Talk Elections

     Welcome to my office, in the court of the Imperial Palace. We're throwing an office-warming party, so I'm buying pizza for everyone in the office. Comments & questions are welcome.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Congratulations :)

Congrats.  Now the question is, who will take your old office?

     I am currently deciding on that, as well as the vacancy in the Lord of Darkness's office.

     Before the announcement, which will come late today or tomorrow, I would like to give an official shout out to our acronymical brother, Iain Duncan Smith. Do the IDS name proud!

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Would your Imperial Majesty accept this humble gift?

()

Congratulations on your victory, Emperor PiT!

Congrats on your victory and I look forward to seeing where you will take the IDS. :)

Is it not time for you to modify your sig to remove the mention of your "prognostication failure"?

Restore the Dirty South!

Congratulations, Emperor.

     My thanks to the Senator-elect from the Midwest for this courteous present.


     Yes, you are quite correct. I will do so shortly.

I'd like to introduce a bill to restore the South to its roots. How do I go about doing that?

     You can petition for it along with one other citizen of the region, or get a Legislator to introduce it, or get me to introduce it. Anyway, your bill would come after the Federal Election Agent Act in the Legislature docket.

With one of my former allies back in the Governor's Plantation, it's time we threw it back to the old days. I hope I can rally enough support for this endeavor.

     To be honest, I am not terribly enthused about this idea. We had brought the name back some time prior to changing it to our current name, yet nobody called it the Dirty South the second time around. If a bill comes across my desk that institutes that as a name for the region alongside the current name I'll sign it, but I don't have high hopes for it faring better than the Restore The Revolution Initiative.

Well, you know I've never been much of a fan of the current name, PiT. But if that's what the folks want, I won't stand in their way.

     Without further ado, here are my appointments:

To the vacant seat in the Legislature, I appoint SvenssonRS.

To the vacant office of Lord of Darkness, I appoint KS21.

To the vacant office of IDS Attorney General, I appoint MilesC56.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Excellent picks, your imperial majesty. I wish the best of luck to all three.

Thank you, your majesty, and thank you, Senator. I look forward to working with y'all.

My thanks for the appointment, your imperial majesty. Name and signature changes are soon to come for the occasion. :)

Nice to have an office to live in, now. I wondered if I was going to have to run campaigns out of my emergency hotel room. :P

     This reminds me; does anyone remember the oath of office for Leigslators? I know we made a specific one for them. :P

SILENCE!
Everyone kneel down and listen closely as the former Emperor shall grace you with his mighty
words!

Congradulations to Emperor PiT, Dark Lord of the South, Emperor of Puerto Rico, Arse Kicker-in-Cheif, Protector of Liberty, and Defender of the Faith. It is now time I hand upon you my official pen from which no legislation was spared its might awesomeness. Use it wisely PiT, and if Duke should try and bring back The Dirty South, then use it to cut him down and squash the rebellion!

()

Now let the festivities commence!

Uh, well, I just came here, so you might want to ask Brase about that. :P

     Here is the oath:

"I, (name of Legislator), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the South East against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me Dave."

     State it in the Legislature thread, & then we can move on to the process of electing the Second Speaker of the Imperial Legislature.

     Within three hours of announcing my three appointments, all of them have sworn in to their various offices. In a region that has had difficulty getting active officeholders, I consider this a good start to my reign. :)

     I would also like to thank my predecessor for bequeathing his pen/lightsaber unto me.

     I would like to congratulate Darth Yelnoc on being elected to the office of Imperial Speaker, becoming the Second Speaker of the Legislature of our great empire.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

Congratulations on your victory in the election, your majesty. I have ordered all the lower courts to sacrifice a goat in your honor.

     Excellent, Overlord Dibble. The honor of these goats shall spur the Imperial Army to yet greater things. >:D

     Sorry guys. I fail at governing. :(

     I believe that I shall open the voting booth at midnight CST tonight & allow 72 hours for voting. I am unclear as to whether it will be possible for any candidates to be included on the ballot, though, given the short timeframe. Thoughts on the matter?

My (biased) suggstion-

Include names of those announced before the booth opens in the ballot, allow for write-ins of those announcong after the booth opens.

To be fair, this is the best method. The Constitution essentially calls for an IMMEDIATE election; and as a matter of practicality anyone interested in running could have declared in the several days that it was obvious there would be a special election. Also write-in votes DO win in the SE pretty often. :P

Just putting this here because I don't know where else to put it: note that abaleman is not a registered Southeastern voter. Per the region-moving restrictions in Article V of the Federal Constitution he's still a resident of Minnesota until next April.

     Thanks for the heads-up. It probably won't make a difference, but an accurate count would be good.

That's BS and I'll prove it.


Therefore, I am a valid voter in the state of Mississippi. No ifs, ands, or buts.

     According to the Census Bureau, you moved into the Midwest on October 9th. Since a citizen cannot change regions within 180 days of their last change of region, it would not be possible for you to currently be registered in Mississippi.

And this is exactly the type of thing I'm p*ssed about. You said that there are only 4 rules that I need to follow to cast a valid vote and I followed them. But now you dig up some obscure rule and nail me with it.

Basically, what you did was provide me with a fraction of the rules and then say "this is all the rules you need to know".  That's not good enough. Either you should provide me with all the rules or provide me with either some or none of the rules and then say "that isn't all of the rules, you can find the rest of them here" and then provide a link.

Anyway, does that mean that I'm now a registered voter in the Midwest?

He did provide you with the rules, in a post you quoted.

But a lot of us had no clue of this obscure rule, because it was never explained properly when new members join and the only people to know this rule are apparently more established, experienced citizens.

     It says in the introductory thread for new members (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=95897.0) that you cannot move regions more often than once every 180 days. It's not as if this was a secret or anything.

Okay, let me clear up albaleman's situation.

First, I owe albaleman an apology.  When you posted a new registration on October 25th, I missed the fact that you were making a state change as well as a party change.  It is not like me to miss details like this, and for that I am sorry.

The law is, you may change regions once every 180 days, except that new registers may make a change in the first seven days.  An attempt to change regions in less than 180 days, as you have done, results in the move being pending until the 180 days is reached.  Thus, your move to Mississippi becomes valid on April 7, 2011.  Until then, you are registered in Minnesota.  You are free to cancel the pending move if you wish to.

As this occured during my watch as Registrar General, I have updated the Voter List in the Census Bureau thread to reflect this:





I will notify the new RG of this change.  Again, please accept my apologies.

OK.

     I would like to congratulate KS21 on being elected Lord of Darkness. I have high hopes for the Legislature to do great things with him back at the helm, this time officially.

     With that in mind, the Legislative elections are due to commence in a week's time. This is a friendly reminder to all Legislators & other citizens who wish to run for the Legislature to declare, if they have not done so already.

Thank you, Emperor. I look forward to getting back to work with the Legislature.

Somebody needs to update the Lt. Governor page on the Wiki.  As of now, it says that JBrase is Lt. Governor.  I would but I do not know how to.

EDIT: Same thing goes for the Governor page.

^^^

Dibble also mentioned this in his recent ruling. The wiki is horribly out of date, but who exactly can change it?

The AG's page also needs to be updated. And the main SE page, for that matter.

     I can change it, though I tend to be rather busy these days. I'll try to get around to it sometime, though.

     Letting the great people of the Imperial Dominion know that there is currently a vote (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=127978.0) on a Constitutional Amendment. Please be sure to vote! :)

     I opened the voting booth for the Legislative elections.

     The two incumbent legislators aside from the speaker had not declared their intention to run for re-election (I could have sworn that I saw a declaration from Deldem a while ago, but it evidently does not exist). On the other hand, Gporter & MilesC56 declared. Miles was actually appointed Attorney General in the interim, but he never revoked his declaration of candidacy, so I think I am legally obligated to include him on the ballot.

     Anyway, are you planning on running for re-election, Darth Deldem & Darth Svensson? If so, please get in there & write yourselves in. If not, that's cool too.

As I stated in the legislative thread, I am not seeking reelection. Real life is simply far too busy at this point for me to put in enough time to do the job justice. It's been great representing the people of the IDS, but it's time for new blood to enter in.

     Alright, the amendment is up. I took the liberty of also changing "Secretary of Forum Affairs" to "Registrar General", as well as "Southeastern" to "Southern". That clause needs a bit of modernizing.

     I hereby appoint Texasgurl to fill the vacant office of IDS Attorney General.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     The voting booth for the December 2010 regional election is now open. I decided to add a little "(i)" to the name of each incumbent, as I do not believe that there is anything prohibiting me from doing so. Since all three offices are uncontested this time, I doubt it will make a difference, though feel free to complain if you dislike it.

     The vote on the amendments suggested by Lord of Darkness KS21 is now open (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=129544.0).

     This is your Emperor wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. As a Christmas present, I have decided to dispense my campaign warchest, some $30,000,000 in all, to the volunteers who put their blood & sweat into improving their communities.

     Be it resolved, Emperor PiT

Merry Christmas to you, too!

