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Bill: First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act
Details
Submitted by[?]: Progressive Conservative Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: October 2088
Description[?]:
| Emergency Measures Act: Activated Powers: If an event satisfies the requirements of the Emergency Measures Act individual provincial powers, which relate to the emergency shall be released to federal control and redeglegated as the ruling body sees fit. In addition, the ruling party of the governing body shall, in the interest of national unity, be given the full support of the senate in its actions until the cessation of the crisis (except under those ways given below). In this ability the ruling party shall, in the interest of the nation act to resolve the problem as it sees fit. Limitation: Being that the invocation of this act arouses ample opportunity for the corruption of the government there are limiting factors upon the powers bequeathed by this act. In essence, this act shall support only temporary measures and any laws implemented using this act will be subject to senatorial ratification following the conclusion of that crisis which had caused the act to be brought into play. This limiting factor is based on the knowledge that an emergency is a temporary phenomenon. In further limitation, upon invocation of this act, under the regulations presented below, the ruling party shall present before the governing body a bill entitled ‘Invocation of the Emergency Measures Act’ and submit it to vote immediately. During the eight-month voting process, the ruling party has full use of the powers as detailed by this act. Should the governing body reject the proposal senatorial control shall be reimposed over the Nation upon the conclusion of the voting process). In order to defeat the bill only 33 percent of the Senate is required to vote in rejection*. Furthermore, this bill shall be treated as a confidence vote, and following its defeat federal elections must be called. If the bill is passed the ruling party must resubmit the bill, and is subject to the regulation as stated above, this process will repeat until the end of the crisis or until the ruling party loses the confidence of the Senate. *a 66% majority is required to pass the bill. A separate bill must also be submitted to the Senate where the ruling party shall detail actions taken against the crisis. This bill is to be entitled ‘Changes under the EMA’. Invocation: Events that clearly fall under EMA jurisdiction are: A: Invasion B: Real or Apprehended Insurrection C: Terrorism D: Other event of national concern* *as following the definition of national concern presented below. National concern is to be defined as a concern of the Nation as a whole. Such an event is one that affects all parts of the nation. These events are cases where the uniformity of the law (and rule) throughout the Nation is not merely desirable, but essential, where the failure of any authority to act would injure the residents of the Nation. TO PASS THIS BILL AS LAW IT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A CONSTOTUTIONAL AMMENDMENT AND REQUIRE 2/3 OF THE SENATE TO VOTE IN FAVOUR. |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 23:15:57, July 25, 2005 CET | From |  National Party of Baltusia | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | OOC - Just so you know, I'm drafting a big ol' word doc for this. Primarily RP, but hey... =) |
| Date | 01:19:06, July 26, 2005 CET | From | Hosengott Nationalists | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | We fully support this act we cannot be without quick decision making in times when it is nessesary. |
| Date | 08:01:19, July 26, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | And the point of this would be to extend whoever's in charge's power. Yeah...wonderful thinking. Just because we go to war does not mean we become a dictatorship. |
| Date | 08:47:52, July 26, 2005 CET | From | Democratic Socialists | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | We are exceptionally wary of this legislation; it could lead to dictatorship, something of which Baltusia has experience. There is, however, recognising the requirement on occasion for rapid action, the possibility for our support of the legislation for these powers included guaranteed 'sunset clauses', if the constitution may not be modified, if elections due will still occur, and fi every power altered is subject to rigorous debate and justification in this Senate before this bill is sent to a vote. |
| Date | 12:31:04, July 26, 2005 CET | From | National Party of Baltusia | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | Drafted this here - Since this is drafted by the SPRB (Well...if you can't beat the romans, join 'em) I would invite the Democratic socialists and other parties to make changes to this document as they see fit, and put the changes to the floor. www.uss-rateger.org/SenateEmergencyMeasuresAct.doc |
| Date | 22:18:17, July 26, 2005 CET | From | Progressive Conservative Party | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | I have encoutered your reservation in drafting this act and have addressed the in my first draft to be published. Also in no way will Baltusia become a dictatorship, only laws that are dangerous in wartime will be suspended and the senate will still have a voice. |
| Date | 00:15:26, July 27, 2005 CET | From | Hosengott Nationalists | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | Agreed with the PCP we are doing this not to create more powers of our own but to ensure the lives of our citizens in times of dire need. |
| Date | 07:34:08, July 27, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | So what laws are dangerous in wartime? |
| Date | 08:05:32, July 27, 2005 CET | From | Hosengott Nationalists | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | OOC: something to this effect is in place in mien country and barely any abuse has come of it its worked quite well in actuall politics so i really see no reason why it wouldent work here. |
| Date | 05:38:34, July 28, 2005 CET | From | Progressive Conservative Party | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | See draft above. |
| Date | 06:06:21, July 28, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | We fail to see the point or how it will be useful. |
| Date | 18:29:10, July 28, 2005 CET | From | Progressive Conservative Party | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | LLP: this is to be used in a hypothetical event of an emergency. After all it was pointed out that the Senate, in a time of crisis can hardly afford to wait eight months to change laws in reaction to the crisis, or even for the Senate to reach a consensus at all. |
| Date | 06:04:16, July 29, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | It says the "ruling party of the government". Using our current govt as an example, which would be the ruling party? "...the ruling party shall present before the governing body a bill entitled ‘Invocation of the Emergency Measures Act’ and submit it to vote immediately. During the eight-month voting process, the ruling party has full use of the powers as detailed by this act." So we vote on it for no apparent purpose because the invoker has full use of their powers immediately. This is where the problems lie. Arguably, the HoG could put this up and start wielding powers, regardless of whether there's an emergency or not while Baltusia suffers an eight month reign of terror before your safety clause of early elections kick in. So the problem lies in finding a democratic way of quickly activating these powers. As yet, we have no alternative solutions but this provides enough ground to vote against...for the time being. Other issues lie in the fact we *have* to support whatever proposals are thrown at us. In particular, we will be probably going against what we have previously stood for and we will be obilerated (moreso) at elections. Finally, we would like to point out that this bill should only be considered "legal" with a 66% majority, rather than a normal 50%. Why? Because this is the kind of thing that requires an alteration of our Constitution. |
| Date | 22:39:04, July 30, 2005 CET | From | Hosengott Nationalists | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | We agree with the LLP upon the 66% matter. |
| Date | 23:52:15, July 30, 2005 CET | From | Progressive Conservative Party | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | LLP: yes we agree, ALSO: All parties note that Baltusia may be at the brink of war against the Independent Republic of Lodamun, this bill becomes even more imperative. |
| Date | 01:58:19, July 31, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | "National concern is to be defined as a concern of the Nation as a whole." ---> Hilarious. |
| Date | 23:14:32, July 31, 2005 CET | From | Progressive Conservative Party | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | All voters please note: this is a judgement of the draft, and it not meant to be a vote on making this law. (Vote yes if you think the bill should continue to be drafted.) |
| Date | 02:55:16, August 01, 2005 CET | From | Txurruka/Aperribai/Mayoz's OPX | To | Debating the First Drafting: Emergency Measures Act |
| Message | So we are voting yes ONLY because it needs work. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||
| yes |
Total Seats: 167 | |||
| no |
Total Seats: 58 | |||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 175 |
| Random fact: References to prominent real-life persons are not allowed. This includes references to philosophies featuring the name of a real-life person (eg. "Marxism", "Thatcherism", "Keynesianism"). |
| Random quote: "The substance of the eminent Socialist gentlemen's speech is that making a profit is a sin. It is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss!" - Winston Churchill |