Law:An Act Establishing "The Hopper"

35RZ26 — An Act Establishing "The Hopper" (Amendment)

WHEREAS, all great legislatures of the world have seen the wisdom of subjecting legislative proposals to a period of public comment, debate and amendment before they are voted on;

WHEREAS, such a period of reflection would allow all future Talossan legislation to harvest the experience and wisdom of all of its citizens and legislators;

WHEREAS, such a period of reflection may well help Talossa avoid suffering from unfortunately written legislation; and

WHEREAS, such a period of reflection has not been a part of Talossa's legislative process to date,

THEREFORE the Ziu hereby adopts the following Amendment to the Organic Law, and transmits it to the electorate for ratification.

1. Article IX of the Organic Law is repealed and replaced with:

   Article IX: The Secretary of State, the Hopper and the Clark

   Sec. 1. The Seneschál shall appoint a Secretary of State to an indefinite term. He may be removed and replaced by law. The Secretary of State shall supervise and organize the legislative business of the Ziu. He shall do this by administering a public venue for the inspection of legislative proposals before they become bills, "The Hopper" and by compiling and publishing the monthly legislative journal, "The Clark." He may delegate another citizen to act as Deputy Secretary of State, who will execute the powers and duties of the Secretary's office, while the Secretary is unavailable or unable to do so. This person shall be appointed and dismissed by the Secretary on whim.'

   Sec. 2. Any Member of the Cosâ, or Senator, or the King, shall have the right to submit legislative proposals and bills to the Secretary of State for consideration by the Ziu according to the procedures specified in this article.

   Sec. 3. Except as provided in Article IX: Sec. 7, a bill is not eligible to be voted on by the Ziu and cannot be published in the Clark unless it was first submitted to "The Hopper" as a legislative proposal. And except as provided in Article IX: Sec. 8, only legislative proposals that are in "The Hopper" and have been there for at least ten days can become eligible for publication in "The Clark" as bills. Legislative proposals that are no longer in "The Hopper" cannot become bills.

   Sec. 4. The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in "The Hopper." The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from "The Hopper" at the request of the author. If a legislative proposal has remained in the "The Hopper" for more than 59 days, the Secretary of State may remove it.

   Sec. 5. A legislative proposal is submitted t to the Secretary of State for publication in "The Hopper." A legislative proposal thus submitted 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. The Ziu may regulate how authors identify their capacity. 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. The Secretary of State may refuse to accept legislative proposals that are not clearly typed or word-processed.

   Sec. 6. After his legislative proposal has spent ten days in "The Hopper," the author may submit it—with or without modification or amendment—as a bill to the Secretary of State according to the procedures specified in Article IX: Secs. 8-12. The Secretary of State may, however, refuse to accept the bill if he finds that the bill is so substantially different from its original form as a legislative proposal that it constitutes a significantly different proposal. Upon such a finding, the bill is automatically returned to "The Hopper."

   Sec. 7. At his discretion, the Prime Minister shall have the right to withdraw any legislative proposal from "The Hopper" and instruct the Secretary of State to treat it as a properly submitted bill. The Prime Minister's Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating to legislative proposals and "The Hopper."

   Sec. 8. For the first Clark to be published following an Election Deadline as defined in Article VII: Sec. 3, only legislative proposals that are in "The Hopper" and have been there for at least five days can become eligible for publication in "The Clark" as bills.

   Sec. 9. Bills shall be submitted before the twenty-first day of the month, to the Secretary of State for consideration by the Ziu. Bills received after the twenty-first day of the month shall be published in the next Clark or postponed for one Clark, at the Secretary of State's discretion.

   Sec. 10. A bill may be proposed by submitting it to the Secretary of State. A bill thus submitted should be followed by the words "Uréu q'estadra så" (or "Proposed by") and the name of the author(s) and his/their party and home province. The Secretary of State may refuse to accept bills that are not clearly typed or word-processed.

   Sec. 11. If any bill seeks to amend, change, or repeal any Article of the Organic Law or any Law, the bill must specify exactly the Law(s) or Article(s), which it seeks to amend, change, or repeal. The Secretary of State may refuse to accept bills that do not comply with this provision.

   Sec. 12. All bills received by the Secretary of State during one calendar month shall be compiled into a published legislative journal, to be called "The Clark." The Clark shall be compiled prior to the first day of the following month, and shall be published on that day.

   Sec. 13. Notwithstanding Sections 2 and 5 of this Article, the Ziu may make laws regulating the number of bills a Member of the Cosâ or a Senator may submit for one Clark without the need to amend the Organic Law.

2. Article X, Section 7 of the Organic Law—dealing with "for comment only" bills—is repealed.
3. Article XI, Section 4 of the Organic Law is repealed and replaced with:

   Sec. 4. The Seneschál has State duties. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosa and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet. His advice to the King on these matters may not be refused. The Seneschal may issues Speeches to the Nation in writing, declare war pending the approval of the Cosa, write treaties pending the approval of the Cosa, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates.

Uréu q’estadra så:
Dan Lorentz (MC, Maritiimi-Maxhestic)