By my judgement, the roll of the Senate of Benito is S:reux da Schir, @Iason Taiwos, @Flip Molinar, @Istefan Perþonest, Tric'hard Carschaleir and @Mic'haglh Autófil, SMC EiP .

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Constitution of Benito, as the first order of business of the Senate of Benito, I move that Senator Autófil do take the chair as Speaker.

Furthermore, in the interest of not double-jobbing between the Assembly and the provincial Senate, I would like to give advance notice of my intention to move that, without objection, once a Speaker has been selected I am excused from the service to this Senate for the remainder of the term.

To all whom this may concern:

Hear ye, the following.



I, Sir Lüc da Schir, by all powers conferred unto me as the sitting Maestro of Benito, and specifically pursuant to article 8 of the Constitution of Benito, do hereby appoint


to a seat in the Senate of Benito, as part of the allocation reserved to the Maestro of Benito, and bestow therefore upon him all rights and privileges of a Provincial Senator of the Senate of Benito until the present Legislative Chancellery is dissolved.



Done today the 27th of March 2024/XLV, from the Benitian Capitol, Riverside Sextieir, Lançacuratx/Garibaldi Canton,

--Sir Lüc da Schir, Maestro of Benito

To all whom this may concern:

Hear ye, the following.



I, Sir Lüc da Schir, by all powers conferred unto me as the sitting Maestro of Benito, and specifically pursuant to article 22 of the Constitution of Benito, do hereby appoint


to the position of Arvitieir Primă of Benito, and consequently dismiss S:reu Istefan Éovart Perþonest S.H. from the same, with heartfelt thanks for his many years of service.



Done today the 27th of March 2024/XLV, from the Benitian Capitol, Riverside Sextieir, Lançacuratx/Garibaldi Canton,

--Sir Lüc da Schir, Maestro of Benito

WHEREAS, pomp and circumstance is generally good insofar as it gives our legislature the trappings of macronational ones;

WHEREAS, said pomp and circumstance should however merely be accessory to our political process, rather than an integral part of it;

WHEREAS, flexibility and scalability should be features of our institutions as much as practical, owing to the generally discontinuous nature of citizens's political engagement;

AND WHEREAS this is also an opportunity to bring the language of our Oath in line with modern Talossan spelling;

THEREFORE, El Lexhatx title H section 1.1 and all subsections thereof, which currently read:

Quote1.1. Following each General Election there shall be an official "State Opening of the Ziu".

    1.1.1. At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party.
    1.1.2. When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend.
    1.1.3. The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.
    1.1.4. The Seneschal shall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms.
    1.1.5. The historic Oath of Office is as follows: "Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!" (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)

are struck in full and replaced with the following:

Quote1.1. Following each General Election, an official State Opening of the Ziu shall take place for the purpose of inaugurating the incoming Ziu and Government.
      1.1.1. The State Opening shall be organized and conducted by the Túischac'h and Mençei, working in coordination and cooperation with each other. They shall jointly set the place and time for the meeting to take place. The meeting may take place in person, using video conferencing tools, or on Wittenberg.
      1.1.2. Should there be a change in the holder of the office of Seneschal between the General Election and the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn in at the beginning of the State Opening.
         1.1.2.1. The Seneschal shall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office before the Ziu. The Oath shall be administered by the King, or a Commissioner delegated by the King.
         1.1.2.2. Should there be a change in the holder of the office of Seneschal after a State Opening has already taken place in the same term, or in such circumstances as to make it impractical to wait for a State Opening to take place, the new Seneschal may publicly deliver a written declaration addressed to the King to affirm their acceptance of the terms of the Oath.
         1.1.2.3. The historic Oath of Office is as follows: "Affirméu solenéămint q'éu, [nómină], rompliarhéu cün fidalità l'óifisch da Sieu Maxhestà sè Seneschal del Regipäts Talossan, es zefençarhéu, àl miglhor da v'avalità, la sigürità del Estat Talossan. Sà viva el Regeu!" (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the security of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)
         1.1.2.4. The Oath of Office may alternatively be administered to the new Seneschal in form of a question, as long as it contains an equivalent wording as the historic Oath. The new Seneschal shall affirm their acceptance of the terms of the Oath by answering positively.
      1.1.3. Other business of the Ziu and Government may take place before a State Opening has taken place, without any impediment or condition. A new Seneschal may perform all duties of their office as soon as they have been appointed.
      1.1.4. During the State Opening, the King - or a Commissioner delegated by the King - shall deliver a speech, written by the Government, outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The speech may be followed by a rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition - or a Member of the Cosă or Senator delegated by the Leader of the Opposition - and by further debate.

