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Storting Reformation Amendment Act

1. Article I of the Fundamental Laws shall be amended as follows:

I. The Storting
1. The legislative authorities and duties of Wintreath shall be vested in a unicameral legislature called the Storting.

Membership of the Storting
2. The Storting shall consist of all Citizens of Wintreath.

3. The Storting shall have the authority to suspend a member's voting rights for a period of no more than three months at a time with a three-fourths supermajority vote of those voting. At the conclusion of the three-month period, the Storting may consider an additional suspension.

Storting Officers
4. The Speaker shall serve as Presiding Officer of the Storting.

5. The Storting shall have the right to create, modify, and remove any other Officer positions. The Storting shall have the authority to delegate duties to these Officers, except for those duties which require the full participation of the Storting.

6. All Officer positions shall be brought to election on the first day of January, April, July, and October, and elections shall last for a period of five days, after which the winners shall take their Offices. All Citizens whose voting rights are not suspended as of the end of the election may run for any Officer position.

The Legislative Process
7. All legislation shall be introduced in the Storting, which shall have the right to discuss and amend the legislation before putting it to a vote. Unless specified otherwise in this document, legislation shall pass the Storting by majority vote of those voting.

8. Upon passage by the Storting, the Speaker shall present the legislation to the Monarch for Royal Assent. Legislation signed by the Monarch shall become law immediately, while legislation vetoed by the Monarch shall not become law unless the Storting votes to override the veto with a two-thirds supermajority vote of those voting. In the event that the Monarch neither signs or vetoes the legislation, it shall become law one week after passage by the Storting.

9. Legislation concerning matters subject to alternative approval methods as approved by both the Storting and Monarch (or the previous Overhusen chamber) shall be exempt from Section 7 and instead follow the methods specified in the relevant legislation. Legislation concerning the Procedural Rules of the Storting, the voting rights of members, and Officers of the Storting shall also be exempt from Section 7 and shall be considered law upon passage by the Storting.

Authorities and Duties of the Storting
10. The Storting shall have the authority to pass legislation, repeal previously passed legislation, propose amendments to these Fundamental Laws, and take any other action deemed necessary and proper to execute the authorities and duties vested in the Storting by these Fundamental Laws.

11. The Storting shall have the authority to create and revise their own procedural rules.

12. The Storting shall have the authority to declare war upon another region or organization.

13. The Storting shall have the authority to ratify or reject treaties with other regions and organizations.

14. The Storting shall have the authority to issue non-binding resolutions expressing the opinion of the Storting in relation to all matters.

15. The Storting shall have the authority to interpret these Fundamental Laws and statutory laws and consider the constitutionality over laws brought before the Storting, determine rulings and verdicts in regard to violations of these laws, and determine punishments for violations of these laws within the parameters of these Fundamental Laws and any other laws.

16. The Storting shall have the authority to issue advisory opinions on matters of constitutionality and legality to anyone whom the Storting has determined has standing to seek an advisory opinion.

17. The Storting shall have the authority to create and revise the rules of judicial proceedings for judicial panels.

2. Article III Section 1 of the Fundamental Laws shall be amended as follows:

1. Upon the filing of cases within the Storting, a judicial panel shall convene to determine whether to accept the case and then to make an initial ruling if the case is accepted. The judicial panel shall be presided over by the Monarch or their designee as Chief Justice, and the Speaker of the Storting and a random Citizen who has voted on the last four bills introduced to the Storting shall serve as Associate Justices. In the event that no Citizen has participated in the last four votes, a random Citizen from those who have participated in the most consecutive votes including the last shall be chosen instead.

3. Article IV of the Fundamental Laws shall be amended as follows:

IV. Elections
1. Elections shall be overseen by the Monarch or the Monarch's designee. No person shall oversee an election in which they are running.

2. Only Storting members of Wintreath shall be eligible to vote in elections, stand for elected office, or assume any elected office. The Monarch may not stand for or assume any elected office.

3. Elections shall follow the optional preferential voting system, and the results shall be determined by either instant runoff in single-seat positions or single transferable vote in multi-seat positions.

4. In Storting Officer elections, voting members shall have the option to post their votes publicly or send their votes to the person overseeing the election via private message.

5. Any Storting member who voted in the most recent regular election shall have the right to petition for the recall of any Officer unless there are fewer than twenty-one days in the Officer's term.

6. A recall election shall be triggered immediately if thirty percent, rounded down, of the Storting members who voted in the previous regular election and remain in the Storting, including the petitioner, sign a recall petition within forty-eight hours of its creation. The Monarch shall be responsible for the verification of all signatories to the petition.

7. Recall elections shall compose of a forty-eight hour nomination period in which candidates may stand for election, followed by a seventy-two hour election period as defined by Article IV Section 3. The winner of the recall election shall assume the seat in question upon its conclusion.

8. No Officer may run in a recall election unless the Officer is the incumbent challenged by the recall. No Officer shall be subject to more than one recall election per session.

4. Article VII shall be amended as follows:

VII. Constitutional Amendments
1.The Storting shall have the authority to propose amendments to these Fundamental Laws by a two-thirds supermajority vote of those voting, after which amendments shall require consent of the Monarch to be considered ratified.

2. No section in Article VI may be amended without the consent of The Winter Nomad.

5. Upon ratification, this Amendment shall go into effect on 6 April 2016, with Speaker elections beginning five days prior.

Peers may vote Aye, Nay, or may Abstain from voting.

As before, I shall Abstain.

Present/Abstain.

My views haven't changed.

Aye

This looks solid and deserves to be presented to the citizenry to see if they accept the change. It's a rather odd feeling voting on this as it may well be the end of the Overhusen as we know it today, but it has the regions support and will breathe new life into the Storting.

I apologize for the delay, Aye.

With two votes for, and two abstentions, this act has PASSED and is now setup for ratification by the citizenry.

See here

Ahem. With two votes for, and two abstentions, this act has PASSED and is now setup for ratification by the citizenry.