NE2: Northeast Assembly Devolution Resolution

[DKrol]

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The debate period will last for 72 hours, to end at 5:00PM EST on Sunday, June 14th - although debate may be extended at that time as the Speaker sees fit.

Rep. Clyde1998, you have 36 hours to advocate for your bill.

[Clyde1998]

Sorry for bringing this back so quickly, but Bore suggested that we made the devolution bill a resolution instead. This would basically be a principle vote - on whether you support increased powers in principle. We would then lobby the Senate to get them to introduce a bill on the subject.

[Dr. Cynic]

There are still a host of things on this that I wouldn't want to see devolved to the regions and probably wouldn't be good if they were. I support some increased powers, but I'm a federalist at heart.

[Clyde1998]

I'll allow amendments to this - but I'd want to hear from the other representatives before deciding if they are friendly or not.

I feel that everyone in the assembly supports more powers - the issue is finding which powers we feel should have as a region.

[Prince of Salem]

Yes! Now we're talking

[pikachu]

I'm very much a regionalist, but I think that it's best for the federal government to still have power in transportation and broadcasting, among other things, considering that these issues to tend to cross regional borders.

[Prince of Salem]

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I hate to do this, but the Federal government still needs SOME money Plus, we should also consider a change in monetary policy in favor of regional legislatures

[Clyde1998]

Based on what Pikachu and Altsomn have said:

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Also, if there are any sectors that anyone can see that I've missed off - please mention them, so we can discuss them.

[bore]

Unfortunately I don't think the categories are as simple as, say, health or housing or education. An inter city inter region rail network for instance should clearly be a federal responsibility but the same can't be said for suburban rail or country roads. Similarily both the federal and the regional government have taxation powers, and the same is true in different ways for most broad categories.

Personally this resolution seems to be largely committing to the principle of greater regional autonomy not so much the in depth technicalities, which could be dealt with later. If you do want to recommend specific areas the best way to do it is to recommend which parts of the powers of the senate in the constituion should be stricken or amended, because anything not mentioned there is a regional power.

[Clyde1998]

Unfortunately I don't think the categories are as simple as, say, health or housing or education. An inter city inter region rail network for instance should clearly be a federal responsibility but the same can't be said for suburban rail or country roads. Similarily both the federal and the regional government have taxation powers, and the same is true in different ways for most broad categories.

Personally this resolution seems to be largely committing to the principle of greater regional autonomy not so much the in depth technicalities, which could be dealt with later. If you do want to recommend specific areas the best way to do it is to recommend which parts of the powers of the senate in the constituion should be stricken or amended, because anything not mentioned there is a regional power.

I feel that this should be the last thing that we vote on for this assembly term. If this passes - I feel the Senate should open a constitutional convention to help decide the specifics of each area. This resolution lays out the rough guidelines that our assembly would want in terms of powers in a general sense.

I've started writing a list of powers that is a lot more specific than the list in the resolution (using the Scotland Act, 1998 as a guideline). I've only partially written the "reserved issues" section - and it's around two pages long already...

I can't believe that there is a section in the Scotland Act saying that the UK Government has control over units of measurement...

[bore]

Unfortunately I don't think the categories are as simple as, say, health or housing or education. An inter city inter region rail network for instance should clearly be a federal responsibility but the same can't be said for suburban rail or country roads. Similarily both the federal and the regional government have taxation powers, and the same is true in different ways for most broad categories.

Personally this resolution seems to be largely committing to the principle of greater regional autonomy not so much the in depth technicalities, which could be dealt with later. If you do want to recommend specific areas the best way to do it is to recommend which parts of the powers of the senate in the constituion should be stricken or amended, because anything not mentioned there is a regional power.

I feel that this should be the last thing that we vote on for this assembly term. If this passes - I feel the Senate should open a constitutional convention to help decide the specifics of each area. This resolution lays out the rough guidelines that our assembly would want in terms of powers in a general sense.

I've started writing a list of powers that is a lot more specific than the list in the resolution (using the Scotland Act, 1998 as a guideline). I've only partially written the "reserved issues" section - and it's around two pages long already...

I can't believe that there is a section in the Scotland Act saying that the UK Government has control over units of measurement...

Well no one wants a kg to be less in scotland than the rest of the UK

If we're talking a convention rather than just an amendment then the matter is not at all in the senate's hands, at least not initially, with the relevant section of the constitution being here:

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[Clyde1998]

Unfortunately I don't think the categories are as simple as, say, health or housing or education. An inter city inter region rail network for instance should clearly be a federal responsibility but the same can't be said for suburban rail or country roads. Similarily both the federal and the regional government have taxation powers, and the same is true in different ways for most broad categories.

Personally this resolution seems to be largely committing to the principle of greater regional autonomy not so much the in depth technicalities, which could be dealt with later. If you do want to recommend specific areas the best way to do it is to recommend which parts of the powers of the senate in the constituion should be stricken or amended, because anything not mentioned there is a regional power.

I feel that this should be the last thing that we vote on for this assembly term. If this passes - I feel the Senate should open a constitutional convention to help decide the specifics of each area. This resolution lays out the rough guidelines that our assembly would want in terms of powers in a general sense.

I've started writing a list of powers that is a lot more specific than the list in the resolution (using the Scotland Act, 1998 as a guideline). I've only partially written the "reserved issues" section - and it's around two pages long already...

I can't believe that there is a section in the Scotland Act saying that the UK Government has control over units of measurement...

Well no one wants a kg to be less in scotland than the rest of the UK

If we're talking a convention rather than just an amendment then the matter is not at all in the senate's hands, at least not initially, with the relevant section of the constitution being here:

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Why is it so hard to open up a constitutional convention? I know it would keep the constitution steady - but how often has a constitutional convention been opened?

In terms of sorting out which is in control of the Atlasian Government and not, I've made an early draft of "reserved matters":

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[DKrol]

Debate will be extended another 24 hours.

[DKrol]

We will now move to a 48 hour vote.

[Clyde1998]

Aye

[Dr. Cynic]

Might as well have the debate.

Aye

[pikachu]

Aye

I think that more clarity over federal and regional powers would benefit the game a lot.

[pikachu]

So what's the next step for this?

[Clyde1998]

So what's the next step for this?

I'll create a campaign group in a moment - and I'll attempt to open a constitutional convention (I need to double check how to do that though) on the subject and hopefully the Senate will look into this and deliver something along that can give clarity over what powers the regions have and that gives the regions a powerful place in Atlasia.

Failing that - I feel we should introduce a bill into the Public Consultation and Legislation Submissions Thread to get the Senate to discuss a bill on the issue.

EDIT: I've opened a sign up for a constitutional convention here: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=214876.0