RZ3-Contra - I Like the idea of citizen terpelaziuns, but not for civil servants. Also requiring an MZ to sponsor sort of removes the potential effectiveness.
RZ4-Per (as mentioned above)
RZ5-Per
RZ6-Per
RZ7-Per
RZ8-Per
RZ9-Per
RZ10-Per - Simultaneously excited and hesitant. Does this really need to be in the law? Can't we make a nice wiki page/thread? Also won't this go out of date very quickly? Are we gonna change the law everytime a new song is added? All those reasonable thoughts are somewhat overruled by pride at tmt having become such a major institution in Talossa. Eh, it doesn't do any harm I suppose.
RZ11-Per
RZ12-Per, with congratulations to our Belacostan compatriots.
RZ13-Per

On RZ4 - The Nonpartisan Chancery Act, I vote PER

The main argument is kinda obvious: the referee of our democracy shouldn't also be a player.

I have some additional thoughts based on my own experience as sos. When I became SoS I resigned my party membership including all access to member-only forums/chatgroups. It was occasionally difficult staying out of partisan politics, but I never regretted this decision. Some examples:

- Moderating witt. The SoS is also the main moderator of witt and the one who enforces wittiquette. Thankfully there mostly hasnt been much need for moderating political debate, but there have been times where things got rather heated on witt. Invariably when that happens people on one side believe that their side is making valid arguments whereas the other side is trolling and breaking wittiquette. I remember at one point a citizen sued me for editing their frequent posting of someones non-Talossan name. How do you judge what is acceptable and what is crossing the line or decide which posts are on-topic and which aren't without letting your own biases influence your thinking? That is hard enough even without a partisan affiliation. Clearly being a party member isn't going to help. And if you do intervene, are people gonna respect your decision if they might suspect it is motivated by partisanship (regardless of whether it actually is or not). We need a neutral arbiter for enforcing wittiquette.

- Certification of the election. In my time as SoS more often than Id hoped the electoral commission had to make decisions on the validity of certain votes. This has potentially major political consequences. The electoral commission members are frequently partisans as well, sometimes all three from the same party. Nearly all of the time they try to judge as fairly as possible, but there have been occasions where I suspected a members arguments to be influenced by their politics. There should be absolutely no doubt in the fairness of the election. Even the appearance of the SoS putting their thumb on the scale would be harmful for democracy.

- Seeing ballots. There have been occasions where I had to check a ballot that wasn't public. (Most obviously when someone votes my mail or post and indicates their vote as secret). Before I was SoS I was a pretty savvy political campaigner and I know how useful this kind of information can be. As SoS you have more access than most. This information can absolutely not be used in any way for campaigning later or it would give an unfair advantage.

And there are loads of smaller things I could mention: judging whether a bill is eligible for the clark (remember this discussion?), whether to work to implement government policies, how to deal with various lawsuits (surprisingly often about provincial elections), etc, etc. Many of these decisions have political consequences and the mere appearance of partisan favour can result in discussion.

Yes I know the argument that we have too few people to neatly separate everything. However, I'd argue if any position (perhaps other than King) should be non-partisan, it is the secretary of state. We should be able to do two non-partisan officeholders surely? And it's not like judges who don't get to do much most of the time. The SoS is always busy, and can easily be actively involved without also having to do politics, let alone hold a party office.

Yes I realise this bill doesn't actually ban the SoS from joining a party. Clearly however, being the chair of a party comes with more partisan pressure than simply being a member. (Personally I wouldn't mind having a completely non-partisan sos.)

I also realise there has been a lot of arguing about the motivation behind this bill. I'm don't particularly feel like picking a side there. I am simply judging it on its merit.

I'd advise my colleagues in the senate to do the same.

(I will add my votes on the other bills later, when Ive read all of them more carefully)

Recommendations:

-Adding a section on expected income, as was common practice until the 57th cosa.
-Scrapping or further clarifying the appropriation for "general spending".

Regardless of whether such changes are made, I recommend acceptance. (We need a budget after all)

RZ1 - Per
RZ2 - Per

Sure I support bypassing CRL

Sure I support bypassing CRL

Quote from: GV on July 22, 2024, 10:42:00 AM

Quote from: GV on July 22, 2024, 10:39:24 AM

Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on July 21, 2024, 03:24:35 AMI hereby call for nominations for Mencei for the 60th Cosa

(Sorry, on vacation so internet is spotty)

I nominate myself, then.  :-)

GV, Fiova

System will not let me change this: I nominate ESB - not myself.  - GV, Fiova

ESB is not currently a senator (or even a citizen).

Quote from: þerxh Sant-Enogat on July 14, 2024, 04:42:20 AM

Quote from: Glüc da Dhi S.H. on July 14, 2024, 03:51:27 AMWhat about A8: The Sénéchal Elections Act?

Seems to be relevant only if more than one candidate ?

Not really, as the law also specifically addresses the nomination phase itself, before we even know how many candidates there are.

Anyway, copying from ESB: "pursuant to Standing Rules 2.3, "The Acting Mençei shall allow for nominations to be lodged for a period of at least a week from the beginning of a term. Should a Senator receive nominations from a majority of Senators, the nomination period shall end and the Senator be considered duly elected; otherwise, a ballot shall be held using Instant Runoff Voting. Seniority shall resolve any ties that may occur during any stage of elimination.""

So perhaps we should wait for the senator from M-M to call for nominations.

@Ian Plätschisch

Well as far as I can tell the only senator who is a member of an opposition party would be the senator from Florencia.

_{(That said I don't think such a rule exists. It is a longstanding tradition that the Túischac'h is selected from the opposition benches, which is a nice tradition, but senators are not elected to represent their party but their province, so it doesn't really need to apply here.)}

What about A8: The Sénéchal Elections Act?

23:00 CEST on discord. I'll be there!

How many votes so far?

I haven't paid much attention this election to be honest, but is just me or have all parties other than FreeDems and OpenSociety run a pretty invisible campaign last couple of weeks? Would have been interesting to get a mail from the Progs Coffee or PDR as well I suppose.

Anyway, if you happen to be on witt for the elections, go vote on TMT20 in the chatroom as well!

Remember to vote people!

(On the Talossan Music Top 20 Semifinal I mean. The General Elections are also important I guess.)

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