Constitutional Amendment

[Grosseschnauzer]

Article IV, Section 1, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific provides that:

4. The CLO may vote to immediately bring any piece of legislation to an emergency vote before the Assembly.

The membes of the CLO have agreed to bring forward for an immediate vote as emergency legislation the following proposed Constitutinal amendment:

A Constitutional Amendment

Additions are in blue and in bold type. Deletions are in red and are struck through.

Paragragh 1. Concerning elections generally

Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:

4. The Speaker of the Assembly, CLO members, and the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall each be elected to 4-month terms. The members of the Judiciary (including the Chief Justice) shall each be elected to 6-month terms. All elections shall be held on the region's official off-site forum. Candidates for these elected officials must be members of the Regional Assembly 30 days prior to the time they become candidates for election. Election of these offices require a plurality vote of the Regional Assembly, except that the election of the Delegate and Vice Delegate require a majority vote of the Regional Assembly.

Paragragh 2.Concerning official off-ste regional forum

A new Section 4 is added to Article I of the Constitution of The North Pacific, to read as follows:
Section 4. Official off-site regional forums
1.  http://z13.invisionfree.com/TNP/ continues to be designated as the official off-site regional forums of The North Pacific.
2. No government official shall have the authority to change the designated official off-site forum for regional governance without prior approval of a supermajority of three-fourths of the members of the Regional Assembly.

Paragragh 3. Concerning removal of officials by recall.

Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
4. The Assembly may remove any member of the Government not elected by popular election. by a motion of recall approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the Regional Assembly.

Paragragh 4. Concerning the Vice Delegate.

Article III, Section 1, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:

Section 1. Delegate and Vice Delegate
1. The Delegate shall serve as TNP UN Delegate and as Head of State. In any instance where the Delegate is absent, incapacitated, or unwilling or unable to act as the UN Delegate at nationstates.net, or to act as Head of State, the Vice Delegate shall exercise the powers of the Delegate.

Paragragh 5 Concerning appointed officials.

Article III, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The Delegate is responsible to ensure the good governance of the Executive Branch of TNP and may appoint and remove at will executive officers that serve under him. All appointed officials must be members of the Regional Assembly at the time of their appointment and during their service in the Executive Branch.

Paragragh 6. Concerning eligibility for Delegate election.

Article III, Section 1, Clauses 7 and a of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
7. Candidates for the Delegacy must have served in at least one Ministry in the preceding term.
a. Each Player may, at most, only serve two terms as Delegate consecutively.

Paragragh 7. Concerning the powers of the Council of Lower Officials.

Article IV, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The CLO may, with supermajority vote with the approval of at least three of the four members, place an emergency temporary halt on any specific action undertaken by the Delegate, a Ministry, officer, or agent of the Executive branch.

Paragragh 8. Concerning forum banning.

Article VI, Section 1, Clause 1, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:

1. Ejection and/or banning from the region The North Pacific may be prescribed as a punishment for violations of regional, or NationStates.net, or real-life laws. Violation of forum Terms Of Service and moderation policies remain the responsibility of forum administration.

Paragragh 9. This amendment is effective upon its adoption by the Regional Assembly.

This thread is for discussion of the proposal by the members of the Regional Assembly in good standing. A separate voting thread is being opened for voting as of 0000 GMT on 20 February, which will remain open until 2359 on 29 February.

The voting thread is found this thread (click).

 

[Great Bights Mum]

Will we need to adopt procedures for run-off elections in the event no Delegate or Vice Delegate candidate receives a majority vote?

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

We're going to need to adopy a law on election procedure no matter what; we'd need a run-off provision even for plurality-elected positons in case of ties.

We have plenty of time to do it as the judicial election cycle is to be in April, and the Delegate/general election cycle is to take place in May.

 

[Eluvatar]

I'd like to propose a slightly different amendment if possible (given that the first one's already at vote):

A Constitutional Amendment

Additions are in blue and in bold type. Deletions are in red and are struck through.

Paragragh 1. Concerning elections generally

Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows, with clauses after 4 renumbered appropriately:

4. The Speaker of the Assembly, CLO members, and the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall each be elected to 4-month terms. The members of the Judiciary (including the Chief Justice) shall each be elected to 6-month terms. All elections shall be held on the region's official off-site forum.
5. Candidates for these elected positions must be members of the Assembly for 30 days before elections begin.
6. Election of the Speaker of the Assembly, CLO, and Judiciary officials shall require a plurality vote of the Regional Assembly,
7. Election of the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall require a majority vote of the Assembly.

Paragragh 2.Concerning official regional off-site forum

A new Section 4 is added to Article I of the Constitution of The North Pacific, to read as follows:
Section 4. Official off-site regional forums
1.  No government official shall have the authority to change the official off-site forum without approval of the Assembly.

I believe the above is simpler and better. If it were ever again necessary to move forums, it would be best to do so on the model of the move from s2 to s13-- a simple vote of the RA.

Paragragh 3. Concerning removal of officials by recall.

Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
4. The Assembly may remove any member of the Government not elected by popular election. by a motion of recall approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the Regional Assembly.

Paragragh 4. Concerning the Vice Delegate.

Article III, A Clause shall be added to Article III Section 1:

8. In any instance where the Delegate is absent, incapacitated, unwilling or unable to carry out his duties the Vice Delegate shall exercise the powers of the Delegate.

Paragragh 5 Concerning appointed officials.

Article III, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The Delegate is responsible to ensure the good governance of the Executive Branch of TNP and may appoint and remove at will executive officers from the Assembly to that serve under him.

