Post
Region: The Thaecian Senate
As promised:
To already give an idea of what my takes will be about: from my point of view this bill leaves room for a lot of unclarities and confusion, but also some, In my opinion, odd choices. I will mostly list my thoughts in the same order as used in the bill itself.
A1.1: While not necessarily incomplete, this part simply states Congress can pass a motion and then start a convention. Obviously this insinuates for the motion to be a motion meant to start the convention, but nowhere is this stated. Because of that, this motion could quite literally be just about anything. To avoid confusion and loopholes this should be specified.
A1.2 and most of A3: Section 2 of Article 1 states that "Members of both legislative chambers shall separately elect a Convention Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson [...]." Again, insinuation and intention differ, but this time the other way around. Judging by later parts in the bill, I can only assume this Section means to say both Chambers conclude on a single Chair and several (?) Deputy Chairs. Stressing on assume. However, logically speaking, with the way A1.2 is phrased, each Chamber on it's own would elect a Chair, of which only one is eventually chosen in the end. Again, I have to assume the last part, since the rest speaks only of a Chair in singular form. This process should be clarified.
A2.1: The only remark here is that, and apologies for my repetitiveness, this part should be specified. This for the simple reason that it is an exceptionally important part of the bill, by how much it is referenced elsewhere.
A3.3: Another loophole. With the phrasing used, this could also mean, depending on interpretation, which is left very open, that the Deputies themselves and not the Chair personally choose when to take over. I view this simply as something gone unnoticed, but if not, leaving this authority to the Deputies is an odd choice to say the least.
A4 as a whole: This entire part of the bill is very confusing and unclear. I personally think it would be best if parts of this were entirely re-written, but this bill will most likely pass either way, so lets try to solve some issues. Firstly, the timeframes set out are weird. only 12 hours of debate and up to 3 entire days of voting time? That's just rediculous to me if we are being honest. 24 hours should be the bare minimum for a debate as important and large as this. Next, Section 1 speaks of several, seperate, public channels. What does this mean? Will the convention be held on NS, and if so on which RMB? Will it be held on Discord, and if so who will set the server up, or will it be done in Thaecord? I do not know the intentions of the authors here, so I can't give suggestions on how to fix this, other than asking to specify. Thirdly, what in the world does "If the Chairperson or Deputy lose their seat as a Senator/Member of Parliament for X [...]" mean? X? I understand that people losing their seat can't remain to be a formal member of a convention exclusively for Legislators, but this entire Section right now makes little sense.
I am being very critical here, but please don't misunderstand me. As said previously, I think a bill like this is good. There are, I believe, some flaws in the idea behind it inherently, like making it a Legislative-exclusive occasion, and there are certainly some internal flaws of teh bill I laid out here; but in the end, it is a bill that will be good to have around, whether it will be used soon, late, only once, never, or many times.
Changes Article 1 – Calling and Convening a Convention to say:
(1) Congress may convene a Constitutional Convention, where if a motion calling for the Constitutional Convention, requiring a which requires 2/3 supermajority support in each individual chamber, has passed both chambers.
(2) Members of both legislative chambers shall separately elect a single Convention Chairperson Candidate and Deputy Chairperson by a vote organised by the Electoral Commission using the immediate runoff voting system. They must serve unless they resign, or are removed.
(3) Convention Chairperson Candidates can be anyone in either Chamber of Congress, and once both Chambers have come to a conclusion on their respective Candidate, another vote by the same standards will decide on which one of the two will be the Conventional Chairperson or Deputy Conventional Chairperson.
Changes Article 2 – Member of the Convention, Section 1 to say:
(1) Members of a legislative chamber hold the right for full participation in formal membership of the Convention; meaning the right to fully participate in all official Convention debates and votes.
Changes Article 3 – Powers of the Chair and Deputy Chairpersons, Section 3 to say:
Any power the Chairperson holds may be delegated to any deputies their Deputy Chairperson as they see fit seen fit by the Chairperson.
Changes Article 4 - Fundamental Procedures of the Convention, Section 3 to say:
All amendments are entitled to a minimum of 12 24 hours of debate. They are also entitled to a minimum of 24 hours of vote.
Changes Changes Article 4 - Fundamental Procedures of the Convention, Section 6 to say:
If the Chairperson or Deputy loses their seat as a Senator/Member of Parliament for X during the Convention, a vote shall be held for that position as per Art(1)(2) specified in Article 1. Should any other official member of the Convention as specified in Article 2 lose their seat during the Convention, that seat will remain vacant until a Snap Election is held for that seat. Senators or Members of Parliament elected in a Snap Election during the Convention shall be allowed to be formal members of the Convention.
