Law:59RZ9 The Title H Reorganisation and Correction Act
EPHEMERAL STATUS |
LEGEU |
It amends the following: |
Ziu 59th Clark 3rd (February 2024/XLV)
Uréu q'estadra så: Lüc da Schir |
Cosă: PASSED |
Per 200 — Con 0 — Aus 0 |
Senäts: PASSED |
Per 8 — Con 0 — Aus 0 |
L'Anuntziă dels Legeux |
View Clark Result |
‘’’WHEREAS’’’, Title H of El Lexhatx presently includes a legislative gray area involving H.21 and H.22, stemming from an accumulation of legislative and scribal errors; and
‘’’WHEREAS’’’, the cure for this would be to explicitly re-enact the content of H.21 and H.22 into law; and
‘’’WHEREAS’’’, Title H also happens to have a confusing structure, as proven by the very coming into being of the H.21-22 situation; and
‘’’WHEREAS’’’, reorganising Title H allows us to strike two birds with one stone; and
‘’’WHEREAS’’’, this is also a first step towards "freshening up" Title H by removing outdated and unused provisions, clarifying confusing language and bringing it more in line with current practices; so
‘’’THEREFORE the Cosă and Senäts in Ziu assembled’’’ hereby strike in full the content of Title H of El Lexhatx, which presently reads:
1. Following each General Election there shall be an official “State Opening of the Ziu”. At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party. When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend. The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.
1.2.The Seneschalshall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms. The historic Oath of Office is as follows: "Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!"(Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!
2. The Cosă authorises a question and answer period during Living Cosăs. This will be called “Terpelaziuns” ('enquiries') or, for short, “Terps”, or “Question Time”. During Terpelaziuns, each MC may ask any other MC one question (plus a follow-up), and expect to receive some sort of answer. The Opposition Leader shall put the first question. Questions shall alternate between Government and Opposition members until all MCs on one side or the other have spoken. The remaining MCs may then put questions. Questions will be politely phrased in the third person and directed at the Speaker. Order of Questioners will be determined on an ad hoc basis by the Speaker.
- 2.1. Any Member of the Cosă (MC) or Senator may at any time between the First and Last Clark of a Cosă Term, table in “The Ziu” board on Witt, or its equivalent, a “c (PQ)” or “Terp” in a new thread or its equivalent.
- 2.2. The PQ or Terp may ask one question to a named Member of the Government relating to Public Affairs connected with their Ministry or on matters of administration for which they are officially responsible.
- 2.3. There is no limit to the number of PQs or Terps a MC or Senator may submit in any given Clark.
- 2.4. Any PQ or Terp that is submitted by a MC or Senator in accordance with the provisions of Lex|H|2 References to (sub)sections in Lexh.H. must be answered by the named Minister within seven (7) days of the question being tabled. Should the Minister be unavailable to answer the question within the seven (7) days, the question shall be redirected to the Seneschal or his/her appointed Deputy who shall be granted a further seven (7) days to answer the aforementioned question. With the agreement of the questioner, there may be a extension of seven (7) days on top of this period. However, the period from the asking of the question to the answering of the question, shall in no circumstances exceed twenty one (21) days.
- 2.5. For the purpose of Lex|H|2.4, “unavailable” means being unable to access Witt, or its equivalent, for an acceptable and reasonable reason. Having logged into, or visited Witt, or its equivalent, during the seven day period, and having not seen, or ignored the PQ or Terp, shall not constitute being unavailable. (c) This provision shall not apply PQs or Terps, which refer to matters of Security or Defence of His Majesty’s Realm and/or any project(s), correspondence, or activities, in which the Government has deemed, and classified as confidential, or which in its release may damage the Kingdom in any shape or form. Such questions may not be answered by any Minister.
- 2.6. The Minister must answer the question in the same thread or its equivalent as the original question and the questioner may ask a reasonable number of supplementary questions (as determined by the presiding officer), in which the provisions of Lex|H|2 apply, with the seven days starting from the date each supplementary question is asked.
- 2.7. Failure to answer a question within the given timeframe shall constitute an offence, and a Minister, if found guilty of such a offence, will be subject to a punishment at the discretion of the Courts.