Ureu q'estadra så,

Sir Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDem)

WHEREAS, Title H of El Lexhatx presently includes a legislative gray area involving H.21 and H.22, stemming from an accumulation of legislative and scribal errors; and

WHEREAS, the cure for this would be to explicitly re-enact the content of H.21 and H.22 into law; and

WHEREAS, Title H also happens to have a confusing structure, as proven by the very coming into being of the H.21-22 situation; and

WHEREAS, reorganising Title H allows us to strike two birds with one stone; and

WHEREAS, this is also a first step towards "freshening up" Title H by removing outdated and unused provisions, clarifying confusing language and bringing it more in line with current practices; so

THEREFORE the Cosă and Senäts in Ziu assembled hereby strike in full the content of Title H of El Lexhatx, which presently reads:

Quote1. Following each General Election there shall be an official "State Opening of the Ziu". At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party. When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend. The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.

1.2. The Seneschal shall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms. The historic Oath of Office is as follows:
    "Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!"
    (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)

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.
    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.
    2.2. The PQ or Terp may ask one question to a named Member of the Government relating to Public Affairs connected with their Ministry or on matters of administration for which they are officially responsible.
    2.3. There is no limit to the number of PQs or Terps a MC or Senator may submit in any given Clark.
    2.4. Any PQ or Terp that is submitted by a MC or Senator in accordance with the provisions of H.2., must be answered by the named Minister within seven (7) days of the question being tabled. Should the Minister be unavailable to answer the question within the seven (7) days, the question shall be redirected to the Seneschal or his/her appointed Deputy who shall be granted a further seven (7) days to answer the aforementioned question. With the agreement of the questioner, there may be a extension of seven (7) days on top of this period. However, the period from the asking of the question to the answering of the question, shall in no circumstances exceed twenty one (21) days.
    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 a reasonable number of supplementary questions (as determined by the presiding officer), in which the provisions of H.2. apply, with the seven days starting from the date each 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:
        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. Members of the Cosa and Senators shall vote on the Clark and any other business for themselves; but Members of the Cosa that might be unavailable to vote during any particular month may inform the Chancery that they wish to vote exactly as another specific Member of the Cosa. Each House may estabilish their own rules for proxy voting, but solely for the purpose of Living Cosas and the Senate equivalent.
    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.

4. On each Clark, the Vote of Confidence shall read as follows: "Do you wish the current Government to continue in its term of office?"

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.

