Assembly Editing and Bi-cameral Legislature Creation
Hello! This is a continuation/more official thread regarding my original idea in the “rethinking Citizenship and the Legislature” thread. Essentially, it would split the legislature into two and have an upper house of elected legislatures who handle small amendments and everyday law work (things like the “changing the times act” that literally is barely even a debate). These legislators would be required to maintain activity in discussion and voting on all assembly threads. The lower house would consist of accepted voting citizens (similar to how legislator committee works now), who would vote on big and important proposals, and would be able to petition to have amendments or law changes taken to the lower house in the event they feel it’s particularly important or contentious.
This idea would also require some small rewrites in the Election Act which I have not written up yet, but will at some point when I have a touch more time.
The Amendment!
IV. THE ASSEMBLY
Establishing legislative authority in the Assembly.
(1) The Assembly holds supreme legislative authority in the Coalition, and is comprised of all eligible legislators.
(2) The Assembly will elect a legislator as Chair for a term lasting four months. The Chair is responsible for maintaining order and decorum, and helping guide Assembly debate into the creation of bills. If a Chair is recalled, loses legislator status, or is otherwise not in office, a new Chair will be elected for a new term lasting four months. The date, time, and manner of electing the Chair will be set by the Assembly in a law.
(1) The Assembly shall be composed of two houses, one, hence called the legislature, comprised of elected officials and the other, hence called the citizen’s assembly, comprised of all citizens registered to vote in the Coalition.
(2) The legislature will have no mandated size, and elections for new legislators will occur every 4 months. The date, time, and manner of electing legislators will be set by the Assembly in a law. Any legislator who does not participate in debate or voting on a bill will be considered inactive and removed from the legislature.
(3) The legislature is responsible for discussing, debating, and voting on bills that pass through the assembly. The citizen’s assembly is responsible for debating and voting on bills of high importance or sweeping change. A voting citizen may submit a request to the Chair for a vote to be moved to the citizen’s assembly, where, if adequate reasoning and the written support of three other citizens is provided, that bill must be disseminated to all voting citizens to be debated and voted on.
(4) The legislature shall elect a Chair upon formation, who will hold the position for life, except in the event of resignation, recall, or loss of legislator status. In the event of an open seat of the Chair, the legislature shall elect a new Chair.
(5) The duties of the Chair include maintaining order and decorum, and helping guide Assembly debate into the creation of bills. The date, time, and manner of electing the Chair will be set by the Assembly in a law.
(6) (3) The Chair may appoint a deputy or deputies, to whom the Chair may publicly delegate any powers, responsibilities, or special projects of the Chair, subject to all regulations and restrictions imposed upon the Chair by law. The Chair may dismiss such deputies.
LegislatorCitizen’s Voting Eligibility
(7) (4) A standing commission of legislators will be tasked with granting and revoking legislatorvoting status to citizens. All legitimate residents of the Coalition are eligible to attain legislatorvoting status through an application. Continued voting status requires active membership and good behaviour. Voting status may be revoked due to loss of legislator status or for instances of harmful behaviour.