- 2.8. It shall be a defence to the Minister if the questioner, notwithstanding any other legitimate defences, did not, or failed to:
- 2.8.1. correctly title his/her question
- 2.8.2. ask a clear question. E.g. an ambiguous question, in which the Minister tried to clarify, but failed to do so in the time frame, and did not subsequently answer.
- 2.8.3. post his/her question in the correct board
- 2.8.4. engage with the Minister in trying to answer his/her question
- 2.8.5. direct the question to one named Minister.
3. Members of the Cosa and Senators shall vote on the Clark and any other business for themselves; but Members of the Cosa that might be unavailable to vote during any particular month may inform the Chancery that they wish to vote exactly as another specific Member of the Cosa. Each House may estabilish their own rules for proxy voting, but solely for the purpose of Living Cosas and the Senate equivalent.
- 3.1. A person who is named as a Proxy Vote for another in a Living Cosă is under the moral and legal obligation, whenever possible, to represent the original seat-holder's wishes and intentions on specific Ziu bills and the Vote of Confidence, whenever and however he is instructed, or publicly notified to do so.
4. On each Clark, the Vote of Confidence shall read as follows: "Do you wish the current Government to continue in its term of office?" The Vote of Confidence in Clarks was first introduced by 6RC23 with exactly the same words.
5. A difference shall exist (and be spelled out in future bills) between committees (which are set up as standing committees, free to issue reports at any time) and Royal Commissions (or Commissions Royal) which are set up on an ad hoc basis and charged with a specific one-time task such as preparing a dossier or White Paper on a specific problem, and presenting the same to the Cosă. Once a Commission's paper is done, the Commission has fulfilled its duty, and ceases to exist.
6. No bill may be published in a Clark unless it has passed the Hopper, as provided in this section.
- 6.1. All citizens of Talossa are entitled to participate fully in discussions and debates in the Hopper, within the bounds of law and of the decisions of the administering and presiding authorities of the Hopper. Any citizen may submit a draft of legislation to the Hopper, though these shall not be considered to be "legislative proposals" until sponsored by one or more individuals authorised to submit legislative proposals under Organic Law VII.5.
- 6.2 A bill has passed the hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, and is exclusively limited to the following:
- 6.2.1 Non-binding proclamations that have no effect other than express the wish of the Cosa, Senate, or Ziu as a whole, in which case the bill must contain the words “Sense of the Cosa”, “Sense of the Senate” or “Sense of the Ziu” in its title.
- 6.2.2. Proclamations that establish the position of the Ziu on a foreign policy issue.
- 6.2.3. Establishment of a committee that has no powers other than advisory powers and whose recommendations must still be approved by the Ziu in order to be binding and making appointments to such a committee.
- 6.2.4. Appointments to functions that are already defined in law and for which the Ziu is explicitly allowed to make appointments according to law.
- 6.2.5. Any decision which the law explicitly allows the Ziu to make without the bill containing such a decision having to go through committee.
- 6.2.6 Removing a regent or consenting to the re-appointment of a regent in accordance with Org|II|5.
- 6.2.7 Revoking a Prüm Diktat
- 6.2.8 Notices of reprimand in accordance with Org|VIII|5
- 6.2.9. The granting or restoration of citizenship
- 6.3. A bill has passed the hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper and at least half of the Senators and 2/3 of Cosă seats express their support in the Hopper for clarking the bill.
- 6.4. After a legislative proposal has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, its proposer may request that it “move to committee”. No bill may be Clarked without being "moved to committee", except as provided by Lexh|H|6.2 or Lexh|H|6.3.
- 6.5. For each Cosă term is created a Comità da Redacziun Legislatïu (in english Legislative Advisory Committee), hereinafter "the CRL", which shall review or revise all legislative items from the Hopper once they have moved to committee; and may recommend acceptance or rejection, or suggest amendments in their best judgment.
- 6.5.1 The main, but not exclusive, purpose of the CRL, with the assistance of the Scribery, shall be to evaluate bills from the technical point of view of the quality of the legislation, the correctness of the language, the internal consistency of the document and consistency with existing legislation.
- 6.5.2. The CRL shall conduct all its deliberations openly in the Hopper.
- 6.5.3. The CRL shall consist of the incumbent Mençéi, Túischac'h, and Avocat-Xheneral.
