[NSG Senate] Senate Chamber: Do We Have Work?

[The Symplegades]

"Aye, I second Mr. Kamassi. The bill is a unilateral attempt at creating a system which favors SLP, and has no bipartisan suppport. Not to mention, the quality of its composition is rather piecemeal..."

"I would hesitate to say it favors the SLP. Rather, as Senator Sa Ri An said, it favors no one and nobody."

"Indeed. Not to mention that our current structure should be adequate until our government grows to require a larger and more detailed executive"

[The Portland Territory]

"I stand in similar opposition to my colleague. This bill is poorly written, its provisions are poorly designed, and we can't afford either of those flaws with such an important cause."

I agree. If we want to move forward, then we need bipartisan support.

[Nariterrr]

"Mr Speaker, I find it extremely odd that this bill has on received sponsors from the Social Liberal Party. Arguably the most vital part of the whole bill process is the gaining of sponsors - which allows the building of bi-partisan support, and for problems to be ironed out.

And Mr Speaker, I am not just just talking in the general. This bill needs work. We're seeing vague clauses - left, right and centre. We are seeing typos and incorrect grammar littered around - unless you the "President Officer", Mr Speaker that is.

But what is worse are some absolutely ridiculous clauses: elections lasting forty-two hours, the Supreme Court being able to second people's nomination for President, all matters of the Parliament and all matters of the executive being halted before a Supreme Court validation, the copying of the Oath of Office from the United States of America, the mistaken assumption that the President is superior and separate to the Cabinet rather than primus inter pares, the designation of Ministries, rather than leaving it up to the President's judgement; making Ministers automatically unelected and unaccountable Senators and there are many more examples I can name.

Mr Speaker, the honourable member is right in saying that we should have more precise rules governing the President and the Cabinet, but these are not these rules. This is a flawed bill, this is an incomplete bill and in parts, it is an unconstitutional bill. Mr Speaker, we need to make sure we get this right, we should not rush this and that is why I urge my honourable colleagues to join me in voting against this bill."

'"I apologize for the typos in my bill (OOC: I crafted the bill at one). Yes, it is true that the bill only received partisan sponsors, but that is only because I made it open to the party first, which I apologized for."

"I agree now, Supreme Court nominees should not be allowed to second, that'll be amended. I think that elections should last for forty-eight hours, as it gives time for every person to vote. The member is not telling the truth, executive matters are NOT halted by Supreme Court validation, what the member is saying only applies if the Supreme Court finds wrongdoing in the election. I got my oath from office from the Hon. [Tumbra]. We are not a directorial republic, our President is superior to the cabinet. Again, the member doesn't understand the bill, the bill ALLOWS for the President to ignore the provisions and set ministries himself. Ministers are members of the government, if the President has the confidence of the Parliament, he should be allowed to point his ministers."

"In all, I think it would be in our best interest to vote AYE on this bill, even if you disagree with it, you can still submit amendments later."

[The Symplegades]

"I would like to second the point made of our honorable colleague Sa Ri An, in sayig that 42 hours is too much time for an election. Our most recent election, which being just the other day, is still fresh in our minds, was ably carried out in the current 24 hours, without need for more time, and there was plenty left! For God's sakes, the honorable member who proposed the Executive Branch Act was begging to get on with debating legislation!"

Cornelius Sivousong VanDerLoon pauses and gets a drink of water

"While I would like to see the amount of time designated for elections shortened, I also would like to say that this is personal. I make decisions fairly quickly and have a relatively uniform thought process and political philosophy. While I would be personally bored out of my blinking mind rather shiftless if we extended the amount of time for elections, if a revised bill including, say, a 4 or 5 hour extension of voting, amongst other changes were proposed, I may be able to support it"

[Maklohi Vai]

"In all, I think it would be in our best interest to vote AYE on this bill, even if you disagree with it, you can still submit amendments later."

"Mister Speaker, by the honourable member's logic, all bills would pass and there would be a host of amendments submitted upon passage. I counter to say that if you disagree with a bill, there is a helpful tool at your disposal. It is called voting 'Nay.'"

OOC: Also, voting is traditionally in 24 hour increments, as we have players across the globe.

[Nariterrr]

"In all, I think it would be in our best interest to vote AYE on this bill, even if you disagree with it, you can still submit amendments later."

"Mister Speaker, by the honourable member's logic, all bills would pass and there would be a host of amendments submitted upon passage. I counter to say that if you disagree with a bill, there is a helpful tool at your disposal. It is called voting 'Nay.'"

"I don't think the honorable member understands that this is a twenty-page bill. If you don't like five clauses in a twenty-page bill, why on earth would you vote it down instead of amending it later?"

[The Symplegades]

"Mr. Speaker, if we make changes to this bill as soon as possible, and we declared the debate null and struck this proposal from the record, would it be possible to reintroduce it as soon as we can and give it priority in the legislative queue? I believe the honorable member has thre best intentions in introducing this, but it has obviously been somewhat hurried through. Additionally, I forgive the member for any hurriedness in the authorship of this legislation, as I concede our executive branch is a pressing matter with which to deal"

[The Symplegades]

OOC: Also, voting is traditionally in 24 hour increments, as we have players across the globe.

