Legislation Introduction Thread

[MasterJedi]

I'm introducing this on behalf of Emsworth:

Pledge of Allegiance Act of 2005

§ 1.  The words "under God" shall cease to form a part of the pledge of allegiance of Atlasia.  The new pledge of allegiance shall read as follows:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of Atlasia, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

Questions and comments may be directed in his direction.

I don't like this one.  This liberal mentality that assumes we can fix this pledge "issue" by removing "under God" is silly.  Why do we need a nationalist pledge at all?

I was not under the impression that the Senate would agree to the abolition of the pledge. If it is, however, that's fine as well.

It's just one of those things that sets me off.  It comes across as so bent on "seperation of church and state" that it looks almost anti-religious, not neutral.  On a tangible note, the bill makes no provisions for any use of the pledge-- if we have to alter it, what will the pledge be used for?  Continued recitation in schools & workplaces?  A little national motto?  I don't see the point.

I'll fight to keep it "under God" but if it changes to "under Dave" I wouldn't be too happy but I'd be ok with it. But there is no way that I  would support the removal of the pledge.

[MasterJedi]

Please withdraw the Palestine crap.

Why?

Well I don't think it should be withdrawn but I will vote against it. Palestine shouldn't have their own countries until the leaders condemn terrorism and it stops, or at least is barely noticable.

[MasterJedi]

I'd like to co-sponsor Harry's space bills, and, in the case that he leaves the Senate before they come to the floor I'd like to take over as sponsor.

[MasterJedi]

Protection of the Right to Bear Arms Bill

Section One: Ownership of Firearms and Low-Potency Explosives
1. Any federal law prohibiting a category of persons from owning  firearms or low-potency explosives is hereby repealed, except as provided by clause 2 of this section.

2. A court of law may punish an individual convicted of a felony under federal law by suspending his right to bear firearms and low-potency explosives for a period of years, or for life.

Section Two: Liability
1. The manufacturer or seller of firearms or low-potency explosives shall not be held liable for death, physical injury, or property damage resulting from the use of said firearms or low-potency explosives.

2. Clause 1 of this section shall not apply where:

(a) Death, physical injury, or property damage is the direct result of a defect in the design or manufacture of the product;
(b) The seller negligently supplies the product to a person whom he knows, or reasonably should know, is likely to use said product in an unlawful manner involving unreasonable risk to others;
(c) The manufacturer or seller is an accessory to, or is otherwise unlawfully involved in, the relevant crime.

Section Three: Concealed Carry
1. This section shall only apply in the District of Columbia and in federal territories that do not form part of any Region.

2. Any citizen of Atlasia who has completed a safety course on gun use approved by the Department of Justice may apply for a license to conceal and carry a handgun on his person in public areas. The license shall be inoperative unless renewed every five years.

3. A license to conceal and carry a handgun issued by a Region to one of its citizens shall be valid in the District of Columbia and in federal territories, if the Region requires the licensee to complete a course on gun safety approved by the Department of Justice.

4. A license to conceal and carry a handgun issued to a person convicted of a felony under federal or regional law during the past five years, or to any person whose right to bear firearms and low-potency explosives has been suspended under section 1 of this act, shall be invalid.

5. The fee for the issuance or renewal of a license to conceal and carry a handgun shall be $50.

6. The concealed carry of handguns may be disallowed in government-owned buildings, including but not limited to prisons and court houses.

7. An individual may disallow the concealed carry of firearms on his own property.

[MasterJedi]

My idea but Emsworth wrote it due to my lack of time, thanks again for that.

Hate Crime Laws Abolition Bill

1. No crime shall be defined as a "hate crime."
2. The punishment imposed for a crime shall not be increased on the basis of the criminal's bias or prejudice against any particular race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or other class of persons.
3. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act of 1994, the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996, and all amendments to those acts are hereby repealed.

[MasterJedi]

Atlasian Symbols Act

1. The Senate recognizes that Atlasia is without symbols.
2. The Senate agrees to create the following symbols: National Motto, National Flower, National Bird, National Tree, National Fish and National Animal.
3. If passed each Senator shall submit themselves, or get from his constituents 10 options for each symbol to the Secretary of Forum Affairs.
4. After all options are received the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall administer a vote on each symbol, using preferential voting. Whichever symbol receives the most support shall become the national symbol for each option.

[MasterJedi]

It's a new Senate so I must re-introduce this.


Species Act of 2005

1. Endangered/Threatened Species
   a. Atlasia hereby recognizes the Endangered/Threatened Species List of animals and plants.
   b. Any individual wanting to bring an endangered or threatened species into Atlasia shall have to purchase a license allowing them to own said species plus an additional fee of 100,000 dollars for each animal brought in. In addition each individual must have the space they plan to hold said species inspected and approved by a local zoological society.
   c. Any zoo or zoological society may freely bring endangered or threatened species into the US if they haven’t been cited for animal rights as long as they notify the government of Atlasia.
   d. If any endangered or threatened species is proved to have been knowingly killed in a court of law said offender shall be fined 500,000 on the first offense, 1 million and 5 years in prison for the second offense and 2 million and 30 years in prison for the third offense. If the offender commits a fourth offense life in prison shall be enforced.

