The Speaker's Desk

Errors are part and parcel of learning about how to do the job. I'm sure that everyone is glad that you have been transparent about them.
 
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Regional Assembly Digests Scheme​
I can announce today the beginning of the Regional Assembly Digests Scheme, a project that intends to increase gameside awareness of RA business and encourage gameside players to apply for citizenship. This is a project which I already discussed in my election campaign.

These ‘Regional Assembly Digests’ have in fact existed in the past (they can be viewed here). However, they were seemingly discontinued in August 2018. I will be taking inspiration from these digests in my new incarnation of them; they will contain the current Speaker and Deputy Speakers, business of the RA (unless it’s in the Private Halls) new citizens and residents, citizens and residents who have lost their status, statistics on citizenship numbers, and an encouragement to join the citizenry.

The Delegate has agreed to helping me distribute these publications with their Comms Officer status. I hope to release the first one today or tomorrow; eventually I wish to release them weekly. As well as this, I am intrigued in collaborating with the Ministry of Communications to include a Citizens Stats Report in TNS. However, this is a scheme I have yet to discuss with the MoC.

On a totally unrelated note, the Modern Gameplay Compact document (which can be viewed here) has been updated to include the recently passed amendments and with the updated signatories list.

AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Deputy Speaker Appointment​

Hello! I am here to confirm the appointment of @Cloud as Deputy Speaker. I recognise this appointment may raise some eyebrows as I have pledged multiple times to hold back on midterm Deputy appointment, however the problem is never having ‘too many Deputies’, it is having too many Deputies who are inactive. I am sure Cloud will not fit the latter, and will grace the Speaker’s Office with their wealth of experience and knowledge, and I am sure that they will be a massive help going into the future.

Cloud, please take your oath promptly.

AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly

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Information Regarding NationStates Outage
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As many of you are aware, the NationStates site has suffered a significant outage. This is an actual emergency under TNP law. Per Section 8.5 of the Legal Code, no citizenship removals will take place during this period. Citizenship checks will also not take place after service is restored for the amount of time the site has been down. We hope to have an update from NS Admins soon on an ETA. The TNP admin team are working on broadcasting updates to the region.

AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly

 

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Following Delegate Kaschovia's appointment of me as Minister of Home Affairs, I hereby resign as Deputy Speaker. Thank you Speaker @AraFuttio and everyone else, I definitely enjoyed my time here and it's been a pleasure working with all of you.
 
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Closing Address​

It has been the greatest honour to serve you this term as Speaker of one of the greatest legislatures in NationStates. I have enjoyed (pretty much) every minute of the challenging and interesting work involved in the job.

This term we have achieved my primary target: a level of consistency in all activities in the Speaker’s Office. My Deps and I have been able to keep the fundamental work of the Office going with few hiccups. We have also introduced the Regional Assembly Digests, which I hope will continue into the future.

I wish to thank my Deps @St George, @Sil Dorsett, @Picairn, @Skaraborg and @Cloud. You have all been fantastic for many reasons; I couldn’t have done it without you.

It may be me next term or it may be Cloud or Noscar, and if it is either of them, I wish them the best of luck and hope they can continue the brilliant work that happens in the Office.

Signing off,
AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Opening Address: May - September 2024​

Thank you all for electing me for a second time to serve as Speaker! I’d also like to thank outgoing Speaker @AraFuttio for his service and for allowing me to return to the office under his wing. You have done a fantastic job over the last four months! I’d also like to thank Deputy Speakers @Sil Dorsett, @St George, @Skaraborg, and @Picairn for their contributions to this office. Congratulations to @Simone and @Chipoli on their respective victories as well! I look forward to a wonderful term.

Now, let’s get straight to business. I am reappointing @Sil Dorsett and @St George as well as appointing @Noscar as Deputy Speakers. I am pleased to see new faces who are enthusiastic about serving in this office. Please take your oaths. There's one more I want to have in the office, but until their confirmation I'll be holding off their appointment temporarily. And as always, I am open to deputy positions. Just DM me!

On the topic of the guides, former Speaker Skaraborg worked on one for Citizenship Status Check. It is pretty much as good as complete, and all it needs now is proofreading and double-checking to ensure accuracy and reliability. The next guides I plan to work on are related to citizenship applications, such as a guide for an application that failed the admin check and one for a failed Vice Delegate's check.