     I finally decided to tackle the herculean task of updating the Wiki & updated the Southeast Region (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Region), Southeast Governor (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Governor), & Southeast Lt. Governor (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Lt._Governor) pages. I erred against changing the names of any of the pages so as to avoid confusion. As a note to myself (or anyone else who is able to take part in the project), the following pages must be created next time since my edits have created references to those items:

KS21
Yelnoc
Whats in a name?: Amendment
Official Name Amendment

Awesome!

     I hereby appoint Gporter to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

A quorum!  A quorum!

     I humbly request that a member of the Legislature introduce this bill based off of a bill recently proposed by the distinguished Senator & former President Lief:

     As it turns out, all five regions prematurely opened a voting booth on an amendment proposed by the Senate. As I was the first of my peers to open a voting booth, & was motivated in doing so against my better judgment by a desire to be of service to the Senate, so to speak, I would like to officially say: my bad. That is all.

I will do it Mr. Emperor

I did that earlier and it failed.

     It never went to a vote earlier, & just as well since we had other pressing business. Now I think we have the time to discuss amending it into a form that would be more acceptable to everyone.

     As I said I'd aim to do, I wiki'd the first regional law (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Election_Law_Amendment) in a long time. My hope is to get at least one a day & hopefully more until we're all caught up. It will take a while, of course, but it's important that it get done.

*High-five*

That's what I'm talking about!

     In updating the Wiki, it came to my attention that an initiative to reduce the signature requirements for initiatives passed by a margin of 4-3 in November 2007, as can be seen here (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=65317.0).

     However, the number of signatures required to put an initiative on the ballot is fixed in the Constitution. This initiative did not receive enough votes in the affirmative to pass as a Constitutional amendment.

     Therefore, I am hereby declaring the Lower Signature Requirements for Initiatives to Appear on the Ballot Initiative to be a failed Constitutional amendment.

Be it resolved, Emperor PiT

    To commemorate the first anniversary of the passage of the amendment creating the Imperial Legislature, I have created the Wiki page for the Legislature (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Legislature), complete with a Senate History-style list of members.

     Additionally, I've updated the regional template to include the Legislature, updated the Office Holders (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Category:Office_Holders) to include the up-to-date officeholders of the region, making our part of that page the only one that is currently up-to-date. I've also created articles for Yelnoc (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Yelnoc), MilesC56 (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/MilesC56), KS21 (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/KS21), & Taft4Prez (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Taft4Prez).

Thank you Mr. Emperor

Mucho Gracias!  Vive el Emperor!

     I was going to wait longer since I expect more will come up, but since the Leigslature is not doing much now I would like someone to propose this bill:

End To Superseded And Unenforceable Laws Gumming Up The Books Act

1. The following laws are hereby repealed:

• Southeast Forum Elite Conspiracy Initiative
• Southeast Treasurer Position Creation Initiative
• Ballot Editing Initiative
• Speling Corectshun Act OR, Making Sure Nobody Makes any Jokes About Us Act
• Initiative to Restore the Intent of the Founders
• Amendment to the Abortion Initiative

     In light of the tragic demise of former IDS Legislator Darth Svensson, I hereby order that all buildings & offices of the Imperial government fly their flags at half-staff for the next 24 hours.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Is there going to be a state memorial service? Like they did with Andrew Ct?

     I think that such a service should be held on the regular board. After all, this is not the only region that he had ever been a citizen of, so I don't think we should monopolize the proceedings.

     To answer your question, I don't know. I don't think that I am the person best suited to conduct such a service. Rather, it should be somebody like FallenMorgan or wormyguy, who had associated more closely with Svensson.

What happened to Sven?

     He flew off the handle & got banned. Granted he requested that he be banned, but it was all so sudden & unexpected. It was the Atlas equivalent of suicide-by-cop.

Wow, I totally missed that.

Just so you all know, you're really lucky to have PiT as Emperor. The updates he's made to the Wiki has simply been phenomenal, go look for yourself if you don't believe me. He's really moving this region in the right direction.

     Thanks for the voice of confidence, Mr. President. I really appreciate it.

True! I have a wiki page now! Thanks PiT!

     On the subject of the idea that was pitched to involve the Legislature in the amendment process, I think this should take care of it:

---

     Thoughts?

I don't see a problem with it; I'll put in the legislature.

     Someone please propose:

Southern Symbols Omnibus Bill

1. To serve as representative icons of the Imperial Dominion of the South, shall the Imperial Dominion of the South adopt:

(a) the mockingbird as the Regional bird;
(b) the longleaf pine as the Regional tree;
(c) the magnolia blossom as the Regional flower;
(d) the quartz crystal as the Regional gemstone.;
(e) “Dixie” as the Regional Song;
(f) The Deer as the Regional Mammal; 
(g) Milk as the Regional Beverage;
(h) The Bowie Knife as the Regional Historic Artifact;
(i) Alvin York as the Regional Historic Figure;
(j) Gone With the Wind as the Regional Historic Novel;
(k) The Space Shuttle as the Regional Historic Spacecraft;
(l) Graniteville as the Regional Historic Textile Manufacturer;
(m) Kitty Hawk as the Regional Historic Town;
(n) Kings Mountain, North Carolina as the Regional Historic site of the American Revolution;
(o) The Battle of Chalmette, (aka) the Battle of New Orleans, as the Regional Historic site of the War of 1812;
(p) The Alamo as the Regional Historic site of the Texas Revolution;
(q) The Vicksburg National Military Park as the Regional Historic site of the Civil War;
(r) Fort Texas as the Regional Historic site of the Mexican-American War; and
(s) The Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama as the Regional Historic site of WWII.

2. The following initiatives are hereby repealed:

(a) 3. Southeast Symbols Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Symbols_Initiative)
(b) 34. Southeast Historic Symbols Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Historic_Symbols_Initiative)
(c) 36. Southeast Military History Symbols Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Military_History_Symbols_Initiative)
(d) 51. Southeast Symbols III Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Symbols_III_Initiative)

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Private School Administration Rights Bill

1. The Drug-Testing Free Region Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Drug-Testing_Free_Region_Initiative) shall only apply to secondary schools and colleges that receive funding from any level of government, except through financial aid to students.

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Abortion Rights for Minors Bill

1. The Parental Consent Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Parental_Consent_Initiative) is hereby repealed.

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Sexual Rights Bill

1. The Necrophilia (Penetration of a Corpse) Criminalization Initiative (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Necrophilia_(Penetration_of_a_Corpse)_Criminalization_Initiative) is hereby repealed.

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     To round it off with something slightly radical...credit for the bill goes to Speaker wormyguy of the Northeast Assembly:

Self-Ownership Bill

1. All persons are defined as the sole owners of their bodily organs.

2. Any non-minor person who has not been deemed mentally incompetent by a judge shall be allowed to sell their non-essential organs (such as the kidneys, skin, and spleen) to others.

3. Any organ removal surgery must be performed under standard levels of anesthesia and cleanliness by a licensed surgeon.

4. The surgeon must inform the donor of the potential risks of organ removal surgery.

5. All donors must be blood-tested for diseases transmittable through organ donation surgery.

6. A surgeon may, at his or her own discretion, declare a person mentally incompetent for the purposes of selling his or her bodily organs.

7. Unlawfully coercing a person to sell his or her bodily organs shall be a felony punishable by not less than 60 months in prison and/or a fine of not less than $50,000.  Attempting to unlawfully coerce a person to sell his or her bodily organs shall be a felony punishable by not less than 30 months in prison and/or a fine of not less than $25,000.

8. Persons with valid organ donor cards shall be eligible for a $500 yearly tax credit.

Wow!  Those all came out of nowhere.  I will propose the Southern Symbols Omnibus Bill and then make some amendments to it in a minute.  I also don't have a problem with the Private School Administration Rights Bill and will propose it.

However, I am not touching the Abortion Rights for Minors Bill or the Sexual Rights Bill.  Unless GPORTER or tb75 want minors to be able to get abortions without the knowledge of their parents and/or want citizen to be able to sexually defile dead bodies, neither of those bills will be going anywhere this session. 

The Self-Ownership bill is unnecessary and opens up a whole new can of worms.  If people want to give someone else an organ they will donate it.  This sets up a precedent for human clones as organ donors and opens up a whole new field of human trafficking.  No, no, NO!

Oh yeah, you need to sign the last bill we passed into law (unless of course you want it to become law by default, assuming our Constitution has that provision).

     Human cloning is already illegal in the IDS, though. :P At any rate I did not really expect all of the bills to be picked up, though I think it's good to put them out there.

     You're talking about the Legislative Powers Amendment, right? I put it up to a vote in the regional elections. The vote in the Legislature was strictly symbolic, as the purpose of the amendment is to involve the Legislature in the amendment process in the first place.

Oh yeah, right. 

As it happens, I liked everything in the symbols omnibus so, if all of the Sith agree, we can move through that quickly.

On another note, would you check the budget thread?

     Congratulations to all those elected to the 8th Legislature & condolences to those defeated, including Darth Gporter. While we still have a long way to go, this was the most competitive election the Imperial Legislature has seen yet.

     As an issue that AG Brandon H brought up to me late last month, the Constitution was actually amended so that the date that the new Emperor & Viceroy swear in coincides with the date that federal officers swear in. The Constitution is however mum on the date of swearing in for other offices.