- 6.5.3.1. The Mençéi and the Túischac'h may at any time appoint and dismiss one Senator and one Membreu dal Cosă, respectively, to serve as a member of the CRL in their place.
- 6.5.4. The CRL may create further committees to which their functions may be delegated, as concerns any bill or category of bills. Such a committee must have at least 3 members, including at least 1 Membreu dal Cosă and 1 Senator.
- 6.6. After the CRL has given its recommendation, or if it gives no recommendation within 30 days of the bill having passed to committee, the bill has passed the hopper and the sponsor of the bill may ask for it to be Clarked, with or without amendments.
- 6.6.1 The same bill can not be submitted to the Clark more than once in the same Cosa, unless the original bill was vetoed, the original bill had been retired or voted down by its main sponsor during the voting period, or the bill has been substantially amended, as judged by the Secretary of State.
- 6.6.2. Bills must be submitted to the Secretary of State more than 24 hours before the publication of the Clark. Bills received less than 24 hours before publication of the Clark shall be published in the next Clark or postponed for one Clark, at the Secretary of State's discretion.
- 6.7. The Secretary of State is empowered to refuse to put a certain bill on a Clark if said bill;
- 6.7.1. appears to him to be obviously on its face inorganic, or to have such grave errors as would make it ineffective and/or require further legislation or a Prüm Diktat to make it effective.
- 6.7.2. does not specify exactly the Law(s) or Article(s) which it seeks to amend, change, or repeal, if the bill seeks to amend, change, or repeal any Article of the Organic Law or any Law
- 6.7.3. is not clearly typed or word-processed; and/or
- 6.7.4. is so substantially different from its form as a legislative proposal when “passed to committee” that it constitutes a significantly different proposal.
- 6.7.5. has not passed the hopper or is deemed by the sponsor to have passed the hopper in accordance with Lexh|H|6.2 but is in the judgement of the Secretary of State not limited exclusively limited to the items listed in Lexh|H|6.2
- 6.7.6. Any such decision shall be subject to judicial review.
- 6.8. All bills submitted for the Clark shall be in one of the national languages.
- 6.9. The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from “The Hopper” at the request of the author.
- 6.9.1 If a legislative proposal has remained in the “The Hopper” for more than 59 days, it shall be considered to have been removed, though any person entitled to do so may subsequently re-publish it.
- 6.10. Notwithstanding the rules about a bill’s eligibility to be Clarked, if no bill was submitted to the Clark at the moment of publication, the Secretary of State shall be allowed to add to the Clark a simple bill asking for Quorum where Cosa Members and Senators can vote to confirm their presence for the Clark.
- 6.11. The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in “The Hopper.”
7. A legislative proposal should be followed by the words “Uréu q'estadra så” (or “Proposed by”), and the name of the author, and the capacity in which the author is offering the proposal. A legislative proposal may be submitted by multiple sponsors, but the legislator whose name is listed first after the words “Uréu q'estadra så” (or “Proposed by”) is considered the author of the legislative proposal.
- 7.1. Official non-Ziu titles may also be used when a member of the Ziu submit a bill, if the submitter feels that he is submitting a bill in another capacity than as a Ziu member. Such a title shall be called a “Limousine”, or by its Talossan equivalent. A title of Senator, Distain or Member of the Cosă is a Ziu title, and as such not a Limousine. A person can only be entitled to a Limousine if he is both a member of the Ziu and holds an official title. A Limousine may contain, but is not restricted to: a governor's title, a minister or deputy minister's title, or a title conferred by a national organisation, such as the CÚG, or the Secretary of State's office. This is not a means to allow non-members of the Ziu to post bills using their Limousine, nor does this provision allow any submitter to use unofficial titles or party-specific titles.
- 7.2. The use of a Limousine instead of a Ziu title engages that person in that capacity. For example, a bill submitted by a Cosă member as being “Minister of Culture” indicates that the bill is truly submitted in the name of the Minister of Culture.
8. If the Seneschal, or a member of the Government party, proposes a bill, and with the Seneschal's permission marks it as a Government Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by “HM Government, represented by”, before the name of the member. If the Opposition Leader, or a member of the Opposition, proposes a bill, and, with the Opposition Leader's or the member's Party Leader's permission, marks it as an Opposition Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by “HM Loyal Opposition, represented by”, followed by the member's name. Any other bill will be called a Private Member's Bill, and will be denoted in the Clark the same way they have always been.
