Northern Regional Committee

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The following amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Atlasia have passed the Senate and await ratification by the Regions. I recommend that the Legislative Committee place these amendments on the ballot alongside the special senatorial election.

Regards,
Harry S Truman
Speaker of the Senate

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[/quote]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I think we should fast-track the voting process. What's important is we get to finish our work early.

I agree - speed is of primary importance here. A simple voice vote for chair seems appropriate; we can then move to set a date for the senatorial election and begin hammering out a Constitution.

I will stand for the office of Chair and nominate Cinyc for Vice Chair.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Order!

Alright, I love the enthusiasm, but we need to take this one step at a time - if we try to debate everything at once, conversations will become impossible to follow and a lot of good ideas will get lost in the mix.

Thanks to evergreen, cinyc, and Kingpoleon for taking the initiative and getting the ideas rolling. Here's a rough timeline for how debate will proceed from here on out:

1. Adopt Rules of Order ([RULES])
2. Organize Senatorial election ([SEN])
3. Principle votes on regional name and system of government  ([PRV])
4. Introduce rough draft of Constitution ([DRAFT])
5. Adopt amendments as necessary ([AMNDT])

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

[RULES]   The following motion has been made by Evergreen:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

An objection has been filed by Vice Chairman Cinyc; we will therefore proceed with a final vote on this motion. Please vote AYE, NAY, or Abstain. Voting will last 24 hours or until a majority has been reached.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

NAY

I'd rather use the Senate Rules as a base for the Rules of Order (with adjustments to shorten the voting period), as I'm more familiar with them.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

As a majority of the delegates have either abstained or voted against the motion (making it mathematically impossible for it to pass, Evergreen's motion has FAILED.

I will begin drafting Rules of Order momentarily.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

[RULES]   I offer the following motion:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[/quote]

If there are no objections in 24 hours, I will consider these Rules to have been adopted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Blair, Cinyc, and Evergreen are absolutely correct on this - there is no way that the North or the game at large can support an eight member legislature. The whole point of consolidation was to eliminate as many Regional offices as possible - these proposals completely defeat the purpose of having a Northern Constitution.

The most I am willing to entertain is a five-seat Assembly such as that of the current Northeast, and even then I believe it should be indexed to activity (by way of adjusting the number of seats according to the number of candidates). A bicameral legislature / a seven to eight member unicameral Assembly would be disastrous for the Region and the game at large.


Anyhow, seeing as nobody objected to the proposed Rules of Order, I hereby declare them to have been ADOPTED.

[SEN]   Per to Article X and the Rules of Order, we will now proceed to organize the election of our two Regional Senators. Cinyc and Evergreen were working on an elections bill earlier - if anyone has any thoughts to air on the subject, now is the time to say so.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

My sincere apologies. I was continuing previous discussion.

As soon as a proper bill is made regarding Senate elections, I would agree to an immediate vote.

Any objections to cinyc's proposal?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Very well. A vote is now open on Darthebearnc's amendment to the elections bill. Please vote AYE, NAY, or Abstain. Voting will last 24 hours or until a majority has been reached.


AYE.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Unfriendly.  I don't think this unaccountable committee should be appointing members, no matter how short the term is.  Let the voters decide.  The other regions simply got this wrong.

Plus, I don't think it is clear that the June seat is the shorter one.  Poirot has made arguments that there is no date specified for a Senate election in the Atlasian constitution, and it's already June 1.

Given the shortness of time before the proposed election day, I move for an immediate vote on the amendment.

So with this amendment you'd be appointing someone to a 4 month term? That seems undemocratic to me - we specified in the South that the appointment would only be until another election was held later in June.

My understanding is that the appointed Class I Senator would serve three weeks, until the regular Class I election later this month. I will introduce an amendment clarifying this if Dar's amendment is adopted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

With three votes in favor, three against, and one delegate abstaining, the amendment has fallen short of a majority and has therefore FAILED.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Apologies for my inattention - things have imploded at work recently (payroll problems, plus budget cuts taking their toll) and I haven't been able to be my micro-managing self.

