Mideast Assembly Thread

[afleitch]

Here’s my first attempt at a bill. I read in this thread that there was some discussion of defining a “charity” so I figured I’d give it a try. This is largely based on the US federal government, but allows religious charities to receive funding without losing their ability to control standards and hiring practices.  I included an exception to the Mideast Adoption Statute and would recommend completely retooling that since the only issue it even mentions is same-sex adoption.

So in order to confer on religious organisations charitable status, you are happy to amend previous bills to roll back the rights of LGBT citizens when it comes to adoption and employment legislation?

[TJ in Oregon]

This bill does not outlaw adoption by LGBT citizens in the Mideast, it simply allows religiously affiliated agencies the ability to act in accordance with their own beliefs. In RL only 50% of US adoption agencies are privately run and presumably less than that in Altasia since the Mideast Adoption Statute forces religious organizations to choose between following their beliefs and serving children and families. Presumably not all private agencies are religiously affiliated not all that are would forbid adoption by LGBT citizens. In practice, adoption agencies discriminate by a wide array of characteristics, including race, marital status, wealth, and religion. For some reason, none of this is regulated at all, agencies are not even certified by anyone, but for some reason universal adherance to same-sex adoption is mandated. This bill would not change that; it simply grants a religious exception. Government agencies (and many private ones) would still practice same-sex adoption.

As for employment, this would simply allow religious organizations greater control over who they hire. It does not seem unreasonable to me for religious organizations to set their own standards in hiring practices, even requiring their employees to be members of that religion if they so choose. LGBT issues should be no exception to this.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Let's keep debate and discussion on the bills in their respective threads.

[Mopsus]

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[Mopsus]

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[Mopsus]

Reintroduced from the previous session.

[ZuWo]

Amendment to the Mideast Abortion Statute II

Section 1 of the Mideast Abortion Statute shall be amended to read:

"1: No abortions shall be permitted except in the cases of threat to the mother's health or a pregnancy caused by rape and/or incest."

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Since I can't find the Governor's office, I'll post this here:

The following bill has passed:

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[ZuWo]

Leave of absence

From August 14th to August 21st I will be absent and won't have any internet access. Thus, I will obviously not be able to cast any vote during the next week.

[ZuWo]

Constitutional Amendment to Article 4 of the Mideast Constitution

The passage “Voters shall be allowed to edit their ballots within 20 minutes of posting their original ballot or until the official end time of voting, whichever comes first.”

in Section 1 of Article 4 of the Mideast Constitution shall be amended to read

“A voter who edits his ballot any length of time after it has been posted in the voting booth thread for any Mideast Election nullifies it. Election authorities shall not count a ballot altered in the above manner.”

[TJ in Oregon]

This is a mix of Deleware laws, Sarbanes-Oxley, and a bit of my own personal thoughts. I am not an accountant and this is beginning to enter that realm if done in any more detail… so bear that in mind. If anyone sees a mistake somewhere feel free to correct me.

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Sorry everyone, I've been without power for the past 2 days (if your electric company has a problem turning on your power, it'd make sense for them to contact you, not just not turn it on and have you move into a powerless apartment).

[big bad fab]

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Assemblymen,

I wish to let you know that I've just signed my resignation from the Mideast Superior Court.

I thank you for your confirmations throughout the time.
I'm sure our Governor will propose to the Assembly a fine pick and that you'll examine it with your usual fairness and seriousness.

I hereby resign from my position as Judge in the Mideast Superior Court.

I thank you for your ever-renewed confidence, Mr. Governor, but my private life is now too busy for me to be able to assume any public charge in Atlasia.

I'll remain a citizen, full of pride of our great region and full of political awareness.
I'm sure your choice for the next Judge will be a good one.

[California8429]

I hereby appoint Happy Warrior to be the Superior Court Justice.

[ZuWo]

I'll give it a last try because I want to see whether we can find common ground on a mere reduction of the ballot editing time.

Constitutional Amendment – reduction of ballot editing time

The first Section of Article IV of the Mideast Constitution shall be amended to read:

Article IV - Election Regulations

Section 1: Election Procedure

1. All those considered to be qualified to vote from a State within the Mideast Region for federal elections, shall be qualified to vote in all elections, propositions, initiatives, recalls and Constitutional Amendments of the Mideast Region, except as where Regional Law may provide.

2. All candidates for electoral office in the Mideast Region shall be qualified to vote in the Mideast Region.

3. Voters shall be allowed to edit their ballots within 4 minutes of posting their original ballot or until the official end time of voting, whichever comes first.

