View Topic

On April 12th, the following was posted to the #governance channel on Discord:

Hey guys. Lately the RSS has been talking a lot about the role of Citizenship and how it may need to change. Currently we have situations where we have some people remain Citizens for years without being around, yet others have to repeatedly reapply for it...something that can be a hassle to do and can feel humiliating for some, which creates barriers for people to be involved. This in turn can lead people who don't want to face those hassles to feel like outsiders because they aren't Citizens.

This is a summary I gave to the RSS this morning of what we've talked about so far, and we would be grateful for your thoughts, questions, and ideas here.

The core idea would be replacing basic Citizenship with some sort of verified status that's permanent unless the person specifically resigns. This would be required for participation in basic community governance (which right now is access to the governance channel). If we were to bring over aspects of NS governance like elections, we could place activity requirements specific to those actions rather than to the role. This will require modification of the Citizenship Act until it's adopted in a new community charter.

A second level of Citizenship has also been proposed that would require that they be around for a year and have 100 posts, with the idea that they would get access to more private levels of government like ops chat. Currently the only private channels still in use are this one (the RSS channel) and ops chat, in fact. I'm guessing we would want to create a third channel for this group and it would mostly be used by people who are specifically interested in Wintreath governance but don't have the time to be part of the RSS.

To throw another idea in the mix, given that we tend to invite people to the RSS once they've proven themselves and shown that they're interested, I wonder if an alternative is to just expand the RSS as needed. I know that in the beginning I was concerned about the RSS being too big and things going too slow as a result, but it seems quick action isn't expected of us, and having more voices that are interested is a good thing.

This proposal to amend the Citizenship Act essentially enacts the first paragraph of the nested quote: removing activity requirements and other options to maintain Citizenship, essentially making it permanent unless explicitly resigned from or revoked. Amending the Citizenship act is a provisional method of enacting this until a new community charter can be written to replace the Fundamental Laws. As always, we welcome and appreciate any thoughts, questions, and feedback anyone might have.

Spoiler

1. Title
  1.1 This act shall be cited as the Citizenship Act.

2. Citizenship Act
  2.1 Any individual wishing to obtain citizenship must either have a nation within the region, make five (5) non-spam posts on the Wintreath forums, or make fifty (50) non-spam posts on the Wintreath Discord server in order to qualify for citizenship request the role through the Wintreath forums or website.
  2.2 Citizens may maintain their citizenship through the following means:
    2.2.1 Keeping the nation that is associated their citizenship with within the region. Should a citizen wish to designate a new nation as their citizenship nation, they must inform the person (or government agency) empowered to accept or reject citizenship applications in accordance with relevant law of a change in citizenship nation.
    2.2.2 Making five (5) non-spam posts on the Wintreath forums during the previous calendar month.
    2.2.3 Making fifty (50) non-spam posts on the Wintreath Discord server during the previous calendar month.
    2.2.4 Making a financial contribution to The Winter Nomad of at least $5 (USD) during the previous calendar month.
  2.3. The Landsraad reserves the right to exempt any Citizen from the provisions of section 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.
  2.2 Citizenship shall be permanent unless the member resigns their Citizenship through the Wintreath forums or website or Citizenship is revoked through one of the provisions of this Act.
  2.43 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.
  2.54 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.
  2.65 The Monarch, or any subordinate official appointed by the Monarch, shall have the authority to grant or deny citizenship to any person who applies.

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.
 
4. Compliance with Previous Law
  4.1 Upon passage of the legislation, and in accordance with Decree 001: Section 6, Decree 001 shall be considered Void.