Law:Conflict Removal (Tuischac'h) Prime Dictate

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Prime Dictate

Status: This law is currently

It amends the following:
El Lexhatx

Issued by: Arms.png HM Government
Seneschal: Lüc da Schir
Date: February 11, 2017

50PD01, Conflict Removal (Tuischac'h) Prime Dictate

WHEREAS potential conflict appears to have been found in the text of a number of bills that were recently enacted following successful passage before the Ziu and the People, namely 48RZ29, 49RZ22 and 49RZ28; and

WHEREAS it is in everyone's best interest to clear our body of laws from any ambiguities and inconsistencies that may arise in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS in particular while this inconsistency exists, I can not proceed to the appointment of a Tuischac'h; so

THEREFORE Section H of El Lexhatx is hereby struck in its entirety and replaced with the following:

1. Future elections shall be followed, when practical, by an official Living Cosă which shall be styled the “State Opening of the Cosa”. At the State Opening, the Prime Minister shall read his Speech to the Nation, and the Leader of the Opposition shall have a chance to rebut. A Living Cosă shall be carried out at the same time, on the Government's first Clark. At the start of the State Opening, the new Prime Minister will be sworn in publicly. The State Opening shall feature food, drink, and as many Talossans as possible will be invited to attend. (49RZ22, 15RC9)
2. The Cosă authorises a question and answer period during Living Cosăs. This will be called “Terpelaziuns” ('enquiries') or, for short, “Terps”, or “Question Time”. During Terpelaziuns, each MC may ask any other MC one question (plus a follow-up), and expect to receive some sort of answer. The Opposition Leader shall put the first question. Questions shall alternate between Government and Opposition members until all MCs on one side or the other have spoken. The remaining MCs may then put questions. Questions will be politely phrased in the third person and directed at the Speaker. Order of Questioners will be determined on an ad hoc basis by the Speaker. (14RC9)
2.1. Any Member of the Cosă (MC) or Senator may at any time between the First and Last Clark of a Cosă Term, table in “The Ziu” board on Witt, or its equivalent, a “c (PQ)” or “Terp” in a new thread or its equivalent. (44RZ1)
2.5. For the purpose of H.2.4, “unavailable” means being unable to access Witt, or its equivalent, for an acceptable and reasonable reason. Having logged into, or visited Witt, or its equivalent, during the seven day period, and having not seen, or ignored the PQ or Terp, shall not constitute being unavailable. (c) This provision shall not apply PQs or Terps, which refer to matters of Security or Defence of His Majesty’s Realm and/or any project(s), correspondence, or activities, in which the Government has deemed, and classified as confidential, or which in its release may damage the Kingdom in any shape or form. Such questions may not be answered by any Minister.
2.6. The Minister must answer the question in the same thread or its equivalent as the original question and the questioner may ask one (1) supplementary question, in which the provisions of H.2 apply, with the seven days starting from the date the supplementary question is asked.
2.7. Failure to answer a question within the given timeframe shall constitute an offence, and a Minister, if found guilty of such a offence, will be subject to a punishment at the discretion of the Courts.
2.8. It shall be a defence to the Minister if the questioner, notwithstanding any other legitimate defences, did not, or failed to: (48RZ36)
2.8.1. correctly title his/her question
2.8.2. ask a clear question. E.g. an ambiguous question, in which the Minister tried to clarify, but failed to do so in the time frame, and did not subsequently answer.
2.8.3. post his/her question in the correct board
2.8.4. engage with the Minister in trying to answer his/her question
2.8.5. direct the question to one named Minister.
3. All MCs must vote for themselves, and not through surrogates. They have innumerable options to communicate their own votes to the Secretary of State or to Undersecretaries of State, including postcards, letters and phone calls. MCs are responsible for casting their own votes with their own assigned seats, and cannot cast votes for other MCs. If an MC will be unavailable to vote for some reason during any particular month, they may inform the Secretary or an Undersecretary that they wish to vote exactly as another, named MC. That will be considered the sole justification for MC surrogate voting. (6RC30, 16RC11)
3.1. A person who is named as a Proxy Vote for another in a Living Cosă is under the moral and legal obligation, whenever possible, to represent the original seat-holder's wishes and intentions on specific Ziu bills and the Vote of Confidence, whenever and however he is instructed, or publicly notified to do so. (24RZ44)
4. The Secretary of State will punish all Members of the Cosă who cast invalid votes in the Vote of Confidence; the punishment being the declaration of said member's votes in the same Clark as null and void. (23RZ39)
5. A difference shall exist (and be spelled out in future bills) between committees (which are set up as standing committees, free to issue reports at any time) and Royal Commissions (or Commissions Royal) which are set up on an ad hoc basis and charged with a specific one-time task such as preparing a dossier or White Paper on a specific problem, and presenting the same to the Cosă. Once a Commission's paper is done, the Commission has fulfilled its duty, and ceases to exist. (8RC35)
