Cabinet Restructuring Bill

[Democratic Hawk]

In my capacity PPT, I have deemed this to be forum affairs legislation and moved it into the fifth debate slot

Cabinet Restructuring Bill

1. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 1 is replaced with:

These Executive Departments are hereby established: Forum Affairs, Defense and Foreign Affairs, and Domestic Affairs. The Principal Officer of the Department of Forum Affairs shall be a Secretary, and the Principal Officer of the other departments shall be the Vice President.

2. Any mention of "Attorney General" in Atlasian Law shall be replaced with "Secretary of Forum Affairs".

3. Any mention of "Secretary of Defense", "Secretary of State", or "Secretary of Treasury" shall be replaced with "Vice President".

4. Any mention of "Justice Department" shall be replaced with "Department of Forum Affairs".

5. The mention of "Attorney General" in Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 4 shall be replaced with "Vice President".

Sponsor: Sen. Jake

[Democratic Hawk]

Any senator may challenge my decision pursuant to Article 3, Section 2, Clause 3 of the OSPR within the next 72 hours

Should 1/3 of the Senate (i.e. 3) concur then my decision is overruled

'Hawk'

[© tweed]

I'd lose my job!  That'd suck!

[afleitch]

Cabinet restructuring I believe is necessary; but should be left for the next president's administration to deal with, with discussion and debate during the preceding campaign. It is not a pressing issue that the senate should be adressing and Jake's proposal of having one cabinet member with other duties given to the Vice-President I believe to be too sweeping. The VP should concern himself with the affairs of the Senate and not be given an expanded portfolio. I believe there should be two cabinet members if cabinet reform is supported; one responsible for internal affairs and one for external and foreign affairs, but again I believe this is an issue that should be adressed by the next administration.

[Dr. Cynic]

I think it really pushes too much onto the Vice-President. I'm open to reform, but I think when we consider what happened with Q, how can we give the Veep all these duties?

[Јas]

Whilest I'm open to the idea of amending the form the cabinet takes and reducing it in size, I would question certain aspects of the bill in it's current form. In my opinion, the job of Secretary of Forum Affairs is broad enough  and time-consuming wnough as it is without burdening the occupant further. I believe that the office should be left unchanged.

The Attorney General has, usually, a very manageable set of tasks primarily that of being the chief archivalist of our work and that of representing the government in court. In the latter regard the skillset required of the occupant is different than in any of the other cabinet positions, and I see little efficiency gains in axing the role.

The Treasury Secretary is dependent on economic information from a GM to work effectively. I am on the fence about whether or not this position adds greatly to the game, even with an active GM. Though if the powers of the position are to be moved anywhere I would prefer that they go to the President rather than the Vice President, though I would have no problem with a President giving the VP special responsibility in this or any other departmental area.
 
I am in favour of the merging of the secretaryships of Defence and State. These jobs are closely linked and tend to have a light workload. I believe afleitch suggested a Department of External Affairs, an idea I believe which is of merit and worthy of consideration.

I would like to hear some comments on these ideas before submitting an amendment to try an effect some of my suggested ideas.

[Jake]

The AG's only meaningful task lately is to put bills onto the Wiki. That job can be easily transferred to the SoFA, PPT, or Dean of the Senate (who could act as a type of Senate Clerk). It has no real purpose, as they've represented Atlasia in court about twice in our history.

State, Defense, and Treasury honestly don't do anything critical to the game right now, and until population is up and we have an active GM, I'm fine with not having anyone active in that position, as it doesn't matter much.

[© tweed]

If this passes I will build a "shadow government" consisting of my fellow soon-to-be-unemployed cabinet members.

[minionofmidas]

I'd lose my job!  That'd suck!

That would free you to run for a different one. One with actual responsibilites. And Atlasia needs more good candidates.

[minionofmidas]

The AG's only meaningful task lately is to put bills onto the Wiki. That job can be easily transferred to the SoFA, PPT, or Dean of the Senate (who could act as a type of Senate Clerk). It has no real purpose, as they've represented Atlasia in court about twice in our history.

