2nd Council of Lincoln Legislation Introduction

[Former President tack50]

The Lincoln Single Payer Healthcare Act

An act to establish a regional single payer healthcare system in the region of Lincoln

Section I: Elegibility and benefits
1. A new government program, named the Lincoln Healthcare System, or LHS, shall be created
2. All residents of Lincoln shall be entitled to benefits under this Act
3. No person shall be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the program or be subject to any reduction of benefits established under this Act for discriminatory reasons. These include, but are not limited to age, race, gender, pre-existing medical conditions, etc
4. The enrollment of new individuals in this program shall be automatic upon adquiring the condition of legal resident of Lincoln. The government shall issue a card to all individuals enrolled in this program
5. From the moment this bill is enacted, it shall be unlawful for private insurers and employers to provide or sell benefits that duplicate those of this act. However extra benefits not covered by this act may still be provided by private insurers and employers

Section II: Coverage
1. The government of Lincoln shall pay on behalf of the individuals covered by this program for the following items and services if they are medically appropiate for the maintenance of health or for the diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of a health condition:

a) Hospital services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, including 24-hour-a-day emergency services and inpatient prescription drugs.
b) Ambulatory patient services.
c) Primary and preventive services, including chronic disease management.
d) Prescription drugs and medical devices, including outpatient prescription drugs, medical devices, and biological products.
e) Mental health and substance abuse treatment services, including inpatient care.
f) Laboratory and diagnostic services.
g) Comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care.
h) Pediatrics.
i) Oral health, audiology, and vision services.
j) Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices.
k) Emergency services and transportation.
l) Early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services
m) Long-term care services and support

2. No cost-sharing measures shall be imposed on individuals for the services covered by this Act

Section III: On Healthcare Providers
1. Each health care provider has a duty to act in the exclusive interest of each individual under the care of such provider according to the applicable legal standard of care, such that no financial interest or relationship impairs any health care provider’s ability to furnish necessary and appropriate care to such individual.
2. A health care provider is considered to be qualified to furnish covered items and services under this Act if the provider is licensed or certified to furnish such items and services in the region of Lincoln
3. The government of Lincoln shall establish minimum standards for institutional providers of services and individual health care practitioners.
4. An institutional, individual or privately owned provider may not bill or enter into any private contract with any individual eligible for benefits under the Act for any item or service that is a benefit under this Act.
5. All healthcare providers by the start of the year 2030 shall be public or non-profit providers. The government of Lincoln will work for a smooth transition. The year of application of this section may be extended by the governor.
6. Individuals covered by this act shall be free to choose among all providers and institutions that participate in this Act

Section IV: Payments to Providers
1. Not later than the beginning of each fiscal quarter during which an institutional provider of care (including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, Federally qualified health centers, home health agencies, and independent dialysis facilities) is to furnish items and services under this Act, the government of Lincoln shall pay to such institutional provider a lump sum.
2. The amount of each payment to a provider described in Section IV.1 shall be determined before the start of each fiscal year through negotiations between the provider and the state director with jurisdiction over such provider.
3. Payments to providers under this Act may not take into account:
a) The provider's marketing
b) The profit or net revenue of the provider
c) Political contributions
4. Providers receiving payment under this Section shall be prohibited from using funds designated for operating expenditures for capital expenditures or profit; and viceversa
5. The prices to be paid for covered pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, medical technologies, and medically necessary equipment covered under this Act shall be negotiated annually

Section V: Relation with the federal Reforming and Regionalizing Public Healthcare Act of 2017
1. The region of Lincoln hereby opts out of the AtlasCare program, as established in Part II, Section 1 of that bill.

Section VI: Enactment
1. This bill shall be enacted on the 1st of October, 2019

[Former President tack50]

I would encourage everyone not to clutter the thread with discussion on bills; especially bills that are already on the floor of the Council.

