Ara For Speaker Mk. 2 - This Time Better!

Hello everyone! For those who don’t know me, I’m AraFuttio, and I’m running for a second term as Speaker of the Regional Assembly.

You will see I have put my motto as ‘This Time Better.’ I am pleased with what I have achieved this term, but I know that I can improve; there have been a few mishaps of procedure this term in the Speaker’s Office, for which I apologise. However, these mishaps have been a learning opportunity for me, and I know I will improve if I am elected to a second time.

Many of these mishaps have stemmed from misunderstandings pertaining to the RA Rules and the Statutes in the Legal Code. If elected, I will draft a bill to clarify the RA Rules, mainly on the issue of immediate vote scheduling. This will be done with help from Deps to see what would work best for the whole office. On that topic, I will also explore adding annotations to the Legal Code to explain complex areas of it clearer for people who are perhaps less experienced.

As well as this, I am aware that I promised to complete the Speaker’s Guides in the last election. I am sorry that I haven’t fulfilled that promise this term. However, it hasn’t slipped my mind, I merely felt that I did not have the sufficient experience in the position to complete the guides to a good standard. I can firmly promise that I will complete them if elected this time round.

If elected, I will continue the Regional Assembly Digests Scheme, and I hope to garner some feedback from the wider TNP community on the usefulness of these publications and how we can improve them. I also want to have a more organised Citizens Stats system, with more detailed reports being released frequently.

In terms of Deputy Speakers, I have found that the amount of Deputies in the Office this term has been absolutely perfect to achieve the efficiency and consistency I hoped for during my initial election campaign. Whilst the people in the team have been really hard workers this term, for which I hugely commend them, there’s no doubt I may consider shuffling the team so that everyone gets the opportunities they deserve.

At the start of this term, I said I would not introduce a Deputies rota for duties. However, the slight errors we have experienced this term have made me feel that such a system would be helpful. This new system would give me and Deputies clear targets for what needs doing when.

Anyway, that’s all, and thanks for your consideration. Any questions are greatly appreciated.

What is a deputies rota?

Comfed:

What is a deputies rota?

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Sorry if that wasn’t explained clearly. In my view, it’s more of a broad brush term for a system where deputies are told what duties they must complete at a certain time prior to that time. For example, a Deputy who opens a vote may be told to schedule its closure for a time when they are available so they can close it also. This replaces the current trend of just letting whoever do it, which often fails as no one knows who actually is doing that duty. It’s a system that will take some development and organising, but basically I hope to make myself and my Deps aware of duties we need to complete at advanced notice.

AraFuttio:

Sorry if that wasn’t explained clearly. In my view, it’s more of a broad brush term for a system where deputies are told what duties they must complete at a certain time prior to that time. For example, a Deputy who opens a vote may be told to schedule its closure for a time when they are available so they can close it also. This replaces the current trend of just letting whoever do it, which often fails as no one knows who actually is doing that duty. It’s a system that will take some development and organising, but basically I hope to make myself and my Deps aware of duties we need to complete at advanced notice.

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I understand, thank you. When I was a deputy speaker we had a similar system but that was a long time ago so I was wondering if you referred to the same thing,

Hi Ara, I'll ask you the same questions that I've asked Cloud:

1) Are you going to explore adding annotations to the Legal Code?
2) Do you plan for the Speaker's Office to write a bill clarifying some of the language in the RA Rules?

Picairn:

Hi Ara, I'll ask you the same questions that I've asked Cloud:

1) Are you going to explore adding annotations to the Legal Code?
2) Do you plan for the Speaker's Office to write a bill clarifying some of the language in the RA Rules?

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1) Absolutely. Whilst the Legal Code has a rich level of detail for an important reason, it’s complications can be incredibly confusing for a newcomer. (It certainly still is for me!) If elected, I will certainly explore adding clear explanations for some of the more complex areas of the law that are clearly accessible to people.

2) Again, this is something I would be very interested in. You will know, Picairn, that we have had issues with the part of the RA Rules relating to immediate vote scheduling, amongst other confusing parts of the Rules. If elected, I will consult other Deputy Speakers to see the best way we can clarify the language in the rules.

Forgive me for being unaware of the procedural goings-on of this last term. In relation to immediate vote scheduling, is your intention to amend Section 1, rule 4 of the Rules on the motion to require immediate votes or rule 2 concerning the scheduling of voted more generally? If the latter, given the power on scheduling rests in the hands of the Speaker, is there a reason you think it should be something addressed in the Rules rather than through the Standing Procedures?

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Zyvetskistaahn:

Forgive me for being unaware of the procedural goings-on of this last term. In relation to immediate vote scheduling, is your intention to amend Section 1, rule 4 of the Rules on the motion to require immediate votes or rule 2 concerning the scheduling of voted more generally? If the latter, given the power on scheduling rests in the hands of the Speaker, is there a reason you think it should be something addressed in the Rules rather than through the Standing Procedures?

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Thanks for your question. At the moment I’m interested in amending Section 1, Rule 4 of the rules; the main issue we were having in the Speaker’s Office was whether an objection to a vote as defined in 1.3 was required before the move to an immediate vote. This is the way that the rule has been interpreted many times however there is currently no clear link between the two clauses.

Very best of luck.

Could you give an example of part of the Legal Code that you think would be appropriate for annotation and how you might annotate it? Would you be minded to limit annotation to the Code or would you extend it to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

Zyvetskistaahn:

Could you give an example of part of the Legal Code that you think would be appropriate for annotation and how you might annotate it? Would you be minded to limit annotation to the Code or would you extend it to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

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I would definitely give an example, however I think we should consult the wider TNP community to see which parts of the Legal Code they find most complex, rather than letting the Speaker’s Office decide on that. In terms of how we annotate it, I see it as explaining the sequence of events that occurs as a result of those laws. This sequence may be hard to understand for people who are new to this or who have difficulties like dyslexia. In fact, I wish to consult the whole TNP community on how user-friendly our laws are in general, and how we can improve them and find ways of making them easier to understand.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are much less convoluted than the Legal Code, therefore requiring annotation less, but it may be something to explore.