It shall be legal to induce an abortion in the Southeast Region until the end of the second trimester of the pregnancy, after which point it shall be against the law, except in the case of a severe threat to the mother's health or the mother having been impregnated through an act of rape.

2. Any individual who induces a prohibited abortion shall have any existing licence from the Southeast Region or a subdivision thereof to practice a medical profession revoked.

3. Any individual who knowingly induces a prohibited abortion shall be sentenced to up to three years in prison. Any person knowingly facilitating the inducement of a prohibited abortion shall be subject to a criminal fine of up to $5,000.

4a. Any state statutes legislating abortion existing at the time of this bill's passage are superseded.

4b. 17. Abortion Initiative is superseded.

[Badger]

     Abortion Rights Bill

1. It shall be legal to induce an abortion in the Southeast Region until the end of the second trimester of the pregnancy, after which point it shall be against the law, except in the case of a severe threat to the mother's health or the mother having been impregnated through an act of rape.

2. Any individual who induces a prohibited abortion shall have any existing licence from the Southeast Region or a subdivision thereof to practice a medical profession revoked.

3. Any individual who induces a prohibited abortion shall be sentenced to three years in prison. Any person knowingly facilitating the inducement of a prohibited abortion shall be subject to a criminal fine of $500,000.

4a. Any state statutes legislating abortion existing at the time of this bill's passage are superseded.

4b. 17. Abortion Initiative is superseded.

Nitpicker alert:

Shouldn't Section 3 read "up to" 3 years prison and/or $500k fine? Otherwise this requires a mandatory sentence and fine that no court could even partially suspend as the facts of the case dictate.

Also shouldn't both penalties require "knowing" inducement rather than just the potential fine? Otherwise this imposes strict liability for the most innocent of accidents, like slipping on the sidewalk, that induces a third trimester "abortion" punishable by 3 years incarceration.

Finally FWIW, after a brief scan of RL laws I can't find any crime that permits a maximum fine of more than a tiny fraction of $500k. There may be some federal corporate pollution or insider trading statutes that allow something in that neighborhood, but as a fine against an individual criminal offender even a tenth this would be almost unheard of.

After more checking: Yep, highly unusual to say the least.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/f-s-a-deals-largest-fine-ever-for-insider-trading/

May I respectfully suggest maybe in the $5-20k range?

Otherwise, great bill!

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Abortion Rights Bill

1. It shall be legal to induce an abortion in the Southeast Region until the end of the second trimester of the pregnancy, after which point it shall be against the law, except in the case of a severe threat to the mother's health or the mother having been impregnated through an act of rape.

2. Any individual who induces a prohibited abortion shall have any existing licence from the Southeast Region or a subdivision thereof to practice a medical profession revoked.

3. Any individual who induces a prohibited abortion shall be sentenced to three years in prison. Any person knowingly facilitating the inducement of a prohibited abortion shall be subject to a criminal fine of $500,000.

4a. Any state statutes legislating abortion existing at the time of this bill's passage are superseded.

4b. 17. Abortion Initiative is superseded.

Nitpicker alert:

Shouldn't Section 3 read "up to" 3 years prison and/or $500k fine? Otherwise this requires a mandatory sentence and fine that no court could even partially suspend as the facts of the case dictate.

Also shouldn't both penalties require "knowing" inducement rather than just the potential fine? Otherwise this imposes strict liability for the most innocent of accidents, like slipping on the sidewalk, that induces a third trimester "abortion" punishable by 3 years incarceration.

Finally FWIW, after a brief scan of RL laws I can't find any crime that permits a maximum fine of more than a tiny fraction of $500k. There may be some federal corporate pollution or insider trading statutes that allow something in that neighborhood, but as a fine against an individual criminal offender even a tenth this would be almost unheard of.

After more checking: Yep, highly unusual to say the least.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/f-s-a-deals-largest-fine-ever-for-insider-trading/

May I respectfully suggest maybe in the $5-20k range?

Otherwise, great bill!

     Thank you for the advice. I'll admit actually that I based it directly on the region's current statute regarding abortion with very few changes to the wording. I suppose that even if I can't convince my colleagues to make abortion more available, we can at least make the criminal consequences less draconian.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Also introduced on behalf of Governor Jbrase:

     The Two States Are Better Than One Bill

1. As per Article IV, Section 2, Clause 6 of the Constitution,
The Southeast shall hold a referendum on the creation of a new state, Nueva Tejas (hereafter abbreviated NT).

