Proposal Endorsement limit amendment (November 2024)

[Domais]

Endorsement limit amendment (November 2024)

Proposed by: @Domais​

Preamble

This amendment shall allow Councilors and the Herald to be subject to endorsement limits, under the discretion of the Delegate.

Section 1. Amending Article II, section 6

(1) Article II, section 6 shall be amended to read:

(6) The Hegemon may, subject to confirmation by 50%+1 vote of the Assembly or 50%+1 vote of the Council on Lazarene Security, establish and revise endorsement limits for Lazarus. The Hegemon may enforce such limits and will be assisted by the Herald and Council on Lazarene Security as needed. The Herald and Councillors will not may be subject to such endorsement limits, under the discretion of the Delegate.

 

[Eldarion]

Looks good.

 

[Wang Yao]

I'm in favour of clear legal endorsement limits for the members of the CLS so I'm glad this is proposed.

However during recent events, an endorsement cap was added to the WFE for both Herald and Councilors, shouldn't the Hegemon be allowed to establish an endorsement limit for the Herald as well?

Finally I have a second concern, endorsement limits for citizens and residents are usually revised to adapt to population changes (As have happened during the last years) and these changes are slow-paced enough to allow for a confirmation vote by the Assembly to occur. For the CLS, the security situation can change quickly and require a more swift answer as was proven by recent events in reaction to a rogue CLS Councilor trying to usurp the Delegacy.

It could make sense to remove the Assembly confirmation requirement for the endorsement limits related to the CLS. If we're worried about potential abuse we could also restrict the lack of this requirement to emergency periods, possibly with the Court being empowered to strike down the changes if they were not made for legitimate security reasons or outside of an actual emergency.

 

[Eldarion]

I'm in favour of clear legal endorsement limits for the members of the CLS so I'm glad this is proposed.

However during recent events, an endorsement cap was added to the WFE for both Herald and Councilors, shouldn't the Hegemon be allowed to establish an endorsement limit for the Herald as well?

Finally I have a second concern, endorsement limits for citizens and residents are usually revised to adapt to population changes (As have happened during the last years) and these changes are slow-paced enough to allow for a confirmation vote by the Assembly to occur. For the CLS, the security situation can change quickly and require a more swift answer as was proven by recent events in reaction to a rogue CLS Councilor trying to usurp the Delegacy.

It could make sense to remove the Assembly confirmation requirement for the endorsement limits related to the CLS. If we're worried about potential abuse we could also restrict the lack of this requirement to emergency periods, possibly with the Court being empowered to strike down the changes if they were not made for legitimate security reasons or outside of an actual emergency.

The Delegate decides whenever an endorsement limit goes to vote, and only the Delegate can put such a limit to vote in the Assembly or in the Council of Lazarene Security. The Council of Lazarene Security normally does endorsement limits as it can pass changes quickly, so we essentially have both right now if we need it.

Though it is unlikely, the region could be left without any active Councilors, which would make the Assembly provision necessary. We don't really need to change that part of the mandate essentially because of that.

Secondly, the Herald would be more difficult, as technically they are first in succession to become the Delegate, should a hypothetical situation occur.

Another option which is the best of both worlds would be:

Section 1. Amending Article II, section 6

(1) Article II, section 6 shall be amended to read:

(6) The Hegemon may, subject to confirmation by 50%+1 vote of the Assembly or 50%+1 vote of the Council on Lazarene Security, establish and revise endorsement limits for Lazarus. The Hegemon may enforce such limits and will be assisted by the Herald and Council on Lazarene Security as needed. The Herald and or Councillors will may not be subject to such endorsement limits, under the discretion of the Delegate.

That way it allows for the status quo to be retained, while giving the flexibility to the Delegate to impose or remove limits from the Herald or Councilors at will under their discretion.

 

[Domais]

I'm in favour of clear legal endorsement limits for the members of the CLS so I'm glad this is proposed.

However during recent events, an endorsement cap was added to the WFE for both Herald and Councilors, shouldn't the Hegemon be allowed to establish an endorsement limit for the Herald as well?

Finally I have a second concern, endorsement limits for citizens and residents are usually revised to adapt to population changes (As have happened during the last years) and these changes are slow-paced enough to allow for a confirmation vote by the Assembly to occur. For the CLS, the security situation can change quickly and require a more swift answer as was proven by recent events in reaction to a rogue CLS Councilor trying to usurp the Delegacy.

It could make sense to remove the Assembly confirmation requirement for the endorsement limits related to the CLS. If we're worried about potential abuse we could also restrict the lack of this requirement to emergency periods, possibly with the Court being empowered to strike down the changes if they were not made for legitimate security reasons or outside of an actual emergency.

1. The Herald is going to be more trusted then the regular Councilors and is already going to have the second most endorsements.
2."The Hegemon may, subject to confirmation by 50%+1 vote of the Assembly or 50%+1 vote of the Council on Lazarene Security..."

You only need a majority vote of the CLS to change the limit. In my proposal and the current law, you need confirmation by a majority of the Assembly or a majority of the CLS.

 

[Wang Yao]

Retaining both possibilities to change endorsement limits (With a vote of either the Assembly or the CLS) does seem like a positive to me. My comment on Assembly confirmation was not more of an idea in case we would wish to prevent possible abuse (Allowing the Court to check the CLS vote's legitimacy) but I suppose a CLS vote requires large enough approval from our security branch to most likely prevent such things.

As for the Herald, they do have to keep the second largest endorsement count. An hypothetical disappearance of the Hegemon or a planned succession are the two situations where they would absolutely need to have their endorsement limit removed. Logically the second one is planned so a simple vote can remove the requirement. As for the disappearance hypothesis (prior to the Hegemon's CTE), we have provisions in the Mandate to appoint the Herald or a Councillor as Acting Hegemon.

I don't see how the Herald being "more trusted" in general mean they should not have an endorsement limit though, we literally just had a coup attempt from a "long-time trusted CLS councillor". That kind of trust is put into people and during situations rather than set into the law from my perspective. Having the possibility of an endorsement limit for the Herald (like in NR's suggested rewrite) also doesn't make it mandatory to have one in practice, it is left to the discretion of the Hegemon depending on security concerns.

 

[Domais]

Updated. What do we think?

 

[Wang Yao]

I support that version.

 

[Domais]

I motion to vote

 

[Eldarion]

I second the motion.