State, Defense, and Treasury honestly don't do anything critical to the game right now, and until population is up and we have an active GM, I'm fine with not having anyone active in that position, as it doesn't matter much.

It was more than twice - way more, at times - but otherwise I concur with the Senator's sentiments.

[MasterJedi]

I'd lose my job!  That'd suck!

That would free you to run for a different one. One with actual responsibilites. And Atlasia needs more good candidates.

He updates the Wiki, that's an important part of the AG's job.

[Јas]

The AG's only meaningful task lately is to put bills onto the Wiki. That job can be easily transferred to the SoFA, PPT, or Dean of the Senate (who could act as a type of Senate Clerk). It has no real purpose, as they've represented Atlasia in court about twice in our history.

OK, if an amendment was submitted delegating the AG's functions (as outlined in the Citizen Access to Law Act (F.L. 13-3) appropriately, then I would have little problem with the abolition of the office.

State, Defense, and Treasury honestly don't do anything critical to the game right now, and until population is up and we have an active GM, I'm fine with not having anyone active in that position, as it doesn't matter much.

I am quite sympathetic to this in that, at present the positions are fairly redundant. However, I still favour somewhat less radical changes.

I will propose the following wholesale amendment to the bill. I have retained the position of AG but should an appropriate amendment be proffered abolishing the role, I could be convinced to go along with it.

Proposed amendment:
1. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 1 is replaced with:

These Executive Departments are hereby established: Forum Affairs; External Affairs; and Justice. The Principal Officers of these departments shall be Secretaries, with the exception of the Department of Justice whose principal officer shall be the Attorney General.

2. All duties or responsibilities ascribed in law to the "Secretary of Defense" and "Secretary of State" shall hereinafter be vested in the "Secretary of External Affairs".
 
3. All duties or responsibilities ascribed in law to the "Secretary of Treasury" shall hereinafter be vested in the President.

[Jake]

So, we lose one position? Doesn't really do much of anything.

[Јas]

So, we lose one position? Doesn't really do much of anything.

The cabinet would be reduced by two. The Treasury Department is axed completely and the Departments of State and Defence are merged thus effectively eliminating one more cabinet position.

[afleitch]

So, we lose one position? Doesn't really do much of anything.

It doesn't do much that is required as it stands anyway and shifts responsibilty onto the VP and the GM, the two government positions that have actually been plagued with recent problems, thats why I had concerns with your proposed method of cabinet restructuring. Jas' amendment I believe makes better short and long term sense.

[Jake]

I see. Sorry, I thought there was a break after Domestic and Justice. Still, only one cabinet officer is needed right now, which my bill maintains. Anything less retains inefficiency.

Anyway, an amendment, to be added to Section Two

All powers delegated to the Attorney General in F.L 13-3 shall be delegated to the Dean of the Senate.

Afleitch - My amendment gives nothing to the GM, and gives responsibility-less positions to the VP. At the same time, it frees up four officers to preform other positions.

[Јas]

I see. Sorry, I thought there was a break after Domestic and Justice.

Ah, I can see how that would happen. I have changed the wording of the amendment, removing all mention of Domestic Affairs. I don't believe it affects a substantial change to the nature of the amendment.

[Ebowed]

I am supportive of cutting back on the number of cabinet positions, however I must say that we should not alter the duties of the Vice President at the same time, as it would actually be beyond the allowed constitutional scope of this bill.  Additionally, instead of putting the duties of updating the Wiki into the Constitution should the Department of Justice be abolished, we could allow anyone in appropriate power to update the wiki and keep it out of the law.  I am minded to argue that making it a legal duty to update the wiki is part of the spirit of red tape that has driven some people away from Atlasia.  As long as there is interest in having an up-to-date archive of our laws, the statutes on the wiki will be updated by whoever has the time to do it; there was a period a couple months ago where I took the responsibility for a little while with the Attorney General being busy.

