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All animal shelters in the Northeast region receiving funding from the regional government shall institute a no-kill policy for animals deemed to be adoptable after a temperament test, unless the animal is in irreversible chronic pain or terminally ill, or face termination of regional funding. Municipal governments are eligible to apply for reimbursement of any funds used to preserve the lives of adoptable animals.

Northeast Harassing and Frivolous Lawsuit Prevention Act

1.  Three Litigation Review Panels, a Boston panel representing New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont), a New York City panel representing New York, and a Philadelphia panel representing the Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) shall be established.  Each panel shall consist of three judges, chosen randomly and rotated every three months.  Judges may choose to decline service on the Litigation Review Panel, in which case a different judge will be chosen to serve.

2.  a.  All plaintiffs shall be asked, as a condition of filing a lawsuit, to write a short summary of the complaint, no more than 1 page in single-spaced 12-point Times New Roman font on 8.5x11 paper with 1 inch margins.  Defendants may issue short rebuttals following the same regulations, provided they are submitted before the Litigation Review Panel reviews the case.

b.  The Litigation Review Panels shall review all such summaries as soon as they are filed, and may choose to allow the cases to go to trial, dismiss the case without prejudice by a simple majority of two, or dismiss the case with prejudice and/or order the plaintiff to pay the defendant's legal fees by a unanimous vote of three.

3.  If a judge has a conflict of interest on a case submitted to his or her Litigation Review Panel, it shall be submitted to one of the other two Litigation Review Panels for review.

4.  All business of the Litigation Review Panels shall be video and audio recorded and available on request to the general public, and will also be open to the public.

1. Provisions 2 and 3 of the New Northeast Minimum Wage Act are hereby repealed.
2. The Northeast minimum wage shall be equivalent to the current Federal minimum wage plus $1.50.
3. The Northeast minimum wage shall increase concurrent to the Federal minimum wage.

1. Tanning beds are permitted only within licensed tanning salons.
2. Only individuals of at least age 18 are permitted to use tanning beds located within licensed tanning salons.
3. Tanning salons may only admit individuals who have signed a waiver indicating that they understand the health risks involved in using a tanning bed.
4. Tanning salons are responsible for enforcing Provisions 2 & 3 of this law. Tanning salons found to be in violation of either provision will be penalized $1000 for the first offense, $5000 for the second offense, and $10,000 for the third offense. Any further violations will be met with the immediate revocation of the tanning salon's license.
5. Tanning salons will collect a a tax of $5.00 per 15 minutes, or part thereof. All revenue derived from this tax will be spent on cancer research.

Section One: Revenues
1. Each budget presented shall demonstrate sources of revenue in total dollars.
Federal funding-
Income taxation-
Sales taxation-
Property taxation-
Business taxation-
Excise taxation-

Section Two: Expenditures
1. Each budget presented shall demonstrate public expenditures in total dollars.
Law Enforcement/Military-
Education-
Health care-
Infrastructure (including transportation and utilities)-
Environment-
Administration-
Local governments (states, counties, municipalities)-
Tax deductions-
Miscellaneous (including other investments)-
2. Any spending bills must be tagged with their budget category. Duration of expenditure (one-time, short-term (in years), long-term (in effect until repealed via statute), etc.) shall be noted in the law.

Section Three: Responsibilites
1. The Governor is responsible for presenting a budget to the Assembly in accordance with the Constitution.
2. The Assembly shall hold an approval vote on the budget in the Northeast Assembly Thread to pass with a simple majority vote.
3. The Game Moderator and Secretary of Internal Affairs shall assist the Governor and Assembly by providing the necessary data.

Section Four: Future Budgets
1. Future budgets will be able to build off of previous budgets when applicable. Additional revenues and expenditures may be added to or removed from the budget via line-item.