A new edition of the Regional Assembly Digest is in the works and will be published within a day or two. That edition will cover a period from 10 April to 12 May.

An audit will also be conducted to ensure that data within the registry is accurate and up-to-date.

Any questions? Feel free to ask!

~Cloud
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
Quick Deputy appointment
Real quickly, I appoint @Caius as a Deputy Speaker. He reached out to me earlier, and I am pleased to welcome him back to the office! Please go take your oath :)
 
Cloud:
An audit will also be conducted to ensure that data within the registry is accurate and up-to-date.
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As I was conducting said audit, I found the following discrepancies in the residents group/sheet:
BDuckies not in group but in sheet
Eesti but maybe not not in group but in sheet
Qep in group but not in sheet
Removed BDuckies from the sheet
Removed Eesti but maybe not from the sheet
Removed Qep from the group

I am pleased to say however that not a single discrepancy was found in the citizens sheet! This is wonderful and is a reflection of Ara's successful term as Speaker.

Another audit will be conducted next month.
 
Cloud:
There's one more I want to have in the office, but until their confirmation I'll be holding off their appointment temporarily.
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They’ve gotten back to me just now, and so I hereby appoint @Matzerati as Deputy Speaker. Please take your oath :)
 
Deputy Appointment
Are you glad to see me again? :P

I hereby appoint @Star Winter as Deputy Speaker. I'm glad to see more new faces express interest in the office, and I'm confident that his activity in the executive can also carry over here. Please take your oath :)
 
Mr Speaker,

In relation to the guide on processing citizenship applications, is it intended that this will be amended to reflect the current process following failed assessments in step 5 and, in particular, to remove reference to appeals following failed administrative assessment and replace it with reference to re-assessment by the Vice Delegate (or rejection for those not subject to re-assessment))?
 
Zyvetskistaahn:
Mr Speaker,

In relation to the guide on processing citizenship applications, is it intended that this will be amended to reflect the current process following failed assessments in step 5 and, in particular, to remove reference to appeals following failed administrative assessment and replace it with reference to re-assessment by the Vice Delegate (or rejection for those not subject to re-assessment))?
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Hello, thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had not thought about this, and I will be bringing this up to the Speaker’s Office soon. I’m sure we’ll be able to amend it quickly.
 
Zyvetskistaahn:
Mr Speaker,

In relation to the guide on processing citizenship applications, is it intended that this will be amended to reflect the current process following failed assessments in step 5 and, in particular, to remove reference to appeals following failed administrative assessment and replace it with reference to re-assessment by the Vice Delegate (or rejection for those not subject to re-assessment))?
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Following a discussion in the office, it has been amended. :)
 
Mr Speaker, may I ask if the resident affected by the late removal of their citizenship due to error has been given notice of the nature of the error made in their case?
 
Zyvetskistaahn:
Mr Speaker, may I ask if the resident affected by the late removal of their citizenship due to error has been given notice of the nature of the error made in their case?
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They have not, no. They will be informed promptly.
 
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There Was An Audit Done
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Good evening, everyone! I promised to do this a month earlier, but clearly I didn't, so I apologise for that. Anyway, as I was conducting the audit, I detected the following discrepancies:

Mixton6 in residents sheet but not in group
Republique du croissant in group but not in sheet
The Smol Scholar not in residents sheet but in group
vatatzes in residents sheet but not in group
Removed Mixton6 from residents sheet
Added Republique du croissant to the residents sheet
Added The Smol Scholar to the residents sheet
Removed vatatzes from the residents sheet

I'm aware that there are two forum accounts registered under the nation 'Republiqueducroissant'. I raised this issue with admin, but the suspected nation did not respond. I've decided to add both accounts for the time being.

I am pleased to say yet again that there wasn't a discrepancy found in the citizens sheet.

Signing off,

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Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Statement of Acknowledgement​
Hello.

The Speaker's Office failed to celebrate Liberation Day, a memorial day requiring votes in the Regional Assembly to be temporarily suspended for a day. I sincerely apologise for this, and we will be taking steps to make sure that this never, ever happens again.