9. Members of Cosa shall be free to represent any constituency within the geographic boundaries of the Kingdom of Talossa including any and all of its territories and overseas colonies. Any Member wishing to represent a constituency shall publicly declare such representation before the conclusion of the first Clark following a General Election.
10. Except in cases where the current Secretary of State is no longer able or eligible to perform his duties, any nominations of a new secretary of state must take effect on the day of the normal publication of a Clark. If the normally scheduled Clark is not published by the previous Secretary of State on the appropriate day, the new Secretary of State can still start his duties, starting with the publication of the Clark.
11. No person shall hold more seats in the Cosă than ten times the total number of seats in the Cosă divided by the number of ballots cast for the Cosa in the most recent General Election, rounded up to the next integer.
12. His Majesty, when affixing His Royal Seal to Bills sent to him by the Ziu, may exclaim with all His Royal Royal-ness in the National Language of Our Nation, “El Regeu en volt.”
13. His Majesty, when acting out His constitutional and traditional duty to protect the Citizens of His Kingdom from poor Government, decides to withhold His Royal Seal from said Bill sent by said Ziu, may exclaim with all His Truth-and-Justice-ness in said National Language of said Kingdom, “El Regeu non en volt.”
14. The King shall sign a physical printed copy of bills at the time they pass into law, and collect these bills for posterity.
15.
16.
17.
18. The Senate shall autonomously determine the rules of its proceedings.
- 18.1 To this goal, the Mençei shall mantain a body of Standing Rules of the Senate.
- 18.2 The Senate may amend the Standing Rules at any time between the first day of a First Clark and the Cosă being dissolved, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.
- 18.3 No Standing Rule shall infringe on any Organic or Statutory provision, and Standing Rules shall be germane to the Senate's operations.
- 18.4 The Senate may waive any Standing Rule for the remainder of the current term, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.
19. Members of the Cosâ who (in a given session of the Cosa) have voted NON on the most recent Vote of Confidence, or intend to do so on the next Vote of Confidence, shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short "El Contrapharti / The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote, the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party with the most Cosa seats assigned to MCs who voted NON on the last Vote of Confidence.
20. After the close of Ziu business, the Secretary will make known to the press as soon as possible the results of the votes.
- 20.1 PDs shall be published at the earliest possible opportunity in the next Clark.
21. The Cosă shall elect the Túischac'h as follows.
- 21.1. Should the position of Túischac'h be vacant and a majority of Cosă seats be filled, any Member of the Cosă may either nominate one eligible person for the office of Túischac'h, or second such a nomination made by another Member of the Cosă.
- 21.2. Members of the Cosă may not nominate or second multiple different nominees.
- 21.3. Should the Secretary of State determine that an eligible person has been nominated and seconded by members currently representing an absolute majority of seats in the Cosă, the Secretary of State shall declare the person to be duly elected as Túischac'h, to serve until the Dissolution of the current Cosă.
22. The Cosa may hold living Cosas during subsequent Clarks by a vote of the Cosa naming the specific month in which the event is to take place. The exact date and location of the Living Cosâ shall be set by the Seneschal after consultation with all relevant parties. All members must receive two weeks notice of the date of the Living Cosâ. The Seneschal may, if events warrant, issue a PD authorizing a Living Cosâ in the following calendar month. Such a PD may be vetoed (in addition to normal means) by a formal protest to the Secretary of State by Members of the Cosâ comprising one-third or greater the number of elected seats in the Cosâ.
- 22.1 Members who cannot attend will not be denied the right to vote on that month's Clark. They may send their votes to the Secretary of State by any means feasible, so that they can be announced at the Living Cosâ. A member may, in writing, delegate his authority to vote (temporarily transfer his seats) to another person who can attend the Living Cosâ, but no individual may hold more than thirty seats, counting both proxy and permanently assigned seats, for purposes of the Living Cosâ. The Ziu may provide by law, without needing to go through committee, for quorum requirements, and for attendance via telephone, videoconference, or other remote means.
- 22.2 Votes presented to the Secretary of State after the Living Cosâ will not be counted in the final tally. The final tally of votes on all bills is taken at the end of the Living Cosâ.
