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Bill: District Government Act of 4054
Details
Submitted by[?]: Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK)
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: August 4055
Description[?]:
| This Bill constitutes a re-authorization of the original District Government Act, passed in Assembly in 3339. This act, if passed, shall supersede the 3339 Act, and shall take its place in the OOC: "Existing RP House Rules in Kalistan" List. The original Bill, listed below, may be modified, and then the final language may be passed into law under normal means. Given the Unitarist nature of the Republic, the Government of Kalistan shall establish a second tier of government in the Districts. 1) There shall be created, by this act, for RP purposes, District Assemblies. For the purpose of this Act, District Assemblies shall consist of some number of Deputies, elected at the same time as regular or special elections for the National Assembly. 2) The composition of any District Assembly shall reflect the District vote for National Assembly. For example, if Ananto awards 37% of its seats in the National Assembly to Party X, Party X shall receive 37% of the seats in Ananto's District Assembly. 3) The Party holding the Plurality in the District Assembly (nominally, the single highest seat count) shall be awarded the title "Speaker of the District Assembly", and shall set the Agenda for the District Assembly, presumably in line with their corresponding National Party. The Party/Parties which do not hold the Plurality position in a given District may not set the Agenda, and may only move legislation through the Speaker of the District Assembly. In the event that the Plurality Party is not the majority Party, any RPed laws from District Assemblies require a majority of Players holding seats in the District Assembly. 4) If a District Assembly passes a law which affects any other District, or the Republic as a whole, the matter is brought before the National Assembly, in the form of an RP Resolution, which requires a majority of the Seats in the National Assembly to pass. If the Resolution fails to pass, the District Law is nullified. 5) The Plurality Party shall also name the Governor of the District. The Speaker of the District Assembly and the Governor of the District must be two separate NPCs. The District Governor shall serve as liaison between the National Assembly and the District Assembly, and shall represent the government of the District. The District Governor will also serve as Commander in Chief of the District Military when it is not placed under national control. 6) All laws in the Districts, for the purposes of RP shall conform with the National Constitution and active legislation. If the National law specifically forbids some act, no state Government may do that. Any law the National Assembly does not have the power to address may be addressed by the Districts. No District Law may cancel the effects of National Law within the District. Districts may not nullify any law or act passed by the National Assembly. 7) State Governors do have the right, in declared emergency situations, to not enforce laws. They must explicitly declare such. 8) The Regular Armed Forces of Kalistan will be devolved to District Control. Districts may aggrandize the Military as it desires, but may never reduce its size unless it receives permission to do so by an RP Resolution passed duly by the National Assembly. The National Government may, in times of emergency, nationalize the Regular Armed Forces, though District chains of command and unit designations will be maintained. 9) District Assemblies may be dissolved by Resolution of the National Assembly requiring 2/3rds of all Seated Assembly members. The District Assembly will remain dissolved until the next regular election. The National Assembly may not remove any District Governor for any reason. 10) This law shall only be abrogated by a 2/3rds Majority. 11) This law will enter into force with a 2/3rds Majority of current seats, and shall be binding until it is abolished at some point in the future. |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 01:31:46, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | We can debate this act here, and make suggestions for change. |
| Date | 01:42:23, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | Having reviewed this act we broadly support it. However the KFPM, like the Socialists we think, have some concerns that a rushed transfer of power to local governments might weaken the National Assembly. We suggest that an eighth article be introduced which provides the President with the power to suspend local government in times of national crisis. At this point, we are open to suggestions about the specifics of how this might work. Overall, this a positive step towards true democracy for the people of Kalistan. |
| Date | 01:54:44, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | A few things to point out: This act is already in force throughout Kalistan and has been in place for seven centuries. The addition of the Presidential power in this case would more than The President has had throughout this time. Even during the recent invasion of Ananto during the recent war, we did not need to suspend the Government of Ananto, as the Government of the District simply did not meet. But- If we dd include a provision, I would be more comfortable putting this power in the hands of the Assembly, so that more actors have the opportunity to weigh in and consider suspension of the District Governments. |
| Date | 01:57:57, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | I would also like to discuss the potential of devolving the national Military to the Paramilitaries and then to the Districts. It should seem that the Districts should be in charge of their District forces, and the Paramilitaries then would form the National military, with freedom to operate throughout the Republic. Placing the regular forces under District command, which could presumably be nationalized during times of war, would promote a defensive posture to Kalistani military operations, as well as broadening capabilities for the military to perform peacetime efforts in response to localized crises (such as storms or local unrest). |