OOC: I agree, but a 2-5 hour grace period would be useful for players who have other major time commitments, such as school, work, lawyering, etc.

[Maklohi Vai]

"Mister Speaker, by the honourable member's logic, all bills would pass and there would be a host of amendments submitted upon passage. I counter to say that if you disagree with a bill, there is a helpful tool at your disposal. It is called voting 'Nay.'"

"I don't think the honorable member understands that this is a twenty-page bill. If you don't like five clauses in a twenty-page bill, why on earth would you vote it down instead of amending it later?"

"Five clauses, ha! The entire construction is flawed, as I said."

[Nariterrr]

"I would like to notify the body of changes in my bill, mainly in ARTICLE XLIX and ARTICLE XI."

[Maklohi Vai]

"Mister Speaker, is it in order to authors to modify their bills while in queue?"

[Tumbra]

"Mister Speaker, is it in order to authors to modify their bills while in queue?"

"The Constitution, under Part III ("The Legislative"), Section III ("Parliamentary Procedures of the Parliament of Elizia"), Article XIII ("The Queue, Debating and Voting), Clause Four, states that:

4. In the event that the author wishes to amend his bill, he must have the consent of the majority of sponsors. All amendments made to a bill must be communicated to the Clerk of the Parliament. In the event that the majority of sponsors disagree with amendments made to the bill, the author may either retract the amendment(s) or return to the Coffee Shop.

"Given that all the Hon. Members' sponsors come from his own party, it would not be unreasonable to assume that they approve of these changes - however, if any four of the Hons. [Belgicaven], [Sardeed], [Skyviola], [Arachaea], [New Werpland] or [Argentarino] wish to object, they may do so here."

[The Symplegades]

"Mr. Speaker, I apologize for my boorishness, but I would very much like to hear your response to my previous inquiry"

[Tumbra]

"Mr. Speaker, I apologize for my boorishness, but I would very much like to hear your response to my previous inquiry"

"It can be changed now, so long as more than half the sponsors agree to the changes, which in the case of this bill, will not be difficult given that all the author's sponsors are from the same party as him. If we declared the debate null, unless there was an extraordinary motion that gained the required amount of seconds, it will be re-introduced at the bottom of the queue."

[The Nihilistic view]

Boris laughs at hearing the new president pretend the nation voted him to the office.

[The Symplegades]

"Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I make an extraordinary motion to declare this debate null and place the Executive Structure second in the queue, to ensure that it can be revised accordingly by its sponsors and Mr. Corbor"

[Argentarino]

"I'll second the motion. I see no problem going back to the drawing board. I thank the Honorable Member for his patience and understanding with my fellow SLP colleague."

[Nariterrr]

"I will second this motion."

[The Nihilistic view]

"Second"

[Tumbra]

"Seeing that there have been three seconds and the author of the Act allowed this, this motion passes. Senator Corbor, do notify the Clerk of Parliament (OOC: drop me a TG/note on IRC/whatever) when your amendments are done and the Clerk will do the required things to restart debate on the Act with a fresh debate time of twenty-four hours."

"We now move back into general debate on the Armenian Genocide Recognition Act, again by Senator Corbor."

Recognize the Armenian Genocide Act
Author: Ahmed Corbor (SLP)
Sponsors: Cornelius Sivousong-VanDerLoon (Labour) | Linanto Aiguo (LD) | Michel Nugati (SLP) | Juwita bin Fajar (LD) | Li Zhang (SLP)

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An Act of the Federal Parliament to reckognize the Armenian Genocide.

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Head of the State, by and with the counsel of the Government, and the authority of the Federal Parliament by virtue of the powers placed upon it by the Law, as follows:

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§1 – In general
I. The Government of Elizia shall recognise the murder of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a Genocide.

EDIT: "I shall invoke the Typographical Errors Correction Act and place a period or full stop at the end of Genocide, as it signifies the end of the Act.

[Nariterrr]

"In the name of the over one million people killed during the Armenian Genocide I strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote AYE on this bill. The denial of history is not only foolish and arrogant but reckless and unprofessional. Let's stand with the Armenian people in their suffering. " Ahmed said.

[Argentarino]

"In the name of the over one million people killed during the Armenian Genocide I strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote AYE on this bill. The denial of history is not only foolish and arrogant but reckless and unprofessional. Let's stand with the Armenian people in their suffering. " Ahmed said.

"Yes, especially in light of our own recent suffering, we should recognize this for what it is."

[The Symplegades]

"I will vote aye on this bill. We must recognize loss, suffering, and tragedy wherever it happens in the world. I will be disappointed if his bill has any nays or lack of support. I want very much to see a unanimous decision to acknowledge the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide"

[Arachaea]

"I support this bill. Denial of such a tragic event is beneath basic human morals. Therefore, I will vote AYE, and encourage my fellow senators to do the same." Thu Tran stated.

[Skyviolia]

"I have nothing but support for this bill, denial of this gruesome act of killing the Armenian should never be denied. Shame on any country who denies history as many will undoubtedly do with our history. I urge all of my colleagues to vote AYE on this matter."