Paragragh 6. Concerning eligibility for Delegate election.

Article III, Section 1, Clauses 7 and a of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
7. Candidates for the Delegacy must have served in at least one Ministry in the preceding term.
a. Each Player may, at most, only serve two terms as Delegate consecutively.

Paragragh 7. Concerning the powers of the Council of Lower Officials.

Article IV, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The CLO may, with supermajority vote with the approval of at least three of the four members, place an emergency temporary halt on any specific action undertaken by a Ministry, officer, or agent of the Executive branch.

Paragragh 8. Concerning forum banning.

Article VI, Section 1, Clause 1, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:

1. Ejection and/or banning from the region The North Pacific may be prescribed as a punishment for violations of regional, or NationStates.net, or real-life laws. Violation of forum Terms Of Service and moderation policies remain the responsibility of forum administration.

Paragragh 9. This amendment is effective upon its adoption by the Assembly.

Terminology note:

I chose to avoid some words in favor of more common ones. Additionally, nowhere in the current constitution do the words "Regional Assembly" appear-- only "Assembly". Keeping with that, I removed the inconsistent references.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

@ Elu, My problem with your draft is that "majority vote of the Assembly" for approving forum movement is a much lower threshold than a three-fourths majority of the RA membership.

Movement should have clear support of the community, which was the case with the move from s2. A three-quarters supermajority is required for Constitutional amendment, so that level of support is not out of line with the current constittional text.

Mentioning the current forum address re-affirms its current status as the official forums in view of recent events.

In addition, stating that a vote occurs prior to movement avoids the coersive effect of forcing approval after the fact;

Ad to the title of Assembly and Regional Assembly, the recently enacted law on Regional Assembly registration and membership, uses "Regional Assembly" in the text of the Law and in the prescribed oath.

 

[Eluvatar]

I don't think that not saying approval must be prior means that approval can be retroactive.

Nevertheless, I'll make the forum clause more detailed if you think that's very vague.

As for the RA-- currently, the Constitution says Assembly and the Legal Code says Regional Assembly. As long as there's /some/ level of consistency I'd prefer to keep it.

 

[Eluvatar]

Revision of my earlier proposal:

A Constitutional Amendment

Additions are in blue and in bold type. Deletions are in red and are struck through.

Paragragh 1. Concerning elections generally

Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows, with clauses after 4 renumbered appropriately:

4. The Speaker of the Assembly, CLO members, and the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall each be elected to 4-month terms. The members of the Judiciary (including the Chief Justice) shall each be elected to 6-month terms. All elections shall be held on the region's official off-site forum.
5. Candidates for these elected positions must be members of the Assembly for 30 days before elections begin.
6. Election of the Speaker of the Assembly, CLO, and Judiciary officials shall require a plurality vote of the Regional Assembly,
7. Election of the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall require a majority vote of the Assembly.

Paragragh 2.Concerning official regional off-site forum

A new Section 4 is added to Article I of the Constitution of The North Pacific, to read as follows:
Section 4. Official off-site regional forums
1.  The official regional off-site forum shall be http://z13.invisionfree.com/tnp .

Paragragh 3. Concerning removal of officials by recall.

Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
4. The Assembly may remove any member of the Government not elected by popular election. by a motion of recall approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the Regional Assembly.

Paragragh 4. Concerning the Vice Delegate.

Article III, A Clause shall be added to Article III Section 1:

8. In any instance where the Delegate is absent, incapacitated, unwilling or unable to carry out his duties the Vice Delegate shall exercise the powers of the Delegate.

Paragragh 5 Concerning appointed officials.

Article III, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The Delegate is responsible to ensure the good governance of the Executive Branch of TNP and may appoint and remove at will executive officers from the Assembly to that serve under him.

Paragragh 6. Concerning eligibility for Delegate election.

Article III, Section 1, Clauses 7 and a of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
7. Candidates for the Delegacy must have served in at least one Ministry in the preceding term.
a. Each Player may, at most, only serve two terms as Delegate consecutively.

Paragragh 7. Concerning the powers of the Council of Lower Officials.

Article IV, Section 1, Clause 3, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:
3. The CLO may, with supermajority vote with the approval of at least three of the four members, place an emergency temporary halt on any specific action undertaken by a Ministry, officer, or agent of the Executive branch.

Paragragh 8. Concerning forum banning.

Article VI, Section 1, Clause 1, of the Constitution of The North Pacific is amended to read as follows:

1. Ejection and/or banning from the region The North Pacific may be prescribed as a punishment for violations of regional, or NationStates.net, or real-life laws. Violation of forum Terms Of Service and moderation policies remain the responsibility of forum administration.

Paragragh 9. This amendment is effective upon its adoption by the Assembly.

If you want a supermajority of the RA to change the forum that is equivalent to a constitutional change, why not just make the constitution state the forum and simply amend that line if needed?

 

[mr_sniffles]

As interesting as your amendments are Elu, I'm sorry to say that your five minutes too late. This was an emergency vote. But after the dust settles, we'll make sure to revisit it.

 

[Eluvatar]

As interesting as your amendments are Elu, I'm sorry to say that your five minutes too late. This was an emergency vote. But after the dust settles, we'll make sure to revisit it.

I don't see the point of these changes being "emergency."

I believe we agree that what Lewis and Clark did was unconstitutional by the constitution /before/ any changes?

I think making sure that the constitution remains clear of gross verbiage is important enough that we should not pass the amendment Grosseschnauzer proposed.