I personally feel that having separate elections for Class I and Class II is the most democratic way to go about things. In an ordinary election, both Senators would be elected by a majority of the entire voting population; under this system, the intricacies of STV could potentially lead to the election of a candidate opposed by a majority of the voters.

I support Evergreen's amendment, by the way.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

If we're holding the multiple elections next weekend, can we constitutionally specify that the person elected to the June seat will remain in office until October?  I don't think the Fourth Constitution requires another June election - it just says the election for the Senator has to be in June.  And this will be.

I agree with this.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I support cinyc's amendment.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

All current Atlasian laws are still in effect. That said, Article X clearly states that we can use whatever electoral system we want.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

[SEN]     A final vote is now open on the proposed election bill. Please vote AYE, NAY, or Abstain. Voting will last 24 hours or until all delegates have voted.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AYE!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

With 7 votes in favor and none opposed, the Elections Bill has been ADOPTED!


[PRV]     According to Article III of the Rules of Order:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Therefore, I now declare a 24-hour period for delegates to propose names for the Region and basic plans for the new government (i.e. "parliamentary democracy," "three branch government," etc.). More specific questions, such as the size/structure of the legislature, will be determined once these two initial votes have been completed.

To start things off: I propose that we name this Region the "Commonwealth of Franklin" and adopt a three-branch system of government modeled after that of the former Northeast.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I propose we stick with North.

We effectively can't have control over the third branch of the government, as there will be no CJO.  And we won't get to appoint an associate justice to the Supreme Court for a while - but we do need a mechanism for appointment, correct?

I'm pretty sure such has already been set in place by Article V.

In any case, you're correct that we won't be able to establish all three branches ourselves, as the judiciary is regulated by the federal Constitution. I suppose a more accurate description of my favored plan would be "an independent executive branch."

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The period for nominations having expired, we will now proceed with a principle vote. Please rank the following options in order of preference. Voting will last 24 hours or until a majority has been reached.

(NOTE: In question 2, "legislature" refers to any body vested with the legislative authority of the Region, whether that be an elected assembly, a universal congress of all citizens, or any other arrangement.)

OFFICIAL BALLOT

Question 1: What should be the official name of the northern Region?
[   ] The Commonwealth of Franklin
[   ] The North
[   ] The Northern Union of Franklin
[   ] Write-in:
Question 2: What should be the system of government for the northern Region?
[   ] Executive and Legislature
[   ] Write-in:

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

What about the compromise name that Kingpoleon introduced?

Did he introduce it? It wasn't clear to me if he was making a formal proposal or just musing.

I'll add it to the ballot, but I would appreciate it if y'all would be explicit about these things in the future.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

OFFICIAL BALLOT

Question 1: What should be the official name of the northern Region?
[  1  ] The Commonwealth of Franklin
[  3  ] The North
[  2  ] The Northern Union of Franklin
[      ] Write-in:
Question 2: What should be the system of government for the northern Region?
[  1  ] Executive and Legislature
[      ] Write-in:

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Thanks Dar! Yep, it looks like we are officially "the North" - not what I had hoped for, but good enough. Perhaps our motto can be "the Land of Franklin"

In other news, the governor-legislature plan passes without incident. Tomorrow (or today, rather) we can begin work on drafting the Regional Constitution.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

[PRV]     The floor is now open for debate on the structure of the legislative branch. Several delegates have floated ideas over the last week or so, but I would appreciate it if y'all would restate your proposals here for clarity's sake. (NOTE: If you want your proposal to be included in any future principle votes, be sure to say so explicitly. Otherwise, it's very difficult for me to tell the difference between a formal motion and informal musings.)

Here's my two cents: I think we should stick with a five member unicameral legislature like that of the Northeast. Preferably, the size of the legislature would be indexed to activity (i.e. the number of seats increases with the number of candidates, with five as the maximum size). I am unswervingly opposed to any proposal that would create a legislature of six or more seats. Even a universal legislature would be preferable to such a system. The idea of districts intrigues me, but we would need to establish a redistricting process if we go that route - otherwise we could end up with a situation where one district is overcrowded and the others have barely enough active voters to elect a representative.