Law:56RZ4 The Legislative Process Improvement Bill
 EPHEMERAL STATUS |
LEGEU |
It amends the following: |
 Cosă: PASSED |
| Per 131 — Con 0 — Aus 14 |
 Senäts: PASSED |
| Per 5 — Con 2 — Aus 0 |
L'Anuntziă dels Legeux |
View Clark Result |
WHEREAS the quality of legislation passed by the Ziu of our Kingdom has always been of questionable quality, given not only the volunteer, part-time nature of our MCs and Senators, but also of the lack of "professional" legal advisers to proofread amateurishly-written bills;
AND WHEREAS the Hopper itself was an early attempt to improve the process; but has always been hampered by the disinterest or forgetfulness of MCs and Senators in reading legislation until it is Clarked, by which stage it is too late for amendments;
AND WHEREAS the last Cosa brought in la Comità da Redacziun Lexhislatïu (CRL) to streamline this process, but this body simply did not function in the last Cosa;
AND WHEREAS even if the CRL functions as foreseen in this Cosa, it does not solve the large problem mentioned above, that MCs and Senators do not pay attention to the details of bills until after they are Clarked;
AND WHEREAS the idea of a system of "multiple readings" of legislation before they become law has been raised in the past;
AND WHEREAS the incoming Attorney-General and Túischac'h have agreed on this proposal, which will require a form of "first reading", whereby bills will need a affirmative majority of both houses (along the same lines as a Túischac'h election) to go to the CRL, and subsequently cannot go to Clark for 30 days unless the CRL gives its affirmative say-so;
AND WHEREAS at the very, very worst this bill will only mean a 30-day delay in Clarking bills;
AND WHEREAS there is still an "escape hatch" for cases of legislative urgency, in the provisions of Organic Law VII.6: "The Seneschál shall have the right at his discretion to withdraw any legislative proposal from the Hopper and instruct the Secretary of State to treat it as a properly submitted bill"; and also in the provision for Prime Dictates;
AND WHEREAS a future reform, whereby the Cosă and Senäts will vote separately on legislation to allow even more opportunity for scrutiny and debate, may be presented later in this Cosă term, whether this bill passes or not;
BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosă and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that
1. El Lexhatx H.6 shall be replaced in its entirety as follows:
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 Prime Dictate 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 Lex.H.6.2 or Lex.H.6.3.
6.5. A Legislative Advisory Committee of Talossa (in Talossan, el Comità da Redacziun Legislatïu; and hereinafter, "the CRL") 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 CRL shall conduct all its deliberations openly in the Hopper. 6.5.2 The CRL shall consist of the incumbent Mençéi, Túischac'h, and Avocat-Xheneral. 6.5.3. 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 MC and at least 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 Prime Dictate 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 Lex.H.6.2. but is in the judgement of the Secretary of State not limited exclusively limited to the items listed in Lex.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.”
2. Lex.G.11.4. is amended to read:
11.4. Retired status can be revoked only in the event of a conviction by a Talossan Court for misconduct while serving in a judicial capacity. In the event of such conviction, revocation of retirement privileges shall be contained as part of the sentencing order. Retired status can also be revoked by the Ziu through majority vote, without needing to go through committee, and approval by the Monarch. Such legislative action can be taken only after the retiree has been convicted by a Talossan Court for misconduct while serving in a judicial capacity and only after all appeals have been exhausted.
3. Lex.H.25.1 is amended to read:
25.1 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. Lex.C.1.2.2.2. is amended to read:
1.2.2.2. Other questions on the Talossan Census shall be identical to the questions on the last census. These questions may be changed by the Chancery, either of its own volition or on request from the Seneschal, but any changes shall be approved by the Ziu, without needing to go through committee. These questions will be marked as optional, and at no time shall a citizen be forced or required to respond to an optional question.
5. El Lexhatx H.7, H.11, H.12 and H.13 are hereby deleted in their entirety, and Title H of El Lexhatx will subsequently be renumbered.
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