6. No bill may be published in a Clark unless it has passed the Hopper, as provided in this section.
    6.1. All citizens of Talossa are entitled to participate fully in discussions and debates in the Hopper, within the bounds of law and of the decisions of the administering and presiding authorities of the Hopper. Any citizen may submit a draft of legislation to the Hopper, though these shall not be considered to be "legislative proposals" until sponsored by one or more individuals authorised to submit legislative proposals under Organic Law VII.5.
    6.2 A bill has passed the hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, and is exclusively limited to the following:
        6.2.1 Non-binding proclamations that have no effect other than express the wish of the Cosa, Senate, or Ziu as a whole, in which case the bill must contain the words "Sense of the Cosa", "Sense of the Senate" or "Sense of the Ziu" in its title.
        6.2.2. Proclamations that establish the position of the Ziu on a foreign policy issue.
        6.2.3. Establishment of a committee that has no powers other than advisory powers and whose recommendations must still be approved by the Ziu in order to be binding and making appointments to such a committee.
        6.2.4. Appointments to functions that are already defined in law and for which the Ziu is explicitly allowed to make appointments according to law.
        6.2.5. Any decision which the law explicitly allows the Ziu to make without the bill containing such a decision having to go through committee.
        6.2.6 Removing a regent or consenting to the re-appointment of a regent in accordance with Org.II.5.
        6.2.7 Revoking a Prüm Diktat
        6.2.8 Notices of reprimand in accordance with Org.VIII.5.
        6.2.9. The granting or restoration of citizenship
    6.3. A bill has passed the hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper and at least half of the Senators and 2/3 of Cosă seats express their support in the Hopper for clarking the bill.
    6.4. After a legislative proposal has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, its proposer may request that it "move to committee". No bill may be Clarked without being "moved to committee", except as provided by Lexh.H.6.2. or Lexh.H.6.3.
    6.5. For each Cosă term is created a Comità da Redacziun Legislatïu (in english Legislative Advisory Committee), hereinafter "the CRL", which shall review or revise all legislative items from the Hopper once they have moved to committee; and may recommend acceptance or rejection, or suggest amendments in their best judgment.
        6.5.1 The main, but not exclusive, purpose of the CRL, with the assistance of the Scribery, shall be to evaluate bills from the technical point of view of the quality of the legislation, the correctness of the language, the internal consistency of the document and consistency with existing legislation.
        6.5.2. The CRL shall conduct all its deliberations openly in the Hopper.
        6.5.3. The CRL shall consist of the incumbent Mençéi, Túischac'h, and Avocat-Xheneral.
            6.5.3.1. The Mençéi and the Túischac'h may at any time appoint and dismiss one Senator and one Membreu dal Cosă, respectively, to serve as a member of the CRL in their place.
        6.5.4. The CRL may create further committees to which their functions may be delegated, as concerns any bill or category of bills. Such a committee must have at least 3 members, including at least 1 Membreu dal Cosă and 1 Senator.
    6.6. After the CRL has given its recommendation, or if it gives no recommendation within 30 days of the bill having passed to committee, the bill has passed the hopper and the sponsor of the bill may ask for it to be Clarked, with or without amendments.
        6.6.1 The same bill can not be submitted to the Clark more than once in the same Cosa, unless the original bill was vetoed, the original bill had been retired or voted down by its main sponsor during the voting period, or the bill has been substantially amended, as judged by the Secretary of State.
        6.6.2. Bills must be submitted to the Secretary of State more than 24 hours before the publication of the Clark. 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.
    6.7. The Secretary of State is empowered to refuse to put a certain bill on a Clark if said bill;
        6.7.1. appears to him to be obviously on its face inorganic, or to have such grave errors as would make it ineffective and/or require further legislation or a Prüm Diktat to make it effective.
        6.7.2. does not specify exactly the Law(s) or Article(s) which it seeks to amend, change, or repeal, if the bill seeks to amend, change, or repeal any Article of the Organic Law or any Law
        6.7.3. is not clearly typed or word-processed; and/or
        6.7.4. is so substantially different from its form as a legislative proposal when "passed to committee" that it constitutes a significantly different proposal.
        6.7.5. has not passed the hopper or is deemed by the sponsor to have passed the hopper in accordance with Lexh.H.6.2. but is in the judgement of the Secretary of State not limited exclusively limited to the items listed in Lexh.H.6.2.
        6.7.6. Any such decision shall be subject to judicial review.
    6.8. All bills submitted for the Clark shall be in one of the national languages.
    6.9. The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from "The Hopper" at the request of the author.
        6.9.1 If a legislative proposal has remained in the "The Hopper" for more than 59 days, it shall be considered to have been removed, though any person entitled to do so may subsequently re-publish it.
    6.10. Notwithstanding the rules about a bill's eligibility to be Clarked, if no bill was submitted to the Clark at the moment of publication, the Secretary of State shall be allowed to add to the Clark a simple bill asking for Quorum where Cosa Members and Senators can vote to confirm their presence for the Clark.
    6.11. The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in "The Hopper."

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.
    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 Seneschal, or a member of the Government party, proposes a bill, and with the Seneschal'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.

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.

10. Except in cases where the current Secretary of State is no longer able or eligible to perform his duties, any nominations of a new secretary of state must take effect on the day of the normal publication of a Clark. If the normally scheduled Clark is not published by the previous Secretary of State on the appropriate day, the new Secretary of State can still start his duties, starting with the publication of the Clark.

