SENATE BILL: The Bicameral Birthing Amendment of 2014 (sent to the Regions?)

[TNF]

NAY

[TNF]

What's our current text on this? I have an amendment I'd like to propose.

[TNF]

This is what I'm basically thinking (will write a full amendment soon):

House of Representatives:

- Elected in January, May, September by party-list proportional representation (nationwide)
- Consists of 20 members
- Four month term
- ALL legislation must originate in the House
- The President's cabinet is shared by both the President and the House; the President nominates members of the cabinet, who must be members of the House of Representatives. The President also nominates the First Secretary, who acts as head of the cabinet and is responsible for maintaining the House queue. The cabinet must consist of a working majority of the House, and so it makes sense that the House would essentially be subject to partisan control.
- The First Secretary would maintain the queue and have the power to authorize which bills make it to the floor for votes. 10 bills would be allowed on the floor at a time: 5 of those bills would be selected by the First Secretary, 2 of those bills would be selected by the Opposition Leader, 2 of those bills would be selected by the President, and the final bill would be the oldest bill introduced that has not been otherwise selected.
- The Opposition Leader would represent the second-largest party in the House and would be given the option of maintaining a Shadow Cabinet.
- The President may dismiss members of the cabinet (including the First Secretary) but he may only do so subject to the approval of a vote of the House. The House may likewise reject any appointments to the cabinet by the President; all confirmations would be done by majority vote.
- The Opposition Leader may call for a vote of no confidence in the First Secretary and/or the Cabinet, in which case a majority vote for approval would be needed to dismiss the cabinet and/or the First Secretary from office. In the event that the cabinet or First Secretary is dismissed, the President will have the opportunity to either appoint a new cabinet/First Secretary (subject to House approval), or may call for early elections.
- In the event that early elections to the House are called, a voting booth to elect a new House shall be established two weeks afterward to elect the new House. In the meantime, the President shall appoint a caretaker government (subject to the approval of the House) that will maintain existing legislative affairs until the new vote is finished
- The election of a new House before the expiration of the term of the old one will simply mean said new House will serve out the term of the old House. For example, if a new House election is held in March, it will be subject to election again in May
- The House will consider all legislation and pass it via majority vote for action in the Senate.

The Senate
- Elected in January and in July
- Consists of 10 members
- Elected every six months by IRV in the regions
- Each Region gets two Senators
- The Senate has no legislative power. It cannot change laws proposed by the House of Representatives, however...
- ...the Senate has the power to critique and delay the implementation of said laws. A majority vote of the Senate can delay the implementation of a law for three months, a 2/3rds vote can delay the implementation of a law for six months, and a unanimous vote by the Senate can veto a law proposed by the House in its entirety.
- Otherwise the Senate will vote to approve the law passed by the House
- Vice President can break ties

The President
- Elected in conjunction with the House of Representatives for a four month term
- Limited to two consecutive terms in office, with non-consecutive terms permitted if time has passed between the first two consecutive terms and the next possible run for office
- Appoints Cabinet and First Secretary from majority party in the House
- All appoints subject to approval by the House
- if legislation is passed by the House and then approved by the Senate, the President may sign said act into law or delay it's implementation for a period of six months
- six month delay may be overridden by a 2/3rds vote of the House and a 2/3rds vote of the Senate
- in the event of a vacancy, Vice President assumes title of acting President, with an early election held two weeks later to fill out the term of the Presidency

Supreme Court
- Six members serving a single, non-consecutive and non-renewable 12 month term
- 3 members appointed by the President and subject to confirmation by the House
- 3 members chosen at random by drawing lots

[TNF]

The only issue I have with that is 30 offices are far too many. We'd never fill them all or if we did, they'd hardly ever be competitive.

I was just throwing numbers around, and yeah, 30 is probably way too many. Perhaps 5 Senators and 10 members of the House?

[TNF]

That sounds good. I really hope we can somehow get parliamentarianism out of this, that'd be fun.

[TNF]

I oppose both Judicial term limits or abolishing the regions. I also am not to keen on turning the Senate into a House of Lords.

So you think it's a good idea to have people serve for life on an imaginary court on the internet?

[TNF]

I oppose both Judicial term limits or abolishing the regions. I also am not to keen on turning the Senate into a House of Lords.

So you think it's a good idea to have people serve for life on an imaginary court on the internet?

A game built on voluntary participation and in which the discriminatory rulings that could be produced from a politicized court selection process would be very destructive to the said game. 

Every Court in the history of the real life United States has been political, even with lifetime judicial tenure.

[TNF]

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2. Article 1, Section 4 of the Third Constitution of Atlasia is amended to read:

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Section 3: The Addition of the House

1. Article 1, Section 8 of the Third Constitution shall be entitled “The House” and shall read:
   

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Section 4: House Districts and Elections

1. Article 1, Section 9 of the Third Constitution shall be entitled “Elections to the House” and shall read:

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[/quote]

[TNF]

Nay

[TNF]

I would prefer closed-list PR.

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Parties present a list of candidates for consideration. People vote directly for the party, and the seats are allocated proportionally to candidates in order of ranking on the list. For example, let's say the Labor Party had the following list:

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If the Labor Party got 30% of the vote, the first 2 persons on this list would be elected; and so on and so on.

[TNF]

I support open-list PR. I would not support a closed list PR, which I believe would be detrimental to small parties and independents.

Independents can run on an independent list. Small parties should have no problem in closed-list PR. If they can't get the percentage needed to enter the Senate, so what? That's an indication to broaden their electoral appeal.

[TNF]

Cynic is officially sponsor here. Do we want to do anything else with this, or are we ready to put it out to pasture?

[TNF]

Given that the sponsor indicated that he was ready for a final vote three days ago, and given that we haven't really heard anything else substantive on this matter, I'm going to open a final vote.

Senators, a final vote is now open on this amendment. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[TNF]

Given that the sponsor indicated that he was ready for a final vote three days ago, and given that we haven't really heard anything else substantive on this matter, I'm going to open a final vote.

Senators, a final vote is now open on this amendment. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

So what your saying is what I've been saying for the past several weeks doesn't matter to this debate?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

[TNF]

Abstain

[TNF]

This has enough votes to pass. Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[TNF]

A little under three hours left here.

[TNF]

Aye(s): Senator Goldwater, Senator Cynic, Senator bore, Senator North Carolina Yankee, Senator TyriontheImperialist, Senator Lumine, Senator Alfred F. Jones
Nay(s): Senator Cassius, Senator Spiral
Abstaining: Senator TNF

With seven votes affirmative, two opposed, and one abstention, the Bicameral Birthing Amendment of 2014 can be declared as having passed the Senate and is now sent to the Regions for their consideration.

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2. Article 1, Section 4 of the Third Constitution of Atlasia is amended to read:

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Section 3: The Addition of the House

1. Article 1, Section 8 of the Third Constitution shall be entitled “The House” and shall read:
   

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Section 4: House Districts and Elections

1. Article 1, Section 9 of the Third Constitution shall be entitled “Elections to the House” and shall read:

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