Senate Protest and Analysis Thread

[Associate Justice PiT]

Modification to the World War II Commemoration Act

Section 3 is repealed.

     I remember that when the bill was first discussed, we tried to replace MLK Jr. Day with Civil Rights Day on March 3rd. Maybe we could give that idea another go.

Well my main point is that MLK is just one person in the civil rights fight and he doesn't deserve his own day all by himself. I got it abolished along with another bill that had a million pointless days abolished as well. The bill passed rather easily originally that banned the bill so I'm hoping that it goes that way again.

     DWTL made that point as well during the hearings for the World War II Commemoration Act. It would be nice to replace MLK's birthday with a day in honor of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole.

True, though I'd rather have no holiday at all.

     I'd rather have every day be a holiday. You see?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Repeal of the Affirmative Action Bill

F.L. 28-9 is repealed.


Modification to the World War II Commemoration Act

Section 3 is repealed.


Repeal of the Aesbestos Ban Amendment Act

F.L. 12-5 is repealed.

Good work, Masterjedi.

     It didn't occur to me earlier, but I should mention that section 3 of the Asbestos Ban Amendment Act has never banned anything. After its passge Bono issued an executive order saying that there would be no restriction on the transportation of asbestos.

Repeal of the Affirmative Action Bill

F.L. 28-9 is repealed.


Modification to the World War II Commemoration Act

Section 3 is repealed.


Repeal of the Aesbestos Ban Amendment Act

F.L. 12-5 is repealed.

Good work, Masterjedi.

You won't like the third one, it repeals a bill to make aesbestos fully banned again.

     I think you would need to repass the original bill for it to come into effect again.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Legalization of Heroin Bill

Section 1: Findings
1. Heroin is a white, crystalline, narcotic powder, C₂₁H₂₃NO₅, derived from morphine, formerly used as an analgesic and sedative.
2. The pharmaceutical price of heroin is only 5% of the average street price of heroin.

Section 2: Applicability
1. This law shall remove all federal restrictions on heroin in addition to legalization in Nyman and other federal territories which do not form a region.
2. The Regions of Atlasia shall be free to legalize and regulate heroin in any manner which they may choose.

Section 3: In Regards to the Legal Status of Heroin
1. The possession and consumption of heroin shall be legal.
2. This law shall not be interpreted as to decriminalize driving under the influence of heroin.
3. Penalties for driving under the influence of heroin shall be the same as those for driving under the influence of alcohol and other substances.

Section 4: Taxation
1. Taxes on heroin will be 30%.  Individual regions may set their own taxes on heroin as they see fit in addition to the federal tax which shall not exceed 20%.
2. Federal revenue raised from taxes on heroin shall be spent as follows:
   a.) 50% to a newly created National Opiate Addiction Help Center
   b.) 25% to funding for the needle exchange program created by the Atlasian Policy Regarding HIV/AIDS
   c.) 25% to improvements to federal interstate highways
3. Regional revenue generated from sales of heroin shall be used however the region deems necessary by a vote of the people upon voting for legalization.
4. The National Opiate Addiction Help Center shall not be funded by any other taxes.
5. The National Opiate Addiction Help Center shall focus on treatment options not involving methodone

Section 5: Purchases
1. Heroin shall be available at any licensed pharmacies.
2. Heroin shall not require a prescription but will kept behind the counter under all circumstances.
3. Individuals not in possession of the proper licenses shall still be prohibited from selling heroin.

Section 6: Age Restrictions
1. No one under the age of 18 shall be allowed to purchase heroin
2. Any pharmacist selling heroin to a person under the age of 18 shall be subject to any of the following:
   a.) a fine not to exceed $100,000
   b.) 30 days in a regional prison
   c.) a suspension or revokal of license

     I like it, except for section 4.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Somaliland Recognition Bill

1.  The Republic of Atlasia hereby recongnizes the Republic of Somaliland.

2.  Somaliland will be recognized to hold the lands of the former British colony of British Somaliland.

3.  Dahir Riyale Kahin is hereby recognized as the President of Somaliland.

This bill has already been done and passed awhile ago.

Is it in the Wiki?

     Yes

[Associate Justice PiT]

Fair enough. We will move on pirates in the next term. I have something in the works.

     Good. I was thinking we needed something in regards to the pirates.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Privacy Protection Bill

1. It shall henceforth be a punishable crime in Atlasia to publicly post the contents of private discussions, whether by internet messaging, personal message or other forms of personal communication, without the consent of all parties involved in said correspondence.
2. This crime shall be tried as though it were a crime under the Consolidated Criminal Justice Act.
3. Sentencing of the crime shall be by the presiding Justice; He may sentence the guilty party for up to, but not exceeding, a 1 month ban from holding any office under the Republic of Atlasia.

Excellent bill senator!

Although I think in this case it was a simple lapse in judgment on PiT's part, this bill should prevent things like this in the future.

     I agree that a bill to prevent this from happening again is a good thing. We really should not be in the business of using confidential conversations to incriminate each other. What's worse is that this is by no means the first time that this has happened.