11. 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.

12. 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."

13. 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."

14. The King shall sign a physical printed copy of bills at the time they pass into law, and collect these bills for posterity.

15.

16.

17.

18. 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.

19. Members of the Cosâ who (in a given session of the Cosa) have voted NON on the most recent Vote of Confidence, or intend to do so on the next Vote of Confidence, shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short "El Contrapharti / The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote, the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party with the most Cosa seats assigned to MCs who voted NON on the last Vote of Confidence.

20. After the close of Ziu business, the Secretary will make known to the press as soon as possible the results of the votes.
    20.1 PDs shall be published at the earliest possible opportunity in the next Clark.

21. 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.

22. The Cosa may hold living Cosas during subsequent Clarks by a vote of the Cosa naming the specific month in which the event is to take place. The exact date and location of the Living Cosâ shall be set by the Seneschal after consultation with all relevant parties. All members must receive two weeks notice of the date of the Living Cosâ. The Seneschal may, if events warrant, issue a PD authorizing a Living Cosâ in the following calendar month. Such a PD may be vetoed (in addition to normal means) by a formal protest to the Secretary of State by Members of the Cosâ comprising one-third or greater the number of elected seats in the Cosâ.
    22.1 Members who cannot attend will not be denied the right to vote on that month's Clark. They may send their votes to the Secretary of State by any means feasible, so that they can be announced at the Living Cosâ. A member may, in writing, delegate his authority to vote (temporarily transfer his seats) to another person who can attend the Living Cosâ, but no individual may hold more than thirty seats, counting both proxy and permanently assigned seats, for purposes of the Living Cosâ. The Ziu may provide by law, without needing to go through committee, for quorum requirements, and for attendance via telephone, videoconference, or other remote means.
    22.2 Votes presented to the Secretary of State after the Living Cosâ will not be counted in the final tally. The final tally of votes on all bills is taken at the end of the Living Cosâ.
    22.3 New bills, or amendments, may not be presented at the Living Cosâ. No bill not published in the Clark may be debated. Clarks will be published on schedule as usual.
    22.4 Senators shall be permitted to participate in Living Cosâ debates on the same terms as MCs, but may not delegate or exercise proxy votes.

And replace it with the following:

Quote1.   Provisions concerning the Ziu at-large
   1.1.   Following each General Election there shall be an official "State Opening of the Ziu".
      1.1.1.   At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party.
      1.1.2.   When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend.
      1.1.3.   The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.
      1.1.4.   The Seneschal shall be sworn in by reciting the historic Oath of Office in the Talossan language, if possible in the presence of a copy of the historic book, The Loom of Language. He shall raise his right hand and take the Oath verbally in the presence of the King or a member of the Uppermost Cort, either in person or over the phone. In place of reciting the entire Oath he may simply affirm by the word 'üc' his intention to abide by its terms.
      1.1.5.   The historic Oath of Office is as follows: "Eu afirm, solenâmînt, që eu, [nôminâ], cün fidálità, rompliarhéu l'ôifisch da Sieu Maxhestà së Seneschál del Regipäts Talossán, és zefençarhéu, àl miglhôr da v'aválità, la sigürità del Estat Talossán. Så viva el Regeu!" (Translation: I do solemnly affirm that I, [name], will faithfully execute the office of His Majesty's First Minister of the Kingdom of Talossa, and will to the best of my ability defend the integrity of the Talossan State. Long live the King!)
   1.2.   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.
      1.2.1.   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.
      1.2.2.   The PQ or Terp may ask one question to a named Member of the Government relating to Public Affairs connected with their Ministry or on matters of administration for which they are officially responsible.
      1.2.3.   There is no limit to the number of PQs or Terps a MC or Senator may submit in any given Clark.
      1.2.4.   Any PQ or Terp that is submitted by a MC or Senator in accordance with the provisions of H.1.2., must be answered by the named Minister within seven (7) days of the question being tabled. Should the Minister be unavailable to answer the question within the seven (7) days, the question shall be redirected to the Seneschal or his/her appointed Deputy who shall be granted a further seven (7) days to answer the aforementioned question. With the agreement of the questioner, there may be a extension of seven (7) days on top of this period. However, the period from the asking of the question to the answering of the question, shall in no circumstances exceed twenty one (21) days.
      1.2.5.   For the purpose of H.1.2.4., "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.
      1.2.6.   The Minister must answer the question in the same thread or its equivalent as the original question and the questioner may ask a reasonable number of supplementary questions (as determined by the presiding officer), in which the provisions of H.1.2. apply, with the seven days starting from the date each supplementary question is asked.
      1.2.7.   Failure to answer a question within the given timeframe shall constitute an offence, and a Minister, if found guilty of such an offence, will be subject to a punishment at the discretion of the Courts.
      1.2.8.   It shall be a defence to the Minister if the questioner, notwithstanding any other legitimate defences, did not, or failed to:
         1.2.8.1.   correctly title his/her question
         1.2.8.2.   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.
         1.2.8.3.   post his/her question in the correct board
         1.2.8.4.   engage with the Minister in trying to answer his/her question
         1.2.8.5.   direct the question to one named Minister.
   1.3.   Members of the Cosa and Senators shall vote on the Clark and any other business for themselves; but Members of the Cosa that might be unavailable to vote during any particular month may inform the Chancery that they wish to vote exactly as another specific Member of the Cosa. Each House may establish their own rules for proxy voting, but solely for the purpose of Living Cosas and the Senate equivalent.
      1.3.1.   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.
   1.4.   On each Clark, the Vote of Confidence shall read as follows: "Do you wish the current Government to continue in its term of office?"
   1.5.   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.
   1.6.   Except in cases where the current Secretary of State is no longer able or eligible to perform his duties, any nominations of a new secretary of state must take effect on the day of the normal publication of a Clark. If the normally scheduled Clark is not published by the previous Secretary of State on the appropriate day, the new Secretary of State can still start his duties, starting with the publication of the Clark.