     Since regular federal elections never coincide with elections to the regional Legislature, I am of the opinion that we should maintain the tradition of newly elected Darths swearing in immediately after the election. I would like to know the opinions of my subjects, however. Thoughts?

It doesn't seem like that big of a deal.  I'll go swear in....

I'll go ahead and swear in too

     The regional statute is now officially up-to-date.

:D:D:D

     Whereas; the Dirty South Wiki Update Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Dirty_South_Wiki_Update_Act) was passed into law on November 1, 2008 calling for a commission to be appointed to maintain the Wiki;

     Whereas; no Governor of the Southeast nor Emperor of the Imperial Dominion of the South has appointed any citizen to serve on this commission pursuant to this act;

     Whereas; any law passed by the citizens or by the Legislature of this region should have purpose, should be respected, and should be treated as bearing its due force of law;

     Therefore; I hereby appoint myself to this commission, to serve thereupon until such a time that I or any future holder of this office shall see fit to revoke the granted commission.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Omnibus Maintenance Bill

1. The Emperor of the Imperial Dominion of the South shall have the authority to, by executive order, grant Omnibus status to or remove Omnibus status from any bill or initiative passed into law in the Imperial Dominion of the South.

2. Any bill or initiative that is passed into law amending a law accorded Omnibus status (hereinafter Omnibus law) shall, in addition to being recorded in a Wiki article of its own, be incorporated into the text of the Wiki article of the amended Omnibus law.
   a. The Emperor shall have the authority to, by executive order, declare any bill or initiative passed into law to be an amendment to an Omnibus law or, likewise, declare any bill or initiative passed into law to be unrelated to an Omnibus law.
   b. Any citizen of the region shall have the right to appeal any order issued by the Emperor pursuant to Section 2, Clause a of this bill to the regional Magistrate for judicial review.

3. In the Wiki article of any Omnibus law, there shall exist a link to a forum post or Wiki article including the original version of the law.

4. Should any Omnibus law have its Omnibus status removed pursuant to Section 1 of this bill, the original text of the law, as linked to pursuant to Section 3 of this bill, shall supplant the amended text, if any difference between the two versions should exist, in the Wiki article of the formerly Omnibus law in question.

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Amendment Repealing Useless or Superseded Amendments to the Southeast Constitution, mk. II

The following Initiatives/Amendments to the Southeast Constitution are hereby repealed:

• Amendment to the Southeast Constitution on Amendment Procedure (54)
• Amendment to the Southeast Constitution on Amendment Process (94)
• Amendment of Article I Section 9 (178)
• Why The Need For Special Election Act? (206)

I'll go ahead and introduce those for you....

     By the power vested in me by the Omnibus Maintenance Bill, I hereby accord omnibus status to Law #289, the Southern Symbols Omnibus Bill.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     It has come to my attention that the regional voting booth will have to be opened 20-32 hours from now. I blame Article I, Section 2 & Article I, Section 4 for introducing a possibility of contradiction.

Should we amend it in the legislature?

     No, it's alright. I'm thinking that I might put together a manual for future Emperors, much like how Teddy put together a manual for SoFEs.

That would be a Great idea.

     Brandon H informed me that he was interested in running for re-election, however Article IX, Section 3 says:


     Attorney General is elected in parallel to Emperor & Viceroy, so I assume that the same regulations apply to all three, even though that is not explicitly stated. As such, I think that an announcement would have to transpire in the Candidate Declaration Thread for me to be able to list him on the ballot. I didn't check it until now, because I thought the election was going to coincide with the federal election, but then I found out it was this weekend. Sorry.

     I've kept the regional pages under their old names until now under the thesis that old-timers who are not aware of the new names might get confused. I think it's been long enough now that anyone who might care is aware of the new name for the region & its offices, so I have begun the process of moving the regional pages to pages reflecting the current names.

And so the Revolution Marches On....

     Election excitement & sleep deprivation issues prevented me from opening the booth for the amendment last night, so I'll open it tonight. It doesn't actually matter when I open it, & it should be good to have over 24 hours of non-overlap with the federal elections.

You should be impeached.

     That would be a splendid idea, had I actually done something wrong.

     The major changes to the region's name on the Wiki have been implemented. I'm sure there exist references on some pages that need to be changed, but all of the important regional pages have been changed, along with the region's name on the wiki main page.

     I have written three more bills, to hopefully be considered by the Legislature in due time:

Age of Consent Bill

Section 1: Definitions

a. “Sexual Conduct" is defined to include acts of intercourse (vaginal or anal), oral sex (fellatio or cunnilingus), or the insertion of any other part of the body or any foreign object into the vaginal or anal opening of another person‘s body.

b. "Sexual Contact" is defined as any touching of an erogenous zone of another, including without limitation the thigh, genitals, buttock, pubic region, or, if the person is a female, a breast, for purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either person.

c. “Sexual Activity” is defined as constituting either sexual conduct or sexual contact.

Section 2: Age of Consent

a. Sexual conduct with any person who is less than 16 years of age is prohibited.

b. Sexual contact with any person who is less than 14 years of age is prohibited.

c. In no case may a person be prosecuted for engaging in prohibited sexual activity pursuant to this act when the difference in age between that person and the alleged victim is less than 30 months.

d. In no case may a person be prosecuted for engaging in consensual sexual activity except pursuant to Clauses a and b of this section and this act.

Section 3: Penalties

a. Any violation of Section 2, Clause a by a person under 18 years of age shall be punished by no more than six months incarceration in a juvenile detention center.

b. Any violation of Section 2, Clause a by a person 18 years of age or older shall be punished by ten to twenty years in prison, a fine of no more than $40,000, and mandatory registration as a sex offender.

c. Any violation of Section 2, Clause b by a person under 18 years of age shall be punished by no more than four months incarceration in a juvenile detention center.

d. Any violation of Section 2, Clause b by a person 18 years of age or older shall be punished by six to fifteen years in prison, a fine of no more than $25,000, and mandatory registration as a sex offender.

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SOIL Amendment Bill

1. All instances of the word “Senator” or “Senators” in the Southeast Legislature Standing Rules are hereby amended to read “Legislator” or “Legislators” respectively.

2. All bullet-pointed sections under each rule in the Southeast Legislature Standing Rules shall be allotted a section number equivalent to its position amongst the sections underneath that rule, except where it is the only bullet-pointed section underneath that rule.

3. In the newly numbered Rule 3, Section 4 of the Southeast Legislature Standing Rules, “it shall be ascertained that a quorum does not exist and not present” is hereby amended to read: “should it be ascertained that a quorum does not exist”, with no other changes made to the text of that section.

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Imperial Registrar Protocol Bill

Section 1: Establishment
The Imperial Dominion of the South shall establish a voters roll of Imperial citizens that meet the requirements outlined in Section 2 who shall be allowed to vote in Imperial Elections. Only those who meet the requirements to be listed on this roll shall be eligible to vote.

Section 2: Inclusion
In order to be listed on the roll, a voter
(a) must be a registered voter in Atlasia.
(b) must be eligible to vote in federal elections.
(c) must be a resident of the Imperial Dominion of the South.

Section 3: Regional Parties
(a) Citizens of the Southeast may register in regional parties in addition to federal parties.
(b) On official ballots, all candidates shall be listed with their regional party first, followed by endorsements from any other regional parties, followed by the candidate's federal party, followed by endorsements from any other federal parties.
(c) All official endorsements must be transmitted by a party official to the Governor prior to the opening of voting in order to be listed on the ballot.

Section 4: Change of Registration
The following are legal methods of changing your registration in the Imperial Dominion of the South:
(a) the voter may request to move out of the Imperial Dominion of the South. In this case the voter shall be removed from the voter rolls.
(b) the voter may request to move into the Imperial Dominion of the South. In this case the voter shall be added to the voter rolls.
(c) the voter may request to change his state of registration in the Imperial Dominion of the South after living in his current state for 180 days. In this case the voter's placement on the voter rolls will be modified accordingly.
(d) the voter may request to have his registration in Atlasia removed or deleted. In this case the request will be ignored.

Section 5: Maintenance
(a) The Viceroy shall be responsible for maintaining a list of IDS citizens and their regional party affiliation.
(b) This list shall be updated at least once per calender week, should any changes occur in that time.
(c) In the event that the office of Viceroy falls vacant, the Emperor shall be responsible for maintaining the voters roll.

Section 6: Repealed Laws
The following laws are hereby repealed:
(a) 70. Independent Voter Roll Initiative
(b) 81. Supporting Atlasian Policy Initiative
(c) 231. Act Providing for the Creation of Regional Parties
(d) 276. Registar Power Transfer Act of 2010

     I hereby appoint Bacon King to the vacant seat in the Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I don't like to pull the rug out, so to speak, but the Legislature has important business to address & we shouldn't delay addressing it any longer. As such:

     I hereby revoke my appointment of Bacon King.

     I hereby appoint Jbrase to the vacant seat in the Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     It has come to my attention that there has been significant tornado devastation in the region.

     At the request of the SoIA, I am declaring a state of emergency in all affected areas & am dispatching the IDS militia to keep the peace in these areas. I am also instructing the regional Department of Energy to assist the local utilities with restoring power to the affected areas in whatever ways those utilities deem fit to request, within reason.

