Amended as suggested, and simplified the text a bit, as I still found it to be clunky.

Amended as requested.

Edited to reflect feedback.

WHEREAS, the process to elect a Túischac'h is essentially fine, but is worded weirdly; and

WHEREAS, there was a reason why it was worded this way, namely to use the device of the "petition" to let a headless Cosă organise itself and have the Chancery merely proclaim the results; and

WHEREAS, however, this may open the door to all sorts of recourses in case the procedure is not followed to the letter; and

WHEREAS, it may be desirable to reword the procedure to allow a little leeway in the actual way the election is conducted, while keeping the essence of the process unchanged; so

THEREFORE, El Lexhatx H.21, which currently reads:

Quote21. The Cosa shall elect the Túischac'h as follows.
    21.1. At any time between the Election Deadline and the following Dissolution of the Cosa, any Member of the Cosa shall be empowered to publish and open for signatures a petition nominating an eligible person for the office of Túischac'h.
    21.2. Once a petition is published, any eligible Member of the Cosa shall be empowered to second the nomination by countersigning the petition in public.
    21.3. Members may not second multiple nominations concurrently; if a Member wishes to support a different petition, he/she shall first publicly retract the earlier countersignature.
    21.4. Following any number of petitions, presented as above and supporting the same candidate, being signed or counter-signed by members currently representing an absolute majority of seats in the Cosa, the candidate named in the petition(s) shall be declared by the Secretary of State to be the Túischac'h.
    21.5. Petitions may not be carried over from one vacancy in the office of Seneschal to Túischac'h. Once a Túischac'h is elected as above, all petitions shall be made moot.

is amended to read:

Quote21. The Cosă shall elect the Túischac'h as follows.
21.1. Should the position of Túischac'h be vacant and a majority of Cosă seats be filled, any Member of the Cosă may either nominate one eligible person for the office of Túischac'h, or second such a nomination made by another Member of the Cosă.
21.2. Members of the Cosă may not nominate or second multiple different nominees.
21.3. Should the Secretary of State determine that an eligible person has been nominated and seconded by members currently representing an absolute majority of seats in the Cosă, the Secretary of State shall declare the person to be duly elected as Túischac'h, to serve until the Dissolution of the current Cosă.

Ureu q'estadra så,

Sir Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDems)

WHEREAS, the Standing Rules of the Senate have mostly been followed after their main proponent (me) stepped down from the role of chief enforcer; and

WHEREAS, this is good and makes me happy; and

WHEREAS, the Rules Committee has not even assembled since then; and

WHEREAS, it admittedly was my pet project, but pet projects shouldn't stand in the way of efficiency and streamlining, and they should be capable to stand on their own legs;