- 22.3 New bills, or amendments, may not be presented at the Living Cosâ. No bill not published in the Clark may be debated. Clarks will be published on schedule as usual.
- 22.4 Senators shall be permitted to participate in Living Cosâ debates on the same terms as MCs, but may not delegate or exercise proxy votes.
And replace it with the following:
1. Provisions concerning the Ziu at-large
- 1.1. Following each General Election there shall be an official "State Opening of the Ziu".
- 1.1.1. At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party.
- 1.1.2. When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend.
- 1.1.3. The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.
- 1.1.4. The Seneschal shall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms.
- 1.1.5. The historic Oath of Office is as follows: "Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!" (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)
- 1.2. The Cosă authorises a question and answer period during Living Cosăs. This will be called "Terpelaziuns" ('enquiries') or, for short, "Terps", or "Question Time". During Terpelaziuns, each MC may ask any other MC one question (plus a follow-up), and expect to receive some sort of answer. The Opposition Leader shall put the first question. Questions shall alternate between Government and Opposition members until all MCs on one side or the other have spoken. The remaining MCs may then put questions. Questions will be politely phrased in the third person and directed at the Speaker. Order of Questioners will be determined on an ad hoc basis by the Speaker.
- 1.2.1. Any Member of the Cosă (MC) or Senator may at any time between the First and Last Clark of a Cosă Term, table in "The Ziu" board on Witt, or its equivalent, a "c (PQ)" or "Terp" in a new thread or its equivalent.
- 1.2.2. The PQ or Terp may ask one question to a named Member of the Government relating to Public Affairs connected with their Ministry or on matters of administration for which they are officially responsible.
- 1.2.3. There is no limit to the number of PQs or Terps a MC or Senator may submit in any given Clark.
- 1.2.4. Any PQ or Terp that is submitted by a MC or Senator in accordance with the provisions of H.1.2., must be answered by the named Minister within seven (7) days of the question being tabled. Should the Minister be unavailable to answer the question within the seven (7) days, the question shall be redirected to the Seneschal or his/her appointed Deputy who shall be granted a further seven (7) days to answer the aforementioned question. With the agreement of the questioner, there may be a extension of seven (7) days on top of this period. However, the period from the asking of the question to the answering of the question, shall in no circumstances exceed twenty one (21) days.
- 1.2.5. For the purpose of H.1.2.4., "unavailable" means being unable to access Witt, or its equivalent, for an acceptable and reasonable reason. Having logged into, or visited Witt, or its equivalent, during the seven day period, and having not seen, or ignored the PQ or Terp, shall not constitute being unavailable. (c) This provision shall not apply PQs or Terps, which refer to matters of Security or Defence of His Majesty's Realm and/or any project(s), correspondence, or activities, in which the Government has deemed, and classified as confidential, or which in its release may damage the Kingdom in any shape or form. Such questions may not be answered by any Minister.
- 1.2.6. The Minister must answer the question in the same thread or its equivalent as the original question and the questioner may ask a reasonable number of supplementary questions (as determined by the presiding officer), in which the provisions of H.1.2. apply, with the seven days starting from the date each supplementary question is asked.
- 1.2.7. Failure to answer a question within the given timeframe shall constitute an offence, and a Minister, if found guilty of such an offence, will be subject to a punishment at the discretion of the Courts.
- 1.2.8. It shall be a defence to the Minister if the questioner, notwithstanding any other legitimate defences, did not, or failed to:
- 1.2.8.1. correctly title his/her question
- 1.2.8.2. ask a clear question. E.g. an ambiguous question, in which the Minister tried to clarify, but failed to do so in the time frame, and did not subsequently answer.
- 1.2.8.3. post his/her question in the correct board
- 1.2.8.4. engage with the Minister in trying to answer his/her question
- 1.2.8.5. direct the question to one named Minister.
- 1.3. Members of the Cosa and Senators shall vote on the Clark and any other business for themselves; but Members of the Cosa that might be unavailable to vote during any particular month may inform the Chancery that they wish to vote exactly as another specific Member of the Cosa. Each House may establish their own rules for proxy voting, but solely for the purpose of Living Cosas and the Senate equivalent.