     Furthermore, I will be conferring with the President to discuss further courses of action either one of us can take to facilitate the rebuilding effort.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     Upon further inspection of relevant statute (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Southeast_Militia_Initiative), I hereby order the National Guard and the Region Guard of the Imperial Dominion of the South to also participate in peacekeepings operations and in doing so to act pursuant to all relevant portions of the Region Emergency Plan. The IDS Militia is also ordered to act pursuant to all relevant portions of the Region Emergency Plan.

     Furthermore, I request that the chief executives of the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia dispatch their State Guards to assist the IDS Militia in whatever fashion that the IDS Militia may request, as far as is conscionable for them to do so.

     Citizens should report any and all misconduct by members of the IDS Militia, the National Guard, the Region Guard, and/or their State Militia to the desk at the nearest Regional or Federal Building. Regardless of the situation, wrongdoing by any person will not be tolerated.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

I request that after some debate, a referendum be held on this:
       

     An interesting idea, I must say. I welcome the thoughts of other citizens of the region on this matter.

When we pass the tornado bill we should bring up the referendum question for debate

     Alright. I will bring that up before the Legislature at the right time.

The Imperial Militia should probably be orderd to Louisiana and Mississippi to help with flooding

     The SoIA has not commented on it, so I do not know if we can assume that it has happened in Atlasia. A clarification from him on the issue would be desirable, though.

Sure, you can have flooding.

I think I am going to make some sort of legislative proposal so that we can put the ambiguity to rest once and for all.

     In light of the current flooding of the Mississippi River, which has caused damage to river-side towns & cities in the states of Louisiana & Mississippi, I hereby declare a state of emergency in all affected areas. I also deploy the IDS Militia to these areas to help maintain the rule of law, as well as deploy the Region Guard to put into action all appropriate portions of the Region Emergency Plan so as to effect a speedy return to normalcy in the affected areas. Furthermore, I advise the chief executives of the states of Louisiana & Mississippi to deploy their respective state guards to assist in the effort.

     Again, disasters are no excuse for unlawful behavior on any person's part. All citizens are encouraged to report any misconduct by members of the IDS Militia, the Region Guard, or their state guard to the desk at the nearest Federal Building or Regional Building.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I've updated the IDS Citizens page. As such, to my knowledge, all pages linked to by the IDS template are now up-to-date.

     This is the budget. All items new since the last official budget are in red.

Notes

• Base shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state governments minus Puerto Rico.
• Total shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state and regional governments minus Puerto Rico.

Pensions
-Base: $3.81 billion
-Total: $3.81 billion

Health care:
-Base: $121.9 billion
-Total: $121.9 billion

Education:
-Base: $48.9 billion (post-Educational Hotfix Act - original figure was $0, real-life gross state figure is $73.4 billion)
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Pre-Primary through Secondary Education/Other Capital Outlay - Elementary and Secondary Education/School Choice Initiative: $56.4 billion
-Total: $108.8 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.6 billion
-Total: $0.6 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $40.4 billion
-Total: $40.4 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.5 billion
-Total: $21.5 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $28.2 billion
-Total: $28.2 billion

General government:
-Base: $7.4 billion
-Total: $7.4 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $18.7 billion
-Cultural Services/Pentagram Creation Act: $200 million (1 time expense)
-Infrastructure and Development/2011 Emergency Tornado Relocation Act: $15 billion (1 time expense)
-Infrastructure and Development/2011 Flooding Damage Repair Bill: $10 billion (1 time expense)
-Puerto Rico: $17.27 billion (total spending of PR- PR is not included in any other category in Spending but the Total Regional Spending)
-Total: $61.17 billion

Interest: $7.4 billion (assumes that Regional Government does not have to pay its own interest)

Total Regional Spending: $401.18 billion (includes Interest)


Income Taxes:
-Base: $0 (state cannot collect their own income taxes)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill: (see personal income tax rate)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: -66.1 million (-0.0661 billion)
-Corporate Tax Rate: 8.6% (part of Free Enterprise Bill above - remember other provisions).
-Personal Income Tax Rate: 5.8% ($$61,650,000,000/year)
-Total: $61,583,900,000 or $61.5839 billion

Social Security Taxes: 
-Base: $15.1 billion
-Total: $15.1 billion

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $252.3 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.3127 billion ($1.00/proof liter or $0.385/gallon for beer, $0.909/gallon for wine, $3.31/gallon for spirits)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6:  $0.04/cigarette ($6,034,000,000/year), $0.08/cigar ($80,000,000/year), $2.00/kg tobacco ($24,000,000/year)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce ($48,000,000/year)
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: n/a ($0)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter ($17,284,230,161/year)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3: $10,700,000/year
-License/Tax-Other License/Off-Shore Religious Organizations Initiative, Section 2: n/a ($0)
-Total: $277,093,630,161 or $277.093630161 billion

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $107 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act: $5,700,000/year
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6: $44,400,000/year
-Total: $107,050,100,00 or $107.0501 billion

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $132.5 billion
-Puerto Rico: 24.96 billion
-Total: $157.46 billion

Gross Public Debt: $598.7 billion (assumes that Regional Government has not accumulated its own public debt)

Rainy Day Fund: $25 billion

Total Regional Revenue: $618,287,630,161 (does not include Gross Public Debt or Rainy Day Fund)

Your Imperial Majesty,

It is my belief that a booth is lacking and I don't mean John Wilkes Booth. I mean the booth for the ratification of the Reduction in Registration Requirements Amendment for the IDS region. If this observation is in error please have mercy on your tired subject. If it is not, we humbly request of your highness to rectify the situation as soon as possible.


You humble subject,
NC Yankee
IDS Regional Senator

     Thank you, this issue will be rectified shortly.

Now rectify this (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=137167.0). :P

     By the power vested in me by the Omnibus Maintenance Bill, I hereby accord omnibus status to Law #250, the Southeast Legislature Standing Rules, and confer recognition on Law #258, the Bill of Additions to the Standing Rules, & Law #306, SOIL Amendment Bill, as amendments thereof.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     The deal over Oklahoma didn't pan out.

     I hereby appoint Yelnoc to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Thank you, your Imperial Majesty ;D

     In light of the recently announced end of the states of emergency in the areas affect by the recent tornadoes and flood, I hereby recall all deployed IDS Militiamen, National Guardsmen, and Region Guardsmen in the region and formally thank them for their service. All militiamen & guardsmen are to return to their families no later than 11:59 PM CDT on Friday, July 29.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I hereby appoint TexasGurl to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     The voting booth is open now. Speaker Sanchez has communicated to me that he intends to run for another term, but I was slack in my typical responsibility of making sure everyone declares, so he is not on the ballot. I am here asking that all citizens of the Imperial Dominion of the South write him in for a high preference.

     I hereby appoint Kalwejt to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Thank you, Emperor. I'm honored.

     Regional voting booth open. It's quite unfortunate that it has to be contemporaneous with the federal election, but please go vote.

Best Ballot Ever ;D

     I have always tended to write-in strange things. Those were some of my favorites from the pantheon of strange things. :P

     Some 14 months ago, the region elected its first Attorney General. Since then, the office has proven to be a cesspool of inactivity that has wasted the time of many eager newbies while demanding that candidates be recruited to run for it while it has wallowed in vacancy. Esteemed former Senator & Governor Brandon H has been of great assistance by donating his time to hold this position for the past six months, despite being quite busy in real life.

     How did he manage it? Largely because the position is in fact quite useless. Its only duty is to represent the region in legal proceedings. Had we had such an office back in 2009, its value would have been great. However, only one case has arisen since instituting the office of IDS Attorney General that involved the Imperial Dominion of the South, that one case being a challenge to an order of mine that did not require the Attorney General's presence at all. Given that the office performs no routine duties of importance & routinely strains the region's limited resources to be filled, why bother? I, for one, say no more.

     As such, I am taking this opportunity to unveil a new bill of mine that will eliminate the office of IDS Attorney General. Recognizing the possibility of a future lawsuit involving the region, I intend to reserve the duty for the Emperor to appoint a special prosecutor to represent the region. However, the days of struggling to find an altruistic individual willing to hold a useless office are at their end.

     Witness the bill:

Just when I was about to propose my first bill (abolishing regional AG) :(

     Introduce this one & nobody has to know it was my idea. :P

()

     By the power vested in me by the Omnibus Maintenance Bill, I hereby confer recognition on Law #311, the Act Establishing Imperial Seals and Houses, & Law #312, Act Establishing the House of Jbrase, as amendments of Law #289, the Southern Symbols Omnibus Bill.

     Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I just realized the monthly election is scheduled to begin tonight. :( Kalwejt declared his candidacy back on August 5th. If Sanchez wants another term, he'll have to run as a write-in. Pingvin declared some months ago, so I'll have to see if he still wants it. If he does, we can have three Darths again. :)

     It seems that neither of them want it. I still have to include Pingvin anyway since the candidacy declaration period has obviously elapsed, but be aware that he has withdrawn his candidacy.

()

     I hereby appoint Hashemite to fill the first vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint Gporter to fill the second vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Your Imperial Majesty,

I just resigned my seat in the IDS Legislature, giving my election to the Senate. I'd like to thank you again for opportunity to serve IDS citizens you gave me.

