View Topic

This draft legislation updates the name of the legislature in statutory laws that aren't planned to be repealed entirely. I'm not sure about the status of the Persona Non Grata Act, but I included a provision updating it in case we ultimately decide to keep some form of it.

There are three changes here that may merit some consideration and discussion: the ability of the Landsraad to revoke an individual's Citizenship, name Paragons, and declare individuals persona non grata. I had planned to do away with the legislative authority to revoke Citizenships and declare people PnG entirely, but thinking it through I feel comfortable leaving them in for the Landsraad with the higher threshold for passage, to counter the fact that there's no Overhusen to serve as a check.

Title
1. This Act shall be cited as the Omnibus Legislative Modernization Amendment Act

The Wintreath Commendation Act
2. Section 2 of the Wintreath Commendation Act shall be amended as follows:

2. Any member of the Landsraad shall have the authority to propose the Wintreath Commendation be awarded to any person in both NationStates or Wintreath that he/she feels deserves recognition for extreme acts of bravery, loyalty, or other qualities the proposer believes warrants the Commendation.

3. Section 5 of the Wintreath Commendation Act shall be amended as follows:

5. The Chancellor of the Landsraad or their designee will make an announcement of each Commendation and keep a public list of all recipients of the award.

4. Section 6 of the Wintreath Commendation Act shall be amended as follows:

6. The Landsraad of Wintreath respectfully requests the Winter Nomad and his appointed administrators to remove any Commendations falsely displayed in the signature of anyone who has not been awarded the Commendation.

The Persona Non Grata Act
5. Section 5 of the Persona Non Grata Act shall be amended as follows:

5) The Landsraad shall have the authority to declare any non-Citizen persona non grata and to revoke previous persona non grata declarations of the Landsraad by a two-thirds supermajority of the chamber.

The Legislation Public Domain Act
6. Section 2 of the Legislation Public Domain Act shall be amended as follows:

2. All proposed legislation (including procedural rules and resolutions) introduced into and/or passed by the Landsraad shall henceforth be dedicated to the public domain worldwide under the conditions of CC0 1.0 Universal, with all copyright and related or neighboring rights waived to the extent possible under law.

The Wintreath Holidays Act
7. Section 7 of the Wintreath Holidays Act shall be amended as follows:

7. In a desire to promote the celebration and festivities of these dates, the standard operation of the Landsraad will be suspended and will delay the introduction of new bills, the commencement of voting, and any handling of non-important legislative matters granted that they had not begun before the holiday. The Chancellor of the Landsraad is given descretion on these matters.

8. Section 8 of the Wintreath Holidays Act shall be amended as follows:

8. On declarations of Festivities and Thanksgiving by the Monarch, the Chancellor of the Landsraad may declare such suspension of activities as if it were a Holiday but are not required to do so.

The Regional Clubs Act
9. Section 4 of the Regional Clubs Act shall be amended as follows:

4. The Club shall be considered officially founded upon passage of the petition through the Landsraad. All Citizens who signed the petition shall become members upon founding.
a. The Landsraad shall maintain the right to amend the Club Charter while deliberating its passage.

10. Section 7 of the Regional Clubs Act shall be amended as follows:

7. Any changes to the Club Charter must be approved by the Landsraad before taking effect.

11. Section 8a of the Regional Clubs Act shall be amended as follows:

a. The Landsraad shall have the right to grant a Club a waiver from these requirements for the current season, in which case not meeting these requirements would not result in the Club being dissolved.

12. Section 9 of the Regional Clubs Act shall be amended as follows:

9. The Landsraad shall have the right to revoke a Club Charter at any time for any reason, which shall be included in the Act revoking the Club Charter.

The Citizenship Act
13. Section 2.3 of the Citizenship Act shall be amended as follows:

2.3 The Landsraad reserves the right to exempt any Citizen from the provisions of 2.1 of this Act due to an extended leave of absence from Wintreath under extenuating circumstances.
     2.3.1. Circumstances can include, but are not limited to: natural disasters, severe illness, extended hospital care, military training or deployment, extended stay in a remote rural area, or loss of a main source of income.
     2.3.2. A Citizen must hold Citizenship for at least thirty (30) days and declare intent to return to Wintreath in order to qualify for an exemption under this section. Compliance with these requirements is determined by the Landsraad.
     2.3.3. Exemptions may last no longer than twelve (12) months from the initial date of absence, as determined by the Landsraad.
     2.3.4. Any Citizen with an exemption under this section must return to compliance with section 2.1 of this Act within seven (7) days of their return to Wintreath.