2. Invasive Species
   a. Atlasia hereby recognizes invasive species as a problem to the nation’s environment.
   b. An invasive species shall be known as any non-native plant or animal that disrupts or destroys the natural state of the environment.
   c. Only zoos or zoological societies shall be allowed to import invasive species into the US.
   d. Any private company or individual found in a court of law to have knowingly brought in an invasive species shall be fined 2 million dollars and serve 30 years in prison for the first offense. If a second offense occurs the offender fine shall double to 4 million and spend life in prison.
    e. The government of Atlasia shall remake the list of invasive plants to take into account plants that are already used in landscaping and other common uses based on the plant's level of invasiveness.

3. Species Tracker
   a. Atlasia's Fish and Wildlife Service shall be required to create a computer system to track the import and export of endangered, threatened and invasive species into and out of Atlasia.  In addition this system is required to keep on file the information of any previous offender.
   b. Any endangered, threatened or invasive species import or export must be reported the Atlasia’s Fish and Wildlife Service.
   c. Any individual, company, zoo or zoological society that currently has endangered, threatened or invasive species has two years to report all of said species to Atlasia’s Fish and Wildlife Service to be logged in the computer system.

[MasterJedi]

Atlasian Symbols Act

1. The Senate recognizes that Atlasia is without symbols.
2. The Senate agrees to create the following symbols: National Motto, National Flower, National Bird, National Tree, National Fish and National Animal.
3. If passed each Senator shall submit themselves, or get from his constituents 10 options for each symbol to the Secretary of Forum Affairs.
4. After all options are received the Secretary of Forum Affairs shall administer a vote on each symbol, using preferential voting. Whichever symbol receives the most support shall become the national symbol for each option.

This sounds like an interesting idea, Senator. Could we add a flag as well?

Yes we can, I'll go edit this right away.

[MasterJedi]

Really? I couldn't find any record of it in the statutes or elsewhere in the AtlasWiki, so I assumed that there wasn't one.

The issue of creating an Atlasian flag was brought up quite a long time ago, and we had a bunch of designs, and the one you see above created by htmldon won.

Ok I re-edited it then.

[MasterJedi]

I have one more bill to introduce but I don't know all the uses of Asbestos so if anybody else knows more they can help with the editing of this bill when it reaches the Senate floor.



Asbestos Bann

1. The Senate hereby banns the importation, exportation, transportation and sale of asbestos or products that use asbestos.

[MasterJedi]

I'd like to co-sponsor Ebowed',s above bill.

[MasterJedi]

Great thanks to Emsworth for the writing.   And if there are any major problems I'm willing to work on the prison term and fine.


Atlasian Water Purity Act
1. No person shall supply for drinking any water that he knows does not meet the primary drinking water regulations or secondary drinking water regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
2. Any person who violates clause 1 of this act shall be imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or fined not more than $10,000, or both.
3. The President may suspend or reduce such drinking water regulations as he deems fit during times of drought or national emergency to a still safe level of quality.

[MasterJedi]

After talking with Q I hereby withdraw the Species Act of 2005 for now. He's come up with some good changes that could assure it's passage so if I come back to the Senate after the elections I'll be sure to introduce it again.

[MasterJedi]

I'd like to co-sponsor PBrunsel's amendment as well because of what he said, the people do get to vote on it if it passes the Senate.

[MasterJedi]

Having seen the idiocy over discounting presidential votes simply because the voter forgot to list the VP candidate, I'm introducing the following:

Definition of Allowable Presidential Votes Bill

§1. Section 6 of the Unified Electoral Code Act is stricken and replaced with the following:

Section 6: Miscellany Regarding Presidential Elections

  1. Any instance of the word "candidate" in Sections 1 through 5 shall be read as "ticket" in the case of presidential elections.
  2. If only one candidate is listed in a vote in a presidential election, and if the candidate listed is a presidential candidate with a chosen running mate, then the vote will be assumed to be for the ticket containing the listed candidate.

I'd like to co-sponsor this now and when Gabu re-introduces it next session.

[MasterJedi]

Myanmar Declaration of War Bill

Due to the military government of Myanmar's consistent abuses against basic civil rights and their imprisonment of key opposition leaders, the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia declares a state of war to exist between Atlasia and Myanmar.

Myanmar sounds so familiar but I just can't place it..........................

[MasterJedi]

I am just doing this to smack TexasGurl around . Maybe a few scraps of it shall be turned into a working bill. 