[Associate Justice PiT]

A question for Purple State

I don't see how the Economic Zones are a liberal idea especially in the European form as you said? Could you clarify, how this contitutes that type of thing?

It is may use the best friends of conservatives (tax cuts), but it is messing with the market to preference and advantage disadvantaged regions. It builds equality of opportunity, but it is nothing near to a free market. So I support it, but I'm surprised the more conservative voters do.

     Emptying the coffers of the thief, my dear colleague.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Party Name Change Bill

1. If the membership of a major political party, by vote of a quorum of all members of that party, decides that it wishes to change the name of that party, an officer of that party shall, within 14 days, notify the Secretary of Forum Affairs of this fact.

2. Once notified, the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall change the official party membership of all members registered within that party to the new name approved by the party membership.

Okay, I guess. Is this just making it easier for a party to change it's name, rather than making all the members reregister?

     Correct. Bayh & I have been talking about the possibility of changing the RPP's name, but we realized that with nearly 30 members making everyone re-register is prohibitively difficult. There should be an easy way for large parties to change their name if their members want to do so.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     You could let them hit the floor whenever they do & then just filibuster them until afleitch returns.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Since the thread has been opened for debating this bill, how about you two take it there?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Since the thread has been opened for debating this bill, how about you two take it there?

I beleive I already did.

     Fair enough, though it looked like you two would continue debating it in here.

[Associate Justice PiT]

A better idea would be to allow parties to regulate their own membership.

     Also, such a bill would be permitted under Article V, Section 1, Clause 8. As far as I know, there is no Constitutional justification for the Senate having the power to regulate how often a citizen may change parties.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I also believe the bill to be unconstitutional.

     What parts of it are not justifiable under Article V, Section 1, Clause 8?

[Associate Justice PiT]

At a certain point people will realize that regulating political parties in Atlasia is simply unconstitutional under the current power structure.

If anything, a comprehensive constitutional amendment would be necessary to effect the sort of change many want in political parties, but it is doubtful that such a thing could pass without a compelling impetus.

I also believe the bill to be unconstitutional.

     What parts of it are not justifiable under Article V, Section 1, Clause 8?

That clause gives the Senate the ability to determine benefits given to organized political parties (as in, you could say that only organized political parties could be on ballots if we were to change to a system of election by party lists). However, it does not indicate that the private actions of party membership falls under the purview of the government.

     This was intended to give them the benefit of being able to regulate their own membership, including channels through which they could do so. If you think it would be better, it could just be written to give the party a general right to do so, that they could write into their bylaws in whatever form they want.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Doesn't require legislation, IMO, just a declaration by the SoFA.

     I actually spoke to Earl on this matter once some time ago, & he said that he wanted to see legislation saying that parties could do that first.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

[Associate Justice PiT]

How about this?

Party Empowerment Act

Organized political parties shall have the power to regulate their membership.

     I like that bill.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     There is a D.C. that is incorporated into the Mideast. Whether that D.C. is the same as Nyman D.C. is something that, as far as I know, has never been addressed.

[Associate Justice PiT]

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     Yet there is still a D.C. incorporated into the Mideast. I suppose that this would this mean that it is a separate locale from Nyman D.C.

[Associate Justice PiT]

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     Yet there is still a D.C. incorporated into the Mideast. I suppose that this would this mean that it is a separate locale from Nyman D.C.

So do we treat the Mideast DC as any other state in the region?

     Yes. In fact, the Mideast had a Governor nearly a year ago who resided in D.C.

[Associate Justice PiT]

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     Yet there is still a D.C. incorporated into the Mideast. I suppose that this would this mean that it is a separate locale from Nyman D.C.

Nope
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=4957.0

     So I assume that would mean that D.C. being in the Mideast is actually an error (which would in turn mean that The Mikado was not legally Governor ).

[Associate Justice PiT]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

     Yet there is still a D.C. incorporated into the Mideast. I suppose that this would this mean that it is a separate locale from Nyman D.C.

Nope
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=4957.0

     So I assume that would mean that D.C. being in the Mideast is actually an error (which would in turn mean that The Mikado was not legally Governor ).

It just means that our capital city is not subject to the same restrictions as US's capital.

     Notice the particular part of the quoted clause that I just bolded.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Just ban insults on the Senate floor, I think. Also, banning "pig" might have unintended consequences with agricultural legislation (not that we have much of that).

     Replace all instances of the word "pig" in legislation with "porcine animal".

[Associate Justice PiT]

A thought I had: There is no legislation to help the failing banks. This may lead to dire economic results in one week's time unless substantial movement is made by the Senate to address the problem (it does not need to be bailing out the banks, but some sort of strategy to address the issue). Your GM has spoken.

      "The nation's banking system are on the verge of failure. If this issue is not addressed, the Atlasian dollar will have no use other than as toilet paper. You have seven days to address this problem. Meeting adjourned."

[Associate Justice PiT]

1 month?

IMO, it's still too long; I registered very soon after I joined.

    As did I, though I only checked it out because you suggested that I should.