HB 2016-1055 - Safeguard the Integrity of our Institutions Act (TO EL SENATE)

[NeverAgain]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Sponsor: Siren

I open this up for 48 hour debate.

[Blair]

I'll chime in for what it's worth (sorry Siren for butting in) as I've been talking to a lot of people about these laws- we need to spend a long time going over these laws to ensure that they're watertight. A mistake all of us made was passing the Elections Act back in July that was frankly garbage.

Bills like this require the whole House and Senate to take them apart line by line, and ensure that they're  doing what's needed. My initial thoughts on this-

 2.1 is too vague (a citizen could argue that by casting a vote/being a party member makes a SOFE has a conflict of interest.

 3.1 doesn't actually codify anything into law, it just suggests formally that they should do something already expected.

3.2 I'm skeptical of allowing judges to force another judge off the court, but something clearly needs to done to fix this. I'm much more in favour in banning sitting Justices from running for elected office

[Anna Komnene]

For me, this isn't so much about taking sides in the current controversy but about building trust.  Trust is pretty much the most important part of a democracy.  Democratic institutions can't really function when people don't trust them.  Whether or not the SoFE acted rightly or wrongly with his decisions, there were a lot of people that just couldn't trust the outcome, and I identify with that feeling.  I hope this act will help address that for future elections.

That said, I am definitely open to suggestions/amendments.

My reasoning for the judicial part was when Justice Dereich suggested that there's really nothing anyone could do if Justice Yankee decided not to recuse himself.  I think everyone knew that he would, but the very concept that a situation could happen where a justice wouldn't do that is extremely troubling.  I felt like the way I suggested would be a way to keep the decision within the judicial branch without legislating on how the court can function too much, but it was definitely something I struggled with to come up with the right solution.

[NeverAgain]

I understand the rationale for this bill, and fully support it in light of recent events. But I think there needs to be greater clarity on what qualifies as a "conflict of interest", for both a justice and a government official.

Obviously, Presidential Candidates/Vice Presidential Candidates must recuse themselves if deciding importance on election matters. But how far along should this apply. It comes into question with Adam, when he was Labor Party Chair attempting to become an equal arbiter as an official. I genuinely support this bill, but wonder how we can quantify these conflicts and how partisan you can be without it affecting your job.

[NeverAgain]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Reading over this, my concerns have been answered. Okay.

48 hour vote, Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[White Trash]

Aye

[Goldwater]

NAY

I still don't think the concerns that Blair and NeverAgain have brought up have been adequately addressed, so I can not support this bill.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I must agree with Representative Goldwater: while I agree with the general spirit of this bill, there are serious structural issues that need to be addressed, particularly those concerns raised by Senator Blair, and I'm frankly disappointed that no representative besides the Speaker and the sponsor had anything to say about this proposal prior to the vote. Should this pass, it will need to be heavily amended by the Senate before I am willing to sign it.

[Enduro]

Abstain.

[Anna Komnene]

Aye

[Mike Thick]

Missed this one, but

Abstain

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Abstain

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Missed this one, but

Abstain

LOL

"A winded Minority Leader Ted Bessell burst into the chamber moments before the gavel fell to announce that he would cast a blank vote on the question."

[Mike Thick]

Missed this one, but

Abstain

LOL

"A winded Minority Leader Ted Bessell burst into the chamber moments before the gavel fell to announce that he would cast a blank vote on the question."

In all seriousness, it's marginally better than not voting at all, and apparently more entertaining

[Blair]

You knows its bad when the Abstentions are winning the vote

[NeverAgain]

By a vote of 2 - 1, C'mon people.

Congresspeople have 24 hours to change their vote (seeing as we have more than have the chamber in abstention)

[Goldwater]

Come on people, get off the damn fence!

[Hatman 🍁]

aye

[NeverAgain]

k... This passes 3 - 1. Y'all need to vote dammit.