Cabinet Ministries

Westwind

Westwind

TNPer
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I just thought that I would try to help get the process started. We need to decide on what Ministries we want to enable for the Cabinet.

I was reviewing logs from when the Constitution was first being discussed and proposed, and found that the general concensus at the time was to provide for a minimum number of Ministries to help reduce the sprawl and buearacracy. The following Ministries were generally accepted:

Defense
Foreign Affairs
Justice
Interior

The Constitution, however, already provides for the Judiciary.

The Interior Ministry would encompass much of the functions of old Immigration, Communications, Arts and Entertainment Ministries. Fewer Ministers would likely help with the lower activity levels that exist in the current NS/TNP situation. At the discression of the Interior Minister and/or at the direction of the Delegate, Deputies or Agency leaders could be appointed to oversee the sub-functions of the Ministry. That would also provide flexibility, should activity increase, to provide more opportunities for players to participate.

Defense could also encompass Intelligence operations similarly. I would also suggest that the elected Delegate be allowed to name the Army, to reflect the theme of the administration, just as the Delegate is allowed to choose his/her own title.

Foreign Affairs, I believe, is self explainatory.

I know that some have said that they would like to see the University placed into a Cabinet level position as well.

Ideas ? Thoughts ? Discussion ?
 
I think the whoever is in charge of the University should be made a cabinet level position.
Or at least make that person a deputy minister of interior affairs.
 
I would prefer it to be a deputy position, but I would not object to it being made cabinet level.

Another thought - should we also provide that the elected Delegate may choose the titles for the Ministers ? (Ministers, Secretaries, Chancellors, Jesters, whatever?)
 
I suppose so, as long as the name of the Ministry or Department or whatever we choose to call them doesn't change every time a delegate changes their leader's title.
 
Sounds good. Also, maybe we should call them Departments, since that is relatively neutral. IE ministries are led by ministers, but departments can be headed by anyone.
 
Sure, though I don't think the semantics matter since the Delegate is allowed to change the titles. *shrugs*
 
Under Law 17, as re-enacted and amended by Law 25, concurrent with he revision of the Constitution, the University is autonomous and independent of the government.
There whould not be any government official empowered to play a role in the University.

The board of regents now has seven members (which includes its chair) and they select the University Chancellor.

The reference to Justice is still a necessary department of the executive branch. There needs to be a chief prosecutor (i.e., the Attorny General) and the AG is not a judge. So any law dealing with the Cabinet composition should include the AG.

Legislation should declare the North Pacific Wire to be independent of the government (thu eliminating the need for a Ministry of Communications. The Ministry of Cultutre and Education has become unnecessary, since the responsibility for cutlure and education (including the archives) could be combined with the Arts and Entertainment into one post, or just left ourside of government. We should think in terms of wether we need elected moderators for some of these areas (which we don't need at this point) By my math, there willl not be a Minister of Communications, a Minister of Culture and Education, a Minister of Arts and Entertainment or a Prime Minister. Theway the new language is written the CLO is not tied to the existence of any offices, but seems to be like an ombudsman type body .

Finally I'd like to have the RA consider retaining a modified form of the Security Council, i.e., a security committee. The RA could permit this committee to act for the RA, when a large portion of the RA would not be available to vote.

We ned to re-enact the forum movement language from the old constitution as law. If someone has time, can they post a proposal to re-enact that process?
 
Under Law 17, as re-enacted and amended by Law 25, concurrent with he revision of the Constitution, the University is autonomous and independent of the government.
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Laws 17 and 25 were nullified by the new Constitution.

The reference to Justice is still a necessary department of the executive branch. There needs to be a chief prosecutor (i.e., the Attorny General) and the AG is not a judge. So any law dealing with the Cabinet composition should include the AG.
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Quite right, I agree. For some reason, I didn't think of that. :eyeroll:

Legislation should declare the North Pacific Wire to be independent of the government
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Yeah, I agree with this too. Or simply state the recognition of a Free and Independent Press. Whoever wants to do that sort of thing can name it whatever they'd like.

