Northeast Assembly Thread

[homelycooking]

He or she shall ensure that the Legislative Assembly has the ability to propose legislation that they are able to be debated on, and voted on during appropriate periods.

Not to be crude, but what the hell does this mean?

[homelycooking]

I have already PMed a few in private about this, but I ask that the Northeast begin drafting a Northeast Constitutional Convention upon certification of the Assembly results.

We may run into the same problem all over again here. The governor is the only one who can certify election results, so nothing can happen until (or if) he does so.

...unless we can convince the Senate to certify the results in his place out of a reasonable expectation that the Governor's action will not be timely.

[homelycooking]

Excellent. Thank you.

[homelycooking]

Napoleon, sbane, Jake;

When does your old term end, and when does the new one begin? I'm looking forward to getting down to work. Also, do I need to be sworn in, and by whom?

[homelycooking]

OK, I've sworn in and am ready to get to work. Do we need to elect a new speaker?

What legislation remains from the previous term to be voted on?

[homelycooking]

I would enthusiastically support Napoleon for speaker.

[homelycooking]

We should have an older member confirm that so we don't screw up.

Well, if we don't have the election, we may be challenged.

I'm saying don't resign. If Ghostwhite is recalled there would be no Governor.

I think you're right, Napoleon. Nowhere in the Constitution (or in the Recall Amendment) does it say that a new election must be held immediately following the Governor's removal from office (yet another bit of bad legislation that we'll have to fix) I suppose, however, that if Jake were to resign the governorship immediately after he assumes it due to the Governor's recall, he could force a new election, since having no governor, lieutenant governor or CJO would necessitate a new election. Of course, that brings up the ever-present question of who would run the election.

[homelycooking]

[X] Napoleon (JCP-CT)
[ ] Write-in:___________________

[homelycooking]

Gentlemen,

My Statutory "Spring Cleaning" Act is intended to begin a new chapter in our region's history. From the past seven years of legislative action, we have inherited a massive compendium of statute that is difficult to access, poorly written in some cases, and completely unaccountable to the people of this region. My act will establish a commission that will review, organize and publish in a clear, comprehensive format all of the Northeast's laws and recommend possible changes to those laws so as to fix potential conflicts with the Constitution and with the other portions of statute. It is the first piece of legislation I have introduced as assemblyman, since I think we need to clean up the mess that has been made before we add any more legislation to an already gigantic statute.

Furthermore, Speaker Napoleon has recommended that the Commission be enlarged as the Assembly sees fit so as to permit a collaborative effort to reorganize lawmaking in the Northeast. I would support such amendment given that other assemblymen are willing to participate as well. Otherwise, I urge a quick passage of this bill so that work on this project can begin as soon as possible to get the Northeast back on the road to legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens.

hc

[homelycooking]

I nominate Jake Matthews.

I second the nomination.

[homelycooking]

Here's the amended version I'm offering.


1. The Assembly hereby creates a temporary Statutory Review Commission (hereafter referred to as SRC) comprised of one to four current Representative(s) of the Northeast.

2. The SRC's member(s) shall be appointed by the Assembly by simple majority vote.

3. The SRC shall be entrusted with preparing a report to the Assembly regarding the following:
a. The establishment of a centralized list of all statute signed into law since January 1, 2004;
b. The relevance, clarity and integrity of all said statute;
c. Whether certain laws in said statute contradict others, or are unconstitutional; and
d. Recommendations for future legislation or amendment of existing legislation intended to rectify problems relating to sections 3b and 3c above.

4. The SRC shall establish a set of guidelines that assign specific duties to each commissioner.

5. The SRC's commission to carry out section 3 above shall expire after the fifteenth calendar day after the SRC commissioner's appointment, unless additional time is granted by a majority vote of the Assembly, on which the SRC shall present its report to the Assembly.

6. The Assembly shall then take action upon the SRC report by accepting and implementing, rejecting or qualifying the recommendations made by the SRC.

7. The SRC’s report will be used to update the Northeast Wiki, to be added by a Northeast citizen with Wiki access privileges.


This project will help us learn the laws of our region and simplify just about everything for future "generations".

I completely support this amended version.

[homelycooking]

Anyone open to the idea of allowing former Representatives on the commission. Vice President Dallasfan has indicated a desire to be considered.

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I would support this amended version.