[Former President tack50]

Here is a new bill

Improving the efficiency of the Lincoln Government
Sponsor: Suburban NJ Conservative

Part I:

This bill shall expand the total slots of legislation that the Lincoln Council can consider to 25, of these 18 slots shall be held by the government and 7 slots shall be held by the opposition

Part II:
This bill shall take effect immediately upon signing by the governor

I also respectfully ask Chancellor PyrotheFox and Speaker Tack50, to move this bill in front of all the other bills that I have proposed, in the opposition queue, so I ask the Speaker and Chancellor to make it the fourth bill in the opposition queue, behind Councilor Ninja’s bill

I will co-sponsor so this jumps directly to the floor of the Council

[Former President tack50]

Resolution commemorating International Workers' Day

A resolution to commemorate May 1st as International Workers' Day

WHEREAS, the Haymarket affair, which took place on May 1st, 1886 in Chicago; was a huge event in the fight for workers' rights in this region

WHEREAS, many countries around the world commemorate May 1st and said event as a celebration of the fight for workers' rights across the world

RESOLVED, that the Region of Lincoln shall officialy recognize and commemorate May 1st as "International Workers' Day". This recognition shall not impact in any way the commemoration or status as a bank holiday of the first Monday in September as Labor day

[Former President tack50]

Amendment to the Standing Orders:

1. The Standing Orders of the Lincoln Council shall be ammended as follows

Section 2. Movement of Legislation to the Floor
D. Each thread shall remain open until the bill either (a) becomes law via the Governor's signature, lack of Gubernatorial action, or referendum override, (b) fails to receive majority support from Council, (c) is sent to the public for a referendum, pursuant to Article I, Section 6 of the Comprehensive Constitutional Amendment, or (d) the Chancellor moves to revoke it from the floor, subject to a majority vote.

E. After the conclusion of the first 72 hours for debate, the Chancellor may move for cloture. Upon the concurrence of two-thirds a majority of the membership, the Council shall end debate and the Speaker immediately declare a vote on the affected legislation.

Section 3. Legislative Debates and Voting
D. After the conclusion of the first 72 hours for debate, any Councillor or the Chancellor may call for a vote on said legislation. The Speaker shall open a vote if neither another Councillor nor the Chancellor objects within 24 hours of the call for a vote. If a Councillor objects to the motion within 24 hours, a vote shall be held on whether or not to proceed to a final vote, with a simple majority required for the objection to be overruled.

Introducing this on behalf of AustralianSwingVoter

[Former President tack50]

Balanced budget Repeal Ammendment

An ammendment to repeal the need for budgets to be balanced to streamline the budget process

1. Section 16 of the Declaration of Rights of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

16. No budget or appropriation bill shall be passed by the legislative power of this Region for which the totaled expenditures exceed the sum of all revenue collected in the previous year, except by a 2/3 vote of said legislative power.

2. This ammendment shall be enacted inmediately after passage

[Former President tack50]

Better Lincoln Governance Ammendment

A constitutional ammendment to make the governance of the Lincoln region easier

SECTION I: BETTER GOVERNANCE

1. Article I.3 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

3. In all elections for the Council, the number of councilors to be elected shall be determined according to the number of declared candidates - which does not include write-in candidates - contesting the election: either four three councilors shall be elected or one two minus the total number of candidates on the ballot, whichever is greater. At most, nine seven councilors may be elected.

2. Article I.12 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

12. The Council shall have the power to declare no confidence in the chancellor’s government. A motion of no confidence shall require a sufficient second to be voted on by the Council, and if this is achieved, a simple majority of councilors the Council's entire membership voting Aye or Nay is sufficient to declare non-confidence in the government. If a loss of confidence occurs in the government, the governor must call a snap election or appoint a new candidate for chancellor.

3. Article I.16 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

16. The Council shall be dissolved a week 24 hours before general and snap elections to provide for the election campaign period.

4. Article VI.1 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

1. The Council shall have the power to propose amendments to this Constitution. Four-fifths Two-thirds of all sitting councilors are required to vote in favor of the Amendment for it to be approved by the Council, except in Concils with 3 members, where a unanimous vote shall be required. Once approved by the Council, amendments shall become operative following their ratification in a public referendum.

