NE2: Amendment to the Constitution

[Comrade Shmoo]

Amendment to the New Northeast Constitution

Article V (Bill of Rights) of the New Northeast Constitution is amended by inserting the following clauses:
6. Right to a Clean Environment: The Government of the Northeast is charged with preserving the pristine and unique ecological habitats found within the region for the present and future generations of the Northeast.  The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources.
7. While this article may be amended to add additional rights, the inherent rights guaranteed in this article and constitution of free speech, equality before the law, a democratic form of government, and a safe world to live in, shall be inviolable and unchanged.

Sponsor: Barnes

Barnes, advocate for the bill within 24 hours or I table it. 72 hours of debate time total.

[Senator Barnes]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my firm belief that the environment is the paramount issue of the 21st century and by enshrining both the duty of the government to protect the environment and the right of the people to live in a clean, safe, and pollution-free environment will serve as a call to action for our region, Atlasia, an hopefully the world.

The second part of my amendment should hopefully be fairly uncontroversial - it simply inshrines the inherent rights of the people as unamendable. If the Assembly feels it could not suppor the first part of my amendment, I ask at least for support of the second half - it is just as important to our rights and liberties.

[Comrade Shmoo]

Proposing an amendment:

Amendment to the New Northeast Constitution

Article V (Bill of Rights) of the New Northeast Constitution is amended by inserting the following clauses:
6. Right to a Clean Environment: The Government of the Northeast is charged with preserving the pristine and unique ecological habitats found within the region for the present and future generations of the Northeast.  The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources.
7. While this article may be amended to add additional rights, the inherent rights guaranteed in this article and constitution of free speech, equality before the law, a democratic form of government, and a safe world to live in, shall be inviolable and unchanged.

I'm just doing this to ensure that all the rights are unchanged. Is it friendly, Barnes?

[Senator Barnes]

I just wanted to specify what I meant by "inherent rights," but I see now that that can run into some trouble with judicial interpretation.

Accepted as friendly.

[Comrade Shmoo]

Cool.

[bore]

I'll just make clear that I support this.

[HPoirot]

Thank you for letting a citizen voice his concerns here.

I don't know if the Right to clean environment in The Bill of Rights is like a statement of the ideal to achieve or something powerful that could have major legal and economic consequences.

It states The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources.

I am not a legal expert but what happens when citizens are not free of dangers of pollution and disease. Could they ask for financial compensation? For example could citizens living near a highway and suffering from the pollution ask the government financial compensation for not respecting their right to a clean environment.

I worry lawyers could find a way to use this new right to provide them with a lot of legal work.   

[Cincinnatus]

I'm going to have to completely agree with Poirot here.  Subsection 6 is ridiculous to include in the bill of rights, despite how important I feel it is to protect our environment.

The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources. 

There is no flexibility in this text, and in the real world (or at the GM's discretion), anyone could challenge our Gov't on such a claim.  I sincerely hope our legislature works to reduce pollution, and advance green energy, but I'm truly worried about this amendment passing with the inclusion of subsection 6. 

[Governor Scott]

I also have a few objections to the amendment.  While I agree that it should be a priority of the regional government to protect the environment, I feel that amendments that enshrine that idea, if they are necessary, should be as specific as possible so that its intentions are clear.  I also believe that terms such as "clean and healthy environment," "pollution," and "lack of resources" need to be concretely defined in order for an amendment, especially one that can be open to broad interpretation, to be effective.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Barnes, in your view, would qualifying the rights guaranteed by this amendment defeat its purpose?

[Senator Barnes]

I agree with the concerns above that my amendment does include legal vagaries and room for interpretation.  I will remove this section for the sake of saving this remained of this amendment, which I believe is very crucial to our region.  I am planning to introduce further legislation to address environmental protection and the right of citizens to have clean air, water, soil, and food.

Inserting a new amendment:

Amendment to the New Northeast Constitution

Article V (Bill of Rights) of the New Northeast Constitution is amended by inserting the following clauses:
6. Right to a Clean Environment: The government of the Northeast is charged with preserving the pristine and unique ecological habitats found within the region for the present and future generations of the Northeast.  The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources.
7. While this article may be amended to add additional rights, the inherent rights guaranteed in this article and constitution shall be inviolable and unchanged.

[Comrade Shmoo]

Debate time has expired. Representatives shall vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain on the final text:

Amendment to the New Northeast Constitution

Article V (Bill of Rights) of the New Northeast Constitution is amended by inserting the following clauses:
6. Right to a Clean Environment: The government of the Northeast is charged with preserving the pristine and unique ecological habitats found within the region for the present and future generations of the Northeast.  The citizens of the Northeast are guaranteed a clean and healthy environment to live and work in; free from the dangers of pollution, disease, or lack of resources.
7. While this article may be amended to add additional rights, the inherent rights guaranteed in this article and constitution shall be inviolable and unchanged.

[/quote]

Aye.

[bore]

Aye

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

NAY

[Simfan34]

Nay.

[Senator Barnes]

Aye.

[Comrade Shmoo]

All Representatives have voted. With 3 ayes and 2 nays, the amendment passes. I think.

[Comrade Shmoo]

, I messed up. Also, it did not succeed. It failed.

We'll do this again, you know the rules. Voting now, 24 hours or until everyone votes blah blah blah.

Amendment to the New Northeast Constitution

Article V (Bill of Rights) of the New Northeast Constitution is amended by inserting the following clauses:
6. Right to a Clean Environment: The government of the Northeast is charged with preserving the pristine and unique ecological habitats found within the region for the present and future generations of the Northeast.
7. While this article may be amended to add additional rights, the inherent rights guaranteed in this article and constitution shall be inviolable and unchanged.

Aye.

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

NAY

[Senator Barnes]

I thank you very much for this, Mr. Speaker. I didn't ask for this out of some vain hope of its passage but rather for the principle of the thing.

Aye.

[Simfan34]

What is the purpose?

My vote remains Nay.

[Senator Barnes]

What is the purpose?

My vote remains Nay.

To have it down on the record that despite removing all the language deemed objectionable it still recieved the same vote.  It's good for the voters to know such things here.

[bore]

Aye

[Comrade Shmoo]

With 3 ayes and 2 nays, the amendment fails to gain 2/3 of the Assembly's support and fails.