I'll continue to remain active in regional affairs as citizen :)

     Not a problem. Though your tenure was brief, your assistance in continuing some semblance of normalcy in these inactive times has been invaluable.

()

     I hereby appoint Progressive Realist to fill the first vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint Yelnoc to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

With pleasure.

()

     I hereby appoint Clarence to fill the first vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Thank you VERY much... I am honored!

()

     I hereby appoint Pingvin99 to fill the remaining vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

I'm honored, Emperor.

I with to offer my services to the region.

     Many thanks for the offer. There may be something that I'll need help with, but I don't know yet. I'll have to see.

     This should be the last version prior to the next official budget.

Notes

• Base shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state governments minus Puerto Rico.
• Total shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state and regional governments minus Puerto Rico.

Pensions
-Base: $3.81 billion
-Total: $3.81 billion

Health care:
-Base: $121.9 billion
-Total: $121.9 billion

Education:
-Base: $48.9 billion (post-Educational Hotfix Act - original figure was $0, real-life gross state figure is $73.4 billion)
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Pre-Primary through Secondary Education/Other Capital Outlay - Elementary and Secondary Education/School Choice Initiative: $56.4 billion
-Total: $108.8 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.6 billion
-Military Defense/IDS Militia Structure Act: $0.4365 billion
-Total: $1.0365 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $40.4 billion
-Total: $40.4 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.5 billion
-Total: $21.5 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $28.2 billion
-Total: $28.2 billion

General government:
-Base: $7.4 billion
-Total: $7.4 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $18.7 billion
-Cultural Services/Pentagram Creation Act: $200 million (1 time expense)
-Infrastructure and Development/2011 Emergency Tornado Relocation Act: $15 billion (1 time expense)
-Infrastructure and Development/2011 Flooding Damage Repair Bill: $10 billion (1 time expense)
-Puerto Rico: $17.27 billion (total spending of PR- PR is not included in any other category in Spending but the Total Regional Spending)
-Total: $61.17 billion

Interest: $7.4 billion (assumes that Regional Government does not have to pay its own interest)

Total Regional Spending: $401.6165 billion (includes Interest)


Income Taxes:
-Base: $0 (state cannot collect their own income taxes)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill: (see personal income tax rate)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: -66.1 million (-0.0661 billion)
-Corporate Tax Rate: 8.6% (part of Free Enterprise Bill above - remember other provisions).
-Personal Income Tax Rate: 5.8% ($$61,650,000,000/year)
-Total: $61,583,900,000 or $61.5839 billion

Social Security Taxes: 
-Base: $15.1 billion
-Total: $15.1 billion

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $252.3 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.3127 billion ($1.00/proof liter or $0.385/gallon for beer, $0.909/gallon for wine, $3.31/gallon for spirits)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6:  $0.04/cigarette ($6,034,000,000/year), $0.08/cigar ($80,000,000/year), $2.00/kg tobacco ($24,000,000/year)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce ($48,000,000/year)
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: n/a ($0)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter ($17,284,230,161/year)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3: $10,700,000/year
-License/Tax-Other License/Off-Shore Religious Organizations Initiative, Section 2: n/a ($0)
-Total: $277,093,630,161 or $277.093630161 billion

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $107 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act: $5,700,000/year
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6: $44,400,000/year
-Total: $107,050,100,00 or $107.0501 billion

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $132.5 billion
-Puerto Rico: 24.96 billion
-Total: $157.46 billion

Gross Public Debt: $598.7 billion (assumes that Regional Government has not accumulated its own public debt)

Rainy Day Fund: $25 billion

Total Regional Revenue: $618,287,630,161 (does not include Gross Public Debt or Rainy Day Fund)

We need to balance the budget. If I may be so bold, I propose that $100,000,000,000 be stored away to help us balance future budgets, while Welfare spending is doubled by expanding the number and type of programs available. I also propose we cut income taxes in half, and use the remaining 50 billion or so to give each citizen a check for $125 in the mail each quarter

     Here is the new budget with the changes from the first bill passed:

Notes

• Base shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state governments minus Puerto Rico.
• Total shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state and regional governments minus Puerto Rico.

Pensions
-Base: $35.8 billion
-Total: $35.8 billion

Health care:
-Base: $113.9 billion
-Total: $113.9 billion

Education:
-Base: $66.8 billion
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Total: $70.3 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.7 billion
-Military Defense/IDS Militia Structure Act: $0.4365 billion
-Total: $1.1365 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $36.5 billion
-Total: $36.5 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.0 billion
-Total: $21.0 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $30.1 billion
-Total: $30.1 billion

General government:
-Base: $6.7 billion
-Total: $6.7 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $20.5 billion
-Puerto Rico: $16.61 billion (total spending of PR- PR is not included in any other category in Spending but the Total Regional Spending)
-Total: $37.11 billion

Interest: $6.6 billion (assumes that Regional Government does not have to pay its own interest)

Total Regional Spending: $352.5465 billion (includes Interest)


Income Taxes:
-Base: $0 (state cannot collect their own income taxes)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill: (see personal income tax rate)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: -66.1 million (-0.0661 billion)
-Corporate Tax Rate: 8.6% (part of Free Enterprise Bill above - remember other provisions).
-Personal Income Tax Rate: 5.8% ($61,650,000,000/year)
-Total: $61,583,900,000 or $61.5839 billion

Social Security Taxes: 
-Base: $0 (-$20.1 billion from 2012 IDS Budget Amendments)
-Total: $0

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $140.0 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.3127 billion ($1.00/proof liter or $0.385/gallon for beer, $0.909/gallon for wine, $3.31/gallon for spirits)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6:  $0.04/cigarette ($6,034,000,000/year), $0.08/cigar ($80,000,000/year), $2.00/kg tobacco ($24,000,000/year)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce ($48,000,000/year)
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: n/a ($0)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter ($17,284,230,161/year)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3: $10,700,000/year
-License/Tax-Other License/Off-Shore Religious Organizations Initiative, Section 2: n/a ($0)
-Total: $147,265,400,000 or $147.2564 billion

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $42.7 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act: $5,700,000/year
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6: $44,400,000/year
-Total: $42,750,100,000 or $42.7501 billion

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $87.9 billion
-Puerto Rico: $17.28 billion
-Total: $105.18 billion

Gross Public Debt: $382,028,869,839 (assumes that Regional Government has not accumulated its own public debt)

Rainy Day Fund: $35 billion

Total Regional Revenue: $356,770,400,000 (does not include Gross Public Debt or Rainy Day Fund)

Pingvin for Legislature!

If tb75 wants back in, that would be wonderful.  I think Taft should be given a good look at, also.

Wait, which one is our speaker :P that's the one I meant.

Yelnoc is Speaker... Taft was the Viceroy and should be a legislator!

Yes, it was Taft I meant, and I've edited the letter using papyrus-out.

I would most graciously and humbly accept these kind words from the good Darths as my resume, and would kneel before the good Emperor, should he allow me to bring my service to my this glorious region, and my fellow regionmen!


One day, and one day soon, me and him shall fight for the honor of being in the IDS Legislature, and I promised him a race that would shake the foundations of this region, if he wants back, it will have to be through my cold dead campaign.

There are two seats, ya know.

Actually, come to think of it, we have federal dueling legislation.  By all means, go for it! (:P ;))

()

     I hereby appoint Taft4Prez to fill the first vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint Pingvin99 to fill the second vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Two excellent choices, Mr. Emperor :)

Hawt dayum! And I still get to duel tb! A fine day indeed!

Hurrah

()

     I hereby appoint Progressive Realist to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint MasterSanders to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     Speaking to the Imperial Speaker, it would appear that I have made an administrative error. In the last elections I had MasterSanders & Taft4Prez as the Legislators standing election. However, it turns out that it actually should have been Pingvin99 & Taft4Prez. My bad. :(

Oops.

....Crap.

     A busy school schedule has been taking a toll on my activity, which has led to some issues, such as an out-of-date Wiki & a mixup in the election schedule of the Legislature. I will have a week off at the end of this month to get things in order, but then I go back to school for another month-and-a-half. While the rest of the Imperial government has been having similar issues, I am nevertheless embarrassed by the recent difficulties.

     As such, I am currently giving thought to the possibility of retiring at the end of this term. I'll be reviewing my options in advance of next month's imperial elections.

A note: in the current Class A legislative election, I am the only person on the ballot.  Realistic Idealist is also a Class A legislator.  Pingvin's status is unclear due to the mix-up; I propose we write him in as the third legislator for this seat to make his switch from Class B to Class A to official, thereby also legitimizing MasterSander's Class B seat.

Also, a suggestion: Perhaps noting on the ballot whether it is a Class A or Class B legislative election will help voters make their choice, preventing them from writing in the name of a Class B legislator in a Class A election, for example.

     It's Progressive Realist, not realisticidealist. Anyway, he, to my knowledge, did not declare that he was running for re-election.

     I'll make that note next time, but I doubt it will make anyone any less confused, at least initially. :P

damn, I was always mix the two up.  And okeydoke.

What the fuck, guys?  MasterSanders is in two seats AGAIN.  Jesus Christ, really people?

