Northeast Wiki Reform Commission Thread

[homelycooking]

Commissioners, please sign in here.

This thread will be used for the procedures and deliberations of the Commission and its members, but citizens' input is also welcome at any time.

We should begin by selecting a commission chair.

x homelycooking

[homelycooking]

Thanks, Cincinnatus. I'd be happy to chair the commission, but I'll wait to hear Simfan's input before going ahead.

I'll send him a PM.

[homelycooking]

Great, Simfan. Are you all right with me serving as commission chair?

[homelycooking]

We need to move forward with this, has Simfan responded to any PM's?  If he doesn't want to be an active participant, he should let it be known so he can be replaced and we can start getting work done.

He hasn't. I don't think there's a reason to ask for another member and waste more time, we can get on with this right away, Cincinnatus, just the two of us.

I think the first thing to do is take care of legislation: I'm thinking one page/section for approved legislation, one for rejected legislation, one for the Constitution, etc. I can get started assembling all the bills from Assembly sessions that came after the last wiki update.

[homelycooking]

I don't want to double up on any responsibilities, so I'll let you determine what responsibility I should undertake.  As of now, I'm going to start looking at legislation already on the wiki page, searching it, seeing it's current standing (passed when, still law?, ect).  If you give me a different duty, I will of course proceed with that instead

The job is yours. Pay close attention to changes made in the SRC report (edit: enterprising minds think alike ) - and I'll notify you of any amendments made during the section I will research.

[homelycooking]

From Napoleon's tenure as Speaker (April to June)
I omitted things that have no relevance to statute (recommendation resolutions, etc.)

Passed:

Statutory "Spring Cleaning" Act

1. The Assembly hereby creates a temporary Statutory Review Commission (hereafter referred to as SRC) comprised of one to four current or former Representative(s) of the Northeast.

2. The SRC's member(s) shall be appointed by the Assembly by simple majority vote.

3. The SRC shall be entrusted with preparing a report to the Assembly regarding the following:
a. The establishment of a centralized list of all statute signed into law since January 1, 2004;
b. The relevance, clarity and integrity of all said statute;
c. Whether certain laws in said statute contradict others, or are unconstitutional; and
d. Recommendations for future legislation or amendment of existing legislation intended to rectify problems relating to sections 3b and 3c above.

4. The SRC shall establish a set of guidelines that assign specific duties to each commissioner.

5. The SRC's commission to carry out section 3 above shall expire after the fifteenth calendar day after the SRC commissioner's appointment, unless additional time is granted by a majority vote of the Assembly, on which the SRC shall present its report to the Assembly.

6. The Assembly shall then take action upon the SRC report by accepting and implementing, rejecting or qualifying the recommendations made by the SRC.

7. The SRC’s report will be used to update the Northeast Wiki, to be added by a Northeast citizen with Wiki access privileges.

Vital Civic Information Act

1. The Government of the Northeast shall keep a complete and accurate record at all times of the names of current members of the Assembly, the names of the region's executive and judicial officers, the dates of any forthcoming general or special elections and any other information which the government sees fit to make its citizens aware of.

2. The information to be made public by this act shall be published within three days of the passage of this Act.

3. Any future changes to the above information must be made within three days of an event necessitating a change, such as a new officer/legislator's ascendance to or removal from his respective office or the calling of a new special election.

4. Any member of the Legislature, or of the Executive or Judicial Branches, may make any necessary changes to the above information.

5. The above information shall be made public through at least one of the following media:
a. A new thread in the Regional Governments subforum of the Atlas Fantasy Government forum; or
b. The appropriate pages in the Atlasia Wiki.

6. If any inappropriate information, such as any egregious self-promotional, offensive or irrelevant text is made public through the media specified in 5 a or b, the Chief Judicial Officer is hereby authorized to remove it, at his discretion, upon the recommendation of any Northeast Citizen.

The SRC Report

Northeast Parks and Recreation Use Act

1. This act shall be applied only to those lands and facilities operated and maintained by the state and/or regional governments.

2. Citizens and legal residents of the Northeast shall not be required to pay any fee for use of state and/or regional parks or recreational facilities.

3. Citizens and legal residents of the Northeast are eligible for free admission to state parks and recreational facilities not operated or maintained by the regional government irrespective of their state of residence.

4. Nonresidents of the Northeast may be required to pay a fee for use of state and/or regional parks or recreational facilities where applicable.

[homelycooking]

Failed/tabled:

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Resolution Thanking Rowan Brandon

The Northeast Assembly hereby thanks Senator Rowan Brandon for his invaluable service to the Region and we on this day declare him Atlasia's greatest senator in modern history. The Assembly also hopes that his service to Region and Nation will continue as the nation's President.