THEREFORE, El Lexhatx H.18, which currently reads

Quote18. The Senate shall autonomously determine the rules of its proceedings. To this goal, the Mençei shall mantain a body of Standing Rules of the Senate.
    18.1 At the beginning of a new term, and optionally at any subsequent time during a term, the Senate shall consider a motion to estabilish a Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Upon successful passage, any previously estabilished Committee shall disband and a new one be formed; upon failure, a Committee shall not be formed.
        18.1.1 Regardless, any previous iteration of the Committee shall disband at the beginning of a new term of the Senate, as defined by the publication by the Chancery and/or the respective provincial conducting officers of final results for all of the seats up for elections, or the beginning of a First Clark, whichever comes first.
        18.1.2 Upon disbandment, a Committee shall not be allowed to complete debate on any proposal, but shall be empowered to complete any voting that already was in progress by the time the disbandment was effective.
    18.2 The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration shall be formed by three Senators, appointed by the Mençei. The Senate shall be empowered to object to the appointments by passing a motion to suggest an alternate composition; successful passage shall override the Mençei's appointments with the Senate's suggestion.
    18.3 The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration shall be chaired by the Mençei, but unless him- or herself was appointed to the Commitee, the Mençei shall not be considered a member of the Committee.
    18.4 Any member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the Mençei, shall be empowered to submit to the Committee proposals regarding the estabilishment of a new Standing Rule, or the amendment or deletion of any of the preexisting Standing Rules of the Senate. After due debate, the Committee shall vote on the proposal, and the proposal shall be considered to be adopted by majority vote. Unless he/she is a member of the Committee, the Mençei shall only vote to break a tie, in the event that at least one of the three members abstained or did not vote by the end of the allotted voting time.
    18.5 The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration's proceedings shall be public; and the Mençei shall not deny a Senator's request to speak and be heard in front of the Committee. Additionally, any Senator shall place a proposal for the Committee's consideration, and upon endorsement of the proposal by any member of the Committee, or the Mençei, said proposal shall be debated and voted on as described in 21.4.
    18.6 Any proposal that has been adopted by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration shall be referred to the whole Senate for approval. The Senate shall then vote to uphold the proposal by majority vote; upon successful passage, the proposal shall take effect. Should the Senate instead reject the proposal, it shall return to the Committee's consideration for amendments, or be discarded at the original proposer's discretion.
    18.7 No Standing Rule shall infringe on any Organic or Statutory provision, and Standing Rules shall be germane to the Senate's operations.
    18.8 The Senate shall be empowered to waive any Standing Rule for the remainder of the current term by majority vote, without consulting the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
    18.9 At any time a vacancy in the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration arises, the Mençei shall be empowered to appoint another Senator to the empty seat. The Senate shall be empowered to object to the appointment by passing a motion to suggest an alternate Senator; successful passage shall override the Mençei's appointment with the Senate's suggestion.
            18.9.1 Should a Senator resign or be expelled from the Committee, resign, strike out or be expelled from the Senate, the member will still be empowered to cast his or her vote in any Committee votes that are currently open, but not any that are initiated after the notice of resignation or expulsion is published.
            18.9.2 Failure to stand for reelection to the Senate shall not impede a member of the Committee from taking part in any of the Committee's activities prior to disbandment as per 21.1.1 and 21.1.2.
            18.9.3 Failure of a member of the Committee who is standing for reelection to the Senate to win his race, according to any provisional results, shall not impede said member of the Committee from taking part in any of the Committee's activities prior to disbandment as per 21.1.1 and 21.1.2.
    18.10 At any time, due to inactivity, other impediments to normal activity or subsequently to an individual motion of censure, the Senate shall be empowered to remove any of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration's members, through a motion adopted by simple majority.

is repealed in full and replaced by the following:

Quote18. The Senate shall autonomously determine the rules of its proceedings.
    18.1 To this goal, the Mençei shall mantain a body of Standing Rules of the Senate.
    18.2 The Senate may amend the Standing Rules at any time between the first day of a First Clark and the Cosă being dissolved, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.
    18.3 No Standing Rule shall infringe on any Organic or Statutory provision, and Standing Rules shall be germane to the Senate's operations.
    18.4 The Senate may waive any Standing Rule for the remainder of the current term, by a vote of a majority of Senators duly chosen and seated.

Noi urent q'estadra så,

Sir Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDems)
Baron Alexandreu Davinescu (MC-TNC)
Mximo Carbonel (Senator-FL)

WHEREAS, many years ago, a misguided catchment reform bill attempted to put geographic coherence above any other parameter for provincial assignment; and

WHEREAS, this blatantly ignored years of provincial culture-building; and

WHEREAS, this didn't even have the balancing effect I hoped it would have; but

WHEREAS, this caused unnecessary grief to many people now caught in the catchment area of another province, and particularly to the Cjovani people of Benito; and

WHEREAS, Ohio is not Vuodean, it never was, and it's high time we rectified the blatant error besmirching our statute books; so

THEREFORE, Article 7.5 of Title E of El Lexhatx, which reads

Quote7.5. BENITO PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Benito Province: the Wisconsin counties of Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Jefferson, Marathon, Marquette, Portage, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, and Wood. Internationally, Albania, Andorra, Austria, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Vatican City.

is amended by inserting "; and the U.S. state of Ohio" after the word "Wood", to read:

Quote7.5. BENITO PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Benito Province: the Wisconsin counties of Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Jefferson, Marathon, Marquette, Portage, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, and Wood; and the U.S. state of Ohio. Internationally, Albania, Andorra, Austria, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Vatican City.

