Mideast Assembly Thread

[Franzl]

I again express my confusion as to why you all would need to elect a Speaker...

and I express my confusion as to why we apparently need to be elected again.

[Franzl]

I see no reason to oppose this legislation, seems like a common sense approach.

[Franzl]

I support it. I think electing a speaker would make things run more smoothly, and more importantly, increase activity in the Assembly. It's important to have someone regulate the debate and call for votes on important pieces of legislation in order to make sure that we as an assembly do the job for which we have been elected.

[Franzl]

If he is willing to accept, I hereby nominate HappyWarrior. (assuming, of course, that the suggestion is passed)

[Franzl]

Aye

[Franzl]

My nomination stands.

[Franzl]

If nobody objects, we could call a vote now.

I vote HappyWarrior.

[Franzl]

I vote for HappyWarrior. I think he'll make a great presiding officer.

we can save him the trouble of voting for himself then. That's settled. HappyWarrior, congratulations.

[Franzl]

Aye

[Franzl]

I agree, I won't vote in favor unless Section 3 is eliminated.

[Franzl]

Aye

[Franzl]

In the next 2 weeks, I won't be online too much. I might pop in from time to time to check on everything, but I'm not sure how often I'll manage.

For the bailout proposal of the Mideast....if possible...I'll vote AYE in advance.

[Franzl]

First I vote too early...and now I'm too late...

anyway, I still vote AYE, for what it's worth!

[Franzl]

Welcome Inks and Peter to the Mideast Assembly...

Considering I'm the only member who has been RE-elected to this great office...I wish get things started as quickly as possible. I urge you both to swear yourselves in as quickly as possible so we can get to work for the people of the Mideast.

Then I wish to determine the Speaker of the Assembly... I hereby announce my candidacy, by the way.

Let the fun begin!

[Franzl]

Can we go ahead and hold a vote then?

Inks, do you have any wish to be speaker? If not...then we might not need a vote...

[Franzl]

I apologize....that was kind of rude

OK...I call the vote, as Inks has made the motion:

AYE

[Franzl]

It's been almost 24 hours....and I guess I can take that as a nomination, with 2 votes, can't I?

Anyway, thank you to both of you.

[Franzl]

I heartily vote to confirm you as Speaker

thank you, sir. 3/3 is more heartwarming than 2/3

[Franzl]

I agree with the principle...but a couple of things aren't entirely clear:

a.) where does the money come from? It should be stated in the act how we will fund the project.

b.) Section III/3: The scholarship MUST be revoked. It'd be foolish to pay for a citizen's education in another region.

c.) what criteria do we use to grant these scholarships. II/6 states that students will receive full or partial support....what does the question depend on?

d.) I think the required GPA shouldn't be set in stone like that. We should decide how much money we can spend on the entire project, than we can set a quota based on demand for the scholarships. The required GPA could even be potentially higher....but we need a mechanism to make sure we don't get in way over our heads financially. (the same goes for SAT and ACT scores...I don't think we should set concrete limits.)

[Franzl]

Well it may very well be incredibly hard to get these scholarships...but we have to be honest that we only have limited financial means...I think it's fiscally irresponsible to guarantee scholarships solely based on concrete grade point averages.

Imagine if....I dunno....15% of students meet every requirement in this amendment, but we can only afford to pay for 8.5%.

We need variable limits....based on supply and demand....to ensure that the program works, in my opinion.


EDIT: Of course that doesn't mean we HAVE to fund exactly 8.5% of students....we do need some sort of absolute minimum grade point average....maybe 3.25 or so....that can be raised according to demand.

[Franzl]

to get to the funding aspect....do we even have an official income/sales tax, or do we always just talk in general about "raising or lowering" it?

[Franzl]

to get to the funding aspect....do we even have an official income/sales tax, or do we always just talk in general about "raising or lowering" it?

From what I can tell, it's the latter.

That makes debate about raising and lowering taxes kind of pointless....but alright

Anyway...I would like to add the source of funding to the bill in some way. Then add the part about variable eligibility requirements...and I think we can agree quite quickly on passing the act.

[Franzl]

Section I/4: The Mideast will fund the above mentioned program by an increase of the regional income tax.

and concerning section 2, I want to either eliminate the concrete limits....or set them quite low in order to allow us to raise them accordingly when appropriate. I'll opt for leaving them out right now:

Section 2: Potential student's eligibility will be determined by their GPA and SAT/ACT scores. The required level will be determined annually based on overall supply and demand of government support. No candidate whose family's yearly income is greater than $125,000 will be considered.

[Franzl]

Here's what I'd do with the bill (and most of this is just fixing up the bill - if you want to take out the stuff about GPA and SAT/ACT, that's fine, I just rearranged it so that it flows better as a bill):

This is the first piece of legislation I would like the Assembly to consider:

The Mideast Education Opportunity Act of 2008:
Section I:
1.   Because the number of college graduates in the Mideast has declined in recent years,
2.   And because the economic difficulties have further impacted the ability to pay for college,
3.   The Mideast has resolved to pass legislation that will ameliorate the financial difficulties of paying for college.

Section II:
1.   Beginning with the graduating class of June, 2009, all students who meet a majority of the following requirements will be provided with a full or partial academic scholarship to any 4 year school in the Mideast:
a.   A four year GPA of at least 3.6,
b.   A median family income of under $125,000 per year,
c.   An SAT score of at least 2,000 or an ACT score of at least 30,

Section III:
1.   In addition to the requirements set out in Section II, the recipient must sign a pledge to attend, for all 4 years, a school in the Mideast.
2.   If the student chooses, sometime after receiving their scholarship, to attend a school not in the Mideast, then the scholarship can shall be revoked, although it will not necessarily be so.

I agree with you, Inks.

[Franzl]

Thanks Peter...but I think we should probably finish the education issue first. Do you have an opinion on it?