     Well, he has been elected to an offmonth seat, so that's what he's holding now. I will consider his previous seat vacated, in which case anyone who wants it can PM me about an appointment.

()

     I hereby appoint ChairmanSanchez to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint Kalwejt to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

I'd like to thank the Emperor for giving me opportunity to serve our region once again :)

()

     I hereby appoint Mechaman to fill the first vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint sjoycefla to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Emperor- I found you a concubine

()

     I appreciate the gift, though that one will need to spend some time on the Imperial Treadmill.

()

     I hereby appoint AHDuke99 to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Congrats, Duke! Now there's only one vacancy left.

Sweet, the Duke is here!

And I'm pretty sure the legislature is full, though PiT will need to appoint another Judicial Overlord.

That's what I was talking about, but are there any active citizens of the IDS who aren't currently in another office who could become said Overlord?

I'm sure PiT will think of something.

()

     I hereby appoint Pingvin to fill the office of Judicial Overlord.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Yay!

Congratulations!

I didn't know I was already appointed! Sorry for my delinquent performance so far.

     S'all cool. Early or late, we're glad you made it.

It is with great regret that I must say goodbye to the IDS Legislature.

()

     I hereby appoint HagridOfTheDeep to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Thanks PiT! :) I'll try to keep the GOP talking points to a minimum.

Look forward to working with everyone and hopefully learning a thing or two.

Congrats!

()

     In light of the recent attack by federal agents on the Imperial Capital of Memphis, I hereby order that the appartuses of the Imperial government be temporarily relocated to currently free cities elsewhere in the South. For the sake of maintaining the continuance of order in the region against further interruption, I also order that the appartuses government be split among the different cities according to branch and organized by a relevant chief official

Executive, to Houston, as organized by Emperor PiT
Legislative, to Charleston, as organized by Imperial Speaker Yelnoc
Judicial, to New Orleans, as organized by Judicial Overlord Pingvin

     At such a time that the federal agents shall withdraw from the Imperial Capital of Memphis, all apparatuses of the Imperial government shall return there with all due haste.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     Coming off of the phone with our suppliers, I am pleased to announce that a supply of dibbles worth 25 billion Atlasian dollars has arrived safely at a secret location. I would like to thank my trusted sources for advance notice of today's invasion.

Emperor PiT addresses a crowd of over 30,000 citizens on the steps of Houston City Hall, flanked by the top brass of the Texas State Police branch of the IDS Regional Police

()

     My new office has been set up here in the city of Houston, TX - home of the great Emperor who presided over the rebirth of our region. This is my vow to the people of the region, to maintain an air of normalcy, in these trying times.

     While our capitals are still under the thumb of occupation, I will not suffer the suffering of our citizens there too. Some hours ago, the Attorney General notified us of his men seizing our region's assets. Such actions exist outside of the bounds of proper conduct, and the federal agents are ultimately tantamount to robbers.

     As such, I direct the Regional Police across the regions to travel to their closest Capital and place the federal agents there located under arrest, for the crimes of armed robbery, breach of the peace, and trespassing. Furthermore, I plan to launch an investigation into the actions of these agents, with the intent of prosecuting any wrong committed against any citizen of this region to the fullest extent of the law.

     With that said, let there be no mistake; the IDS Regional Police should avoid initiating bloody altercations with federal agents, for war is not my purpose. However, justice and self-governance by the people of this great region is.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

    In light of the notice that the Attorney General intends to file suit against this region, I am authorized by the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill to appoint a Special Prosecutor to defend the region in these proceedings.

     As such, I hereby appoint Jbrase as Special Prosecutor for the Imperial Dominion of the South.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

As Governor of the neighbouring Mideast region I would like to express my solidarity with the government of the IDS in this matter. Show the federal government its place! ;)
If you need logistical support (e.g. a safe place to store your Dibbles) or anything else, let me know.

     I appreciate the gesture of support, fellow regional executive. Fortunately, it appears that the federal government will allow us to return to work with minimal disruption. Now, we await the court case.

A question: What is the purpose of appointing a Special Prosecutor if we are the defendant in a case?

     It's just what we decided to call it. The Special Prosecutor's only duty is to defend us in the case he is appointed for.

We'll have to amend the What's in a Name bill.  I'll go introduce something to the que.  In the mean time, I should probably figure out what is going on in the legislature...

     It should be the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill, actually.

()

     I hereby appoint BritishDixie to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint SJoyceFla to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     Emperor PiT greets the citizens of the South on the steps of the Imperial Capitol Building in Memphis, Tennessee.

     Greetings, fellow Southerners. Today marks one year since the passage of the Trojan Act, establishing the existence of the dibble. As we have been made tragically aware, the Supreme Court has recently struck down the provisions of the Trojan Act providing for the existence of the dibble. They tell us that the dibble is a competing currency, illegal under the Constitution.

     We may have lost this battle, but our resolve will see victory in this long and bitter war. We all remember the invasion by the agents of the federal government, forcing us from our capital. They thought they could cow us with their show of force, but they were wrong. Our people have already examined the Supreme Court's ruling and prepared a new law to account for the problems that the court identified with the Trojan Act. As I speak, the Imperial Legislature is voting on a bill to assure the continued existence of the dibble.

     When we began with the dixie over three years ago, the competing currency was a controversial project of a strongly libertarian government. However, anyone can see that the existence of the dibble has treated our region well. After a year of its use, the regional economy still thrives, intact and strong. It is this senseless act of federal aggression against a peaceful exercise of regional authority that has united the Imperial Dominion of the South in solidarity. Today, the dibble is no longer a competing currency; it is now a symbol of the pride of every citizen in their region; the Dirty South.

     Dave bless the Imperial Dominion of the South, and good night!

     Emperor PiT leaves the podium and enters the Imperial Capitol Building to the enthusiastic applause of the crowd.

     In over two years and 200 pages of discussion, our regional Legislature has seen many topics be discussed at length. Many of them have ended in the passage of well-written, fully-formed bills. Others have ended on the cutting room floor, due to burnout from an excessively lengthy debate or the presence of other pressing matters.

     I have taken the time to resurrect and retool three recent bills so that we can begin discussing them anew, and hopefully mark our previous discussions as fruitful. Time is precious, and let none say that any chapter of our region's great history has been wasted.
---

For some reason I'd be entirely happy to sponsor this one :)

Oh hells yeah.

I wish we had our own subsection forum. :P

I resign as legislator. Looks like you've got to fill another vacancy. :P

     Yup. I am in contact with an option, so to speak. :P Seriously though, thanks for the service. I know you'll do great in the Senate. :)

()

     I hereby appoint Zanas46 to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Thanks, PiT. :)

Maybe I'll be back someday. Hopefully not too soon though. :P

Best of luck to Zanas.

Thanks for the honor, even if the election is this week ;)

Do I have to swear in or something ? It's the first I hold any office here, so I'm a bit disoriented. Also, which are the topics at stake for now ?

Yeah, there's a thread in AFG that's for swearing-in. Right now we're discussing education reform.

()

     It came to my attention that the great former Judicial Overlord John Dibble has been looking to usurp the post from the current Judicial Overlord Pingvin. Far be it from me to turn down such a request from such a great Atlasian. As such, I hereby appoint John Dibble to settle his dispute with Pingvin in electoral battle. Go forth and let this region be proud of the outcome.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     It came to my attention that I am supposed to be demanding high speed rail money from the Department of Internal Affairs. As such, I am now accepting suggestions in my office for areas to demand money for.

I believe our current HSR lines are Dallas-Houston and Charlotte-Greensboro-Durham-Raleigh.

My two suggestions are:

*Run the Charlotte-Raleigh line out on both ends, on one end to Rocky Mount (for hopeful connection to Richmond) and the other to Greenville and Atlanta.

*Tampa-Lakeland-Orlando-Melbourne-Port St. Lucie-The Madness That Is South Florida-Miami.

     Thank you for the suggestion. Any more?

Options :
-North of Dallas towards Oklahoma City
-East of Houston towards New Orleans

We could even connect the two to create an IDS high-speed rail backbone either via a Northern option Atlanta-Birmingham-Jackson-New Orleans or a Southern option Atlanta-Montgomery-Mobile-New Orleans.

That all depends on the funding though.

The issue with that, though, is that we'd need to get the Midwest government, y'know, alive for them to request the line from OK City to the border, which is unlikely to happen. If we are considering lines outside our region, I'd add to my proposal Rocky Mount to Washington via Richmond.

As for the Houston-NOLA line, I would eventually support such, but (in my opinion) our first concentration should be on the lines that would be most-travelled, which means the Piedmont area, Florida, and the Texas Triangle. I'd love to put in a Gulf Coast line eventually, but right now the ridership is just not there. Our rail backbone (assuming what I proposed is implemented) should (in theory) eventually expand to include Orlando-Jacksonville-Atlanta, Jacksonville-Charleston-Raleigh/Durham, Dallas-Austin-San Antonio-Dallas, and Dallas-OK City, which can be further assisted by Houston-NOLA-Birmingham, Birmingham-Jackson, and Atlanta-Chattanooga.

     I'm about to make my request. Since the other executives requested a ton of work, I will do so too and let morgieb sort it out. :P

You know what I was always under the impression that OK was in the IDS... :S so it didn't seem interregional to me.

