HOUSE BILL: Atlasian Regional Powers Commission Act (Passed)

[Clyde1998]

This bill seek to create a commission to look into the possibility of having exclusive powers for the regional legislatures - and out of the powers of Congress. I feel that this will make what happens in the regional legislatures more important, as they will become the only vehicle for change on certain issues. Additionally, if people wish to change specific polices on these things, they'd have to run for regional office.

I recognise that Congress has passed a bill (I think it passed ) that gives education to the regions and I feel that this commission will be able to look into other things. Potentially things like the minimum wage, policing and housing could become regional issues.

The reason why I've decided to go about this via a commission is because I feel that this will enable citizens to be in the commission, it will allow the regional leaders to be involved and it won't hold up a slot in Congress for something that could take a month or so. (The bill gives a limit of three months - hopefully it won't take that long ).

Question for the sponsor: why is the House getting to nominate more members than the Senate? I suppose it might be "against my self-interest" as a Representative or whatever to take issue with this, but I like the idea of an equality between both chambers. I also like the idea of 3 regional members and 3 federal members.

I wanted to have a split of three regional members, three federal members, plus one executive member - which obviously means that there would be a chamber getting to pick an additional member to the other. I chose the House, as the Senate confirms the cabinet positions - so I found it fairer that way.

[Clyde1998]

Question for the sponsor: why is the House getting to nominate more members than the Senate? I suppose it might be "against my self-interest" as a Representative or whatever to take issue with this, but I like the idea of an equality between both chambers. I also like the idea of 3 regional members and 3 federal members.

I wanted to have a split of three regional members, three federal members, plus one executive member - which obviously means that there would be a chamber getting to pick an additional member to the other. I chose the House, as the Senate confirms the cabinet positions - so I found it fairer that way.

Is the federal executive branch not federal?

Not in my mind it's not.

I meant three Congressional members (although Congress could nominate a citizen).

[Clyde1998]

Why does the Senate only get 1 member while the House gets 2?

I chose the House to have an extra nomination, as the Senate confirms the cabinet positions - so I found it fairer that way.

I would guess because the House has more members

Also this.

[Clyde1998]

Under "3. Timeline...", shouldn't it say "at most 90 days after the passage of the act" Clyde?

Yes - it should.

I propose this amendment:

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[Clyde1998]

Alright so, the federal branch refers to members of the Senate and/or the House?

Yeah - although Congress could nominate a citizen should it wish.

Also, the regional branch also means that we would have 1 member from every region (just wanted clarification)?

Yes; as the bill is written, it would be the Governors/Prime Ministers from each region representing the regions. I'd be happy to modify this to make it someone from the regional legislatures nominated by each Governor, as well.

One question - how would this be enforced? Say if we decide to make education regional only (just as an example), would that mean Congress is not allowed to pass legislation regarding education? What's stopping Congress from ignoring the commission and legislating anyway?

It would likely require both a piece of legislation and a constitutional amendment to implement the findings. My preferred option is that the constitutional amendment would only be to allow Congress to limit its own powers, while legislation is used to say where the powers have been limited.

The legislation method is what's used in the UK; allowing for asymmetrical powers for the regions. I feel that this is the best way, as there are times when it would be best for Congress to take powers away from a specific region should the legislature fall into inactivity. A constitutional amendment setting out the exclusive powers of the regions would slow the process of taking back powers, should it be required.

Are there any powers in particular you think the commission should specify or would want to look at? It'd be no good if a commission was thrown together without direction and failed to achieve anything because it lacked direction.

Some policy areas that I'd, personally, like the commission to discuss are:

Agriculture
Education and training
Employment Laws
Environment
Fire and rescue services
Fisheries
Food regulations
Forestry
Health and social services
Housing
Minimum Wage
Policing
Sport, the arts, culture
State government
Tourism
Transport (internal)
Water and flood defences

Although this shouldn't be taken as a complete list.

[Clyde1998]

Education and training
Health and social services[/size]

The first has a bill on the floor in the House

The second is an ongoing project that we all hope to finish as soon as the three musketeers can get their funkadelic schedules to align.

It is very easy to regionalize Healthcare, especially if you have an exchange system. You can transfer the exchanges to the regions, transfer regulatory responsibility and "access control". In so doing you basically give the regions the ability to determine the nature and structure of their healthcare system.

On the question of resources, the Federal gov't needs to maintain a presence because of the availability of resources issue (think VT and CO in RL). The Feds can pursue two options to ensure that coverage is maintained for the "special populations", and also for the poor and help for the middle class, in conjunction with the regionalized exchanges.

1. (Premium Support (my preference)/Tax Credits) directly to the people
2. Block Grants to the Regions

Anyway, to make a long story short, if there is anything you can regionalize easily, it is Healthcare, simply because we have the background of 3 years of experience, not to mention the current ongoing project.

The bill on the floor relates to school education - while the category of "education and training" includes things like universities, job training, pre-school, etc. I'm in support of the bill on the floor; any piece of legislation that comes of the commission should retain it, IMO, as part of its unification of regional powers into a single piece of legislation.

In regards to health, as you've mentioned, there's on an ongoing project - although the commission could help with the direction of this, in terms of whether healthcare should be structured at a regional or federal level.

Obviously, what I've suggested as topics of discussions are just suggestions. I haven't put in the legislation that the commission must discuss those topics - so it would be entirely upto the commission as to whether they wish to talk about these points.

[Clyde1998]

I was told there was another incoming amendment. I haven't talked to the member in question since Friday afternoon though, so I don't know if that is still the case.

I'll wait to see what comes of this before proceeding further with this bill.

[Clyde1998]

If there are no further amendments or debate to be had, I motion for a final vote on this.

[Clyde1998]

Aye