4. No person shall campaign in the thread in which voting shall occur. If a person does so they shall have their vote(s) counted as invalid and shall be subject to further trial and punishment as the law may provide. A person's username and signature are exempt from this clause.

5. The Governor shall administer all elections, propositions, Constitutional Amendments and recalls, unless it be his recall or he shall be unavailable, in which case the Speaker shall administer the elections. If he or she is also unavailable, then the Judge shall administer the elections.

6. The exact time at which a given election or vote shall begin may be determined by the voting booth administrator subject to such restrictions as may be imposed by Law.

7. In order to be a candidate on the ballot, a candidate must declare their candidacy for that office on the Candidate Declaration Thread at least forty-eight hours prior to the earliest possible commencement of the election for that office.

8. Those elected shall take office at noon Eastern Standard Time on the first Friday after their election.

9. In order to exercise their powers, all officers of the Regional government must first be sworn into office.

10. The oath of office shall be as follows: "I, [state name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of [state office name] and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Mideast Region, so help me Dave."

[ZuWo]

Guidelines for Private Language Schools Act

1. A private language school in the Mideast is only allowed to offer language classes if it is licensed by the Mideast Department of Education.

2. In order to receive a license by the Mideast Department of Education, a private language school must meet all of the below-mentioned criteria. It is the task of the Mideast Department of Education to review and assess a language school which applies for a license and to grant, refuse or withdraw a particular language school a license based on its interpretation of the below-mentioned criteria:

a) All teachers of the language school in question must have the necessary professional qualifications to teach in a particular language.

b) All teachers of the language school in question must regularly take part in training courses related with their profession.

c) The main educational goal of the language school in question must be the long-term satisfaction and success of every student.

d) The language school in question must ensure that it constantly strives for the preservation of and the improvement in educational quality.

e) The language school in question must strive for a customer-oriented, economically efficient and effective management.

[afleitch]

3. Voters shall be allowed to edit their ballots within 4 minutes of posting their original ballot or until the official end time of voting, whichever comes first.

That violates the Atlasian Constitution.

Article IV Section 1:4 "Regions are autonomous of the federal government and may govern themselves and their elections as they wish, except where otherwise provided for in this Constitution."

Article V Section 2:8 "Persons who edit the post in which their vote(s) are contained at the place of voting after twenty minutes shall have their vote counted as void."

[ZuWo]

3. Voters shall be allowed to edit their ballots within 4 minutes of posting their original ballot or until the official end time of voting, whichever comes first.

That violates the Atlasian Constitution.

Article IV Section 1:4 "Regions are autonomous of the federal government and may govern themselves and their elections as they wish, except where otherwise provided for in this Constitution."

Article V Section 2:8 "Persons who edit the post in which their vote(s) are contained at the place of voting after twenty minutes shall have their vote counted as void."

I see. It is not made explicit in the Constitution, but I ask myself whether this doesn't count for federal elections only. The previous parts of this section of the constitution seem to deal with federal elections, so I'm not sure about this part.

But if it is indeed unconstitutional what I proposed in my amendment, I guess the same can be said about the Northeast "Vote Sanctity Act" ...

[afleitch]

3. Voters shall be allowed to edit their ballots within 4 minutes of posting their original ballot or until the official end time of voting, whichever comes first.

That violates the Atlasian Constitution.

Article IV Section 1:4 "Regions are autonomous of the federal government and may govern themselves and their elections as they wish, except where otherwise provided for in this Constitution."

Article V Section 2:8 "Persons who edit the post in which their vote(s) are contained at the place of voting after twenty minutes shall have their vote counted as void."

I see. It is not made explicit in the Constitution, but I ask myself whether this doesn't count for federal elections only. The previous parts of this section of the constitution seem to deal with federal elections, so I'm not sure about this part.

But if it is indeed unconstitutional what I proposed in my amendment, I guess the same can be said about the Northeast "Vote Sanctity Act" ...

I had some issues over the wording myself as 2:7 is, as you say concerned with federal elections, however the whole of Article V seems concerned with voter registration in general which lead me to read it as referring to all elections.

[HappyWarrior]

I'd just like to thank the Assembly members for their vote of confidence in confirming me as the new Mideast Judge.

[Mopsus]

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

My Internet is down.  Until further notice, the Assembly is on recess.

[ZuWo]

Once all new Assemblymembers will have sworn in, we should elect a Speaker. We have to get back to work!

Speaker Inks, your internet is apparently still down, isn't it?

[afleitch]

Any nominations for Speaker at this stage?

[ZuWo]

Any nominations for Speaker at this stage?

Inks, if he still wants to do the job and has a working internet connection.