Gubernatorial Amendment (Amendment at Vote)

[minionofmidas]

Gubernatorial Amendment

1. The Preamble to Article 1 of the Constitution is amended to replace "Senate" with "Legislature".

2. The Legislature shall be composed of the Senate and the Council of Governors.

3. Each region shall have one vote in the Council, which shall be cast by its head of state.

4. This body shall have the power to veto legislation passed by the Senate, by a majority vote.

5. By a two-thirds vote, the Senate may choose to override a veto of the Council and present legislation directly to the President.

6. In order to maintain activity within the Senate, the Governors shall have the power to appoint a Senator to keep them informed of all bills that pass the Senate.

7. Any other powers of this body may be granted by the Senate, upon request of that power by any Governor.


Sponsor: PiT

[minionofmidas]

I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind sections 6 and 7.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I had an original proposal that was heavily amended by Xahar (since the Council was originally his idea), so I may not know the reasoning behind everything in here.

     Anyway, for section 6 I figure that most likely the Governors would have to decide on how they would act before the President actually signs a bill. Since we don't want them slowing down Senate business too much, they would choose one of the Senators to keep them updated on every bill that passes the Senate.

     As for section 7, I wanted the Governors to primarily define the scope of their new powers. However, they would need some means of being held in check, so they don't try to make themselves too powerful. The best thing I could think of would be having any new powers the Council desired approved by the Senate first.

[minionofmidas]

My apologies. Both free slots happen to be "amendments excluded" slots. This bill is not yet on the Senate floor (though it should get there very soon).

[minionofmidas]

It's BACK!

I'll have major amendments tomorrow.

[Meeker]

So would the regional Senators remain under this proposal?

[Associate Justice PiT]

So would the regional Senators remain under this proposal?

     Yes, they would. The Council of Governors would be established as a separate body from the Senate.

[minionofmidas]

Meh. This thing probably needs a more substantial rewrite than I initially thought. Tomorrow.

[Torie]

Sections 6 and 7 need to be lost. I don't think they serve a useful purpose. It is an interesting bill, but voting attendance isn't the greatest. Maybe their should be a time limit for the governors to do a veto or they lose the right. There should be a requirement that a majority of the sitting governors is required to effect a veto. Having a vote of 1-0 just won't do.

[Хahar 🤔]

Sections 6 and 7 need to be lost. I don't think they serve a useful purpose. It is an interesting bill, but voting attendance isn't the greatest. Maybe their should be a time limit for the governors to do a veto or they lose the right. There should be a requirement that a majority of the sitting governors is required to effect a veto. Having a vote of 1-0 just won't do.

Section 4 specifies a majority.

[minionofmidas]

Sections 6 and 7 need to be lost. I don't think they serve a useful purpose. It is an interesting bill, but voting attendance isn't the greatest. Maybe their should be a time limit for the governors to do a veto or they lose the right. There should be a requirement that a majority of the sitting governors is required to effect a veto. Having a vote of 1-0 just won't do.

Section 4 specifies a majority.

"a majority vote" is dreadfully unclear.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Sections 6 and 7 need to be lost. I don't think they serve a useful purpose. It is an interesting bill, but voting attendance isn't the greatest. Maybe their should be a time limit for the governors to do a veto or they lose the right. There should be a requirement that a majority of the sitting governors is required to effect a veto. Having a vote of 1-0 just won't do.

Section 4 specifies a majority.

"a majority vote" is dreadfully unclear.

     It should probably say "quorum" to be clearer.

[minionofmidas]

Offered as friendly...

1. The Preamble to Article 1 of the Constitution is amended to read "All Legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in the Legislature of the Republic of Atlasia. The Legislature shall be composed of the Senate and the Council of Governors. "

