FD: Inactive Official Removal

[Felasia]

Proposed and Sponsored by Felasia

Link to Preliminary Discussion

An amendment to the constitution, new change are in blue, former text are in red.

Section 3: Miscellany

1. The Legal Code shall consist of Laws passed by the Regional Assembly and carried over by agreement from previous governing documents.
2. The Constitution and Bill of Rights shall share full, constitutional authority with all the rights and privileges that come with that authority. The Legal Code is second only to the previous in legal force. In case of conflict in wording, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights take precedence. Any and all other regulations and guidelines are lower in authority than the Legal Code unless otherwise specified.
3. All Government bodies are allowed to create rules for its own governance.
4. The Speaker of the Assembly, and the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall each be elected to 4-month terms.
5. The members of the Judiciary (including the Chief Justice) shall each be elected to 6-month terms.
6. All elections shall be held on the region's official off-site forum.
7. Candidates for these elected officials must be members of the Assembly for 30 days before nominations begin.
8. Election of the Speaker of the Assembly and Judiciary officials shall require a plurality vote of the Assembly,
9. Election of the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall require a majority of the votes cast by the Assembly.
10. If any elected official should fail to check into their account for two weeks without prior notice, the elected official will be automatically removed from office after it was notified to the Regional Assembly of this inactivity by any Regional Assembly member. The special election for a replacement will be held within 7 days followings the removal. the dual consent of either the Speaker, the Delegate, or the Chief Justice will commence the special election of a replacement. This replacement will fulfill the remainder of the term.

 

[Govindia]

Why remove the consent of the officials?

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

I have several problems with this proposal.

First some of the language appears to create a conflict with the election law as to pertains to special elections, and I would rather that anything further concerning special election be left to the Legal Code and left out of the Constitution. It's not the sort of detail that needs to be inserted to the Constitution, and a statement that the procedure of the special election shall be as provided by law will be more than sufficient.

My second problem with the proposed language is the "who" can force a declaration of vacancy. Any member of the R.A.? Seriously? I think the reason for having the Speaker and the Delegate affirm a inactivity vacancy on the Court iassure some degree of verification. The Court, the Speaker, and the Delegate all have systems in place for temporary acting replacements, and a better focus might be to clarify when that need can be invoked. The provision for the Speaker Pro Tempore is pretty clear -- 24 hours; and it might be more useful to think about how long a period should be in order for inactivity of the Delegate or a Court Justice -- recognizing that the Court already has the authority to appoint special judicial hearing officers or interim attorney generals as needed. The Constitution may need to be re-examined to see if we need to clarify under what circumstances the Vice Delegate may need to act as Delegate, recognizing that the Delegate may be logging in at Nationstates, and not at the forums during any particular time period.

Otherwise, I think we would be better off not changing the length of time for inacitivy that is currently in the Constitution.

I'm also concerned about shortening the inactivity period because there are times of year when all activity slows down at Nationstates; even Max Berry has noted it in his most recent news item at nationstates.net. So, in addition to the concerns I mentioned before, I think we might need to formally provide for periods when the R.A. is in recess in addition to the TNP's legal holidays. I can't be sure off the top of my head what periods those would be outside of Christmas/New Years, but that might also be a better alternative.

 

[Felasia]

Why remove the consent of the officials?

Inactive Official should be remove from office and allow other individual who are more active and in better position to serve the region to replace them. This should be a fact and there should be no needs for anyone to consent to it.

First some of the language appears to create a conflict with the election law as to pertains to special elections, and I would rather that anything further concerning special election be left to the Legal Code and left out of the Constitution. It's not the sort of detail that needs to be inserted to the Constitution, and a statement that the procedure of the special election shall be as provided by law will be more than sufficient.

That can be arranged if it's really needed. I will work on it.

My second problem with the proposed language is the "who" can force a declaration of vacancy. Any member of the R.A.? Seriously? I think the reason for having the Speaker and the Delegate affirm a inactivity vacancy on the Court iassure some degree of verification.

The Delegate and The Speaker have as much access to each member profile as every other R.A. member so your assumption that verification by these official can be different from any other R.A. member is invalid.

The Court, the Speaker, and the Delegate all have systems in place for temporary acting replacements, and a better focus might be to clarify when that need can be invoked. The provision for the Speaker Pro Tempore is pretty clear -- 24 hours; and it might be more useful to think about how long a period should be in order for inactivity of the Delegate or a Court Justice -- recognizing that the Court already has the authority to appoint special judicial hearing officers or interim attorney generals as needed.

Temporary replacement isn't the same as the elected official themselves. These acting provision already in place is useful when it come to the continuity of the government, but the fact is that this official isn't the person that we elect to the office. It is unacceptable to allow a group of people to select a person to a position that should have been elected by the Regional Assembly.

The Constitution may need to be re-examined to see if we need to clarify under what circumstances the Vice Delegate may need to act as Delegate, recognizing that the Delegate may be logging in at Nationstates, and not at the forums during any particular time period.

I think it's vague as well, but the point about Vice Delegate power should be raise in a separate thread. Although on the other point, I think it is unacceptable for a delegate to be considered active if he only login only into NS and not the forum as it is crucial that he interact with the rest of the government and the legislative.

I'm also concerned about shortening the inactivity period because there are times of year when all activity slows down at Nationstates; even Max Berry has noted it in his most recent news item at nationstates.net. So, in addition to the concerns I mentioned before, I think we might need to formally provide for periods when the R.A. is in recess in addition to the TNP's legal holidays. I can't be sure off the top of my head what periods those would be outside of Christmas/New Years, but that might also be a better alternative.