[homelycooking]

We will now hold a vote on recommending a Lieutenant Governor.

[X] Jake Matthews (POP)

[ ] Fallen Morgan (POP)

[homelycooking]

Simply, he should act with haste.

And if he doesn't? Do we just wait until the replacement gubernatorial election?

[homelycooking]

When can we hold a vote on my bill?

[homelycooking]

Aye

I'm worried about creating new regional bodies when we can't even get enough people to run for assembly, but I suppose it can't possibly hurt.

I appreciate that hesitancy, but the members of this new commission would all be parliamentarians anyway.

[homelycooking]

I'm not buying it, especially since it is only temporary.  All legislatures form special committees and things of such nature. This commission has no legislative, executive, or judicial political power.

Well, as long as it isn't considered an actual 'office' I have no objections to serving, and hope the Assembly will confirm me.

The SRC's report does not have the force of law. It is merely produced as expert recommendation of a course of action to be taken by the Assembly, which is at liberty to approve or reject specific recommendations of the SRC.

It may be necessary to make an appeal to the Senate to declare some sort of state of emergency in the Northeast, since it appears that democracy is in an exceptionally weak state if a quorum cannot be had to change the Constitution and if voters must be rounded up and urged to vote instead of doing so of their own will. Furthermore, the recent crisis has revealed that the rule of law in the Northeast is not to be trusted, as is the case with the Recall Amendment. I argue that nothing more can be done until we determine whether the statute of the Northeast is legitimate and valid.

[homelycooking]

The SRC's report does not have the force of law. It is merely produced as expert recommendation of a course of action to be taken by the Assembly, which is at liberty to approve or reject specific recommendations of the SRC.

It may be necessary to make an appeal to the Senate to declare some sort of state of emergency in the Northeast, since it appears that democracy is in an exceptionally weak state if a quorum cannot be had to change the Constitution and if voters must be rounded up and urged to vote instead of doing so of their own will. Furthermore, the recent crisis has revealed that the rule of law in the Northeast is not to be trusted, as is the case with the Recall Amendment. I argue that nothing more can be done until we determine whether the statute of the Northeast is legitimate and valid.

Never mind about that State of Emergency bit. cinyc has made me much less afraid about the laws' legitimacy. I still say though that the SRC has to get started as soon as possible. I'd be thrilled to be working with Napoleon and Dallasfan on such an important matter.

[homelycooking]

I'm also putting myself forward if there's any way I can be of use.

I will nominate Polnut, then. The legislation limits the commission to four people, so the four could be myself, Dallasfan, Napoleon and Polnut: a fantastic group!

[homelycooking]

Polnut- Aye
Homelycooking- Aye
Dallasfan- Aye
Napoleon- Aye

[homelycooking]

The idea of eliminating the Lieutenant Governor position is one I have always supported, and I think this amendment does a good job of it. I do think, however, that language should be inserted that specifies for a special election to be held if the Governor's absence or inactivity is longer than, say, one week. The amount of time during which the Speaker would be wearing both legislative and executive "hats" ought to be severely constrained.

Under your amendment, can a Governor in absence reclaim his office from an Acting Governor if he returns? Also, you write that "there can only be one Governor at one time". Is the Governor removed from office if he announces a period of leave? Does the Acting Governor count as Governor during that time?

[homelycooking]

What determines whether a governor is absent, assuming that he hasn't declared his leave? Is it a failure to post in certain forums, to respond to messages, to visit the forum in general? In other words, how do we determine when the 7 days begin, when they end, and when they may have been interrupted? Also, does the passage of those 7 days of "inactivity" constitute a "sudden vacancy"?

[homelycooking]

My purpose in writing this bill was obvious: I think our citizens ought to be able to go to a thread or a Wiki page and find out who their elected officials are. When I first arrived in the Northeast, I had to ask to find out who some of my representatives were. I don't want that to be the case for any resident in the future, and so I urge passage of this act so that we have a statutory mandate for information availability and civic communication in the Northeast.

[homelycooking]

Well, we do have a Wiki page, listing government officials.  That it hadn't been routinely updated over the past year or so is the bigger issue.

My problem with the Wiki is that there are a number of pages referencing current or past NE officials, and it's difficult to make sure that all of them are correct and up to date. A new thread might be more useful, considering that.

[homelycooking]

On the bill: Aye.
For lieutenant governor: Wormyguy.