()

     As the LORD Shua has verified the claims of a large hurricane hitting this region, I am hereby declaring a state of emergency and ordering the IDS Militia to deploy and keep order in the affected areas while we await the restoration of power. Given that many Militiamen hail from unafflicted western parts of the region and need to be deployed in areas away from their communities, I am also requesting that the Southern Praetora assist the Militiamen in logistical matters as needed.

     Please remember that government agents need to be held accountable. All private citizens are requested to direct any questions, concerns, or reports about the conduct of members of the IDS Militia or the Southern Praetorum should be directed to the desk at your nearest regional building.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Emperor,

The IDS Independence Act has passed the Legislature 4-0 and awaits your action.

Emperor,

The Declaration of Aliya Mustafina Day Act has passed the Legislature 5-0 and awaits your action.

()

     I hereby appoint Jbrase as Defender of the Realm for the current court case, subject to the approval of the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I'm posting this here, since it pertains to the election, but not to the campaign (directly, at least). The regional Constitution states that the election falls on the third weekend of the month. I understand this to mean the third full weekend, which would work out to December 21-23. That's very close to Christmas.

     My reason for posting this is asking, might there be some precedent for interpreting the law otherwise? If we really have to have an election this late in the month, it is probably something that should be changed in the future.

Are you asking because of the proximity of Christmas, or only because it is late in the month ? Anyway, I don't have an objection to the election being held a few days before X-mas, as I will still be taking the time to come here and vote. I don't about my fellow Southerners though.

And if you are only mentioning that the election is late in the month, how is this an issue ?

     Yeah, it has to do with the proximity of Christmas. I don't know if there is anyone in the region particularly affected, but some people travel long distances to have Christmas with their families, and they may find it difficult to vote. That's largely the reason why federal elections are earlier in December than they are in other months.

Attention Governor:

This is a friendly reminder that per the Right to Recall Act of 2012 (https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Right_to_Recall_Act_of_2012) you are obligated to start an election to recall Legislator Ben Kenobi by 3:58 PM Eastern time tomorrow (i.e., the time of the final required signature (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=166017.msg3553099#msg3553099) in the recall petition thread (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=166017.0)).

Emperor,

The Blue Law Cessation and Alcohol Standardization Act has passed the Legislature 3-1-1 and awaits your action.

     I would like to extend my sympathies to the family of Gainesville QB Jalen Watson, for the severe injury that he sustained. I hope to address the issue that this raises, though it is not an easy one to deal with. The issue of player safety is a critical, yet very thorny one in the case of football, considering that the aggressive nature of the sport is its prime appeal.

     As such, I intend to open a dialogue with the Imperial Legislature on how to improve player safety in our region's high school and college football programs without compromising the spirit of the game. College football is and always has been the prime athletic pasttime of our region; we must do what we can to ensure its fullest enjoyment, both for the players and the spectators.

()

     I hereby appoint jerryarkansas to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     Here is the budget for the new year. I forgot that we had eliminated the social security tax, so the surplus is much smaller than I had thought.

Notes

• Base shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state governments minus Puerto Rico.
• Total shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state and regional governments minus Puerto Rico.

Pensions
-Base: $42.9 billion
-Total: $42.9 billion

Health care:
-Base: $127.4 billion
-Total: $127.4 billion

Education:
-Base: $75.0 billion
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Total: $78.5 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.7 billion
-Military Defense/IDS Militia Structure Act: $0.4365 billion
-Total: $1.1365 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $34.2 billion
-Total: $34.2 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.8 billion
-Total: $21.8 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $29.3 billion
-Total: $29.3 billion

General government:
-Base: $6.5 billion
-Total: $6.5 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $17.3 billion
-Puerto Rico: $17.41 billion (total spending of PR- PR is not included in any other category in Spending but the Total Regional Spending)
-Total: $34.71 billion

Total Regional Spending: $376,446,500,000


Income Taxes:
-Base: $0 (state cannot collect their own income taxes)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill: (see personal income tax rate)
-Corporate Income Tax Rate: 5.8%
-Personal Income Tax Rate: 5.8%
-Total: $69.25 billion

Social Security Taxes: 
-Base: $0 (-$23.0 billion from 2012 IDS Budget Amendments)
-Total: $0

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $144.3 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.3127 billion ($1.00/proof liter or $0.385/gallon for beer, $0.909/gallon for wine, $3.31/gallon for spirits)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6:  $0.04/cigarette ($6,034,000,000/year), $0.08/cigar ($80,000,000/year), $2.00/kg tobacco ($24,000,000/year)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce ($48,000,000/year)
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: n/a ($0)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter ($17,284,230,161/year)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3: $10,700,000/year
-Total: $151.5654 billion

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $51.1 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act: $5,700,000/year
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6: $44,400,000/year
-Total: $51.115 billion

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $97.7 billion
-Business and Other Revenue/Utilities Tax/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: -66.1 million (-0.0661 billion)
-Puerto Rico: $19.04 billion
-Total: $116.6739 billion

Gross Public Debt: $598,700,000,000 (assumes that Regional Government has not accumulated its own public debt)

Rainy Day Fund: $50,000,000,000

Total Regional Revenue: $388,604,300,000 (does not include Gross Public Debt or Rainy Day Fund)

So on total revenue of close to 400 billion dollars a year, we'd need to cut about 10 percent and raise the sales tax by a couple percent to eliminate income tax altogether.

Emperor, the IDS Tax Abolition Act of 2013 has passed 2-1 and now awaits your signature.

()

     I hereby appoint jerryarkansas to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

()

     I hereby appoint Gamecock to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

(Slips envelope of money under the Emperor's door...)

()

     At the request of Legislator Dereich, I hereby name the esteemed Mr. Cathcon an honorary Captain of the IDS Militia. Go forth, and raise the banner of the Imperial Dominon of the South in triumph.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Emperor PiT, may I take this opportunity to extol my boundless gratitude at this appointment. Despite my residence to your North, I have long admired the South, its form of government, and its incredible tradition. The way you have managed to maintain great autonomy and integrity in this vast land is admirable, and the fact that you have taken upon yourselves defense in the from of militia is one specific trait I have viewed fondly. Therefore, I gratefully accept this nomination with pride and humility, and would like to extend my thanks to Darth* Dereich.

*I was once informed that "Darth" is the official title for all Legislators of the Imperial Dominion of the South.

Actually, it's not anymore, since the "Darth is not a noun Amendment" was passed in February 2012. But Legislators, as they are now called, retain the right to refer  to themselves as Darth John Doe, though no one has done so in a long time.

Ah, a shame.

Is the Captain of the Militia able to represent the South in the Supreme Court as defender of the region ? Because it seems we have none to do so in the hearing on our electoral law... Anyway, it would be to say that we are changing this and we don't care if our constitutional requirement is cancelled, but we need to let the last election stay. I did that, but not vested by official powers or anything, as a simple citizen.

I believe the Legislature needs to appoint a Defender of the Realm for that.

     I haven't checked the proceedings in a few days, but I saw no indication that the election was at risk of being voided.

Sorry, PiT, just for the record and the wiki updates. The result of the legislative election was 17-14 and not 18-13. Hope that you could fix that.

    Didn't notice this sooner. I can still edit my last post in the thread. It doesn't change the outcome of the election, so nobody should mind if I just make a quick edit there.

()

Retiring Emperor PiT addresses his subjects one last time, in front of the Southern Capitol Building, modeled after San Francisco City Hall

     As I rapidly approach the end of my 30-month reign as this region's Emperor, I would like to thank everyone who helped bring me to this place. It has been an honor to work with every one of you and to help guide our ship through its travails, and to see day break over the South once again.

     As some of you may remember, I ran for President twice in 2009. That was a very unfortunate time, and I learned that I was not the person that I wished I were. I carry a link to a contemporary thread in my signature now, as penance for my actions. I wound up leaving my allies in the RPP behind for a while and wandered in the wilderness. I found myself highly disillusioned with national politics, and I seriously considered leaving Atlasia for good. I did not, however, because I saw the opportunity to get involved at the regional level.

     At the time, regional legislatures were an emerging phenomenon. (They were known at that time as regional assemblies, with the evolution in terminology standing as a proud mark of our region's influence on the political discourse of this nation.) I remember that Purple State had argued that these legislatures were important in introducing new Atlasians to the game and acting as a launching pad for federal candidacies. As the South created its Legislature, I decided to get involved so I could help mentor new Atlasians to success. I was elected its first Speaker, and later became our region's Emperor.

     I cannot claim to have played a role in bringing this recent wave of activity to the region, but I can say that I worked hard to keep the spectre of inactivity at bay for many long months when we struggled to even get three active citizens to partake in the Imperial Legislature. In so doing, I like to think that we together built a stronger region where a continuous and evolving legal code has taken root, reflecting the opinion of The People from the time of our glorious region's inauguration under its Constitution in 2004 to this day. In another time, old laws may have been neglected or forgotten, but awareness of the full corpus of our statute has now taken hold instead.

