Midwest Universal Alþing Official Thread

[President Marokai]

First of all, who is seating in this assembly with a rather exotic name?

It's universal!

[hawkeye59]

I'd like more specifics in the bill.  What is the timeline for any of this?  How should we determine what's "polluted", what's "in need of money", etc.?

The Midwest Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Finance shall decide.

[Dr. Cynic]

How much money is being set into this program?

[hawkeye59]

How much money is being set into this program?

To be honest, I actually hadn't thought of that. It would be too much money. Noting that, I amend the bill to this:

Midwest Comprehensive Jobs Act
I. The Midwest Government shall sponsor a program to clean up and fix all bridges, roads, and other places in bad shape. It will pay $6,000,000 for this program
II. The Midwest Government shall also sponsor a program to clean up all lakes, rivers, and other places which have been ruined by pollution or other environmental problems. It will pay $5,000,000 for this plan
III. The Midwest Government will sponsor a program to build hospitals, schools, houses, apartments, and other necessities for the citizens of the Midwest. It will pay $10,000,000 on this plan.
IV: Noting that this bill will create hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of jobs, the Governor of the Midwest urges this bill to be passed right away.
V: *hughughug*
VI: This bill will be paid for by raising taxes on citizens with incomes over $200,000 by 4%.
x hawkeye59

debate

[Jayhawker]

Probably need to be a little more specific on how much money will be specifically given to each section.

[hawkeye59]

Midwest Comprehensive Jobs Act
I. The Midwest Government shall sponsor a program to clean up and fix all bridges, roads, and other places in bad shape. It will pay $6,000,000 for this program
II. The Midwest Government shall also sponsor a program to clean up all lakes, rivers, and other places which have been ruined by pollution or other environmental problems. It will pay $5,000,000 for this plan
III. The Midwest Government will sponsor a program to build hospitals, schools, houses, apartments, and other necessities for the citizens of the Midwest. It will pay $10,000,000 on this plan.
IV: Noting that this bill will create hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of jobs, the Governor of the Midwest urges this bill to be passed right away.
V: *hughughug*
VI: This bill will be paid for by raising taxes on citizens with incomes over $200,000 by 4%.
x hawkeye59

debate
[/quote]

[Thomas D]

I support this bill. I like bridges that don't fall down and lakes that are clean.

[hawkeye59]

Midwest Comprehensive Jobs Act
I. The Midwest Government shall sponsor a program to clean up and fix all bridges, roads, and other places in bad shape. It will pay $6,000,000 for this program
II. The Midwest Government shall also sponsor a program to clean up all lakes, rivers, and other places which have been ruined by pollution or other environmental problems. It will pay $5,000,000 for this plan
III. The Midwest Government will sponsor a program to build hospitals, schools, houses, apartments, and other necessities for the citizens of the Midwest. It will pay $10,000,000 on this plan.
IV: Noting that this bill will create hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of jobs, the Governor of the Midwest urges this bill to be passed right away.
V: *hughughug*
VI: This bill will be paid for by raising taxes on citizens with incomes over $200,000 by 4%.

VOTE ON THIS
[/quote]

[President Marokai]

[Sewer]

[Fritz]

[hawkeye59]

THE BILL PASSED 4-0

[Dr. Cynic]

ftr

[hawkeye59]

anybody?

[Dr. Cynic]

I wish to propose that we in the Midwest operate a weekly question time format a'la the British Parliament.

If someone wants to put that into some sort of bill form, please do, because I'm terrible at writing legislation.

[Senator Barnes]

I wish to propose that we in the Midwest operate a weekly question time format a'la the British Parliament.

If someone wants to put that into some sort of bill form, please do, because I'm terrible at writing legislation.

I'm still alive!

I'd be glad to write up something to get us started on this. 

[Senator Barnes]

Two separate bills here. (It's been a little while since I've written any legislation, so they might be quite awful.)