SECTION II: CODIFYING THE STATUS QUO

1. Article I.10 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be ammended as follows

10. The Council, on the first day after the governor’s appointment of a chancellor, the Speaker or any member of the Council shall introduce a motion, “that this Council has confidence in His (or Her) Excellency’s government”. A simple majority of councilors voting Aye or Nay shall be sufficient to establish confidence. If the new government should fail to gain the confidence of the Council, the appointed chancellor shall be dismissed and the governor shall advance the appointment of a new chancellor whom he shall submit to the judgement of the Council. This vote of confidence in the Chancellor may also take the form of a vote in a thread opened by the Governor about the State Opening of the Council of Lincoln

2. Article I.14 of the Lincoln Constitution shall be repealed in its entirety. The rest of Article I shall be renumbered accordingly

[Former President tack50]

Electric Car Chargers & General Encouragement Act

A bill to encourage the usage of electic cars by encouraging the construction of electric car chargers and giving them other advantages

SECTION I: Name
1. This law shall be known as the "Electric Car Chargers & General Encouragement Act."

SECTION II: Definitions
1. For the purposes of this act a DC fast charger shall be understood as an electric car charger capable of delivering at least 45 kW of power and being able to give a standard electric car at least 96 km (60 miles) of range in under 25 minutes.
2. A major reform shall be understood as a reform or expansion construction project to an existing parking lot with an estimated construction cost of at least 1 million dollars.

SECTION III: Regulations
1. All newly constructed parking lots with a planned capacity of over 100 cars, shall have at least 5 DC fast chargers for electric cars, for every 100 parking spots
2. All major reforms to existing parking lots shall include the installation of at least 5 electric car chargers for every 100 parking spots.
3. All parking lots in Lincoln must include at least 15 electric car chargers for every 100 parking spots by the end of the year 2033
4. All electric vehicles shall be exempt from paying any tolls in the region or Lincoln. All hybrid vehicles shall get a 50% discount on all tolls in the region.
5. All electric vehicles shall be allowed to drive in regulated bus lanes and other special designated fast lanes. Municipalities may limit this right to only electric vehicles that have at least a certain number of passengers on board.

SECTION IV: Timing
1. This act shall take effect 3 months after passage.
2. This act shall not affect currently ongoing construction projects or reforms.

[Former President tack50]

It has come to my attention that some disturbing messages have been posted on Discord

Discord Regulation Bill

I. All Discord posts by a Lincoln Councilor shall be viewed by all Councilors

II. A Discord post can be grounds for censure or impeachment of a Lincoln Councilor

III. Any Councilor who repeatedly posts offensive or discriminatory messages on discord shall be automatically recalled

IV. This bill takes effect, immediately after being signed by the governor

I hope to get bipartisan support for this bill, as elected officials we need to be held to high standards and serve as role models for our community, those Discord posts are not indicative of being role models.

I would like to revoke my sponsorship of this bill, and would like for the Chancellor to immediately table it, when it comes to the floor

Well, since the bill is not in the floor yet, I'll just remove it from the queue.

I'm giving a 24 hour period for someone else to take sponsorship, otherwise it's getting removed from the queue

[Former President tack50]

The Make Peanut Great Again Amendment

1. The Lincoln constitution shall be amended as follows:

Every bill passed by the Council, before it becomes law, shall first be sent to the governor. If he approves of it, he should sign it and it will become law; but if he disapproves he may refer the bill to a general referendum. The Council may override the reference of the governor by a majority three-fifths vote of all elected MCs. If the governor fails to take any action on a bill within 120 hours of its passage, it shall become law.

2. This Amendment shall go into immediate effect once approved by the people of Lincoln.

An Amendment to settle some Discord discussion on the stability of the Lincoln Governor. I urge the Council to adopt it, I won't become a dictator I swear.

I will sponsor. It's a shame you won't become a dictator though

[Former President tack50]

Lincoln Education Act

An Act to specify the education standards and requirements in the region of Lincoln

SECTION I: Organization
1. School attendance in a certified school in Atlasia shall be mandatory for all residents of Lincoln between 6 and 16 years old. The practice of homeschooling is hereby banned, except with a proven major reason as approved by the school district. Homeschooled students shall be required to attend standardized tests every 2 years to check their development.
2. School lessons in the region of Lincoln shall last for 50 minutes. Schools and school districts may shorten or lengthen them by up to 5 minutes each way
3. School days in the region of Lincoln shall run between 8:30 and 14:00. School districts and states may delay or anticipate these times by up to 30 minutes each way
4. School years in the region of Lincoln shall run between the 2nd week of September and the 3rd week of June. States may delay or anticipate these times by up to 2 weeks each way.
5. Education in the region of Lincoln shall be organized into 4 stages:
a) Kindergarten and pre-Kindergarten, intended for children up to 6 years old
b) Primary School, intended for children between the ages of 6 and 11
c) Middle School, intended for children between the ages of 11 and 14
d) High School, intended for children between the ages of 14 and 18
6. Students shall be allowed to proceed to the next school year with up to this many failed subjects:
a) Kindergarten and pre-Kindergarten: Not applicable
b) Primary School: Up to 1 failed subject
c) Middle School: Up to 2 failed subjects
d) High School: Up to 2 failed subjects, but passing all subjects in all years of high school shall be a requirement to graduate