- 1.3.1. A person who is named as a Proxy Vote for another in a Living Cosă is under the moral and legal obligation, whenever possible, to represent the original seat-holder's wishes and intentions on specific Ziu bills and the Vote of Confidence, whenever and however he is instructed, or publicly notified to do so.
- 1.4. On each Clark, the Vote of Confidence shall read as follows: "Do you wish the current Government to continue in its term of office?"
- 1.5. A difference shall exist (and be spelled out in future bills) between committees (which are set up as standing committees, free to issue reports at any time) and Royal Commissions (or Commissions Royal) which are set up on an ad hoc basis and charged with a specific one-time task such as preparing a dossier or White Paper on a specific problem, and presenting the same to the Cosă. Once a Commission's paper is done, the Commission has fulfilled its duty, and ceases to exist.
- 1.6. Except in cases where the current Secretary of State is no longer able or eligible to perform his duties, any nominations of a new secretary of state must take effect on the day of the normal publication of a Clark. If the normally scheduled Clark is not published by the previous Secretary of State on the appropriate day, the new Secretary of State can still start his duties, starting with the publication of the Clark.
2. Provisions concerning legislation
- 2.1. No bill may be published in a Clark unless it has passed the Hopper, as provided in this section.
- 2.1.1. All citizens of Talossa are entitled to participate fully in discussions and debates in the Hopper, within the bounds of law and of the decisions of the administering and presiding authorities of the Hopper. Any citizen may submit a draft of legislation to the Hopper, though these shall not be considered to be "legislative proposals" until sponsored by one or more individuals authorised to submit legislative proposals under Organic Law VII.5.
- 2.1.2. A bill has passed the Hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, and is exclusively limited to the following:
- 2.1.2.1. Non-binding proclamations that have no effect other than express the wish of the Cosa, Senate, or Ziu as a whole, in which case the bill must contain the words "Sense of the Cosa", "Sense of the Senate" or "Sense of the Ziu" in its title.
- 2.1.2.2. Proclamations that establish the position of the Ziu on a foreign policy issue.
- 2.1.2.3. Establishment of a committee that has no powers other than advisory powers and whose recommendations must still be approved by the Ziu in order to be binding and making appointments to such a committee.
- 2.1.2.4. Appointments to functions that are already defined in law and for which the Ziu is explicitly allowed to make appointments according to law.
- 2.1.2.5. Any decision which the law explicitly allows the Ziu to make without the bill containing such a decision having to go through committee.
- 2.1.2.6. Removing a regent or consenting to the re-appointment of a regent in accordance with Org.II.5.
- 2.1.2.7. Revoking a Prüm Diktat.
- 2.1.2.8. Notices of reprimand in accordance with Org.VIII.5.
- 2.1.2.9. The granting or restoration of citizenship
- 2.1.3. A bill has passed the Hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper and at least half of the Senators and 2/3 of Cosă seats express their support in the Hopper for clarking the bill.
- 2.1.4. After a legislative proposal has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, its proposer may request that it "move to committee". No bill may be Clarked without being "moved to committee", except as provided by Lexh.H.2.1.2. or Lexh.H.2.1.3.
- 2.1.5. For each Cosă term is created a Comità da Redacziun Legislatïu (in english Legislative Advisory Committee), hereinafter "the CRL", which shall review or revise all legislative items from the Hopper once they have moved to committee; and may recommend acceptance or rejection , or suggest amendments in their best judgment.
- 2.1.5.1. The main, but not exclusive, purpose of the CRL, with the assistance of the Scribery, shall be to evaluate bills from the technical point of view of the quality of the legislation, the correctness of the language, the internal consistency of the document and consistency with existing legislation.
- 2.1.5.2. The CRL shall conduct all its deliberations openly in the Hopper.
- 2.1.5.3. The CRL shall consist of the incumbent Mençéi, Túischac'h, and Avocat-Xheneral.
- 2.1.5.3.1. The Mençéi and the Túischac'h may at any time appoint and dismiss one Senator and one Membreu dal Cosă, respectively, to serve as a member of the CRL in their place.
- 2.1.5.4. The CRL may create further committees to which their functions may be delegated, as concerns any bill or category of bills. Such a committee must have at least 3 members, including at least 1 Membreu dal Cosă and 1 Senator.