FURTHERMORE, Article 7.6 of Title E of El Lexhatx, which reads

Quote7.6. VUODE PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Vuode Province: the City of Milwaukee (WI) and all suburbs of Milwaukee, which lie to the north and east of the City of Milwaukee; and the U.S. states of Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; and the Mexican States of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Queretero, and Zacatecas. Internationally, the nations of Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

is amended by removing the word "Ohio, ", to read:

Quote7.6. VUODE PROVINCE. Talossan citizens living in the following areas shall be assigned to Vuode Province: the City of Milwaukee (WI) and all suburbs of Milwaukee, which lie to the north and east of the City of Milwaukee; and the U.S. states of Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; and the Mexican States of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Queretero, and Zacatecas. Internationally, the nations of Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

Ureu q'estadra så,

Sir Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDems)

Azul, I briefly rise - not in my capacity of Túischac'h, but in that of an ordinary member of the Cosă - to offer a brief note on why I abstained on the VoC, unlike the rest of the FreeDem Cosă caucus. First off and to clear any doubt, I should state I am not a member of the Free Democrats; I am an independent who accepted FreeDem seats in agreement with their manifesto.

Among the conditions I offered to the leadership when accepting to serve, I agreed I would follow the whip on confidence, budget and manifesto items (though in general I would always gladly sit in the party room and take part in Clark conversations, even on items not covered by this agreement.) And yet, I am immediately dissenting with my colleagues; this was done under my proposal and in agreement with my friends the Tanaischteă (@Miestră Schivă, UrN) and the Party Secretary (@Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir) for the following reasons:

1. The Free Democrats and I are positively inclined in respect to the recent change of leadership in the Talossan National Congress. We feel the recent agreement on government formation is mutually beneficial and a good omen for the state of affairs in the 59th Cosă. We encourage the Seneschal @Bråneu Excelsio and the leader of the TNC @þerxh Sant-Enogat to keep course in the coming months.

2. One of the possible items that was discussed as part of the governing agreement was that I could be a neutral "ambassador" of sorts between FreeDems and TNC, by sitting in the TNC-led cabinet and the FreeDem Cosă caucus, while not being a member of either party; I would respect Cabinet collective responsibility and provide the votes for the TNC to pass Confidence, while the rest of the FreeDem caucus would vote Non. This did not come to happen, but the dual party line on confidence certainly stayed on my mind as a way to allow both for principled opposition (based on a neutral interpretation of what the Government actually does and achieves) and for recognising that the main opposition party has a right to express, through a Non vote, that it necessarily feels it should lead instead.

3. The Free Democrats and I recognise the unusual political-judicial situation that led the Excelsio Cabinet to only be fully announced over midway through the First Clark; and more importantly, the Free Democrats and I are extremely and painfully aware of the recent, sorrowful events surrounding the Finance Minister's family. We understand that he is a pivotal figure in the workings of the Cabinet and the party, and are naturally willing to allow for further slack in our evaluation of the Government's performance.

Anyway, as I took another look at H, I am reminded that I hate most of it. I'm fixing issues with H.18 and H.21 right now, but:

• H.1 mandates the State Opening when you can't generally force anyone to do anything that's not crucial. The provision on a simultaneous Living Cosa is outdated and impractical.
• H.1.2 mistranslates Seneschal as First Minister and has an outdated version of Talossan spelling.
• H.2 is ancient and simply ignores the modern practice of Terps as a written exchange on Witt. No one calls Terps "PQs" and the acronym is not even defined anywhere. There's so many little things that are wrong or odd in the subparagraphs too, such as H.2.7 putting the Courts in charge of disciplining an unresponsive Minister (why would the Judiciary cross over into Ziu internal matters instead of simply letting the Ziu censure the Minister?)
• H.5 starts with a ridiculous clause, "A difference shall exist (and be spelled out in future bills)", and goes on to state that difference immediately.
• H.6 has all sorts of capitalization issues; H.6.3, that's a hell of a requirement for a discharge petition!
• H.7.1-2 should be rewritten to be clearer, and merged with H.8.
• H.10 has, to the best of my knowledge, never been followed, and is a terrible idea anyway. Besides, why is this here and not as a subsection of C.1.2?
• H.14 has also never been followed unless John is sitting on a massive stash of signed bills.
• H.20, "the Secretary will make known to the press", is a clear nod to when we had Stotanneu. H.20.1 has never been followed and should rather mandate a PD be added to the Anuntzia dels Legeux asap.
• H.22, what the hell is "The Cosa may hold living Cosas during subsequent Clarks [...]"  supposed to mean? There are also a few other wrinkles, such as 22.3, where you basically forbid any debate not germane to the current Clark to take place at a Living Cosă.