CHAINSAW BUDGET SAVINGS BILL

1.  The elimination of Medicaid:
-Over the next eight months (RL years), the budget for federal budget for Medicaid shall be cut by 12.5%.
-All acts pertaining to the Medicaid program are to be repealed at the end of this program.
-$200 million per budget cycle shall be dedicated to assisting the the states in providing their own programs, should they choose to do so.

2. The Federal Department of Education shall have its budget slashed by 90%, starting this cycle. State aid to education shall also be slashed 90%.

3. The Department of Commerce is hereby eliminated.

4. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is hereby eliminated.

5. All non-emergency spending initiatives in the Department of Defense shall have their budgets reduced by 5%.

6. The budget of the Office of Personnel Management shall be slashed 15%.

7. The budget of the Department of Agriculture shall be slashed 75%.

8. The budget of the Environmental Protection Agency shall be slashed 50%.

9. the Federal Government shall offer the civilian portion of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency for auction to bidding individuals and corporations in the United States.

10. The budget for the Department of Labor shall be slashed 50%.

11. All other Federal programs funded through the Internal Revenue Service shall be cut 10%.

12. Where programs are not specifically specificed, the Department of Forum Affairs shall be put in charge of finding specific programs to cut or eliminate to fit the bounds of this bill. They shall be allotted $2 million for administrative expenses for this task.

13. The President, Vice-President, Cabinet, and Senate shall take a 10% pay cut.

Why isn't the Dept. of Education Completely Eliminated?

Make it 25%, and you're on. Add that to the bill.

No don't, you already had a bill that cut our pay and I re-introduced it for you so there's no need.

[MasterJedi]

I am just doing this to smack TexasGurl around . Maybe a few scraps of it shall be turned into a working bill. 

CHAINSAW BUDGET SAVINGS BILL

1.  The elimination of Medicaid:
-Over the next eight months (RL years), the budget for federal budget for Medicaid shall be cut by 12.5%.
-All acts pertaining to the Medicaid program are to be repealed at the end of this program.
-$200 million per budget cycle shall be dedicated to assisting the the states in providing their own programs, should they choose to do so.

2. The Federal Department of Education shall have its budget slashed by 90%, starting this cycle. State aid to education shall also be slashed 90%.

3. The Department of Commerce is hereby eliminated.

4. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is hereby eliminated.

5. All non-emergency spending initiatives in the Department of Defense shall have their budgets reduced by 5%.

6. The budget of the Office of Personnel Management shall be slashed 15%.

7. The budget of the Department of Agriculture shall be slashed 75%.

8. The budget of the Environmental Protection Agency shall be slashed 50%.

9. the Federal Government shall offer the civilian portion of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency for auction to bidding individuals and corporations in the United States.

10. The budget for the Department of Labor shall be slashed 50%.

11. All other Federal programs funded through the Internal Revenue Service shall be cut 10%.

12. Where programs are not specifically specificed, the Department of Forum Affairs shall be put in charge of finding specific programs to cut or eliminate to fit the bounds of this bill. They shall be allotted $2 million for administrative expenses for this task.

13. The President, Vice-President, Cabinet, and Senate shall take a 10% pay cut.

Why isn't the Dept. of Education Completely Eliminated?

Make it 25%, and you're on. Add that to the bill.

No don't, you already had a bill that cut our pay and I re-introduced it for you so there's no need.

Okay then. MasterJedi, will you support placing the bill back on the agenda? I am actually halfway serious on this now, come to think of it. Smacking TexasGurl and Al around is just a bonus .

I'm not going to introduce the thing above but I have already re-introduced your pay cut for Senators bill and it's in the waiting.

[MasterJedi]

I would like to re-introduce the Forgotten Atlasian Days Bill now that Ebowed isn't sponsoring it.

[MasterJedi]

I would like to re-introduce the Forgotten Atlasian Days Bill now that Ebowed isn't sponsoring it.

Does this mean it goes to the back of the line, or does it get to keep its place?

I think it goes to the back of the line but if Al and Defarge say it's ok it could stay where it was.

[MasterJedi]

Thanks to Emsworth for the help in writing this (and actually remembering what the name was for the Tennessee Valley Authroity was )


Tennessee Valley Authority Privatization Act

1. The Tennessee Valley Authority shall be auctioned to private persons or corporations.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make necessary rules and regulations relating to the process of privatization.
3. The privatization of the Tennessee Valley Authority shall be completed before the year 2007.

[MasterJedi]

Might I suggest leaving the NASA Auction and the 5% lowering of defense spending? Those are actually the only good ones.

[MasterJedi]

I was working on that Jake, so thanks, now I don't have to!

[MasterJedi]

Care to share any ideas?

I was just going to start so I haven't actually written or thought of how I'd wanted to change it yet.

[MasterJedi]

If I have my way, there wouldn't. I imagine when it's all said and done, we'll maintain a vanguard force (Striker Brigade and air assets).

So you mean there'd only be a few air units and a skeleton crew along with enough people to actually patrol the bases to make sure people don't get in?