A list of memorial days from the legal code has been made and posted in the Speaker's Office channel in Discord, including a Speaker and Deputy Speaker ping.

Sincerely,

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Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
Mr. Speaker, your latest post makes reference to the Speaker’s Office channel in our Discord server. This serves as a good reminder that the Speaker’s office has at least one instance of off-forum content where its occupants discuss matters of the office. These communications are subject to automatic release per the current FOIA law, and to date I am unaware of any releases of information from your office since this law was amended. Are there plans to release this information (from the channel you mentioned plus other similar channels or servers that may have existed previously), or was this also overlooked?
 
Pallaith:
Mr. Speaker, your latest post makes reference to the Speaker’s Office channel in our Discord server. This serves as a good reminder that the Speaker’s office has at least one instance of off-forum content where its occupants discuss matters of the office. These communications are subject to automatic release per the current FOIA law, and to date I am unaware of any releases of information from your office since this law was amended. Are there plans to release this information (from the channel you mentioned plus other similar channels or servers that may have existed previously), or was this also overlooked?
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Has Section 7.4.36 of the Legal Code been interpreted to apply to channels still in active use?
 
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St George:
Has Section 7.4.36 of the Legal Code been interpreted to apply to channels still in active use?
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The “active use” standard has not been cited by the government, to my knowledge, since this law was amended, certainly not on the executive side of things. Both the executive and security council have approaches disclosures as if “active use” was irrelevant, though this is more significant on the SC side since they do have a continually in use channel whereas the executive has been archiving their records after each term concludes. Is the Speaker asserting that all private government records in his office are not subject to release based on this standard?
 
Pallaith:
The “active use” standard has not been cited by the government, to my knowledge, since this law was amended, certainly not on the executive side of things. Both the executive and security council have approaches disclosures as if “active use” was irrelevant, though this is more significant on the SC side since they do have a continually in use channel whereas the executive has been archiving their records after each term concludes.
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If this is the case, where are the archives of the all the channels in use in the Executive server?
Pallaith:
Is the Speaker asserting that all private government records in his office are not subject to release based on this standard?
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I'm not the Speaker, I'm asking as a citizen and deputy speaker.
 
St George:
If this is the case, where are the archives of the all the channels in use in the Executive server?

I'm not the Speaker, I'm asking as a citizen and deputy speaker.
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The FoIA law does not require annual release of all executive channels in Discord. The standard is any space that the public does not have access to by virtue of only the delegate, cabinet, and individuals being allowed to participate.

I understand you’re not the Speaker but I recognized you were a deputy speaker and perhaps might be familiar with the office’s position on this matter.
 
Pallaith:
The FoIA law does not require annual release of all executive channels in Discord. The standard is any space that the public does not have access to by virtue of only the delegate, cabinet, and individuals being allowed to participate.
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Which would apply to at least, at a conservative estimate, half a dozen channels that I know exist or existed that have never been archived. Given your close association both with the government over the last several years and the archival process, where are those archives?
Pallaith:
I understand you’re not the Speaker but I recognized you were a deputy speaker and perhaps might be familiar with the office’s position on this matter.
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I don't believe the office currently has a position on the matter.
 
St George:
Which would apply to at least, at a conservative estimate, half a dozen channels that I know exist or existed that have never been archived. Given your close association both with the government over the last several years and the archival process, where are those archives?

I don't believe the office currently has a position on the matter.
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If we’re thinking of the same channels, they are not subject to automatic disclosure. This is defined by the law and the underlying principle is that if regular staffers can access it, it is sufficiently public that it wouldn’t meet the definition of a private government record under the law.

I’ll leave it to the Speaker to explain the office’s approach to this matter.
 
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Opening Address - September 2024
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Hello! I’m back! I wanna thank @Cloud for a great term as Speaker. Cloud conducted their job professionally, competently, and confidently.

Hopefully, I will be able to continue that going into this term. I wanna start by appointing my Deputies for this term. @Cloud, @Griddyland, @Noscar and @Matzerati have been appointed Deputies. I have chosen them for their clear enthusiasm for the Speaker’s Office and I’m sure they will do a fantastic job. Please take your oaths promptly.