The Ministry of Cultutre and Education has become unnecessary, since the responsibility for cutlure and education (including the archives) could be combined with the Arts and Entertainment into one post, or just left ourside of government.
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I'd say they just all roll into the singular Interior post.

We should think in terms of wether we need elected moderators for some of these areas (which we don't need at this point) By my math, there willl not be a Minister of Communications, a Minister of Culture and Education, a Minister of Arts and Entertainment or a Prime Minister.
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I don't beleive we need to have elected moderators myself.

The way the new language is written the CLO is not tied to the existence of any offices, but seems to be like an ombudsman type body .
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Yes, although Monte's original thinking was that the CLO would be sort of minor officers. The RA could create specific posts/titles/duties to attach to the CLO positions. People might have more interest in them if we did that.

Finally I'd like to have the RA consider retaining a modified form of the Security Council, i.e., a security committee. The RA could permit this committee to act for the RA, when a large portion of the RA would not be available to vote.
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I don't agree with having a form of security committee. Seemed to me that one of the driving things of change was to remove this from the equation. The Delegate could choose to provide for some sort of Regional Security Committee as an executive function however. I don't think that would require any RA legislative action.

I'm not entirely opposed to the concept of some means to provide for RA action in emergency situations however, in the event voting would take too long or the RA is too inactive. I would think that sort of authority could be defined by the RA for the Speaker and CLO perhaps. But it would be specific to legislative action, with means for RA review after the fact.

We ned to re-enact the forum movement language from the old constitution as law. If someone has time, can they post a proposal to re-enact that process?
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I think that can be done.
 
I think a Culture Minister would be interesting to combine the roles of Educations and Culture. Almost someone who keeps the place active and whatnot.
 
Yes, except the university is independent of the government. While I like the idea of the University being brought into the government as a means of jump starting its administration, that would require another law, and frankly we got enough on our hands right now. We can fix the University later.
 
Laws 17 and 25 were nullified by the new Constitution
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I disagree with your conclusion as to law 25.

Since it was passed by the same voters who voted for the new Constitution, and since Law 25 was not part of the prior Legal Code, that leads to the inescapable conclusion that the effectiveness of Law 25 is not affected by the nullification caluse. (There were only 24 laws on the books at the time final voting began on the new Constitution, and it's impossible to nullify something that hadn't been passed yet.

The other way to look at it is that Law 25 granted full and complete independence to the University, and the structure of the government was made irrelevant to the University by Law 25. Law 25 is generic enough that it cannot be said that it refers to any specific government structure, anymore than the Bill of Rights does. In other words, Law 25 is the current charter of the University without reference to any government office, and the references to the members of the Regional Assembly (with respect to the board of regents) has always been taken to mean the basic class of voters who have regional citizenship.

I'm not sure that there's any reason for a Minister of Culture.

The duties of the MIIA as to immigration have been passed to the Delegate, and the duties of the MIIA as to RA membership, as to one of L&C's proposals would be passed to the Speaker. That leaves nothing for the Interior seat, except for the A&E and C&E portfolios (since there seems to be agreement that there is no need for a Communications portfolio.)
 
Law 25 was passed by the Regional Assembly on November 20, 2007 under the old Constitution. That Constitution remained in effect until the ratification of the new Constitution on December 2, 2007. The new Constitution only recognizes TNP laws 1, 2, 6, 14, 22, and 23. All other laws in effect at the time of ratification were nullified. That would include 25.

It's unfortunate timing in it's passage, and I fully support the amendment that it provided. But it was pass into law prior to ratification of the Constitution. A simple reconfirmation motion can be made and voted upon to ensure it goes into effect in the new legal code if that is desired.

On the other hand as you say, the University as it stands now, has no legal authority over it, and if the Regents so wish to adopt the text of the former Law as their Charter, or as part of their Charter, that would be great. I myself prefer the University to remain independent, though the Regents should seek to work with whatever Interior department is established.
 
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