SECTION II: Subjects
1. Kindergarten shall not be composed of subjects. Instead, educators will have general guidelines on how to treat children and what to teach them

2. Primary school shall be composed of the following subjects, with the following amount of lessons per week:
i) Natural Sciences (3 lessons/week)
ii) Social Sciences (3 lessons/week)
iii) Art (3.5 lessons/week)
iv) Physical Education (3 lessons/week)
v) English Language and Literature (5.5 lessons/week)
vi) Foreign language (3.5 lessons/week)
vii) Mathematics (5.5 lessons/week)
viii) Civic and Social values (1 lesson/week)
ix) Emotional education (1 lesson/week)
x) General class meetings (1 lesson/week)

3. Middle school shall be composed of the following subjects, with the following amount of hours per week:
i) Biology and Geology (2 lessons/week)
ii) Physics and Chemistry (2 lessons/week)
iii) Physical Education (2 lessons/week)
iv) English Language and Literature (4 lessons/week)
v) First foreign language (3 lessons/week)
vi) Mathematics (4 lessons/week)
vii) Plastic and Visual Education (2 lessons/week)
viii) Music (2 lessons/week)
ix) General class meetings (1 lesson/week)
x) Second foreign language (2 lessons/week)
xi) Civic and Ethic values (2 lessons/week)
xii) Social Sciences, Geography and History (2 lessons/week)
xiii) Technology and Computer Science (2 lessons/week)

4. High school shall be divided into 3 branches: the Sciences branch, the Humanities branch and the Arts branch. Students must pick one of these 3 branches; with the following configurations of subjects
4.1: For years 9 and 10
a) The following subjects shall be mandatory for all students:
i) Geography and History (3 lessons/week)
ii) Physical Education (2 lessons/week)
iii) Spanish Language and Literature (4 lessons/week)
iv) First Foreign language (4 lessons/week)
v) General class meetings (1 lesson/week)
b) The following subjects shall be mandatory for students of the Sciences branch
i) Mathematics (4 lessons/week)
ii) Biology & Geology (3 lessons/week)
iii) Physics & Chemistry (3 lessons/week)
c) The following subjects shall be mandatory for students of the Humanities branch:
i) Mathematics applied to Social Sciences (4 lessons/week)
ii) Latin (3 lessons/week)
iii) Economics (3 lessons/week)
d) The following subjects shall be mandatory for students of the Arts branch:
i) Plastic and Visual education (4 lessons/week)
ii) Music (3 lessons/week)
iii) Scenic Arts and Dance (3 lessons/week)
e) Students shall pick 3 subjects from the following list, but mandatory subjects for their branch can't be picked again:
i) Laboratory classes and Scientific Culture (2 lessons/week)
ii) Scenic Arts and Dance (2 lessons/week)
iii) Philosophy (2 lessons/week)
iv) Music (2 lessons/week)
v) Technology and Computer Science (2 lessons/week)
vi) Second Foreign Language (2 lessons/week)
vii) Plastic and Visual education (2 lessons/week)
viii) Classic Culture (2 lessons/week)
4.2: For years 11 and 12:
a) The following subjects shall be mandatory for all students:
i) Atlasian History (3 lessons/week)
ii) Philosophy (3 lessons/week)
iii) English language and literature (3 lessons/week)
iv) First foreign language (3 lessons/week)
b) Students of the Sciences branch must pick 3 subjects from the following:
i) Physics (4 lessons/week)
ii) Mathematics (4 lessons/week)
iii) Earth and Environmental Science (4 lessons/week)
iv) Biology (4 lessons/week)
v) Chemistry (4 lessons/week)
vi) Technical Drawing (4 lessons/week)
vii) Industrial Technology (4 lessons/week)
c) Students of the Humanities branch must pick 3 subjects from the following:
i) Latin (4 lessons/week)
ii) Classical Greek (4 lessons/week)
iii) World literature (4 lessons/week)
iv) Art History (4 lessons/week)
v) Geography (4 lessons/week)
vi) Business management (4 lessons/week)
vii) Mathematics applied to social sciences (4 lessons/week)
d) Students of the Arts branch must pick 3 subjects from the following list:
i) Artistic Drawing (4 lessons/week)
ii) Technical Drawing (4 lessons/week)
iii) Design (4 lessons/week)
iv) Art History (4 lessons/week)
v) Graphic Expression Techniques (4 lessons/week)
vi) Musical Analysis (4 lessons/week)
vii) Musical Language and Practice (4 lessons/week)
viii) History of Music and Dance (4 lessons/week)
ix) Universal Literature (4 lessons/week)
e) Students of all branches must pick 2 subjects from the following list (all with 3 lessons/week):
i) Second foreign Language
ii) Economics
iii) Psychology and Sociology
iv) Physical Education
v) Computer Science
vi) General Science Education

