MA: Fix the Constitution Act (Final Vote)

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Aye

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Nay. 50 % plus one vote minimum. I'm rather skeptical in giving citizens veto power over legislation period. Elections should have consequences and giving citizens such a liberal veto on legislation kinda undermines that.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I'm rather skeptical in giving citizens veto power over legislation period. Elections should have consequences and giving citizens such a liberal veto on legislation kinda undermines that.

I agree mostly, but there are certain hypothetical situations (ie: the Assembly gives itself a life term) where I can see this passage proving beneficial. Keep in mind that 25% simply triggers a referendum; you would still need a majority to overturn the law. In any case, the fact that this provision does not seem to have been utilized much in the past leads me to believe that it will not be abused.

[Boston Bread]

The amendment has passed 3-1.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I propose the following amendment to Article III:

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Essentially, the purpose of this amendment is to prevent an inactive governor from paralyzing the regional government.

[Boston Bread]

I agree with Truman's amendment.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

I agree

[Boston Bread]

I am calling a vote on Truman's amendment. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Aye

[Boston Bread]

Aye

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Aye

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Aye

[Hatman 🍁]

Abstain

[Boston Bread]

The amendment passes 4-0.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Are there any more amendments/ suggestions?

[Boston Bread]

I will call a vote tomorrow if there are no objections.
If there are any parts of the amendment that would cause you to vote nay, say it now so we can still get it worked out.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

What is the basis for the description of the governor's powers in article 1, section 3?  I'm just wondering if there are any changes there from current law.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

What is the basis for the description of the governor's powers in article 1, section 3?  I'm just wondering if there are any changes there from current law.

Our current Constitution does not contain an explicit, compact enumeration of the governor's powers. Specific sections do grant him authority to sign/veto laws, appoint judges, administer elections, and fill vacancies in the Assembly, so I included those here; law enforcement, commanding the militia, and appointing the heads of executive departments are traditional executive powers, so I included those as well.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Two issues I see here:

"Commanding the militia" when this militia is not otherwise established or described in the Regional Constitution.

and

Exclusive authority over the voting booth, which would make it impossible to conduct an election if the governor was for whatever reason not available.  Also the region at one point iirc enacted conditions for a separate voting booth administrator in cases where there seemed to be a conflict of interest, and this would prohibit that.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Two issues I see here:

"Commanding the militia" when this militia is not otherwise established or described in the Regional Constitution.

Actually, Article III, Section 3 allows for the Assembly to "call forth the militia in times of war". As for a more detailed description of the militia, I would support a "Militia Law" outlining the structure of the militia (after the ruckus surrounding the Civil Rights Act, it seems like a good idea to have one), but I don't think it's a good idea to enshrine such an Act in the Constitution.

Exclusive authority over the voting booth, which would make it impossible to conduct an election if the governor was for whatever reason not available.  Also the region at one point iirc enacted conditions for a separate voting booth administrator in cases where there seemed to be a conflict of interest, and this would prohibit that.

The governor's power to conduct elections is not exclusive. Article IV, Section 4 states:

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I hope this sufficiently addresses your concerns!

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Thank you for the response, but I believe there is a contradiction here between Article I and IV, and the language gives exclusive authority to the governor in terms of appointments (Lt Gov and Judicial) which are presently, by tradition if not by law, subject to assembly approval. I'll see if I can come up with something to address this.

I am not sure about giving the assembly the express authority to call up a militia without clarifying this power further. I'll have to think about that.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

are you guys trying to repeal my balanced budget amendment again? -_-

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Thank you for the response, but I believe there is a contradiction here between Article I and IV, and the language gives exclusive authority to the governor in terms of appointments (Lt Gov and Judicial) which are presently, by tradition if not by law, subject to assembly approval. I'll see if I can come up with something to address this.

Article III lists confirming gubernatorial appointments as one of the powers held by the Assembly. For some reason, I did not specify that in Article I. We could fix that by adding "with the consent of the Assembly" to the end of that clause. As for the contradictions between Articles I and IV, there are a number of potential ways to resolve that, from deleting the word "exclusive" (which has the downside of somewhat weakening the separation of powers) to simply removing the applicable clause from Article I entirely (which would defeat the idea of centralizing all gubernatorial powers in one section). Thoughts?

[Boston Bread]

I suggest removing the word exclusive and adding in something along the lines of "with assembly approval", to keep with tradition.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

ok, here is an amendment for that:

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