WHEREAS, eight provinces is at least three too many; and

WHEREAS, arranging provincial mergers in both a top-down and bottom-up fashion has proven difficult in the past; and

WHEREAS, coordinating things in a "middle-out" fashion covers the weaknesses of the unidirectional approaches; then

BE IT RESOLVED, that the following be enacted:

(1): The creation of a "Royal Commission on Provincial Realignment" for no more than twelve months following passage of this bill. This duration may be extended prior to its expiration by future acts of the Ziu.

(2): This commission shall be composed of one member appointed by the Tuischac'h, one member appointed by the Mencei, one member by the Seneschal, one member by the Secretary of State, and one member by the King. The same may appoint replacement commission members should incumbent appointees fail to participate in commission business on a reasonable timeline, or should they engage in gross misconduct.

(3): The commission shall be tasked with determining sensible recommendations for provincial mergers, taking into account factors including but not limited to reasonable geographic shapes, provincial populations (both active and total), local sentiment, provincial history, and preferred provincial constitutional structures.

(4): The commission may not take into account concerns of a partisan political nature, including but not limited to likely voting trends for Senators.

(5): The commission may not recommend solutions involving mergers of governments between provinces that remain otherwise separate, as such solutions would violate Org.IX.1.

(6): The commission may choose to bring tentative recommendations before the provinces to gauge the likelihood of success if multiple courses of action are deemed feasible, and to negotiate a best course of action.

(7): It is the sense of the Ziu that four or five provinces is a more manageable situation, and suggests that the commission attempt to arrive at such a result.

(8): It is the wish of the Ziu that individual provinces and future sessions of the Ziu give due consideration to the recommendations made by the commission.

Uréu q'estadra så:
Mic'haglh Autófil MC

WHEREAS, Cosa seats are held by their respective MCs, and not the parties to which they are assigned; and

WHEREAS, MCs maintain affiliation with political parties out of a sense of common goals and a desire to work together to achieve them; and

WHEREAS, these goals and the bonds they form do not always stand the test of time; and

WHEREAS, the right of MCs as Talossan citizens and free-thinking legislators ought to be balanced with respect to the voters by whom they are elected to office; then

BE IT RESOLVED, that the following amendments to El Lexhatx are effected:

(1): Title B, Section 8.4 is created to read:

QuoteIf during a Cosa term a Member of the Cosa wishes to disaffiliate from their current party in order to affiliate with a new or pre-existing party, or no party at all, they may communicate this intent to the Secretary of State, subject to the following conditions:
    8.4.1. No Member of the Cosa may disaffiliate from any party more than once between a general election and the next dissolution of the Cosa.
    8.4.2. MCs must resign half of their assigned party seats to disaffiliate, rounded down to the nearest whole seat.
    8.4.3. In accordance with Article IV, Section 3 of the Organic Law, party seats that are resigned to disaffiliate are returned to the original party to which they were assigned based on the results of the most recent general election. Likewise, should any MC affiliate with a different party following their disaffiliation from their original party, the remainder of their seats will also return to the original party should that MC vacate those seats for any reason.
    8.4.4. Requirements for disaffiliation as described in this section do not apply to MCs whose party undergoes a merger as described in Section 8.2 above.

(2): Title B, Section 8.5 is created to read:

QuoteAny new political parties that are formed by MCs in accordance with Section 8.4 above are entitled to petition the Chancery for registration as an official party, subject to the same communication requirements as any other party described in Section 7 above.

Uréu q'estadra så:
Mic'haglh Autófil MC
Breneir Tzaracomprada MC

WHEREAS, public pressure has been mounting for a transition to a unicameral Cosă; and

WHEREAS, it is desirable to retain a measure of representation for the citizens of each Province that is directly accountable to them; and

WHEREAS, this representation must be balanced with the need for proportional representation to provide for a legislature that reflects the will of the people; and

WHEREAS, mixed-member proportional representation is an electoral method suited for such a balance; then

BE IT RESOLVED, that the following Amendments to the Organic Law are made:

(1): Article IV, Section 2 is replaced in its entirety with the following:

Quote1. The total number of seats shall be 200, or another number which may be set by law, with the provisos that any such change will not take effect until the next election following the passage of a calendar year; and that this number may never be less than three times the number of provinces minus one.
2. At each General Election, each province shall be apportioned a number of seats in the Cosă, hereinafter referred to as "provincial seats". Each province shall be apportioned an equal number of whole seats. No province shall be apportioned less than 3% of the total number of seats in the Cosă, nor shall any province be apportioned less than one seat. No province shall be apportioned more than 15% of the total number of seats in the Cosă. Within these limits, provinces shall each be apportioned the maximum number of seats such that the total number of provincial seats does not exceed one half of the total number of seats in the Cosă.
3. The remainder of seats shall be apportioned between political parties, hereinafter referred to as "party seats". Each party shall receive party seats such that its total number of party seats and provincial seats held by provincial MCs affiliated with that party, taken as a share of the total number of Cosă seats, is as equal as possible to its share of the popular vote. Each party shall receive a whole number of seats, and in turn, each party shall assign these seats to individuals, in accordance with law. The Secretary of State shall employ whatever mathematical formulae and calculations in the apportionment of seats as are set by law, or, in the absence of such law, as will best reflect the intentions of this Organic Law. The Uppermost Cort shall be the final judge in case of mathematical disputes.
4. Only registered political parties may obtain party seats. Parties which win votes but are not registered may not assume their seats in the Cosă until they register. The process to register a party shall be defined by law. The Secretary of State may request from all parties a registration fee, to be set by law, to cover the cost of the election. This fee shall be uniform for all parties.

(2): Article IV, Section 3 is replaced in its entirety with the following:

Quote1. In the case of vacant party seats occurring between elections, the Secretary of State shall inform the King and the leader of whatever party held the vacant seat. The King shall appoint a replacement to each vacancy. If the seat belonged to a party with a functioning party leader, the King must appoint as a replacement whichever person shall be so designated by that party's leader. If there is no functioning party leader, or if the party leader refuses to designate a replacement, the King shall appoint the replacement according to his own best judgment.
2. In the case of vacant provincial seats occurring between elections, the executive of the province in question shall appoint a Member of the Cosă to serve the remainder of the term. If the provincial executive fails to appoint a Member within a fortnight of the vacancy, the King or his Cunstavál shall appoint the Member.

(3): Article IV, Section 5, which currently reads:

QuoteEach person holding one or more seats is a representative known as a "Member of the Cosa" (MC). MCs may not be removed from office except by a two-thirds vote by the Cosa and approval by the King. An MC vacates his seats if he fails to vote on two consecutive Clarks, or if he resigns from office or dies. The seats of any MC who is removed or vacates shall be reassigned according to Section 4, above.

shall be amended to read:

QuoteEach person holding one or more seats is a representative known as a "Member of the Cosă" (MC). MCs may not be removed from office except by a two-thirds vote by the Cosă and approval by the King. An MC vacates his seats if he fails to vote on two consecutive Clarks, or if he resigns from office or dies. The seats of any MC who is removed or vacates shall be reassigned according to Section 3, above.

(4): Article IV, Section 11, which is currently blank, is replaced with the following:

QuoteShould the Senäts ever cease to exist for any reason, including but not limited to abolition, all incumbent Senators shall be awarded their province's provincial seats for the remainder of what would have been their current Senatorial term of office, subject to the same conditions for removal as any other MC as in Section 5 above.

(5): Article IV, Section 13 is created to read:

QuoteProvincial MCs will not be eligible for award of any party seats during a Cosă term unless they appear on a registered party list for the most recent General Election.

Uréu q'estadra så:
Mic'haglh Autófil MC

WHEREAS the structure of the Sovereign Province's government has proven increasingly unwieldy as time has progressed, and

WHEREAS streamlining these structures is advisable to ensure the principles of good and responsible government are upheld for the people of Belacostă, then

BE IT RESOLVED that the following document be adopted as the Constitution of Belacostă, rendering all previous provincial constitutions null and void, pending the result of a referendum and promulgation by the King or Cunstaval in accordance with Article IX, Section 4 of the Organic Law.

Quote

La Constituziun dal Provinçù Liveradă es Soveran da Belacostă

The Constitution of the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă

Article I: The State
Sec. 1. The Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă is an autonomous and self-governing member of the federal Talossan nation.