| Date | 02:05:50, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | We agree that it is fairer that the Assembly has the power to make this decision and thank the Socialists for that suggestion. To provide some further detail about how this might work, as an example, it might be used to stop district governments trying to undermine the national government. It is really a 'last resort' measure. Having given more consideration to the bill, we also suggest the idea of regular conference of some kind where the Governors of the district meet with either the President or Premier/Prime minister to discuss how to best work together on issues and raise concerns with one another. |
| Date | 11:35:52, July 05, 2016 CET | From | The Conservative Independence Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | We support this very strongly, however I have a suggestion on how elections would happen. The party with the most seats in that region (in national elections) gets control over the district, we as the ANP would focus our attention on Ananto and have no real desire to control anywhere else. This would allow elections to the devolved regions to happen more often than not. Also we have one concern with this bill, the president should not be the one person who decides whether to shut down the assembly's temporarily or permanently, it should only happen if more than half of the legislature agree. We support the idea of having regular meetings with the national government. |
| Date | 18:55:29, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | On Point 1- The bill currently gives control of the Governorship to the Party who "wins" the district (achieves at least a plurality in the District.) I would have no problem having the composition of any District Assemblies/Parliaments reflect the vote in National elections. For example: If the ANP were to receive 45% and the other two Parties receive 27% each in elections, the ANP should control the District Assembly. This would essentially mean that we would need to draw up District Assemblies in such a way that they elect a Speaker (essentially a District PM) in a winner-take all/First Past the Post system, and the Speaker of the District Assembly has the power to set the Agenda for the session in accord with his/her Party. (OOC: Since this will take place outside the mechanism of the game and would be for RP purposes only, we would assume that the District, in the above examples, would follow broadly the Ruling Party's National Agenda, but any laws the IC: Party wanted to pass at the District Level which affected the Republic would require at least a majority of all RL: players who have seats in the district.) On Point 2: I believe we are all in agreement that it should be the National Assembly, not the President of the Republic, with the power to suspend a District Assembly. I would probably include a provision that to suspend a District Assembly requires a RP Resolution which is supported by 2/3rds of the Seats of the National Assembly. Otherwise, it would fail. On Point 3: This can easily be accomplished through RP. OOC: So far, I have been playing District Government where I have periodically named Governors, who I intend to promote in my national profile. The District Governments are more or less on auto pilot otherwise- they deal with all affairs that the National Assembly can't deal with, things like Drivers license regulations, or District cultural events and stuff like that. To this degree, District Governments have been useful in doing things locally which the National Government can't or doesn't need to be doing. It's all been for RP purposes, though. Nothing the Districts have done have affected the National Government or the Republic as a whole. |
| Date | 19:03:26, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | I think we have reached a broad agreement here which now presents the task of drafting the legislation, should this be done through editing the current bill or would it be clearer to rewrite the bill completely with the new proposals in mind? |
| Date | 19:21:00, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | We can do this in this bill, to preserve the discussion. I would also like to keep the debate open a little longer to take in any other concerns not discussed. If we are all resolved with regard to these few changes, I will change the description and move the bill forward to a vote before the next election. And then, if passed, this new bill will replace the old one. |
| Date | 19:29:42, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | Sorry, I think I was unclear. I meant whether to keep the structure of the bill the same and add further stipulations or whether to rewrite. |
| Date | 20:03:32, July 05, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | I'll probably just reword the current bill and add those provisions we discuss here. It mentions "States" and obviously, we don't have states in Kalistan. So it will be easy just to add the new things in. |
| Date | 06:53:35, July 06, 2016 CET | From | Socialist Party of Kalistan (SPoK) | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | Re-read the Amended Description of this Bill. Is there anything I missed? If not, I will move it to a vote. |
| Date | 11:19:27, July 06, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | I think everything has been covered. |
| Date | 19:37:52, July 08, 2016 CET | From | Labour Party | To | Debating the District Government Act of 4054 |
| Message | As a point of note, could the District QT Acts serve as a place for the plurality party to announce the Speaker and Governor too? |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||
| yes | Total Seats: 750 | |||
| no | Total Seats: 0 | |||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
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