I'm down to tackle most or all of these, but it seems like a lot of work and it will take time.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on November 21, 2023, 05:59:58 PM

Quote from: Sir Lüc on November 21, 2023, 05:12:42 PMThe cure would probably be to just restate H.21 and H.22 so they both explicitly occupy those sections, although I would urge anyone interested in tinkering with Title H to instead consider whether it would be better to reorganise the whole title into a more coherent form so that it's harder for this stuff to happen again, and so that it's easier to read.

A personal proposal could be to have H.1.x contain all provisions related to the Ziu as a whole, H.2.x contain all provisions related to the Senate and its officers, H.3.x the Cosă, and H.4.x any miscellaneous stuff.

I beg you to write this legislation yourself. My head hurts just reading all that.

I'd be glad to Hopper a fix and reorganization bill in the coming weeks, on time for inclusion in the Third Clark (when hopefully my two bills amending Title H that are currently slated for the Second Clark will have passed, so I can include their language in the fix.)

The cure would probably be to just restate H.21 and H.22 so they both explicitly occupy those sections, although I would urge anyone interested in tinkering with Title H to instead consider whether it would be better to reorganise the whole title into a more coherent form so that it's harder for this stuff to happen again, and so that it's easier to read.

A personal proposal could be to have H.1.x contain all provisions related to the Ziu as a whole, H.2.x contain all provisions related to the Senate and its officers, H.3.x the Cosă, and H.4.x any miscellaneous stuff.

Basically:

- 56RZ10 meant to move the role of Túischac'h to the OrgLaw;
- People thought Lex.H.17 estabilished the office of Túischac'h, and so it could now be deleted, but it actually contained the Túischac'h election rules;
- Regardless, instead of deleting H.17, 56RZ10 deleted the Living Cosa provisions, then-H.21
- 57PD1 restored the Living Cosa thing, H.21, and deleted the Tuischac'h election rules, H.17, again thinking it estabilished the office of Túischac'h instead
- For some reason, 57PD10 restored the Tuischac'h election rules as H.21, instead of as H.17
- The Living Cosa provisions were renumbered (without specific authorisation) as H.22, where they currently stand

It's a bit of a mess stemming from the fact 57PD10 stated "H.21 of el Lexhatx is added", when H.21 already existed, and didn't say anything about what to do with H.21. Whoever scribed this just renumbered the existing H.21 to H.22.

(Also, 57PD10 is itself a misnumbering, since it was issued during the 58th Cosă)

Approved.

@Baron Alexandreu Davinescu this is truly devastating news. My heart goes out to you and your family. I hope you can have the time and space to process your grief together with your closest ones.

While the Minister overseeing the Scribery is (very sadly) busy with personal matters, I just thought I'd bump this so we could hit the ground running later.

I'm very happy Bentxamì offered to serve, so I'll rephrase my offer: I can either accept an appointment as Scribe for a while, and train him as my deputy with the expectation that he'll take over down the line; or I'm also happy staying on as deputy and tutoring Bentxamì as he immediately gets the main job.

To be clear -- the Government should make up their mind about what exactly they want to happen, since I can't compel anyone to attend, and most of the ceremony is centered around the Seneschal.

I will be happy to conduct the proceedings and to facilitate the scheduling of the event, but I can't do much more. Whether the agenda includes a swearing-in, and/or a Cabinet announcement, and/or a Speech from the Throne, and/or a rebuttal from the Opposition, etc., is not up to me.