Sec. 2. The full style of the state is "la Provinçù Liveradă es Soveran da Belacostă", or in English, "the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă". In either language, the short style of the state is simply "Belacostă".

Sec. 3. The sacred and irremovable territory of the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă shall consist of the cantons of Mazzini and Garibaldi, with the capital of the Province at Mazzini.

Sec. 4. The sole historic and national language of the entire Talossan people, and therefore of the  Province, is the Talossan language (el glheþ Talossan). The Belacostăn government shall also recognize English as a secondary working language, and may adopt tertiary working languages by law.

Article II: The Provincial Assembly
Sec. 1. The legislative power of the Province shall be invested in l'Aßemblatx Provincial, the Provincial Assembly. The Provincial Assembly is composed of all citizens of the Province who each claim a single seat at the beginning of a new session, and is considered the Province's supreme political authority. Each citizen may not hold more than one seat in the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 2. The Provincial Assembly shall have power to pass any bill into law by a simple majority vote; a bill shall be introduced upon recommendation of at least two Provincial Consuls, and if the Assembly vote is successful, automatically becomes law. Votes on bills shall last seven days, but a vote may be closed early once enough votes have been cast to guarantee a bill's passage or failure. At the dissolution of the Cosă, the Assembly will be ceremonially closed to business until the next Cosă's first Clark.

Sec. 3. Citizens who have been naturalized and assigned to Belacostă during the current session of the Provincial Assembly may be admitted as Assembly members by a majority vote in the Assembly.

Sec. 4. Should any other province merge with Belacostă, all members of that province's legislature as then constituted shall each be granted one seat in the Provincial Assembly for the remainder of its current term.

Article III: The Provincial Council
Sec. 1. The executive power of the Province shall be vested in a three-member body known as el Cußeglh Provincial, the Provincial Council, which shall conduct its business collectively (i.e. by majority vote).

Sec. 2. The Provincial Council will be elected from among the citizens of the Province at each Cosă election, via a positional vote. Voters will name their first-, second-, and third-choice candidates. For each first-choice vote, the candidate shall receive three points; for each second-choice vote, two points; and for each third-place vote, one point. The three candidates with the highest point totals shall be elected to the Provincial Council, with any ties being broken by the number of first-choice votes received (and if necessary, the number of second- and then third-choice votes, with a coin flip being used past this if necessary). Provincial Consuls may choose to ceremonially represent any canton or sexteir of the Province, or to represent the Province at-large.

Sec. 3. The presiding officer of the Provincial Council shall be known as el Governadeir, the Governor. The first order of business of each newly-assembled Provincial Council will be to elect a Governor from among its members via a Motion to Appoint a Governor. The Provincial Council can replace an incumbent Governor via a simple majority vote on another Motion to Appoint a Governor (effectively, a "constructive motion of no confidence").

Sec. 4. The Governor shall be primus inter pares on the Provincial Council, and shall have no powers over his fellow Consuls save that of presiding over the Council's business. The Governor may issue proclamations that have the force of law, insofar as they do not conflict with either this Constitution or other provincial laws. Proclamations require the countersignature of the King or Viceroy to take effect, with the exception of proclamations to issue memorials, confer provincial honors, or clarify policy internal to the Provincial Council. Proclamations may be vetoed by a simple majority vote in the Provincial Assembly, and the Governor may not cast a vote on such veto motions.

Sec. 5. The Governor shall serve ex officio as the presiding officer of the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 6. The Provincial Council shall have the power to appoint Ministers and delegate executive and administrative powers to the same. Ministers may be dismissed by either the Provincial Council or the Provincial Assembly. At the closure of a Provincial Assembly session, all Ministerial positions shall be vacated.

Sec. 7. The term of office of Provincial Consuls shall extend until the next Provincial Council is assembled. The composition of the Provincial Council cannot be altered between elections except by the death, renunciation, or resignation of a Consul, by their conviction by the Cort pü Inalt, or by a two-thirds majority in favor of a Motion to Recall a Consul.

Sec. 8. In the event of a vacancy on the Provincial Council between elections, the remaining two Consuls shall nominate a successor for confirmation by the Provincial Assembly. Should the Governorship fall vacant, the remaining Consuls shall elect a new Governor via the standard Motion to Appoint.