2.   Provisions concerning legislation
   2.1.   No bill may be published in a Clark unless it has passed the Hopper, as provided in this section.
      2.1.1.   All citizens of Talossa are entitled to participate fully in discussions and debates in the Hopper, within the bounds of law and of the decisions of the administering and presiding authorities of the Hopper. Any citizen may submit a draft of legislation to the Hopper, though these shall not be considered to be "legislative proposals" until sponsored by one or more individuals authorised to submit legislative proposals under Organic Law VII.5.
      2.1.2.   A bill has passed the Hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, and is exclusively limited to the following:
         2.1.2.1.   Non-binding proclamations that have no effect other than express the wish of the Cosa, Senate, or Ziu as a whole, in which case the bill must contain the words "Sense of the Cosa", "Sense of the Senate" or "Sense of the Ziu" in its title.
         2.1.2.2.   Proclamations that establish the position of the Ziu on a foreign policy issue.
         2.1.2.3.   Establishment of a committee that has no powers other than advisory powers and whose recommendations must still be approved by the Ziu in order to be binding and making appointments to such a committee.
         2.1.2.4.   Appointments to functions that are already defined in law and for which the Ziu is explicitly allowed to make appointments according to law.
         2.1.2.5.   Any decision which the law explicitly allows the Ziu to make without the bill containing such a decision having to go through committee.
         2.1.2.6.   Removing a regent or consenting to the re-appointment of a regent in accordance with Org.II.5.
         2.1.2.7.   Revoking a Prüm Diktat.
         2.1.2.8.   Notices of reprimand in accordance with Org.VIII.5.
         2.1.2.9.   The granting or restoration of citizenship
      2.1.3.   A bill has passed the Hopper if it has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper and at least half of the Senators and 2/3 of Cosă seats express their support in the Hopper for clarking the bill.
      2.1.4.   After a legislative proposal has spent at least 10 days in the Hopper, its proposer may request that it "move to committee". No bill may be Clarked without being "moved to committee", except as provided by Lexh.H.2.1.2. or Lexh.H.2.1.3.
      2.1.5.   For each Cosă term is created a Comità da Redacziun Legislatïu (in english Legislative Advisory Committee), hereinafter "the CRL", which shall review or revise all legislative items from the Hopper once they have moved to committee; and may recommend acceptance or rejection , or suggest amendments in their best judgment.
         2.1.5.1.   The main, but not exclusive, purpose of the CRL, with the assistance of the Scribery, shall be to evaluate bills from the technical point of view of the quality of the legislation, the correctness of the language, the internal consistency of the document and consistency with existing legislation.
         2.1.5.2.   The CRL shall conduct all its deliberations openly in the Hopper.
         2.1.5.3.   The CRL shall consist of the incumbent Mençéi, Túischac'h, and Avocat-Xheneral.
            2.1.5.3.1.   The Mençéi and the Túischac'h may at any time appoint and dismiss one Senator and one Membreu dal Cosă, respectively, to serve as a member of the CRL in their place.
         2.1.5.4.   The CRL may create further committees to which their functions may be delegated, as concerns any bill or category of bills. Such a committee must have at least 3 members, including at least 1 Membreu dal Cosă and 1 Senator.
      2.1.6.   After the CRL has given its recommendation, or if it gives no recommendation within 30 days of the bill having passed to committee, the bill has passed the Hopper and the sponsor of the bill may ask for it to be Clarked, with or without amendments.
         2.1.6.1.   The same bill can not be submitted to the Clark more than once in the same Cosa, unless the original bill was vetoed, the original bill had been retired or voted down by its main sponsor during the voting period, or the bill has been substantially amended, as judged by the Secretary of State.
         2.1.6.2.   Bills must be submitted to the Secretary of State more than 24 hours before the publication of the Clark. 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.
      2.1.7.   The Secretary of State is empowered to refuse to put a certain bill on a Clark if said bill:
         2.1.7.1.   appears to him to be obviously on its face inorganic, or to have such grave errors as would make it ineffective and/or require further legislation or a Prüm Diktat to make it effective;
         2.1.7.2.   does not specify exactly the Law(s) or Article(s) which it seeks to amend, change, or repeal, if the bill seeks to amend, change, or repeal any Article of the Organic Law or any Law;
         2.1.7.3.   is not clearly typed or word-processed; and/or
         2.1.7.4.   is so substantially different from its form as a legislative proposal when "passed to committee" that it constitutes a significantly different proposal;
         2.1.7.5.   has not passed the Hopper or is deemed by the sponsor to have passed the Hopper in accordance with Lexh.H.2.1.2. but is in the judgement of the Secretary of State not exclusively limited to the items listed in Lexh.H.2.1.2.
         2.1.7.6.   Any such decision shall be subject to judicial review.
      2.1.8.   All bills submitted for the Clark shall be in one of the national languages.
      2.1.9.   The Secretary of State shall remove legislative proposals from the Hopper at the request of the author.
         2.1.9.1.   If a legislative proposal has remained in the Hopper for more than 59 days, it shall be considered to have been removed, though any person entitled to do so may subsequently re-publish it.
      2.1.10.   Notwithstanding the rules about a bill's eligibility to be Clarked, if no bill was submitted to the Clark at the moment of publication, the Secretary of State shall be allowed to add to the Clark a simple bill asking for Quorum where Cosa Members and Senators can vote to confirm their presence for the Clark .
      2.1.11.   The Secretary of State is under no obligation to create a permanent record of legislative proposals in "The Hopper."
   2.2.   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.
      2.2.1.   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.
      2.2.2.   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.
   2.3.   If the Seneschal, or a member of the Government party, proposes a bill, and with the Seneschal'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.
   2.4.   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."
   2.5.   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."
   2.6.   The King shall sign a physical printed copy of bills at the time they pass into law, and collect these bills for posterity.
   2.7.   After the close of Ziu business, the Secretary will make known to the press as soon as possible the results of the votes.
      2.7.1.   PDs shall be published at the earliest possible opportunity in the next Clark.