14. Section 2.4 of the Citizenship Act shall be amended as follows:

2.4 The Monarch of Wintreath shall have the authority to revoke citizenship from any person, so long as the Monarch makes a public announcement explaining the reasons for doing so.

15. Section 2.5 of the Citizenship Act shall be amended as follows:

2.5 The Landsraad shall have the authority to revoke Citizenship from any person by a two-thirds supermajority vote, so long as the legislation revoking the Citizenship contains the reasons for doing so. Persons whose Citizenship has been revoked by the Landsraad may appeal the decision to the Monarch, who can restore Citizenship by decree.

16. Section 3 of the Citizenship Act shall be amended as follows:

3. Recognition of Paragons
    3.1 The Landsraad shall have the authority to recognize any previous or current Citizen as a Paragon of Wintreath by a two-thirds supermajority vote if it feels the individual has been an essential member of the regional community, or has performed an invaluable service to the region, and/or otherwise embodies the principles, values, culture, or honour of the region.
    3.2 Paragons shall be exempt from the requirements of Section 2 of this Act and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of Citizenship.
    3.3 The Landsraad shall have the authority to revoke recognition of Paragon status.

As I've said before (I think prior to the passage of the FLAMES Act), I do think it makes sense for the people to have a say over citizenship.

Does this require changes to the Royal Decree, or is it that this power is being delegated from the Monarch, to the Riksraad, to the Landsraad?

If the latter case, "reserves the right" probably doesn't make sense since the Landsraad isn't claiming the right for itself, but rather being granted it by a higher power; probably would make sense to change that to "shall have the authority" for consistency with the other provisions.

@taulover: The reason I gave the Riksraad power over Citizenship is because I was afraid that giving it to the Landsraad would make it easier for malicious actors to corrupt the system...for example, in the Celestial Union of Lazarus, new Citizens were imported for the purpose of building a majority to undermine the law prior to the delegate's coup. That's not exactly an apples to apples comparison to what could happen here, but it is one of the things we have to be aware of in having an open assembly.

However, now that I've come up with requiring a 2/3 majority to change Citizenship law, I'm wondering if it shouldn't be given to the Landsraad afterall. It's an issue I'd love to hear more input on from the community. I think @Laurentus in particular opposed giving Citizenship law to the Landsraad (though I could be wrong).

Nah, I really am not. I think you might be confusing me with someone else. My position on this is and will always be that if any malicious actors do crop up, I don't really care what words on paper say about the issue, I am sure that you will get rid of them.

That said, to appease those who want things set in stone, why not just grant the Landsraad access to citizenship laws and then still just reserve the right to make changes to it as you see fit, as long as you can demonstrate the clear and present danger and/or malicious influence at work.

If citizenship law is an exception and requires a 2/3 supermajority from the Landsraad when nothing else does, might as well just add it to the Fundamental Laws to make it more simple, right? That way changes to it require both a supermajority of citizens and the Monarch's approval like any other constitutional amendment.

If citizenship law is an exception and requires a 2/3 supermajority from the Landsraad when nothing else does, might as well just add it to the Fundamental Laws to make it more simple, right? That way changes to it require both a supermajority of citizens and the Monarch's approval like any other constitutional amendment.

With the current framework, it would be added to Decree 13, but yes.

2. Any member of the Landsraad shall have the authority to propose the Wintreath Commendation be awarded to any person in both NationStates or Wintreath

Does this mean only a person who both is in NS and is in Wintreath? Does this exclude Wintreath members in only Discord&Forums?

The conjunction used is "or" though, so I would presume it applies whether the Wintrean is purely in Nationstates, purely on Wintreath platforms (forum, discord) or both. 

I've updated the decree to grant the Landsraad authority over Citizenship law with a 2/3 majority.

Are there any other issues we need to discuss here or corrections that need to be made?

Final Approval
This act is hereby approved and entered into law.