[minionofmidas]

How about just abolishing treasury, state and defense, and leaving only the AG and SoFA?

[Democratic Hawk]

I must say that we should not alter the duties of the Vice President at the same time, as it would actually be beyond the allowed constitutional scope of this bill

I agree

As far as Cabinet restructuring goes, I regard the following options as being feasible:

1. Merging the Secretariats of Defense and State into one Secretariat of External Affairs (or the Exterior)

2. Merging the Secretariat of Forum Affairs and the office of Attorney General into one Secratariat of Internal Affairs (or the Interior)

3. Abolishing the position of Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs

This would reduce the federal executive branch from 8 members to 5

I'm against giving the Vice President added functions simply because I'm concerned as to what would happen in the event of any future Vice President going on a prolonged and unexplained absence. We have already encountered such an untenable situation and another just won't do

That said, a recent speech of mine addressed the subject of government structural reform and I stated loud and clear that I hoped that this whole issue would be a central theme in the campaigns of those Atlasians seeking the presidency in October; therefore, I'm sympathetic to the sentiments expressed by Afleitch

'Hawk'

[Јas]

2. Merging the Secretariat of Forum Affairs and the office of Attorney General into one Secratariat of Internal Affairs (or the Interior)

3. Abolishing the position of Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs

This would reduce the federal executive branch from 8 members to 5

On these specific points, as I've already stated, I feel that the position of SoFA is one which already requires a significant commitment. I do not wish to see that office burdened further. Such a concern was likely the motivation behind the creation of the Dep. SoFA, a position I haven;t moved to abolish because if a SoFA feels it advantageous to appoint an official assistant, I feel such an accomodation should be allowed.

[Democratic Hawk]

2. Merging the Secretariat of Forum Affairs and the office of Attorney General into one Secratariat of Internal Affairs (or the Interior)

3. Abolishing the position of Deputy Secretary of Forum Affairs

This would reduce the federal executive branch from 8 members to 5

On these specific points, as I've already stated, I feel that the position of SoFA is one which already requires a significant commitment. I do not wish to see that office burdened further. Such a concern was likely the motivation behind the creation of the Dep. SoFA, a position I haven;t moved to abolish because if a SoFA feels it advantageous to appoint an official assistant, I feel such an accomodation should be allowed.

Fair enough. I've no intention of proposing an amendment along the lines of what I've suggested

'Hawk'

[True Democrat]

I don't know what all has been said already in terms of a comprehensive amendment, but I would think something like this would be in order:

1. Attorney General powers taken over by Dean of the Senate, except for prosecution, which the Vice President would take over.  If the VP is the one accused, the President appoints someone else to handle the prosecution.

2. VP also handles State, Defense, and Treasury departments.

3. SoFA remains as is.

4. VP is elected separately from Pres (make for a more interesting game I think).  The VP is elected in the midterms.

[Democratic Hawk]

I don't know what all has been said already in terms of a comprehensive amendment, but I would think something like this would be in order:

1. Attorney General powers taken over by Dean of the Senate, except for prosecution, which the Vice President would take over.  If the VP is the one accused, the President appoints someone else to handle the prosecution.

2. VP also handles State, Defense, and Treasury departments.

3. SoFA remains as is.

4. VP is elected separately from Pres (make for a more interesting game I think).  The VP is elected in the midterms.

Any Senator wishing to propose this as an amendment?

'Hawk'

[True Democrat]

I don't know what all has been said already in terms of a comprehensive amendment, but I would think something like this would be in order:

1. Attorney General powers taken over by Dean of the Senate, except for prosecution, which the Vice President would take over.  If the VP is the one accused, the President appoints someone else to handle the prosecution.

2. VP also handles State, Defense, and Treasury departments.

3. SoFA remains as is.

4. VP is elected separately from Pres (make for a more interesting game I think).  The VP is elected in the midterms.

Any Senator wishing to propose this as an amendment?

'Hawk'

Of course someone would have to rewrite it in bill form to propose it as an amendment.