6. No bill may be published in a Clark unless it has spent at least ten days in the Hopper as a legislative proposal, except according to H.6.1.
6.1. For the first Clark to be published in a Cosă term, no bill may be published in a Clark unless it has spent at least five days in the Hopper as a legislative proposal.
6.2. The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in “The Hopper.”
6.3. The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from “The Hopper” at the request of the author.
6.4. If a legislative proposal has remained in the “The Hopper” for more than 59 days, the Secretary of State may remove it.
6.5. Bills must be submitted to the Secretary of State more than 24 hours before the publication of the Clark.
6.6. Bills received less than 24 hours before publication of the Clark shall be published in the next Clark or postponed for one Clark, at the Secretary of State's discretion.
7. A legislative proposal should be followed by the words “Uréu q'estadra så” (or “Proposed by”), and the name of the author, and the capacity in which the author is offering the proposal. A legislative proposal may be submitted by multiple sponsors, but the legislator whose name is listed first after the words “Uréu q'estadra så” (or “Proposed by”) is considered the author of the legislative proposal.
7.1. Official non-Ziu titles may also be used when a member of the Ziu submit a bill, if the submitter feels that he is submitting a bill in another capacity than as a Ziu member. Such a title shall be called a “Limousine”, or by its Talossan equivalent. A title of Senator, Distain or Member of the Cosă is a Ziu title, and as such not a Limousine. A person can only be entitled to a Limousine if he is both a member of the Ziu and holds an official title. A Limousine may contain, but is not restricted to: a governor's title, a minister or deputy minister's title, or a title conferred by a national organisation, such as the CÚG, or the Secretary of State's office. This is not a means to allow non-members of the Ziu to post bills using their Limousine, nor does this provision allow any submitter to use unofficial titles or party-specific titles. (32RZ13)
7.2. The use of a Limousine instead of a Ziu title engages that person in that capacity. For example, a bill submitted by a Cosă member as being “Minister of Culture” indicates that the bill is truly submitted in the name of the Minister of Culture.
8. If the Prime Minister, or a member of the Government party, proposes a bill, and with the Prime Minister's permission marks it as a Government Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by “HM Government, represented by”, before the name of the member. If the Opposition Leader, or a member of the Opposition, proposes a bill, and, with the Opposition Leader's or the member's Party Leader's permission, marks it as an Opposition Bill, the Clark will denote this as a bill proposed by “HM Loyal Opposition, represented by”, followed by the member's name. Any other bill will be called a Private Member's Bill, and will be denoted in the Clark the same way they have always been. (25RZ31)
9. Members of Cosa shall be free to represent any constituency within the geographic boundaries of the Kingdom of Talossa including any and all of its territories and overseas colonies. Any Member wishing to represent a constituency shall publicly declare such representation before the conclusion of the first Clark following a General Election. (44RZ25) (48RZ3)
11. The Secretary of State is empowered to refuse to put a certain bill on a Clark if said bill;
11.1. has the SLIGHTEST problem in excess of five (misspellings, inorganicity, etc.); and/or
11.2. is not clearly typed or word-processed; and/or
11.3. is so substantially different from its original form as a legislative proposal that it constitutes a significantly different proposal.
14. No person shall hold more seats in the Cosă than ten times the total number of seats in the Cosă divided by the number of ballots cast for the Cosa in the most recent General Election, rounded up to the next integer.
15. His Majesty, when affixing His Royal Seal to Bills sent to him by the Ziu, may exclaim with all His Royal Royal-ness in the National Language of Our Nation, “El Regeu en volt.” (25RZ17)
16. His Majesty, when acting out His constitutional and traditional duty to protect the Citizens of His Kingdom from poor Government, decides to withhold His Royal Seal from said Bill sent by said Ziu, may exclaim with all His Truth-and-Justice-ness in said National Language of said Kingdom, "El Regeu non en volt."
18. The Senatorial Medal of Honour may be awarded by the Senate for meritorious or honourable service to State or Nation. This award, awarded only and solely by a resolution in the Senate given the Royal Assent, will be the highest honour bestowed by the Talossan legislature. This award has a single class, and recipients may, in official RT affairs, affix the initials “S.H.” (Senatorial Honour) after their name. (25RZ77)
19. The “Medal of Cincinnatus” may be awarded by the King in recognition for acts of extraordinary Talossanicity in the face of opposition. Recipients of this Medal are entitled to follow their names with the honorific “Cin.” (37RZ8)
20. The King shall appoint a Member of the Cosa to serve as Speaker of the Cosa (Talossan: el Túischac'h) for the upcoming term, on the advice of the Seneschal after consultation with the leaders of all parties represented in the Cosa. The Speaker shall preside, direct and maintain order during Living Cosas, in an unbiased fashion. Otherwise, his function will be to advise Members of the Cosa of appropriate decorum. He is considered the honourable President of the Cosâ and shall be awarded all due veneration when serving as such.