As I said in my campaign, my target for this term is to complete the Speaker’s Guides. This will take time, but with continued enthusiasm and motivation from myself and the Deputies, I’m hoping that this can be achieved.

Also, you may have noticed the conversation above me between Pallaith and St George. To clarify, my position on that matter is that the Speaker’s Office Discord channel should be put in the Declassified Archive after a year, as defined by the Legal Code. I will get to work on this as soon as possible.

Of course, the main goal for the Speaker is to keep the RA and citizenship going smoothly, and I can assure you that I will try my absolute best to secure that.

Here’s to a great legislative term!

AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Can I ask the Speaker why we've had truncated votes lately? A military exemption vote that lasted 3 days, and latterly two confirmation votes that only lasted 4 days (down from the usual 5).

I don't generally miss votes even though I'm only able to log on once a week, but I've missed two now because of shortened voting periods. It's quite inconveniencing, and I feel doesn't give people who are quite busy the time to be able to log on, actually review and read discussion threads, decide how to vote, and then vote. Is it intended only super active people be able to vote?
 
Sanctaria:
Can I ask the Speaker why we've had truncated votes lately? A military exemption vote that lasted 3 days, and latterly two confirmation votes that only lasted 4 days (down from the usual 5).

I don't generally miss votes even though I'm only able to log on once a week, but I've missed two now because of shortened voting periods. It's quite inconveniencing, and I feel doesn't give people who are quite busy the time to be able to log on, actually review and read discussion threads, decide how to vote, and then vote. Is it intended only super active people be able to vote?
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Thank you for raising this, Sanctaria. Personally, I have always found five days for a routine vote such as an EC appointment too much, but I can understand that having shorter voting periods for any vote would be inconveniencing. It is absolutely not because we believe that only super active people should have the ability to vote. I can assure you that your concerns will be taken into consideration.
 
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Deputy Appointment

Hello! I’m just here to appoint @Prov as a Deputy Speaker. They have shown considerable interest in helping out the office, and I’m sure they will keep that promise. Please take your oath promptly.

Thanks
AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Resignation
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I come before you today to announce my resignation as Speaker. I have realised that I am no longer able to fulfil my role. I’m sorry for leaving it this late to make this decision - I really thought I could pull it back, but unfortunately IRL situations have meant that that is not possible.

I want to thank my Deputies - they have kept the Department going in the wake of my inactivity. On that note, as my last act in the role, I appoint @Matzerati as Acting Speaker. I wish them luck in keeping it going for the remainder of the term.

It has been the honour of my life to serve in this elected office. Thank you.

Signing off.

AraFuttio
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
Well done on recognising that you couldn't continue. It's just a shame this had to happen. I wish @Matzerati luck in recovering the office.
 
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Statement of the Acting Speaker​

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First of all I want to express my sincere gratitude to @AraFuttio for his service, and for his confidence in me to take over this position. Under his leadership I have been able to expand my knowledge of Speaker business even further.

For the remainder of this term (which I think won't be very long due to a possible special election) I will focus on correct and timely handling of the various processes, and the training of the more inexperienced Deputy Speakers in doing the routine tasks (namely Citizenship applications and processing votes). Due to me having various IRL projects to work on for at least the next few weeks, further work on the Speaker's Guides is unlikely to be done in the shortened time I have.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Sincerely,

Matzerati
Acting Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Opening Address - November 2024​

Now I am Speaker for real! As a start, my Deputies for this term will remain: @Noscar, @Cloud, @Prov and @Griddyland. Therefore I keep the same team around me, and I am certain they will do a great job for the remainder of this term. I may appoint more Deputies in the future.

As of my election program:
The first edition of the RA digest will be released in about 2 weeks. After this, new editions will be published every 2 weeks.
I will create a weekly schedule where each Deputy will be assigned to one or more days, where they are responsible for doing the routine Speaker's Office task. When I have made the schedule, I will give more information about this.

As for the rest of my promises, they will follow later in this term. Let's make the last half of this term awesome!

Sincerely,

Matzerati
Speaker of the Regional Assembly
 
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Another Deputy Appointment
I hereby also appoint @Vapia as Deputy Speaker. They showed interest in the Speaker's Office, and I am convinced they can become a value as Deputy Speaker. Please take your oath promptly.
 
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