Additional Amendments to the Northeast Gun Safety Act

The Northeast Gun Safety Act shall be re-amended to read:

1. Any person who has committed a non-murder felony while under the age of 21, will automatically have his rights restored at age 35.
     a. Except in cases where the victim of the offender's crime is a minor.
     b. Except in cases where the offender has committed two or more felonies during this period.
2. Whenever a gun is used as an instrument in the crime, an additional five years will be added to the sentence.
     a. In cases of abduction, rape, or murder of any degree, in which a gun is used as an instrument in the crime, these rights will not be restored.

[homelycooking]

A fine list; but I think it might be cumbersome to create a new Wiki page for every law that is enacted.

[homelycooking]

A fine list; but I think it might be cumbersome to create a new Wiki page for every law that is enacted.

I just did all of those in a span of 5-10 minutes.  I have no problem taking the reports and putting them in separate pages.  Of course, if you think this format is less convenient, perhaps I should abandon it.  I just think it offers organization, and, I don't have to post cumbersome amounts of bills here for reference, because I have a list of where I can see them.

Really? Oh, that's fantastic. That could work quite well, then. I should get started on converting my bills in that way.

[homelycooking]

during Wormyguy's second term (Feb-Apr 2011)

PASSED
The Flat Tax Act

1. A flat tax of 5.5% of one's individual household income is hereby established.

2. This tax shall be paid every year on tax day.

3. April 15th is hereby established as the Northeast region's yearly tax day.

4. Taxes on purchases, land and other taxes of the sort are hereby lifted.

5. Taxes on alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and other health hazards are exempt from what is outlined in section four.

6. The Northeast Government shall not create new taxes on anything other than income or health hazards.

7. The Northeast Government shall not create tax brackets that could allow for one income class to pay more taxes. Everyone shall pay the same percentage of tax on income per year.

8. The Northeast Government may only collect this tax once per year.

The GTO Remembrance Act

1) Every January 26th shall hereby be declared "GTO Remembrance Day" and shall be officially considered a holiday. All Government offices will fly the Atlasian flag at half mast on this day as a tribute to the tragedy.

2) Schools, post offices and other public buildings that display a flag outside shall be recommended, but not forced, to fly the flag at half mast as well.

If passed, I suggest that this bill also be introduced in the Senate so it could become national law.

NE Legislative Salary Cuts Act of 2011

1) Members of the Northeast Assembly shall take a $40,000 (Fourty thousand dollar) pay cut, effective 90 (ninety) days after the passage of this act.

2) The Northeast Governor shall take a $30,000 (Thirty thousand dollar) pay cut, effective 90 (ninety) days after the passage of this act.

3) Northeast regional Senators shall receive a $40,000 (Fourty thousand dollar) pay cut, effective 90 (ninety) days after the passage of this act.

4) All money collected from politician's salary cuts shall be used to reduce deficit and increase a surplus.


FAILED
   

The Recall Amendment of 2011

1. The Recall Amendment is repealed.

2. a. If the Northeast Regional Senator misses four votes in one senate session (including "present" or "abstain" votes as votes that were not missed), the seat may be declared vacant and a special recall election held for the seat, provided at least one-fifth (1/5) of the registered voters in the Northeast Region sign a petition requesting a recall.

b. Recall petitions for Northeast Regional Senator must be started by a registered and valid voter in the Northeast.

c. The Northeast Regional Senator may run in a recall election for his or her own seat.

d. A recall election for Northeast Regional Senator shall be opened either by the Governor or the creator of the recall petition, and the poll must remain open for 48 hours.

e. The election shall be performed via approval voting.

f. If no candidate receives the approval of 50% + 1 of the voters, the recall fails and the Northeast Regional Senator retains his or her seat.

g. In the event of a tied election, a runoff, also using approval voting, shall be held between the tied candidates.

h. The candidate elected in the recall election shall take office immediately following the conclusion of the election.

3. a. If the Northeast Governor fails to sign or veto two (2) bills from the Northeast Assembly within the 10-day signing period in a row, or four non-consecutive bills in one gubernatorial term, the office of governor may be declared vacant and a special recall election held for the office, provided at least one-fifth (1/5) of the registered voters in the Northeast Region sign a petition requesting a recall.

b. Recall petitions for Northeast Governor must be started by a registered and valid voter in the Northeast.

c. The Northeast Governor may run in a recall election for his or her own seat.

d. A recall election for Northeast Governor shall be opened either by the Governor, or the creator of the recall petition, and the poll must remain open for 48 hours.

e. The election shall be performed via approval voting.

f. If no candidate receives the approval of 50% + 1 of the voters, the recall fails and the Northeast Governor retains his or her seat.

g. In the event of a tied election, a runoff, also using approval voting, shall be held between the tied candidates.

h. The candidate elected in the recall election shall take office immediately following the conclusion of the election.