- 2.1.6. After the CRL has given its recommendation, or if it gives no recommendation within 30 days of the bill having passed to committee, the bill has passed the Hopper and the sponsor of the bill may ask for it to be Clarked, with or without amendments.
- 2.1.6.1. The same bill can not be submitted to the Clark more than once in the same Cosa, unless the original bill was vetoed, the original bill had been retired or voted down by its main sponsor during the voting period, or the bill has been substantially amended, as judged by the Secretary of State.
- 2.1.6.2. Bills must be submitted to the Secretary of State more than 24 hours before the publication of the Clark. Bills received less than 24 hours before publication of the Clark shall be published in the next Clark or postponed for one Clark, at the Secretary of State's discretion.
- 2.1.7. The Secretary of State is empowered to refuse to put a certain bill on a Clark if said bill:
- 2.1.7.1. appears to him to be obviously on its face inorganic, or to have such grave errors as would make it ineffective and/or require further legislation or a Prüm Diktat to make it effective;
- 2.1.7.2. does not specify exactly the Law(s) or Article(s) which it seeks to amend, change, or repeal, if the bill seeks to amend, change, or repeal any Article of the Organic Law or any Law;
- 2.1.7.3. is not clearly typed or word-processed; and/or
- 2.1.7.4. is so substantially different from its form as a legislative proposal when "passed to committee" that it constitutes a significantly different proposal;
- 2.1.7.5. has not passed the Hopper or is deemed by the sponsor to have passed the Hopper in accordance with Lexh.H.2.1.2. but is in the judgement of the Secretary of State not exclusively limited to the items listed in Lexh.H.2.1.2.
- 2.1.7.6. Any such decision shall be subject to judicial review.
- 2.1.8. All bills submitted for the Clark shall be in one of the national languages.
- 2.1.9. The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from the Hopper at the request of the author.
- 2.1.9.1. If a legislative proposal has remained in the Hopper for more than 59 days, it shall be considered to have been removed, though any person entitled to do so may subsequently re-publish it.
- 2.1.10. Notwithstanding the rules about a bill's eligibility to be Clarked, if no bill was submitted to the Clark at the moment of publication, the Secretary of State shall be allowed to add to the Clark a simple bill asking for Quorum where Cosa Members and Senators can vote to confirm their presence for the Clark .
- 2.1.11. The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in "The Hopper."
- 2.2. A legislative proposal should be followed by the words "Uréu q'estadra så" (or "Proposed by"), and the name of the author, and the capacity in which the author is offering the proposal. A legislative proposal may be submitted by multiple sponsors, but the legislator whose name is listed first after the words "Uréu q'estadra så" (or "Proposed by") is considered the author of the legislative proposal.
- 2.2.1. Official non-Ziu titles may also be used when a member of the Ziu submit a bill, if the submitter feels that he is submitting a bill in another capacity than as a Ziu member. Such a title shall be called a "Limousine", or by its Talossan equivalent. A title of Senator, Distain or Member of the Cosă is a Ziu title, and as such not a Limousine. A person can only be entitled to a Limousine if he is both a member of the Ziu and holds an official title. A Limousine may contain, but is not restricted to: a governor's title, a minister or deputy minister's title, or a title conferred by a national organisation, such as the CÚG, or the Secretary of State's office. This is not a means to allow non-members of the Ziu to post bills using their Limousine, nor does this provision allow any submitter to use unofficial titles or party-specific titles.
- 2.2.2. The use of a Limousine instead of a Ziu title engages that person in that capacity. For example, a bill submitted by a Cosă member as being "Minister of Culture" indicates that the bill is truly submitted in the name of the Minister of Culture.
- 2.3. If the Seneschal, or a member of the Government party, proposes a bill, and with the Seneschal's permission marks it as a Government Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by "HM Government, represented by", before the name of the member. If the Opposition Leader, or a member of the Opposition, proposes a bill, and, with the Opposition Leader's or the member's Party Leader's permission, marks it as an Opposition Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by "HM Loyal Opposition, represented by", followed by the member's name. Any other bill will be called a Private Member's Bill, and will be denoted in the Clark the same way they have always been.
- 2.4. His Majesty, when affixing His Royal Seal to Bills sent to him by the Ziu, may exclaim with all His Royal Royal-ness in the National Language of Our Nation, "El Regeu en volt."