SECTION III: Curriculums
TBD

SECTION IV: Implementation
1. This bill shall go into effect in time for the 2020/2021 school year

[Former President tack50]

More bills need better organization SOAP amendment

Section I. The Amendment
1. Section 2 of the Standing Orders of the Council of Lincoln shall be amended as follows

Section 2: Movement of legislation to the floor
A. The Speaker shall keep a thread on the Regional Governments board wherein for introducing legislation. This thread shall be known as the Lincoln Council Legislation Introduction Thread. Sitting Councillors may post in this thread.

B. The number of threads about legislation that may be opened simultaneously shall be as follows:
i. In Councils with 5 Councillors or less; there may be up to 7 threads about legislation. 5 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the government and 2 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the opposition.
ii. In Councils with 6 or 7 Councillors; there may be up to 9 threads about legislation.  6 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the government and 3 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the opposition.
iii. In Councils with 8 or more Councillors; there may be up to 11 threads about legislation.  7 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the government and 4 threads shall be reserved for legislation introduced or sponsored by members of the opposition.
 
C. The Speaker shall move government and opposition legislation to these threads in the order in which it was introduced in the Legislation Introduction Thread. If a government sponsor has 3 or more pieces of legislation in the floor, or an opposition sponsor has 2 or more pieces of legislation in the floor, legislation from other government or opposition sponsors who do not shall take priority instead.

D. Each piece of legislation on the floor shall receive its own thread. Threads shall be titled as follows:

L 1.1: The BLANK Act, where L acknowledges the legislation is in the Council of Lincoln, 1 indicating that the legislation is in the first meeting of the Council of Lincoln, 1 indicating that the legislation was the first piece of legislation introduced in the Legislation Introduction Thread, and BLANK being replaced with the name of the piece of legislation.

E. After any election for the Council, all legislation slots shall be emptied and all pending legislation shall be considered automatically tabled.

F. If a change in government or in a bill's sponsorship implies that there are more bills than there are slots available for the government or the opposition, the speaker may open temporary extra slots for these pieces of legislation. These slots shall be removed once a permanent slot is opened (at which point the bill in the temporary slot shall moved to the opened permantent slot), or the bill is removed from the floor by the means described in Section 2.G.

G. Each thread shall remain open until the bill either (a) becomes law via the Governor's signature, lack of Gubernatorial action, or referendum override, (b) fails to receive majority support from Council, (c) is sent to the public for a referendum, pursuant to Article I, Section 6 of the Comprehensive Constitutional Amendment, or (d) the Chancellor moves to revoke it from the floor, subject to a majority vote.

2. The following new section shall be added between Section 5: Role of Speaker and "Section 7: Amending the SOAP", with the rest of the SOAP renumbered accordingly

Section 6. Rules Disputes
1. The Council may elect to suspend any section of these rules at any time with the consent of two-thirds of sitting Counillors.

2. The presiding officer may unilaterally suspend any section of these rules at any time, unless another Councillor objects. If a Councillor objects, suspending the rules shall require the consent of two-thirds of sitting Councillors.

3. If the Council cannot resolve a rules dispute, Lincoln's chief judicial office may issue a binding decision dictating the proper interpretation.