2005 Puerto Rican Statehood Bill

[Gabu]

As introduced by Sen. MasterJedi:

2005 Puerto Rican Statehood Bill

I.   The commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are hereby the 51st state of the union of the Atlasia with the name of Puerto Rico.
II.   The Senate shall vote on which region/district Puerto Rico shall be designated into.
III.   The State of Puerto Rico shall be given full rights from whichever district/region it’s placed into and be under full jurisdiction of the Atlasian constitution.

I hereby open debate on this bill.

[MasterJedi]

Does anybody really need to ask me where I stand on this bill?

[Colin]

Well if this is to pass I would rather see the Virgin Islands remain a territory and not lumped in with Puerto Rico since they are very different culturally and linguistically and would probably not work well together if they were one state.

[MasterJedi]

Well if this is to pass I would rather see the Virgin Islands remain a territory and not lumped in with Puerto Rico since they are very different culturally and linguistically and would probably not work well together if they were one state.

If that needs to happen for this bill to pass I would vote for the change.

[Gabu]

Personally, I support this bill, although I agree with Colin Wixted's idea.  I also think it might be a good idea to say that this will only come into force after those from Puerto Rico approve of it, although simulating that when we have no one from Puerto Rico might be kind of hard.

[Sam Spade]

I oppose this bill and my feelings on this stuff are well-known. 

But if its admitted, I will vote for it to join the Southeast. 

[12th Doctor]

I oppose this bill, so long as the Virgin Islands are in it.  Having been to both places, I can say that Puerto Rico and the VI are quite different from one another.  It would be like puting PA and New Jersey together.

[Joe Republic]

Is there any way we can add Puerto Rico to Dave's map generator?  Just so that we can still make accurate maps and stuff.  If not, I have my own custom maps that people can use if they want.

[Gabu]

As nobody really seems to support the Virgin Islands being included, I introduce this amendment:

Section I is hereby stricken and replaced with the following:

I.   The commonwealth of Puerto Rico is hereby the 51st state of the union of Atlasia under the name of Puerto Rico.

[Emsworth]

I'm sorry to interfere, but wouldn't it be simpler if, instead of holding a separate vote on the matter, the region designation is determined by bill itself?

[Colin]

As nobody really seems to support the Virgin Islands being included, I introduce this amendment:

Section I is hereby stricken and replaced with the following:

I.   The commonwealth of Puerto Rico is hereby the 51st state of the union of the Atlasia under the name of Puerto Rico.

See no problems here.

[KEmperor]

We had a similar bill several sessions ago.  It was an idiotic idea then, and it's an idiotic idea now.  Main reason?  We don't HAVE anyone from Puerto Rico on the forum!

[Joe Republic]

We had a similar bill several sessions ago.  It was an idiotic idea then, and it's an idiotic idea now.  Main reason?  We don't HAVE anyone from Puerto Rico on the forum!

We don't have anybody from Utah either.  I think if Puerto Rico was a state in Atlasia, I'd be tempted to move there.

[Colin]

We had a similar bill several sessions ago.  It was an idiotic idea then, and it's an idiotic idea now.  Main reason?  We don't HAVE anyone from Puerto Rico on the forum!

We don't have anybody from Utah either.  I think if Puerto Rico was a state in Atlasia, I'd be tempted to move there.

We have people registered in Utah though. I would rather do something like have the GM make up some sort of referendum numbers, so we can say that we held a referendum, in Puerto Rico, since nobody is in Puerto Rico at this time.

[Gabu]

Is there any way we can add Puerto Rico to Dave's map generator?  Just so that we can still make accurate maps and stuff.  If not, I have my own custom maps that people can use if they want.

Actually, yes, there is.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a secret or not, but in the URL of the image produced by the EV Calculator, if you change the date to "2008" and then add a bit at the end that says "&PR=x;y;z" where x, y, and z are the winning party, the number of EVs, and the winning percentage, respectively, Puerto Rico is displayed on the map.

[Sam Spade]

As for practical realities, a good argument could be made that the Senate does not have the power to do this sort of thing under this Constitution and this bill could well face court challenge.

[Gabu]

As for practical realities, a good argument could be made that the Senate does not have the power to do this sort of thing under this Constitution and this bill could well face court challenge.

What would be the relevant sections of the Constitution to make that challenge?

[Sam Spade]

As for practical realities, a good argument could be made that the Senate does not have the power to do this sort of thing under this Constitution and this bill could well face court challenge.

What would be the relevant sections of the Constitution to make that challenge?

I'm sorry, I misread the Constitution.  It does have the power to do this in the Powers of the Senate.  Apologies. 

[Gabu]

As for practical realities, a good argument could be made that the Senate does not have the power to do this sort of thing under this Constitution and this bill could well face court challenge.

What would be the relevant sections of the Constitution to make that challenge?

I'm sorry, I misread the Constitution.  It does have the power to do this in the Powers of the Senate.  Apologies. 

Ah, okay.  I thought that was the case, but I figured I'd just make sure I wasn't missing something.

[Joe Republic]

Sorry for (kind of) spamming the thread, but I just wanted to test Gabu's map-jigging trick:



... Wow, it works!

[A18]

Well if this is to pass I would rather see the Virgin Islands remain a territory and not lumped in with Puerto Rico since they are very different culturally and linguistically and would probably not work well together if they were one state.

^ I agree completely with this guy.

The Virgin Islands should remain a territory, or better yet, be given independence. They should never become a state.

Puerto Rico, on the other hand, is very American, and should be a state.

[King]

I would rather support making all U.S. territories into registrable-Atlasian territories (which only vote for President) that will become states only if the registered voters of the territory wish to.  Those voters will also get to choose which region to join and what state they wish to be congruent to for redistricting.

That would, however, require this becoming a constitutional amendment.

[DanielX]

Sounds good. Are there any Atlasian Puerto Ricans willing to vote, though?

[jokerman]

Altough I'd rather not see the Virgin islands grouped in with Puerto Rico, I give full support to the admission of Puerto Rico as the 51st state. 

[King]

I still support us changing this to a constitutional amendment with this policy:

I would rather support making all U.S. territories into registrable-Atlasian territories (which only vote for President) that will become states only if the registered voters of the territory wish to.  Those voters will also get to choose which region to join and what state they wish to be congruent to for redistricting.