- 2.5. His Majesty, when acting out His constitutional and traditional duty to protect the Citizens of His Kingdom from poor Government, decides to withhold His Royal Seal from said Bill sent by said Ziu, may exclaim with all His Truth-and-Justice-ness in said National Language of said Kingdom, "El Regeu non en volt."
- 2.6. The King shall sign a physical printed copy of bills at the time they pass into law, and collect these bills for posterity.
- 2.7. After the close of Ziu business, the Secretary will make known to the press as soon as possible the results of the votes.
- 2.7.1. PDs shall be published at the earliest possible opportunity in the next Clark.
3. Provisions concerning the Senäts
- 3.1. The Senate shall autonomously determine the rules of its proceedings.
- 3.1.1. To this goal, the Mençei shall maintain a body of Standing Rules of the Senate.
- 3.1.2. The Senate may amend the Standing Rules at any time between the first day of a First Clark and the Cosă being dissolved, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.
- 3.1.3. No Standing Rule shall infringe on any Organic or Statutory provision, and Standing Rules shall be germane to the Senate's operations.
- 3.1.4. The Senate may waive any Standing Rule for the remainder of the current term, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.
4. Provisions concerning the Cosă
- 4.1. No person shall hold more seats in the Cosă than ten times the total number of seats in the Cosă divided by the number of ballots cast for the Cosa in the most recent General Election, rounded up to the next integer.
- 4.2. Members of Cosa shall be free to represent any constituency within the geographic boundaries of the Kingdom of Talossa including any and all of its territories and overseas colonies. Any Member wishing to represent a constituency shall publicly declare such representation before the conclusion of the first Clark following a General Election.
- 4.3. Members of the Cosâ who (in a given session of the Cosa) have voted NON on the most recent Vote of Confidence, or intend to do so on the next Vote of Confidence, shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short "El Contrapharti / The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote , the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party with the most Cosa seats assigned to MCs who voted NON on the last Vote of Confidence.
- 4.4. The Cosă shall elect the Túischac'h as follows.
- 4.4.1. Should the position of Túischac'h be vacant and a majority of Cosă seats be filled, any Member of the Cosă may either nominate one eligible person for the office of Túischac'h, or second such a nomination made by another Member of the Cosă.
- 4.4.2. Members of the Cosă may not nominate or second multiple different nominees.
- 4.4.3. Should the Secretary of State determine that an eligible person has been nominated and seconded by members currently representing an absolute majority of seats in the Cosă, the Secretary of State shall declare the person to be duly elected as Túischac'h, to serve until the Dissolution of the current Cosă.
- 4.5. The Cosa may hold living Cosas during subsequent Clarks by a vote of the Cosa naming the specific month in which the event is to take place. The exact date and location of the Living Cosâ shall be set by the Seneschal after consultation with all relevant parties. All members must receive two weeks notice of the date of the Living Cosâ. The Seneschal may, if events warrant, issue a PD authorizing a Living Cosâ in the following calendar month. Such a PD may be vetoed (in addition to normal means) by a formal protest to the Secretary of State by Members of the Cosâ comprising one-third or greater the number of elected seats in the Cosâ.
- 4.5.1. Members who cannot attend will not be denied the right to vote on that month's Clark. They may send their votes to the Secretary of State by any means feasible, so that they can be announced at the Living Cosâ. A member may, in writing, delegate his authority to vote (temporarily transfer his seats) to another person who can attend the Living Cosâ, but no individual may hold more than thirty seats, counting both proxy and permanently assigned seats, for purposes of the Living Cosâ. The Ziu may provide by law, without needing to go through committee, for quorum requirements, and for attendance via telephone, videoconference, or other remote means.
- 4.5.2. Votes presented to the Secretary of State after the Living Cosâ will not be counted in the final tally. The final tally of votes on all bills is taken at the end of the Living Cosâ.
- 4.5.3. New bills, or amendments, may not be presented at the Living Cosâ. No bill not published in the Clark may be debated. Clarks will be published on schedule as usual.
- 4.5.4. Senators shall be permitted to participate in Living Cosâ debates on the same terms as MCs, but may not delegate or exercise proxy votes.
Uréu q'estadra så: - Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDems)