Legislative Branch

Legislative Branch
Tweet Topic Started: Feb 12 2017, 09:35 PM (23 Views)
Chanku	Feb 12 2017, 09:35 PM Post #1
Chancellor Emeritus Posts: 249 Group: Admins Member #2 Joined: Nov 8, 2015	This topic is mainly for the discussion of the potential creation of a legislative branch. For a record the following have been the Legislative Models of the Empire to date: Open Assembly (Assembly of Shells) (From January 29th, 2016 to February 12th, 2017) Appointed Council (Interim Imperial Council) (Current) Other legislative types have been considered as well, you may find those discussions in the archives.



Unislan	Feb 28 2017, 05:19 PM Post #2
Posts: 7 Group: Imperial Commissioner Member #24 Joined: Feb 28, 2017	I think the legislative assembly should be a single, democratically elected house, that is re-elected bi-monthly. Citizens who wish to become senators could nominate themselves and be placed on the ballot, and all citizens would have the right to vote in the election. Voting would be preferential, with citizens numbering they're preferences. The nominees with the most votes would proceed to form government, having the ability to propose and vote on laws.



Chanku	Mar 1 2017, 09:35 PM Post #3
Chancellor Emeritus Posts: 249 Group: Admins Member #2 Joined: Nov 8, 2015	While I do like your idea here are some of my ideas that I've thought of: Wintreath-Style This is basically borrowing the Wintreath-Style of Legislature. In this it's a bicameral legislature where one house (the lower house) is appointed and the other house (the upper house) is elected. The Lower House would have the exclusive authority to basically introduce and debate on bills, the upper house would be able to approve or disprove of them. The Lower house would be re-elected every two months and the Imperial Chancellor wouldn't be able to run in elections. However unlike the Wintreath System the Lower house wouldn't have override authority (or at least an override requires the approval of the Imperial Chancellor or something like that). Family System Basically NationStates Families would be organized as houses, which people could join. There is a unicameral legislature made up of people elected by each house (each house can decide how it wishes to select people), potentially with a representatives being determined by the size of the house. People who are not apart of the Family will have at least 3 seats in the legislature, however it may be more depending upon the circumstances. The legislature would be able to pass laws which would then go to me to sign, if I don't sign it within a week then it becomes law, otherwise I can veto it. Signing makes it a law immediately. District/State System This is an interesting idea I've come up with, Warzone Sandbox would be divided into a certain set of 'states' or districts and each citizen joins one upon gaining citizenship. This could also be integrated with the RP too. I'm still working this one out, however each state/district would have a certain amount of representatives and it would be allowed some sovereignty over it's own matters. This is kind of like the Family system above. This can also be tied into something if we ever absorb other regions as well, regions that join with us could have their own district. An earlier proposal 1) It has the power to enact laws (The Laws must be signed by the Imperial Chancellor or a week must pass without an explicit veto) 2) The Imperial Chancellor still has authority to create laws at will 3) The Imperial Chancellor may dissolve the current assembly at will, this will last for the duration of it's term. The Assembly may not be dissolved until after it's first 2 weeks in session. 4) During the first 3 days in session the members of the assembly will elect a Speaker. 5) If the assembly is not dissolved the previous assembly exists until the new assembly meets and elects a speaker (and sets-up procedure). 6) The Citizens of the region may hold a vote to immediately re-form the Assembly, should it be dissolved unless it's within 2 weeks of an election. 7) The assembly creates it's own procedure each session. 8) Any member may be recalled by a vote of the citizens. 9) Permanent dissolution requires a agreement by the sitting assembly and a vote by the citizens. 10) The assembly may vote to dissolve itself. The vote is not able to be reversed under the 6th part of the suggestion. Although it's more like how the Imperial Chancellor dissolves it. Modified Earlier Proposal 1) The Legislature itself has two different forms it may exist in: Divided and United. 2) The United Legislature is basically an open assembly. 3) The Divided Legislature is similar to the Wintreath System, except that the Upper Legislature can be dissolved by the Imperial Chancellor. 4) If the Upper House doesn't exist then the law can be directly vetoed or signed by the Imperial Chancellor, if the Chancellor is silent for one week it becomes law automatically 5) If the Upper house does exist, the Imperial Chancellor has no direct veto power. 6) The Elected Chamber can not dissolve itself and remain in a Divided Legislature. 7) Either form can be changed between by either an act of the Legislature or by an act of the Imperial Chancellor 8) If the Imperial Chancellor calls for a session of the other Legislature form then they may not call for a session of the alternative form for three months. 9) If the Legislature passes an act declaring a transition and it is approved by the Chancellor, then it may swap forms. For the divided assembly, however, this merely puts the option to change on the ballot. 10) If, in a Divided Legislature, either no Citizen stands for office, or there is the option to move to the Unified Legislative and it gets the majority of votes, then the Unified Legislature is formed. 11) Either form will continue existing until a speaker is elected (for the Divided assembly this only concerns the lower chamber). 12) Most of the rest is the same as the first suggestion. Of course we could keep this system or return to the Open Assembly



Phirken	Apr 3 2017, 02:25 AM Post #4
Posts: 2 Group: Citizen Member #28 Joined: Apr 2, 2017	Given the small size of our region & what appears to be very few members actively participating, I'm in favour of maintaining the current appointed Imperial Council. I think we should leave the door open for a fully elected legislature in the future through constitutional amendment in the event that region grows large enough to justify it.
Posts: 2 Group: Citizen Member #28 Joined: Apr 2, 2017


Chanku	Apr 3 2017, 01:57 PM Post #5
Chancellor Emeritus Posts: 249 Group: Admins Member #2 Joined: Nov 8, 2015	To be fair our current constitution (The Basic Laws), basically only has one position (The Imperial Chancellor), which holds the authority and is expected to create other governmental institutions (such as a legislature, judiciary, ect.). So currently we wouldn't need a constitutional amendment unless we scrap this constitution (which would require, itself, an amendment in order for us to have no question in maintaining our current treaty with WZEU), although keep in mind that the Imperial Chancellor would have full authority to dissolve any governmental body below them and any law (excluding the constitution, which was needed in the past a few times). Keep in mind we can keep our current structure as long as needed, and then we can switch it up and ease the transition into a different government setup and then codify it in a new constitution. This is kinda what I planned to do anyway, since it gives us a back-out option between the new constitution and the new government structure to make sure it actually serves us.



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