IDS 2: Stop PMing Me Act

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The amendment is incorporated into the text.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Where are we now? Not sure id support any form of this bill due to its constitutional issues, but I am curious nonetheless.

[Associate Justice PiT]

    This is the bill:

1. Effective immediately upon the passage of this bill, the government of the South shall establish a Do Not PM list. 

2. Any voters living in the IDS who does not wish to receive campaign PMs may add themselves to the Do Not PM List by signing their username in the list's thread. 

3. Any voters whose names have been added to the list should not be sent a sample ballot, encouraged to vote for a specific candidate by either a candidate or a candidate's supporters via PM, or sent a PM reminding them to vote in any Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election.

4. Anyone wishing to be removed from the Do Not PM List may have their name removed by making a post in the list thread requesting that their name be taken of the Do Not PM List.  However, no voter may add or remove himself from the Do Not PM List at any point during either last 48 hours before the voting booth opens in a Southern Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election or while the actual voting in one of the aforementioned types of elections is underway in this region.

5. Any voter adding his name during the period described in section four shall not be recognized as having added his name to the Do Not PM List until the officially designated close of the election.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Okay. I'll still vote against it because it's useless legislation and already was tried and failed during the Maroduke administration, but at least the current bill is constitutional.

Who's job will it be to keep the list?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Probably the Governor. I think something like this would fit nicely into the regional Almanac.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I guess if we want to have a needless list, that's fine, but without any true way to punish people from PMing, I just think it creates a useless system that hardly anyone will pay any attention to. This is more of like a "suggested do not do" list, but if you break it, then nothing happens.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It is useful to have a list somewhere, voluntary or not. One concern that comes to mind is that if someone has to tell a half-dozen political operatives not to PM them (and more new ones as time goes on), they might give up and just deregister instead.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I still stand by my position that a Do Not PM list doesn't work and isn't a useful tool, and I base that belief off past experiences when we tried to do it at the federal level. It just didn't work. We couldn't keep it straight. People didn't read it. There was no punishment for violating it.

A voluntary list is acceptable and if we pass it, that's fine, but I still see no need for it. I view this as an already attempted method that failed, and bringing it back is just a waste of effort and resources that could be directed somewhere else.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I feel you're probably right, Duke. Regardless I think this bill has run its course, really. There's not much more to be said on the issue. If there are no objections then I will be opening the final vote on it late tomorrow and we can get on to other stuff.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yep. Let's vote on it and move on. It's a noble idea but not really practical. Politics is politics, and PM campaigns will happen. They always have in Atlasia. You have the freedom to campaign as you wish.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Alright, a final vote on the bill is open.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Aye

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Nay

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm really ambivalent over this. I think I'll vote aye, because it would be convenient for me and hopefully for other party operatives. I also hope it would be convenient for voters who do not want to be PM'd. The bill will be presented to the Governor for his signature.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

     I'm really ambivalent over this. I think I'll vote aye, because it would be convenient for me and hopefully for other party operatives. I also hope it would be convenient for voters who do not want to be PM'd. The bill will be presented to the Governor for his signature.

I would hope you'd vote aye, given that the I agreed to water down the bill as you proposed under the impression that if that happened then you would vote for it

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm really ambivalent over this. I think I'll vote aye, because it would be convenient for me and hopefully for other party operatives. I also hope it would be convenient for voters who do not want to be PM'd. The bill will be presented to the Governor for his signature.

I would hope you'd vote aye, given that the I agreed to water down the bill as you proposed under the impression that if that happened then you would vote for it

     I would have abstained all things being equal, but the discussion that went into remaking this bill was what pushed me to vote aye.