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I apologize for the delay on this vote, as you may know I've been ill. In any case, the First Day of Wintrean Legislature Holiday Act has passed the Underhusen and is presented to the Overhusen for it's consideration. In accordance with our procedures, you may vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain. Also, while it is not required, please consider the request of our Citizens to specify why we are voting the way we are.

1. Title
  1.1 This shall be referred to as the First Day of Wintrean Legislature Holiday Act, and shall be abbreviated as FDLHA.
 
2. Holiday
  2.1 Name of the Holiday
    2.1.1 The Day shall be referred to as The First Day of Representation.
  2.2 The Holiday shall fall on December 7th
  2.3 All Non-essential Government offices shall be closed during the day, until 10:30 PM EST, after which the new Legislature shall take office, and all closed Government offices shall re-open.
   2.3.1 Non-essential will be defined in this bill as: Any government office that is not: the WHR, The king's office, or the Judiciary Branch.
  2.4 During that day celebrations shall occur, which shall be planned and managed by the King, and three Citizens whom the king shall appoint three months before the festival's date.

Nay

I'm not necessarily against the idea of having a holiday, but there are several parts of this legislation I take issue with. First, the Act states that on this day the new legislature will be installed at 10:30PM, but what about the other five times a year we install new legislatures? Generally new legislatures are installed as soon as the election is over, but this would introduce inconsistency in that.

My most serious qualm though is the provision that closes "non-essential" government offices. On a practical level, this would basically shut the region down entirely, as we would be legally unable to handle foreign affairs, assist new nations in the region through our Ministries, or even approve apps for Citizenship. On a legal level, the Act specifies that the "Judiciary Branch" would remain open, however Wintreath does not have a dedicated Judiciary Branch. The Storting doubles as our judicial system...which begs the question, even if we inferred the Judiciary Branch was the Storting in this Act, would that be the outgoing Storting or the incoming Storting? On the same level, I'm not entirely sure what "The King's Office" or "the WHR" refers to...does that mean the Ministry of Defense would remain open, or only the operational side of the Hvitt Riddaral? With so many Ministries closed, does that mean I'd be left to do the work of all the closed Ministries for that day since my "office" would remain open?

I also consider this to be inappropriate interference in the affairs of the Monarchy. It would be as if I made a Royal Decree shutting down the Storting for a specified period of time, which would be just as inappropriate. Besides that, is there really such a high workload in our Ministries that we need to shut down the government so people can enjoy a festival? I'd like to think there isn't, and that people can balance business and pleasure, realizing that the business in a game should be just as fun as the pleasure.

For these reasons, I strongly oppose this proposed Act, and implore my Peers to also oppose it.

Nay, as I would always be opposed to a holiday to celebrate the legislature in particular. Why not celebrate all of the fundamental laws.

We've reached the requisite, but just throwing in my Nay. Holidays in an online game are pointless, especially if no one's actually doing a 30 hour work week.

And with that, the mesaure is defeated by a vote of 0-3.