1. The Northeast Vital Civic Information Thread will be stickied in the Regional Governments board. This thread will be updated as frequently as possible, and will contain at least the following information:
    A. A list of elected officials in the Northeast Region, including the Regional Senator.
    B. A brief description of the Northeast Region's government.
    C. A calendar with dates for all regional elections.
    D. A list of all passed, failed, and tabled legislation, with links to the relevant discussions.
    D. Any other information that is useful and relevant, as determined by the updater
    E. A list of references, including the New Northeast Constitution and the Standing Orders on Assembly Procedure
2. The Northeast Governor is charged with updating this thread, though he or she may delegate this duty if necessary.

1) Immediately allow establishment of wind farms on the entire continental shelf of the Northeast region.
2) The Northeast Geological Survey and the Northeast Department of Environmental Conservation will work in concert to map migratory bird routes. Windmills will be prohibited along migration paths deemed significant by the Northeast DEC.
3) There must be a community consultation process prior to the construction of any wind power turbine, as well as a environmental impact study of the site and surrounding area. The results of these will determine whether or not the Northeast Department of Agriculture and the Interior approves the project.
 4) The state can take part ownership of projects up to 33% in order to help startups and companies wanting to share the risk. Profits realized from the endeavor will be shared with the state, with profit sharing being proportional to ownership.
5) The state will assist utilities in building transmission lines to transport this energy from the coast. Improvements to the existing grid shall be made to accomodate this increase in electricity production and to deliver it efficiently to population centers.
6) Funding for provisions 4 and 5 shall come from the Regional Gas Tax. No more than 50% of revenues collected from the Regional Gas Tax may be used for this law.

People's Defense Against Distracted Driving Act of 2012

1. All vehicle operators while driving in the Northeast Region shall be restricted from the following activities:
 

    using hand-held cell phones in any capacity
    using electronic devices like laptop computers, video games, cameras, video entertainment displays and programming portable audio players, e.g. MP3 players
    reading printed materials in the vehicle
    writing, printing or sketching
    personal grooming


2. The penalty for the first offense shall be 8 hours of community service.

3. The penalty for the second offense shall be 16 hours of community service.

4. Any further offenses will result in a penalty of 16 hours of community service per offense.

5. Community service shall be supervised by the Northeast Department of Transportation. Appropriate service may include the following activities: roadside cleanup; vehicle maintenance; clearing storm drains; repairing or painting signs; shoveling snow, dirt, or gravel; or assisting emergency responders.

6. On the third offense, violators shall also be required to participate in a 20-hour defensive driving course approved by the Northeast Department of Transportation. Violators shall be required to cover the cost of the course up to $100. The license of any violator who does not pass this course within one month of his or her third offense shall be suspended until he or she has passed the course.

AN ACT to provide for the establishment of a Regional banking system, to provide for the management and oversight of revenues, to provide investment for the private economy, to establish effective oversight of economic activity in the Northeast Region, among other purposes.

Section 1.) The Bank of the Northeast (BNE), as it shall be named, is established to do the following:

    To assist local banks with capital and liquidity requirements
    To provide loans & loan guarantees
    To provide assistance to borrowers in areas of job retention
    To provide assistance to borrowers in technology creation
    To provide assistance to small businesses and businesses of retail
    To participate in community service projects


Section 2.) All revenues collected by the region shall be deposited in the BNE.

Section 3.) The BNE may not transmit services to other regions or countries unless funds are prescribed to via a budget item.

Section 4.) 35% of the bank's earnings must be remitted to the Treasury.

Section 5.) The bank will be responsible for keeping a record of all transactions and writing summaries which shall convey expectation and outlook of growth and inflation over each upcoming year.  The Treasury will be designated with the responsibility of annually checking the bank for organization of these records and efficiency in management.

Section 6.) No individual, co-partnership, or corporation shall be permitted to subscribe for or to hold at any time more than $25,000 par value of stock in the BNE.

20% of regional tax revenues received from casinos and from any other form of gambling in the Northeast Region go into gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and drug addiction recovery programs and into gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and drug education programs designed to educate Northeast citizens, in particular youth and young adults, on the harmful effects of gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and drug use.