     The wonderful thing is that this awareness brings many new possibilities for complex and informative debates on the issues. I was pleased to see lengthy debates occur over the course of this campaign, on issues such as nuclear power. I can see that there are people who has the passion and the knowledge needed to lead the region in this new age of partisan fervor. I'll freely admit that debating issues is not a facet of politics that I particularly enjoy. That is, I consider myself more of a clocksetter, who ensures that everything is well-tuned and working.

     When I took over, our statute was in a state of total disarray. I repealed superseded laws, consolidated laws that separately addressed the same issue, edited new laws for clarity and precision, and helped work newly proposed laws into tandem with applicable older statute. As a result, our statute is far more usable and far less cluttered today than it once was. It's hardly perfect, but it will always be a work in progress. Likewise, I have seen many of our Legislators successfully use it to launch their political careers and continue on to federal office; people like ChairmanSanchez, Clarence, HagridoftheDeep, and many more that I am sure to be forgetting at the moment. Even more so, I do not think that that argument has to be made anymore. The longstanding tradition of activity and health embodied by the various regional legislatures, are own included, has made the argument that the regions can be an important part of the game, when it was once popular to view them as a pointless waste.

     With that said, I believe that I have done my part here now. I'll still be around, so no need to worry. However, I leave the future of this region to the ever-capable hands of the current crop of Southern politicians, and I pass the torch on to my successor, the Third Emperor of the Imperial Dominion of the South, SJoyceFla.

     Thank you all, and Dave Bless The South.

     Hello, everyone. I am back.

     I see that the good people of the Legislature have been doing a good job of crafting my campaign ideas into bills. With that said, I have a few bills that I have been writing myself. I hope to post them tomorrow, and find Legislators who will champion them. I look forward to working with all of you.

Emperor,

The Legislature Size Adjustment Act has passed the Legislature 4-0 and awaits your action.

     It's not a lot, but here are a few bills that I have penned, to be introduced by members of the Legislature. It should tide us over for a couple of weeks.

     Following the example of my Mideastern colleague Governor ZuWo, the current tallies for the amendments in the IDS are as follows:

Expulsion 14-0 (100%)
Consolidation 2-12 (14%)

Turnout: 14/29 (48%)

     With two days left to vote, it seems unlikely that either the passage of the Expulsion amendment or the failure of the Consolidation amendment will be avoided. With that said, let's try to drive turnout as high as possible.

()

     I hereby appoint the former Speaker Scott and the Speaker and former Emperor SJoyce to the districting Commission authorized by the Legislature Size Adjustment Act. These appointments will have to pass a vote by the Imperial Legislature and then the commission will meet.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

     I have a bill and an amendment that I would like members of the Legislature to introduce for me. The amendment is one to correct an oversight that I seem to have found. The bill is to make possible an idea that I had for something like an "ascended statute". If you're interested, then please introduce it. ;)

What are the tax rates in the IDS? I need some sort of benchmark for the pacific.

     I'm pleased to be of service.

<$750: 1%
$750-$2250: 2%
$2250-$3750: 3%
$3750-$5250: 4%
$5250-$7000: 5%
>$7000: 6%

Emperor,

The 'We're Not the Mideast' Act has passed the Legislature and is presented for your signature or veto.

     I have a couple more bills that I would like the wonderful members of our Legislature to introduce and discuss.

()

     Whereas the Worker's Bill of Rights Act interferes with the rights of religious organizations to discriminate on grounds of religious affiliation or in any other manner necessary to properly observe the tenets of their religious,
     Whereas Section 2, Subsection 4 of the Worker's Bill of Rights Act allows the issuance of a waiver to these requirements under special circumstances,
     Whereas the protection of religious freedoms is paramount to the institution of free and fair government,
     I hereby order that the IDS Department of Labor issue waivers pursuant to Section 2, Subsection 4 of the Worker's Bill of Rights Act to religious organizations wherever it is necessary that they receive exemption for discrimination based on religious affiliation and any other bases so required by their religion.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

As required by the Success in Regiona-Federal Communications thing we passed a few days ago:

The Senate recently passed this modification to previous laws regarding Highway funding:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=184445.msg4052411#msg4052411

The text change indicators signify the changes from the previous acts that were so altered by the passing of this act.

I do have plans to beef up this system, including recommendations for how the legislature can better arrange this flow of information, but that will have to wait a little bit more for a time when my face isn't swelled up like a balloon.

     Thank you, Senator. I look forward to receiving more comprehensive recommendations.

Emperor, the CSF Establishment Bill (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=187499.0) and the Freedom of Contract Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=186741.0) have passed the Legislature and await your signature or veto.

     I thought we had a quorum requirement, but it appears that we don't. I will sign these bills, but this is a deeply concerning matter and one that we should look into addressing. We shouldn't be able to pass a bill with just one Legislator assenting.

     The election booth for our first Legislative election with districts is up. I realize that a substantial change to the process like this one can cause confusion, so I made it as apparent as possible in the voting booth. I hope that we can make it through this election without any irregularities.

Emperor, the Amendment to the Omnibus Maintenance Bill (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188123.0) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Emperor, the IDS Airport Renaming Act of 2014 (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188124.0) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Emperor, The Safe Roads Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=187787.msg4073485#msg4073485) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

     So that we can get the ball rolling on the the DUI issues and get that highway funding that our region could really use at this time, I would like a member of the Legislature to introduce this bill for me. I hope to expand upon it, with the assistance of Senator NC Yankee as well as the Legislature, once it is on the floor.

---

()

     The recent activities of the Senate have shown a tendency towards a new and malevolent purpose, in contravention of the enumerated rights of the regions. I believe that it is time to take a stand against the belligerence of the Atlasian Senate, lest they should be emboldened to step further.

     Pursuant to the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill as amended by the Amendment to the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill, I hereby nominate Jbrase for Defender of the Realm.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Emperor, the Bill Respecting the Will of The People (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188469.msg4082979#msg4082979) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Your Imperial Highness,

I do humbly present myself before you to present the following recent act of the Senate, which was today signed into law.


As I understand such it allows for the establishment of regulations and allowing of types of unions not curently recognized at the federal level, by the regional governments provided it the region follows the included guidelines. I

IF you have any questions on the matter, I will work to ensure you receive a clear answer on them atter.

Senator NC Yankee,
IDS Regional Senator.

     So is there a point other than you can get married by the region and it counts as getting married by the feds? Otherwise, there is really nothing to stop a region from creating an institution and calling it "marriage".

Emperor, Jbrase has been confirmed as Defender of the Realm and his seat in the Legislature is now vacant.

      Defender of the Realm is a temporary position pending the end of the court case. The legislative seat shouldn't be vacant. Christ....

Okay, sorry, sorry.  I was under the impression that this was a permanent position.

Emperor, the Three Strikes Bill (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188565.msg4089180#msg4089180) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Emperor, the Appointment List Bill (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=188897.msg4090280#msg4090280) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Emperor, the Canadian Territories Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189063.msg4090488#msg4090488) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

     Things are moving along nicely. I suspect we are nearing the endof the queue.

Not if I have anything to say about it. ;D

     It turns out that Simfan is suing us. I wonder if we could...enlist Jbrase to defend us there as well, since he is the Defender of the Realm. Only if he has the time for it, of course, since he is already also arguing our own lawsuit.

I'm down.

Emperor, the Anti-Surveillance and Privacy Protection Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189224.msg4096207#msg4096207) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

     I brought it up largely because I was hoping that we wouldn't have to go through another hearing, but looking at the statute it is pretty clear that we will. Thank you for your willingness. Please start working on the brief as soon as you can, because we'll be on a strict timeframe.

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     In order to represent the region in court in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Simfan, I will nominate a member of our region for Defender of the Realm, and one who is currently serving as Defender of the Realm in a case of our own making.

     Pursuant to the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill as amended by the Amendment to the Abolishment of Pointless Offices Bill, I hereby nominate Jbrase for Defender of the Realm.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Your Imperial Highness,

The Atlasian Senate has passed the following Constitutional Amendment and has sent such to the regions to be ratified:


Your Humble Servent,
NC Yankee

Emperor, I will need you to advocate for your bill. (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189571.0)

Also, elections for Legislature were supposed to start today, I believe.

     I'm sorry that I have been less than on the ball lately. Elections are open, I will post on the bill shortly.

Emperor, the Safe Driving Bill (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189571.msg4105591#msg4105591) and the Amendment to the Rules and Procedures (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189510.msg4105592#msg4105592) have passed the Legislature and await your signature or veto.

Also, an amendment to our constitution (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189687.msg4106821#msg4106821) has passed and should be sent to referendum.

     Wonderful. Things are moving right along.

Emperor, the Amendment to the Canadian Territories Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189974.msg4111409#msg4111409) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Also, the District 2 Legislature seat is now vacant.

()

     To fill the vacant District 2 Legislative seat, I hereby appoint Dereich to the Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

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     After discussion with a certain couple of people whose opinions I needed on the matter, I am ready to make my nomination for the first holder of the newly recreated office of IDS Attorney General. I hereby nominate myself for IDS Attorney General.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

Emperor, the Imperial Law Enforcement Reform Act (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=189998.msg4117688#msg4117688) has passed the Legislature and awaits your signature or veto.

Emperor, the Legislature has confirmed you as our next Attorney General.  Please swear in as soon as possible.