Making Competitive Elections Amendment:

    Article V, vii shall be amended from:
    vii) The number of Reps to be elected corresponds to the entire part of the quotient C/6, with C being the number of citizens in the Northeast Region as of the third Friday at 12:00:00am EST of the month of the election.
    
    to
    
    vii) The Northeast Assembly shall be composed of five members, each of whom shall be registered voters residing in the Northeast Region.

Corporate Accountability Act of 2011

Section 1) All businesses that broadcast a commercial on television, radio or the internet will be held accountable for all statements made in said advertisement.

Section 2) "Held accountable" shall be defined as:
•   Broadcasting accurate and truthful information
•   Using accurate consumer accounts, not exaggerated in any fashion

            Section 2, Subsection A) "Truthful information" shall be defined as not exaggerating the product's capabilities. For instance, if a company is selling a cereal, they do not possess the right to claim that the cereal could "make you live 10 years longer" unless it is scientifically proven that the cereal possesses such ability.

Section 3) If a company is found guilty of lying about a product by the Northeast Government, they shall be fined a sum of $1,500 (One thousand, five hundred dollars) on the first offense. If found guilty a second time, the fine shall increase to $2,500 (Two thousand, five hundred dollars.) if a company is found guilty a third time, the fine shall be $15,000 (Fifteen thousand dollars) as well as a trial conducted by the Northeast Government in which if a company is found guilty of false advertisement, they shall be suspended from advertisement and will not be allowed to broadcast an advertisement for 15 (Fifteen) months.

Section 4) If a citizen or citizens of the Northeast find that they are the victims of false advertisement, they shall immediately report the complaint to the Northeast Government in which the situation will be dealt with from thereon.

Section 5) Any citizen found guilty of making a false claim shall face a 2 (Two) month jail sentence as well as 7 (Seven) months of probation.

Section 6) A citizen may sue a company without reporting the complaint to the Northeast Government, but it is likely that the trial will be delayed while the Government reviews the complaint.
 
               Section 6, Subsection A) If a citizen has no proof that they are a victim of false advertisement, their claim shall be rendered null and void.

Death Penalty Abolition/Criminal Rights Establishment Act of 2011

1) The Death Penalty is hereby abolished in the Northeast Region.

2) Criminals that are currently awaiting a death sentence shall instead be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.

3) The abolition of the use of the death penalty shall also apply to the abolition of torture mechanisms to acquire information relating to a crime.

4) If a Government official or police officer is found to be violating the no torture law, they shall immediately be dismissed from their position.

5) Furthermore, criminals shall have the right to remain silent when arrested, as well as rights to personal property that shall not be searched without a search warrant signed by a licensed law official.

6) Criminals shall also have the right to be innocent until proven guilty.

7) A criminal shall keep these inaliable rights under any circumstance.

8 ) Criminals shall not have to face a suspension of their rights in wartime or a time of invasion.

9) Unless their is a proper warrant, police may not invade a person's private property for any reason whatsoever unless to make an arrest that had been reported to the police via a 911 call.

Sex Ed Optionality Act

1) Schools in the Northeast region that offer sexual education courses are hereby required to send home a letter to parents explaining that the school will be offering sexual education courses and the parents will then have the ability to opt their child out of the class.

2) Parents shall have the right to pull their child out of a sex ed class in the middle of the course if they feel the child is not mature enough to take the class.

[homelycooking]

Flat Tax Act was vetoed by GHOSTWHITE when he was Governor.

Thanks, Napoleon.

[homelycooking]

December 2010 to February 2011 - Speaker Polnut

Passed

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Failed

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[homelycooking]

October 2010 to February 2010 - Speaker Dallasfan

Passed

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Failed

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[homelycooking]

I just have one more Assembly's worth of bills to go through.

[homelycooking]

From the amusingly inactive Sixth Assembly (Hantheguitarman, speaker):

Passed:

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Yeah, that's right, they passed two bills. There was no activity on the floor of the Assembly for forty-three days.

Thanks for all your help, Cincinnatus. If you could take care of these two bills, we can go ahead with fixing up the Wiki.

[homelycooking]

Yes, by all means. I am thinking: one page of links to passed legislation, one page of links to rejected legislation, one page for the Constitution, one page for proposed, rejected and passed constitutional amendments. Will any of those pages be too long?

I can start putting together some pages if necessary.

[homelycooking]

If there's anything you'd like me to do before I leave, I can do it for you.

[homelycooking]

Sure, I'm willing to get back to work. Tell me what I can do for you.