3.   Provisions concerning the Senäts
   3.1.   The Senate shall autonomously determine the rules of its proceedings.
      3.1.1.   To this goal, the Mençei shall maintain a body of Standing Rules of the Senate.
      3.1.2.   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.
      3.1.3.   No Standing Rule shall infringe on any Organic or Statutory provision, and Standing Rules shall be germane to the Senate's operations.
      3.1.4.   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.

4.   Provisions concerning the Cosă
   4.1.   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.
   4.2.   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.
   4.3.   Members of the Cosâ who (in a given session of the Cosa) have voted NON on the most recent Vote of Confidence, or intend to do so on the next Vote of Confidence, shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short "El Contrapharti / The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote , the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party with the most Cosa seats assigned to MCs who voted NON on the last Vote of Confidence.
   4.4.   The Cosă shall elect the Túischac'h as follows.
      4.4.1.   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.
      4.4.2.   Members of the Cosă may not nominate or second multiple different nominees.
      4.4.3.   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.
   4.5.   The Cosa may hold living Cosas during subsequent Clarks by a vote of the Cosa naming the specific month in which the event is to take place. The exact date and location of the Living Cosâ shall be set by the Seneschal after consultation with all relevant parties. All members must receive two weeks notice of the date of the Living Cosâ. The Seneschal may, if events warrant, issue a PD authorizing a Living Cosâ in the following calendar month. Such a PD may be vetoed (in addition to normal means) by a formal protest to the Secretary of State by Members of the Cosâ comprising one-third or greater the number of elected seats in the Cosâ.
      4.5.1.   Members who cannot attend will not be denied the right to vote on that month's Clark. They may send their votes to the Secretary of State by any means feasible, so that they can be announced at the Living Cosâ. A member may, in writing, delegate his authority to vote (temporarily transfer his seats) to another person who can attend the Living Cosâ, but no individual may hold more than thirty seats, counting both proxy and permanently assigned seats, for purposes of the Living Cosâ. The Ziu may provide by law, without needing to go through committee, for quorum requirements, and for attendance via telephone, videoconference, or other remote means.
      4.5.2.   Votes presented to the Secretary of State after the Living Cosâ will not be counted in the final tally. The final tally of votes on all bills is taken at the end of the Living Cosâ.
      4.5.3.   New bills, or amendments, may not be presented at the Living Cosâ. No bill not published in the Clark may be debated. Clarks will be published on schedule as usual.
      4.5.4.   Senators shall be permitted to participate in Living Cosâ debates on the same terms as MCs, but may not delegate or exercise proxy votes.

Ureu q'estadra så

Lüc da Schir (MC-IND/FreeDems)

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.

Consensus-based state of affairs for Hopper-CRL operation

• Bill gets Hoppered
• MZs debate on merits and content
• Proponent ("main sponsor") may request moving to committee after ten days
• CRL member manually moves thread to committee (prepend [CRL])
• CRL members review on form
• Bills may be Clarked, possibly as amended, once 2 CRL members approve / 30 days pass
• If the bill passes, CRL member/SOS manually archives thread to the Hopper Archive (prepend [PASSED])
• If the bill is rejected, CRL member/SOS manually moves thread back to the Hopper due to the provisions of H.2.1.6.1.*

*: This is effectively a gray area, but if the bill cannot be resubmitted unamended, then it's much better for it to be returned to the Hopper where debate on substance can happen. I'm open to other suggestions though, but I will probably seek to legislate to clear up the whole of H.2.1 anyway.


Original proposal follows

---

Attn other members of the CRL, @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu and @GV , SoS @Sir Txec dal Nordselvă, UrB , and all other members of the Ziu: following the recent change in how the Hopper functions, with threads moving to the archive so that the Hopper itself only comprises bills under active consideration, I propose that we also move bills to the CRL board once they move to committee, so that there's no need to copypaste the bill's body, no need to have threads with duplicate titles or [CRL] brackets, and so to further improve bill tracking.

In practice, this could happen by simply having the main sponsor request a bill be moved to committee by tagging any CRL member(s) in a comment under the bill thread itself; the latter would then move the bill to this subboard.

Thoughts? Opinions? Disagreements?

Azul, as outlined in my Maestro platform, I am committed to changing the name of this province during the current term.