So, such thing as "prior notice" exist specifically for this kind of situation. Those with holiday plan or other commitment would know before hand and either putout the notice or resign if they think it's in the region best interest. The slow down of activity shouldn't be accept as a fact, but rather a problem that must be tackle.

Additionally, a recess is not a solution. It will only enhance the perception to both outsider and TNPer of TNP's acceptance to inactivity.

 

[Felasia]

An amendment to the constitution without the voting in 7 days, new change are in blue, former text are in red.

Section 3: Miscellany

1. The Legal Code shall consist of Laws passed by the Regional Assembly and carried over by agreement from previous governing documents.
2. The Constitution and Bill of Rights shall share full, constitutional authority with all the rights and privileges that come with that authority. The Legal Code is second only to the previous in legal force. In case of conflict in wording, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights take precedence. Any and all other regulations and guidelines are lower in authority than the Legal Code unless otherwise specified.
3. All Government bodies are allowed to create rules for its own governance.
4. The Speaker of the Assembly, and the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall each be elected to 4-month terms.
5. The members of the Judiciary (including the Chief Justice) shall each be elected to 6-month terms.
6. All elections shall be held on the region's official off-site forum.
7. Candidates for these elected officials must be members of the Assembly for 30 days before nominations begin.
8. Election of the Speaker of the Assembly and Judiciary officials shall require a plurality vote of the Assembly,
9. Election of the Delegate and Vice Delegate shall require a majority of the votes cast by the Assembly.
10. If any elected official should fail to check into their account for two weeks without prior notice, the elected official will be automatically removed from office after it was notified to the Regional Assembly of this inactivity by any Regional Assembly member. The special election for a replacement will be held and the the dual consent of either the Speaker, the Delegate, or the Chief Justice will commence the special election of a replacement. replacement will fulfill the remainder of the term.

 

[Felasia]

If there is no other concern or question then I would move it to vote after consideration with regard to new application to the RA is completed.

 

[unibot]

Are RA members who haven't voted going to get a telegram to remind them to vote and discuss? Or shall I send out telegrams? Or are we not doing that?

 

[Felasia]

I have already send out a PM reminding everyone to vote. Telegram will start at the middle of the week if voting is still low.

 

[Felasia]

Notice had been send out to those who have yet to voted as request.

I'm also quite surprise by the result. Given the lack of objection and suggestion during formal discussion.

 

[A mean old man]

For/Against are now tied at 6 with 3 abstentions...
I didn't really see this being such a controversial idea. What is compelling so many people to place their votes against?

 

[Utonaga]

For/Against are now tied at 6 with 3 abstentions...
I didn't really see this being such a controversial idea. What is compelling so many people to place their votes against?

I must agree with my friend here. This amendment seems extremely straight-forward. Inactivity can be a real problem. Speaking from a somewhat limited experience, when I possessed a few older nations inactivity in the regions with which I was affiliated crippled the government. Now, I realize we're not truly facing that issue here, but it stands as pre-emptive strike against that potential future. Our officials must remain whole-hearted active. Further, as the amendment states, if prior notice is given, the rule can be "bent", as it were.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

We have gone down this road before, and it does not solve the perceived problem.

As I noted in an earlier point in the discussion, even Max Berry has noted the seasonal pattern to activity levels in NS, and assuming that such a rule will solve the problem ignores the practical reality of the issue.

By making sure we have ways to continue the function of the community works better than a regid inflexible rule that likely won't solve the problem.

 

[Utonaga]

Perhaps, then, there could be a "seasonal hiatus" clause?

 

[Felasia]

We have gone down this road before, and it does not solve the perceived problem.

As I noted in an earlier point in the discussion, even Max Berry has noted the seasonal pattern to activity levels in NS, and assuming that such a rule will solve the problem ignores the practical reality of the issue.

By making sure we have ways to continue the function of the community works better than a regid inflexible rule that likely won't solve the problem.

I think the road we continue right now will only leads to more leniency and allowance to inactive official simply to kept a ghost in office.

And I sincerely doubt that Max Barry, who would at best probably be more focus on role-play on the official forum, could be a judge of how NS gameplay work during months. Also just because this period of low activity exist doesn't actually mean the region need to embrace then, I have see many regions who continue to thrive through this inactivity. There is no reason that TNP can't do the same.

Our current rule is not flexible, it is what I call laziness and soft.

 

[Utonaga]

We have gone down this road before, and it does not solve the perceived problem.

As I noted in an earlier point in the discussion, even Max Berry has noted the seasonal pattern to activity levels in NS, and assuming that such a rule will solve the problem ignores the practical reality of the issue.

By making sure we have ways to continue the function of the community works better than a regid inflexible rule that likely won't solve the problem.

I think the road we continue right now will only leads to more leniency and allowance to inactive official simply to kept a ghost in office.

And I sincerely doubt that Max Barry, who would at best probably be more focus on role-play on the official forum, could be a judge of how NS gameplay work during months. Also just because this period of low activity exist doesn't actually mean the region need to embrace then, I have see many regions who continue to thrive through this inactivity. There is no reason that TNP can't do the same.

Our current rule is not flexible, it is what I call laziness and soft.

Here, here

However, I stated earlier, we should be a touch lenient, in that, there is a genuine lull during certain points of the year. Life does tend to get in the way. Therefore, my proposal of a preliminary discussion on an "hiatus clause."

 

[Blackshear]

All of the feeders, regardless of ideology or activity level, have lost about 1400 nations since college let out. Something similar happens every single year. But, hey, I understand the desire to try and do something. When things inevitably pick up in September and October everyone can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

As Admin, [me] unpins old thread.