Civil Rights Act of 2014 (Passed)

[Bacon King]

I actually really like some parts of this bill, but I find that other parts are a bit odd. Here's a quick list of my concerns, comments, and questions for the sponsor:

1. I'm not opposed to Section 1, per se, but I believe it would be more appropriate as a Constitutional amendment. As is, it appears to be unconstitutional, because allowing secession via self-determination would violate Article IV's requirement that anything changing regional boundaries must have the consent of the region(s) in question. I also have concerns that it violates Article V's equal protection clause, because it specifically enumerates self-determination for only a select group of minorities while excluding others.

2. I'm concerned that there is no definition of race. Like, is anything stopping Afrikaner Atlasians from participating in the African Atlasian self-determination process? Can we rely on self-identification alone without risking the possibility of fraud? If not, how can we define racial categories fairly and in a non-discriminatory fashion?

3. I'm sympathetic to prohibiting extreme forms of hate speech, but the zero-tolerance approach taken here seems rather excessive.

4. What's the deal with prosecuting stuff as "aiding the enemy during wartime" and via "anti-terrorism statutes"?

5. The Postal Service stuff - is the intention to directly prohibit the post office from sending hateful stuff (as opposed to criminalizing it as a type of mail fraud or something for an individual to do it)? If so, that would be a huge privacy concern because it seems to be forcing the post office to open everyone's envelopes in order to ensure they aren't transporting prohibited material

6. I'm sympathetic to the principle of reparations, but under this bill's guidelines we'd literally be spending up to $1.26 trillion on them in just the first year. There's got to be a better way to do it than that. I'd like to see a Commission that allocates reparations owed by the Atlasian Government, the European nations whose colonial governments allowed slavery to exist prior to 1776, and the private and corporate entities who profited from the slave trade. Then the funds should go to a Humanitarian Trust Fund as proposed by the Restitution Study Group, that would use the money to most effectively fix the negative repercussions of slavery that remain to this day.

edit- and given the diffiulty of tracing ancestry back that far, I'd like to see a SOIA pogram funded to help people investigate their ancestries, or something

7. I'd be careful with the wording of Section 3, Clause 7, to clarify that abolishing all restrictions on birth control and abortions doesn't like abolish requirements that abortions have to be done by licensed medical professionals or anything crazy like that

8. Section 3, Clause 15 should specify that the government provides a reimbursement for the emergency contraceptives, to make sure we aren't implying we're forcing stores to give it away for free.

9. I dislike the affirmative action with strict quotas based on the proportion of total population. If we're going to go that route, at the very least base it on the proportion of the population in that job field.

10. I'm opposed to the prohibition on gendered restrooms because forcing women to use the same restroom as men seems discriminatory and potentially problematic to me

I can offer some amendments if there's genuine interest towards collaborating on a proposal that will pass.

[Bacon King]

motion to amend the bill by removing the following, and renumbering everything accordingly:

Section II: Clauses 1-6, 10
Section III: Clauses 1-6
Section IV: Clauses 1-6

These are clearly objectionable to almost everyone so let's clear them out and work backwards from there to figure out any sort of hate crime language that could pass.

[Bacon King]

Also do we still have motions for splitting bills because if so I'd like to do that for Section 1 and spin it off as a constitutional amendment

[Bacon King]

Why y'all still talking about speech freedom limitations like I didn't already get those removed from the bill

[Bacon King]

What was originally Section 4.10 remains within the law, unless I'm mistaken.

4.10 actually appears to be more lenient than existing Atlasian law banning gay-conversion therapy, so I don't see the issue here.

[Bacon King]

Amendment to remove of 4.10 (in original numbering)

Amendment to give Section 1 the status of a constitutional amendment

More to follow

[Bacon King]

What else to get an aye vote from everyone? Anyone have strong opinions about hiring quotas?

[Bacon King]

Section 1 has been amended to be the status of a constitutional amendment. Perhaps if you were active like me you would pay better attention...

[Bacon King]

I like the idea of Section 1 but it doesn't have the votes to pass so reluctant aye from me

[Bacon King]

Amendment offered:

In Section 2.4, 3.13, and 4.6, replace the phrase "in proportion to their numbers (as a percentage of the population)" with:

reasonably proportionate to their numbers (as a percentage of the local population, and if applicable, as a percentage of workers in that economic sector)

[Bacon King]

Amendment to replace this:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

With this:

[quote]1. Within thirty days of the passage of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall provide the Senate with a report on how to most effectively implement a program of reparations for African Atlasian descendents of slavery. This report shall allocate the estimated amount of reparations owed by the Atlasian government, Atlasia's regional and state governments, corporations historically complicit in the institution of slavery, and foreign governments that allowed slavery to occur in their colonial territories that eventually formed Atlasia. The report shall also propose guidelines on the most effective method(s) of collecting and disbursing these reparations.
2. The Republic of Atlasia shall honor all treaty obligations with Native Atlasians, and shall provide restitution for land and resources stolen from them over the course of the past four centuries. The nature and the amount of restitution provided shall be determined via negotiations between Native Atlasian nations and the Department of State, which shall begin no later than six months following the passage of this legislation. Whenever any restitution agreement provides for direct reparations to individual members of a Native Atlasian nation, the Republic of Atlasia shall provide identical reparations to all other Native Atlasians who are not registered members of the relevant Native Atlasian nation but can prove their eligibility for membership within it.

[Bacon King]

Hang on. How does one propose to make foreign governments pay any kind of reparations to African Atlasians? I can't think of any way in which this can be achieved.

I would assume a lawsuit at the World Court would be an option, failing any diplomatic agreement. It's just a request for a plan from the Secretary of the Interior, and he can determine the feasibility of something like that at his discretion.

[Bacon King]

My concern with that clause is that it takes an exclusively female space away from women. I'm especially concerned with like, bar bathrooms and other such places where sexual assaults might rise from this

[Bacon King]

^ I find NCYankee's second amendment to address my concerns and I welcome his constructive participation to the collaboration process here

[Bacon King]

I'll sponsor something for you Hagrid

[Bacon King]

I think this is finally passable - well crafted compromise everyone

[Bacon King]

Aye

[Bacon King]

Nay

[Bacon King]

Aye!