Verin Question Time Act
1) The Alþing shall allocate a day (or set of days) in the week to be designated as "Verin Question Time."
2) During this period, any member of the Alþing may propose a question to the Prime Verin, Deputy Prime Verin, or any Verinous officer.
3) The officer shall be required to then submit a well construed and responsible answer that addresses the issue raised.
4) The Prime Verin may choose to not answer a question if they declare it to be against the interest of the Midwest's security.  However, the Alþing may vote to force the Priem Verin to answer.
5) If the Prime Verin again refuses to answer, the Alþing may take a second vote to require him to answer.  If this vote is also resolved in the positive, then it shall be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the Prime Verin.


Verinous Offices Act
1) The definition of a "Verinous Office" is the one given in Section III of the Third Midwest Constitution.
2) The offices of Prime Verin, Deputy Prime Verin, and all Verinous Officers, shall be collectively referred to as the Government.
3) The Government shall meet from time to time at the discretion of the Prime Verin.  The Government shall collectively decide whether to meet in public (meaning the official thread of the Alþing), or in private.  If they choose the later, the Prime Verin shall publish a list of issues discussed at the meeting in the Alþing thread in a timely manner.
4) If it meets in private, the Government may choose to not report certain topics discussed to the Alþing, it must however, state that it has decided such.  The Alþing may vote to force the Government to publish the said information.

[Senator Barnes]

Guys?

[Dr. Cynic]

Thanks to Barnes for writing up the legislation for me, as well as one piece of his own.

As Deputy Prime Verin, I would like to say that I would make myself available for a weekly question time should the Prime Verin be unavailable to participate.

I think both of Barnes' pieces of legislation would be good steps forward for the Midwest in terms of operation and procedure and we should take them.

[Dr. Cynic]

Verin Question Time Act
1) The Alþing shall allocate a day (or set of days) in the week to be designated as "Verin Question Time."
2) During this period, any member of the Alþing may propose a question to the Prime Verin, Deputy Prime Verin, or any Verinous officer.
3) The officer shall be required to then submit a well construed and responsible answer that addresses the issue raised.
4) The Prime Verin may choose to not answer a question if they declare it to be against the interest of the Midwest's security.  However, the Alþing may vote to force the Priem Verin to answer.
5) If the Prime Verin again refuses to answer, the Alþing may take a second vote to require him to answer.  If this vote is also resolved in the positive, then it shall be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the Prime Verin.


Verinous Offices Act
1) The definition of a "Verinous Office" is the one given in Section III of the Third Midwest Constitution.
2) The offices of Prime Verin, Deputy Prime Verin, and all Verinous Officers, shall be collectively referred to as the Government.
3) The Government shall meet from time to time at the discretion of the Prime Verin.  The Government shall collectively decide whether to meet in public (meaning the official thread of the Alþing), or in private.  If they choose the later, the Prime Verin shall publish a list of issues discussed at the meeting in the Alþing thread in a timely manner.
4) If it meets in private, the Government may choose to not report certain topics discussed to the Alþing, it must however, state that it has decided such.  The Alþing may vote to force the Government to publish the said information.

Since Hawkeye is not here and there has been no debate, I'm going to do something rare and exercise my author-a-tah as DPV...

Vote on both bills.

Bill 1:
Bill 2:

[Senator Barnes]

[hawkeye59]

[Dr. Cynic]

*Gavel Bang*

Both Pass 3-0

[hawkeye59]

Anyone?

[ilikeverin]

Question Time Day Act Bill Law
1. The Deputy Prime Verin shall be responsible for determining the day of the week that Question Time is performed.
2. Every four Sundays, the Deputy Prime Verin will generate the question time day for the next four weeks using the random.org number generator.
2a. The randomization will be performed by generating a random integer from 1-7 four times.  The first integer corresponds to the first week, the second integer corresponds to the second week, and so on.
2b. Generating a 1 indicates that question time will be held on the Sunday of the corresponding week.  Generating a 2 indicates that the question time will be on a Monday.  3 is Tuesday, 4 is Wednesday, 5 is Thursday, 6 is Friday, and 7 is Saturday.
3. Whenever possible, the revealing of the question time days of the week will be done in a manner akin to the Powerball drawing.