2. NT shall consist of all the land in Texas west of the old Republic of Texas border.

3. Should the referendum pass, this request will be sent to the Senate for final approval.

[Χahar]

Tejas isn't plural.

[Jbrase]

Tejas isn't plural.

You're right, it should be edited as Neuva Tejas.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

Tejas isn't plural.

You're right, it should be edited as Neuva Tejas.

     Alright, I edited it.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

Self-Defense Bill

1. It shall be the right of any property owner to defend his/her property from any person (hereafter referred to as an intruder) who s/he reasonably believes has come onto his/her property with the intent to bring harm and/or cause damage against the property, the property owner, or any guest of the property owner, and who the property owner believes constitutes a direct threat in the intruder's current state.

2. Should a property owner maim or kill an intruder in compliance with this act, that person shall be immune to any and all civil actions arising from the actions of the property owner in response to the actions of the intruder.

3. A property owner acting in compliance with this act shall not be legally bound by any duty to retreat, and may use an amount of force against the intruder that the property owner reasonably believes is necessary to stop the attack, after having given a visual, verbal, or other auditory warning.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Since the legislature has nothing up now, I will propose a very modest bill, so we are at least doing something:

Amendment to the Abortion Initiative

Section 3 of 17. Abortion Initiative is amended to read: Any individual who knowingly induces a prohibited abortion shall be sentenced to three years in prison. Any person knowingly facilitating the inducement of a prohibited abortion shall be subject to a criminal fine of $500,000.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Hopefully we can use this bill as a vehicle to enact any other changes required to deal with the prison overcrowding problem.

Lighten The Prison Load Bill

1. All persons serving sentences for cultivation, possession, or possession with intent to sell of any drug legalized by the Comprehensive Drug Reform Initiative shall hereby be pardoned.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Introduced on the behalf of Governor Jbrase:

Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill

1. All non-federal business regulations in the Southeast are hereby repealed.

2. From June 1, 2010 through November 1, 2010 all taxes on corporate income shall be suspended. After November 1, the rate at which corporations are taxed shall be set at 8.6%

3. All new businesses in the SE shall not have their income taxed within the first year of starting.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Introduced at the suggestion of Lt. Governor tb75:

Pornography Leniency Bill

1. The Pornography Restrictions Initiative is hereby repealed.

2. Regional enforcement of the Anti-Opebo Act is hereby restored to the federal definition of the term child pornography, as provided in the Anti-Opebo Act.

[Deldem]

This is a modest bill I think we can all agree on:

Food For Thought Bill:

1. All restaurants or other places of food or beverage service in the Southeast region shall be required to list nutritional facts of all food, beverages, or other edible substances served in their places of service.

2. Acceptable locations for this information are menus, packaging, and large wall displays.

3. Failure to comply shall result in forfeiture of any sales made without aforementioned information being available.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

     Introduced on behalf of Governor Jbrase:

Law'n Stuff Reform Bill

1a. The Regional clerk is hereby abolished.

1b. All duties of the regional clerk, i.e. voter roll maintenance, shall be handled by the Lt. Governor

2a. The office of Southeast Attorney General is hereby created.

2b. The SE AG  shall represent the region in all court cases, regional and Federal.

2c. The SE AG shall be elected to 2 month terms coinciding with the elections of the Governor and Lt. Governor.

3. All future Supreme Judicial Overlords following the present one, John Dibble, shall, in the spirit of the Romans, have the Suffix "Dibble" added to their names while in office.

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

Bill of Additions to the Standing Rules

1. It shall be the responsibility of the Speaker of the Legislature to maintain a schedule of upcoming bills.

2. The Speaker of the Legislature shall give each newly proposed bill a place in the schedule, which may not be directly altered after that space has been selected.

3. Any Legislator may at any time motion to alter the order of bills in the schedule. The motion shall be voted on in a thread separate from that used for ordinary legislative business and shall pass if a majority of Legislators vote in the affirmative.

4. The current schedule shall be made available to any citizen of the Southeast on request.

5. At any point when a bill is open for debate, the Lt. Governor may express his/her opposition to it and decline to open a final vote on that bill. If 48 hours pass after a quorum of the Legislature agrees to end debate without the final vote being opened, the Lt. Governor shall be considered to be in opposition to it.

6. Should the Lt. Governor be in opposition to a bill, any Legislator may motion for the power to open a final vote.

7. Any petitioning Legislator shall be empowered to open the final vote on a bill if three-quarters of sitting Legislators support the motion for the power to open a final vote.