I am open to suggestions regarding what process we follow, though my tentative outline would be to:

- Have a public consultation on this forum to come up with potential new names;
- Decide on a candidate name by some kind of process of elimination, if needed;
- Introduce and pass legislation at the provincial level amending the Constitution;
- Introduce and pass legislation at the national level amending El Lexhatx.

Either way, a good way to start would be to begin with that consultation.

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)

Pursuant to Lex.H.1, I am required to begin preparations for a State Opening of the Ziu. Unfortunately, parts of the agenda are a little moot, as I imagine the Seneschal will want to name a Cabinet in short order instead of waiting around for a State Opening. The Seneschal himself has also already been officially appointed, though he could still be sworn in as a formality.

However, unlike the previous term, this time we have the option of taking advantage of the H.1 provision combining a State Opening and a Living Cosă: we'd have the King swear in the Seneschal, the Seneschal outlining his programme, the Opposition rebutting, and debate and voting taking place on the First Clark.

Thoughts? Opinions?

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)

To the Secretary of State, @Sir Txec dal Nordselvă, UrB , to the Acting Lord President of the Senate, @GV , and to all whom this may concern:

Hear ye, the following.



I, Sir Lüc da Schir, by all powers conferred unto me as the sitting Maestro of Benito, and specifically pursuant to article III, section 7 of the Organic Law, do hereby appoint


to the Senatorial vacancy created by the resignation and renounciation of S:reu Eiric S. Börnatfiglheu.

May I be the first to congratulate Senator Taiwos in his capacity as the new Senator for our beloved province.



Done today the 29th of October 2023/XLIV, from the Benitian Capitol, Riverside Sextieir, Lançacuratx/Garibaldi Canton,

--Sir Lüc da Schir, Maestro of Benito

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)

Azul, since as previously announced we're running on a tight schedule, I will go on and open nominations for Maestro of Benito for the 59th Cosă.

The Maestro is elected by majority vote of the Assembly; as of now, a majority of Assembly seats have been assigned, and therefore a quorum is present. (Despite the tight time constraints, I still wish to wait a further week or so for any additional seat assignments to happen before moving to a vote.)

Hello, I'd like to publicly share the advice I provided to the SoS as outgoing member of the CRL. Basically -- even though none of the three positions on the Committee have been refreshed since the elections, the CRL always has an operating quorum, since:

- The position of A-X is always filled, even if by a caretaker government, and even if it wasn't, the Seneschal by default performs the duties of vacant ministries, by Lex.D.1.3;

- The Senate is never dissolved, and as such, there always is a Mençei - and even when there is no Mençei, such as right now, the longest tenured senator steps in as Acting Mençei;

- The Túischac'h is the only position that is unambiguously vacant between each Dissolution of the Cosă and the subsequent election of a new Túischac'h. There is no provision for an Acting Túischac'h either.

As such, my opinion and advice is that in no way is the ability of bills to be presented in the First Clark impeded by the current situation. @GV and @Baron Alexandreu Davinescu are the current members of the CRL, until either or both are replaced by a new Mençei and/or A-X, and until they are joined by a new Túischac'h. Bills will need both to assent in order to be included in the First Clark.

(And now I'll step down and get out of the committee room, since I'm no longer a member.)

Guess I'll do the thing myself. The following parties received votes for the Assembly (five PRESENT ballots were also returned):

FreeDems: 4
TNC: 2
NPW: 1
PdR: 1

As such, the apportionment is as follows. The Hare quota being 8/11, the following situation occurs:

Party	Votes/Quota	Whole seats	Remainder
FreeDems	5.5	5	0.5
TNC	2.75	2	0.75
PdR	1.375	1	0.375
NPW	1.375	1	0.375

As 9 whole seats were assigned, two more seats are assigned to the two parties with the largest remainders, which are the TNC and FreeDems.

The final allocation is therefore:

FreeDems: 6
TNC: 3
NPW: 1
PdR: 1

Azul, this is not technically my job, but in my capacity the previous incumbent I have been invited by the Secretary of State to open nominations for the post of Túischac'h for the duration of the 59th Cosă.

As a reminder, verbatim from Lexh.H.21:

Quote21.1. 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.