Wittenberg

El Ziu/The Ziu => El Funal/The Hopper => El Müstair del Funal/The Hopper Archive => Topic started by: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 12:15:57 AM

Title: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 12:15:57 AM
BE IT ENACTED etc. etc. that the following subsection be added to section H.11 of El Lexhatx:

QuoteThe Ziu may, by a 2/3 majority in each chamber, elect a Clerk of Legislation, to be known as El Xhenistà, who will proofread and suggest revisions to all bills to be Clarked, and may request the Secretary of State to exercise their powers under this sub-section to withdraw any bill from the Clark.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Breneir Tzaracomprada on August 03, 2020, 12:21:16 AM
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 12:15:57 AM
BE IT ENACTED etc. etc. that the following subsection be added to section H.11 of El Lexhatx:

QuoteThe Ziu may, by a 2/3 majority in each chamber, elect a Clerk of Legislation, to be known as El Xhenistà, who will proofread and suggest revisions to all bills to be Clarked, and may request the Secretary of State to exercise their powers under this sub-section to withdraw any bill from the Clark.

This is adorable.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 03, 2020, 12:17:48 PM
It doesn't make a lot of sense to put a 2/3 majority requirement in a law that can be changed by a simple majority.  No Ziu can bind the hands of its successors, as the saying goes.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 02:30:21 PM
Such "single entrenchment" exists in other countries, eg New Zealand's electoral law. It might not stop a determined majority but it's a guideline. This office can't be held by someone who's only respected by one side of the Ziu.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 03, 2020, 02:36:03 PM
Fair enough.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 05:03:36 PM
An alternative might have el Xhenistà chosen by consensus of the Seneschál, Oppo Leader, Túischac'h and Mençéi (or a subset thereof)?
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 03, 2020, 06:10:43 PM
Or they could be a Permanent Secretary under the Avocat-Xheneral, which would require no new legislation as far as I know.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Miestră Schivă, UrN on August 03, 2020, 07:09:49 PM
Quote from: Sir Alexandreu Davinescu on August 03, 2020, 06:10:43 PM
Or they could be a Permanent Secretary under the Avocat-Xheneral, which would require no new legislation as far as I know.

I have no objection to this in principle, except the "technical" one that I think the job should be part of the Ziu rather than the Civil Service; but we'll see what the A-Xh thinks.
Title: Re: Legislative janitor?
Post by: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 03, 2020, 07:22:53 PM
I'll say now what I said when Owen instituted the civil service: the only "pay" we give the people who do work is the fun of making the decisions involved and the novelty of carrying out the tasks.  If you take away the decisions, you're relying on the novelty, and that wears thin for most people pretty quickly (as the ranks of current Permanent Secretaries can attest).  We're not big enough for those jobs to work in most cases, in my opinion.  Finding reliable people willing to do important but a bit tedious work is hard, and those people are usually made SoS.  That's why I insisted that no secretary spot be created until it was affirmatively wanted -- the best concession I could get.  I was never a very good politician, after all.

So whatever you do, I encourage you to choose the option that leaves the smallest footprint.  A Permanent Secretary is probably that choice, since I think you'd reject a simple A-X deputy.