Northern Regional Committee discussion thread

[cinyc]

I put up a Northeast Regional Committee thread on the Regional Government board here:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=237585.0

First, we need to set the ground rules for the committee's work.  Then, we need to promptly organize the Senate elections (presumably next weekend).  Finally, we need to work on the constitution.  Hopefully, we can proceed rather quickly.

[cinyc]

Why not keep a 5 seat assembly, and make the lieutenant governor a separate position? Like in real life Virginia. We'd have a Governor/Lieutinant Governor that acts like President/Vice President of the region; except they'd be elected separately.

the difficulty, of course, is making the lieutenant governorship a meaningful position.

We can give the Lt. Governor all the bad chores, like updating the wiki and running elections, since we can't have a CJO that will do so and giving election-running powers to an appointed-for-life Associate Justice in Nyman is a recipe for disaster.

I prefer to have the Lt. Governor come from the Assembly, like in the Northeast, though.  I don't want to create too many offices.

[cinyc]

The committee has passed the following elections bill:

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This bill provides for the democratic election of both of our Region's Senators, as well as for referendums on the first and second amendments to the Constitution. Per Section 3, candidates for Senate have until 12:00 AM (EST) on Thursday to declare.

Senate candidates who have already declared now need to specify which seat he or she is running for.  The Class I seat will have a four-month term through October.  The Class II seat will have a two-month term through August.  Anyone else who declares needs to so specify, too.

[cinyc]

The committee should finish its job of writing the regional constitution so we have clear rules and not make retroactive rules to justify action that is not in its mandate.

The process for the federal amendment is a succession of dubious legal actions.

The end of the committee's business is near.  I expect that the constitution will be presented for a public vote within the next week, two weeks max.  We now have a bill of rights and will be debating more technical issues with the constitution in the next few days.

[cinyc]

The bill that is not a bill called a bill....

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The committee passed a bill. It doesn't seem to be part of the constitution.
The commitees do not have mandate to legislate. 

What specifically are you referring to?  The committee obviously has authority to set forth voting regulations for ratification of the constitution, and the provision requiring a referendum on the capital is in the proposed constitution.  Otherwise, there would be anarchy.  Do abstentions count?  What's the threshold for an affirmative vote?