Pacific Council: Great Reform Amendment: Voting on an Amendment.

[Cincinnatus]

Having a confirmation hearing every two months might be unwieldy.

Indeed.  It should, in the very least, be every other council session.  

Also, I'd be willing to continue contributions to this discussion despite my return to the NE, if welcomed.

[PJ]

I hate the timeout feature here. Tried to post this earlier.

Anyway, let's try to approve this and then get to the earlier stuff.

Article V: The Pacific Justice

1. Judicial power will be vested in the Pacific Justice, who will be a Pacific citizen and the sole Justice on the Court, and serve for life a term of one year, after which he or she may be reappointed by the Governor to an additional term of one year, unless he/she resigns or otherwise leaves office. The Governor may elect to reappoint or dismiss the Justice at the conclusion of the term; if the Justice is reappointed, a hearing and vote must be held as if it were a new confirmation. The Justice may serve a total of no more than two consecutive terms unless no one else can be found. The Justice will start and operate in a new thread in the Regional Government boards, referred to hereafter as the Court thread.

2. The Justice will have the power to nullify or void a regional law if they he or she believes that it contradicts the regional or federal constitution. The Justice shall also arbitrate in Pacific election disputes. In such an instance the Justice must provide their reasoning reasons when issuing a ruling on either matter, citing the regional or federal constitution, in the Court thread.

3. The Justice will be appointed by the Governor and require confirmation by a majority vote of sitting Councilors present.

4. In the event of a majority of the Council voting to expel a Councilor, the Justice will be required to consent for the expulsion to take place.

5. In the event of a majority of the Council voting to impeach a Governor, the Justice will be required to consent for the expulsion to take place.

4. The Justice may be impeached with due cause - articles of impeachment may be brought by any Councilor or the Governor and, if voted on by the majority of the Council, the impeachment will proceed to a public vote. Should a majority of the public vote to impeach, the Justice will be immediately expelled from office and the Governor is free to appoint a new Justice. Such an impeachment vote will not for the purposes of this constitution be considered an "early election" or recall as prohibited by Article II.

We need to vote on this.

[PJ]

I hate the timeout feature here. Tried to post this earlier.

Anyway, let's try to approve this and then get to the earlier stuff.

Article V: The Pacific Justice

1. Judicial power will be vested in the Pacific Justice, who will be a Pacific citizen and the sole Justice on the Court, and serve for life a term of one year, after which he or she may be reappointed by the Governor to an additional term of one year, unless he/she resigns or otherwise leaves office. The Governor may elect to reappoint or dismiss the Justice at the conclusion of the term; if the Justice is reappointed, a hearing and vote must be held as if it were a new confirmation. The Justice may serve a total of no more than two consecutive terms unless no one else can be found. The Justice will start and operate in a new thread in the Regional Government boards, referred to hereafter as the Court thread.

2. The Justice will have the power to nullify or void a regional law if they he or she believes that it contradicts the regional or federal constitution. The Justice shall also arbitrate in Pacific election disputes. In such an instance the Justice must provide their reasoning reasons when issuing a ruling on either matter, citing the regional or federal constitution, in the Court thread.

3. The Justice will be appointed by the Governor and require confirmation by a majority vote of sitting Councilors present.

4. In the event of a majority of the Council voting to expel a Councilor, the Justice will be required to consent for the expulsion to take place.

5. In the event of a majority of the Council voting to impeach a Governor, the Justice will be required to consent for the expulsion to take place.

4. The Justice may be impeached with due cause - articles of impeachment may be brought by any Councilor or the Governor and, if voted on by the majority of the Council, the impeachment will proceed to a public vote. Should a majority of the public vote to impeach, the Justice will be immediately expelled from office and the Governor is free to appoint a new Justice. Such an impeachment vote will not for the purposes of this constitution be considered an "early election" or recall as prohibited by Article II.

We need to vote on this.

[Flake]

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Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain on this amendment.

[Flake]

Aye

[Citizen Hats]

Can the complete text, as amended, be posted?

[PJ]

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Current text of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights Remains unchanged. We are ready for new amendments.
[/quote]

[PJ]

And the Bill of Rights:

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[Citizen Hats]

Aye

[DemPGH]

Yes on the amendment. I think a year is a fair term with reappointment possible. Now there are some earlier things I want to get to as well, so hang on.

Bill of Rights looks good.

[Flake]

Aye

[Flake]

The amendment has passed with three ayes, and two not voting. (Do I ask PJ to sign it?

[President Tyrion]

The amendment has passed with three ayes, and two not voting. (Do I ask PJ to sign it?

No, PJ doesn't have to sign off on it. Amendments to a bill on the floor are entirely Council business.

Plus, this is a wholesale amendment to the constitution, so PJ won't get to sign it, regardless.

[DemPGH]

Okay, this is next.

Note: In process. Let's just strike clause 5, okay? Ideas?

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Article IV: The Council

1. Legislative power will be vested in the Pacific Council, consisting of three Councilors elected to a term of not more than two months. Elections will be held according to the parameters of Article II in the months of December, February, April, June, August and October. The voting booth will be opened and closed by the Governor; if the Governor is unavailable, then the appropriate federal official will be petitioned to open and close the booth. The Council will operate in a new "Legislation Introduction and Discussion" thread started by the Governor in the Regional Governments board upon the beginning of a new legislative session and open new threads for each bill debated.

2. When a Councilor resigns his/her office or an election winner declines to take his seat, his Council seat will be considered vacant and the Governor may appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of the term.