2. Article I, Section 3, Clause 3 [current text - this is for information purposes and not part of the amendment - : For any Bill or Resolution to pass the Senate, it shall have gained a majority in a valid vote. Before the Bill or Resolution becomes Law, it shall be presented to the President of the Republic of Atlasia, unless it be concerning the rules for the proceedings of the Senate. If the President approves, he shall sign it, and it shall become Law. If the President does not approve, he shall return the Bill with his objections to the Senate, and it shall not become Law. Upon reconsidering the Bill, if the Senate shall approve the legislation by two-thirds of its number, it shall become Law. If a Bill is not returned to the Senate by the President within seven days after it shall have been presented to him, it shall become Law regardless.] is amended to read:  "For any Bill or Resolution to pass the Senate, it shall have gained a majority in a valid vote. Before the Bill or Resolution becomes Law, it shall be presented to the Council of Governors and then to the President of the Republic of Atlasia, unless it be concerning the rules for the proceedings of the Senate. If both approve, the President shall sign it, and it shall become Law. If the President does not approve, he shall return the Bill with his objections to the Senate, and it shall not become Law. If the Council of Governors does not approve, they shall return the Bill with their objections to the Senate, and it shall not become Law. Upon reconsidering the Bill, if the Senate shall approve the legislation by two-thirds of its number, it shall become Law. If a Bill is not returned to the Senate by the President within seven days after it shall have been presented to him, it shall become Law regardless. " [note: As the Council of Governors are not required to sign the bill if they approve, the fact that a week of inaction by them is the same thing as consent goes without saying. I hope. If people find this too unclear please say so.]

3. The title of Section 5 is amended to read "Powers of the Legislature". The preamble of Section 5 is amended to read "The Legislature shall have the power save where limited by other provisions in the Constitution". The title of Section 6 is amended to read "Powers denied to the Legislature".

4. The Council of Governors shall consist of the heads of state of the regions. Each head of state shall have one vote. The votes of a majority of the current membership shall be required to not approve of any legislation. 


Incidentally, I just noticed that we Senators cannot be impeached under the Constitution of Atlasia - it's only for executive and judicial officers of the Republic of Atlasia, not legislative ones. Learn something new every day... of course, we can still be expelled from the Senate. This also means that section doesn't need a rewrite.

I struck sections 6 and 7.

This makes it so that, basically, if three Governors state their disapproval within a week of a bill passing (the same as the President's action timeframe), it's considered vetoed same as if it was vetoed by the President. They don't get a line item veto, though.

And I will later try to amend this further to turn it into the AtlaMinh/Referendum Movement idea of having all bills passed by the people, except I'll keep the regional aspect.

[Torie]

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Are their five regions?

[Хahar 🤔]

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Are their five regions?

Yes.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I accept, I guess. I wonder though, should the Council have any other powers besides that of veto?

[Хahar 🤔]

     I accept, I guess. I wonder though, should the Council have any other powers besides that of veto?

My model was the Reichsrat, which did not (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I accept, I guess. I wonder though, should the Council have any other powers besides that of veto?

My model was the Reichsrat, which did not (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

     I guessed that it could be designed as a sort of House of Lords. That's probably for the best, since the Governors are already the heads of their respective regions.

[Хahar 🤔]

     I accept, I guess. I wonder though, should the Council have any other powers besides that of veto?

My model was the Reichsrat, which did not (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

     I guessed that it could be designed as a sort of House of Lords. That's probably for the best, since the Governors are already the heads of their respective regions.

Exactly.

That aid, something could be worked out contingent to the nationalization of all Senate seats.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

     I guessed that it could be designed as a sort of House of Lords.

You mean you want a patronage-appointed toothless (more-or-less) second chamber that also has a few aristocrats and bishops in it [qm].

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I guessed that it could be designed as a sort of House of Lords.

You mean you want a patronage-appointed toothless (more-or-less) second chamber that also has a few aristocrats and bishops in it [qm].

     I said "a sort of House of Lords." I didn't mean to say that it would be exactly the same, or even mostly the same.

     Also, we could easily get aristocrats & bishops in the Council. Just get the Governors to hire them as clerks.

[minionofmidas]

     I accept, I guess.

Senators have 24 hours to object.

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Are their five regions?

Yeah - the reason the amendment doesn't just state the number is because the Constitution knows a mechanism to change the number of regions.

[minionofmidas]

The Amendment has been accepted.

I'll have more amendments later tomorrow. Which won't be intended as friendly but will try to square this bill with the AtlaMinh agenda.

[Lief 🗽]

As a governor, I support this. I do wonder, however, if the only real affect of this will be that less legislation is passed and there's more gridlock. Do we want that?

[Хahar 🤔]

As a governor, I support this. I do wonder, however, if the only real affect of this will be that less legislation is passed and there's more gridlock. Do we want that?

Well, gridlock is fun.