3. In cases of poor behavior a Councilor may be expelled by a majority vote of the Council providing the Pacific Justice then approves the expulsion as outlined in Article V. The Council has the right to determine the definition of "poor behavior", provided said definition does not place too heavy a burden upon any Councilor and is quantifiable. "Poor behavior" may include excessive trolling, absences lasting longer than seven days, or missing more than three consecutive votes. The seat will then be considered vacant. Should the Justice rule against allowing the expulsion, the Councilor will remain in office. Such an expulsion will not for the purposes of this constitution be considered an "early election" or recall as prohibited by Article II.

4. The Council will elect a Speaker to organize and lead the legislative process. The Speaker will be responsible for the legislative procedures and rules of the Pacific Council, prescribed by Pacific law.  The Speaker must be a sitting Pacific Councilor.

5. In case of a vacancy in the council, the Governor may appoint someone to the Council to temporarily fill the vacancy, until the certification of a special election to fill the seat.  Within 144 hours of the original vacancy the Pacific Justice must open a Special Election voting booth for the Council seat. The Pacific Justice must announce the date and time of the Special Election a minimum of 72 hours before it occurs.  Candidates must declare before the voting booth for the special election is opened to be included on the ballot.  In the event that the Pacific Justice is unable to open the voting booth, the Governor may do so.

[PJ]

Agreed, but what will the process be now?

[President Tyrion]

The cut down to 3 Councilors was completely intentional on my part. A Council of 5 tends to be inactive.

[PJ]

The cut down to 3 Councilors was completely intentional on my part. A Council of 5 tends to be inactive.

That is what the text reads, and I am in support of it. However, if we merge with the Midwest, it should  be bumped back to five.

[PJ]

While we are having a ConCon, I'd like to bring up the right to unionize. I'd be interested in doing something similar to the midwest.

[President Tyrion]

The cut down to 3 Councilors was completely intentional on my part. A Council of 5 tends to be inactive.

That is what the text reads, and I am in support of it. However, if we merge with the Midwest, it should  be bumped back to five.

Absolutely.

I think it's good we keep things like this in mind. If the Pacific and the Midwest essentially become one, then it would be reasonable to think that the current constitution that we're working on would be the basis for the larger region's new constitution.

[DemPGH]

Reducing to three means there are only two votes necessary to pass anything, and under the current format two votes to ratify an amendment. Ehh. While the latter might be changing, two votes to pass something. . . IDK. We have the people here, we just need to get them interested. But we'll see.

While we are having a ConCon, I'd like to bring up the right to unionize. I'd be interested in doing something similar to the midwest.

Absolutely. Good idea.

Agreed, but what will the process be now?

Well, actually clause 2 and 5 conflict. I prefer clause 2.

As to the process, we could write the 72 hours and all that into clause 1. Sound good?

[Oakvale]

The Pacific doesn't currently have the active population to support five council seats on a regular basis. It's true that having only two votes to pass an amendment could be problem but we could always just give the Justice and Governor a vote on amendments too to fix that.

[PJ]

As far as the amendment, wouldn't this revert us back to the status quo of no special election for appointed Councillors?

[DemPGH]

I want to get this done!

I did V, IV, and now just a few tweaks to III.

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Article III: The Governor

1. Executive power will be vested in the Governor of the Pacific, elected to a term of not more than four months. The Governor must be a registered voter in the Pacific region in order to be elected and hold office.

2. The Governor will have the sole power to appoint the Pacific Justice as outlined in Article V of this Constitution.

3. The Governor will have power to veto legislation passed by the Pacific Council. The Council may override this veto by a vote exceeding 2/3 the number of Councilors.

4. In the event of a Council vacancy as defined in Article IV, the Governor may shall appoint an eligible Pacific citizen as a replacement until the next election.

5. In the event of a Pacific regional Senate seat vacancy, the Governor may shall appoint an eligible Pacific citizen as a replacement until the next election.

6. The Governor may issue Executive Orders within limits defined by the Pacific Council, provided said limits nor the Executive Orders themselves do not contradict the regional or federal Constitutions or regional or federal law. If the Council fails to pass legislation limiting the power of gubernatorial Executive Orders, any three citizens of the Pacific may jointly file a complaint with the Justice, defined in Article V. Based on the interpretation of the presiding Justice, a stay of the Executive Order may be granted pending judicial review, and the Justice may overturn the Executive Order if he/she interprets an abuse of power, but sound Constitutional reasons must be given to justify an overturn. This decision may be appealed to the Supreme Court. even if said abuse is not strictly constitutionally prohibited. If an Executive Order is overturned, that decision may not be appealed to a higher court. No Executive Order may face two complaints for the same alleged offense.

7. In case of a vacancy of the Governorship, the Speaker of the Council shall be installed as Acting Governor. Within 144 hours of the vacancy, the Pacific Justice Acting Governor must open a Special Election voting booth for the Governorship. The Pacific Justice Acting Governor must announce the date and time of the Special Election a minimum of 72 hours before it occurs.  Candidates must declare before the voting booth for the special election is opened to be included on the ballot.

8. The Governor may be impeached with due cause - articles of impeachment may be brought by any Councilor and, if voted on affirmed by the majority of the Council, the Pacific Justice will either consent to or deny the impeachment based on the evidence presented. Should the Justice deny the impeachment, the Governor will remain in office. If the Justice consents, the impeachment will proceed to a public vote. Should a majority of the public vote to impeach, the Governor will be immediately expelled from office and the Speaker of the Council shall become Governor to serve out the remainder of the term. Such an impeachment vote will not for the purposes of this constitution be considered an "early election" or recall as prohibited by Article II.