Sec. 9. Should any other province merge with Belacostă, that province's chief executive shall be granted a temporary, additional seat on the Provincial Council for the remainder of its current term. Any vacancies that occur on the Provincial Council that leave the number of Consuls at three or more shall be held as filled by one of the temporary Consuls.

Article IV: The Judiciary
Sec. 1. The Cort pü Inalt shall have original jurisdiction to try all cases arising under Belacostăn law.

Sec. 2. The provincial government reserves the right to form a judicial system to meet its needs pursuant to Organic Law.

Article V: Federal Officials
Sec. 1. El Cunstaval, the Viceroy, is the representative of the King of Talossa. The Viceroy is appointed by the King pursuant to Organic Law. While the King may freely appoint a Viceroy, it is the preference of the citizens of the Province that the Viceroy be a citizen of the Province for at least one year prior to appointment. The Viceroy may not hold a seat on the Provincial Council. Any bill adopted by the Provincial Assembly shall be deemed to take effect on the signature of either the King or Viceroy, or shall enter into force at the end of the month in which it is adopted if no action by either is taken on it. The King or Viceroy may veto a bill, but this veto may be overridden by a two-thirds majority of the Provincial Assembly.

Sec. 2. Belacostă's delegate to the Senäts shall be elected pursuant to Organic Law.

Article VI: Supremacy
Sec. 1. This Constitution shall be the supreme law of the Province; no provincial statute or Gubernatorial proclamation shall be permitted to contradict it as they are subordinate laws.

Sec. 2. Gubernatorial proclamations shall be subordinated to provincial statutes, and shall not be permitted to contradict the latter.

Sec. 3. In the case of any prohibited contradiction, the subordinate law in question shall only be held as void to the extent to which the contradiction exists.

Article VII: Amendments
This Constitution may be altered by a resolution of the Provincial Assembly, which must be approved by a two-thirds majority.

Article VIII: Statutory Adoption
Approval of this Constitution shall not be held to affect the continuing applicability of other provincial laws, save for any contradictions as outlined in Article VI.

Article IX: Ratification
This Constitution may be held as approved by a referendum in accordance with Organic Law, with the vote to last no less than two weeks. It will enter into effect at the next dissolution of the Cosă.

Uréu q'estadra så: Mic'haglh Autófil MA (PdR)

As described in the outlined plan for the replacement of our National Database, the Ministry of Technology is bringing forth options for the platform on which the new Database will be hosted. All are welcome to comment on either of the proposed alternatives, or make proposals of their own.

• Option 1: Status Quo: For the purposes of comparison, the current Database is offered as a "solution".
  
  • Pros: Self-hosted, custom-tailored, already exists.
  • Cons: Poor user-friendliness, requires help from MPF for some tasks (expertise bottleneck).
• Option 2: Django: Django is a Python framework that allows us to generate the database and server using models that we can create to represent whatever objects are necessary (citizens, bills, etc.).
  
  • Pros: Self-hosted, also very customizable, familiarity (Sir Luc has worked with Django before), allows us to write templates for user interface (improved usability).
  • Cons: Uncertain on how easy to port over current DB information, still requires some expertise.
• Option 3: Google Sheets: While not a database tool in the usual sense, Google's spreadsheet editor can be used for more sophisticated data storage than most might think.
  
  • Pros: Free to use, server crashes unlikely, familiarity (I use Sheets for all sorts of personal projects), less specialized knowledge required for most aspects (easier for future generations of Talossans).
  • Cons: Not self-hosted, not a true database tool, may get into "spaghetti code" (spaghetti formulas) very quickly (that's a lot of VLOOKUPS).

The Royal Academy of Vexillology has adopted a new banner, provisionally blazoned as follows:

A triangular swallowtail quarterly vert and gules, I. two trumpets in saltire or over a three-tailed banner palewise of the third.


Furthermore, the Academy's wiki page has been created, which may be found here.

- TLF, Provost

Decided to sift through our old provincial ProBoards...board (I'm working on compiling what provincial laws I can into one single code) and I found the suggestion from one then-S:reu Itravilatx.

Now where have I seen this before...

The Sports section returns! Been a hot moment.

Looks like there's a bit of an attachment error, but this link should work.

La C'hronica – Zecemvar XLV / December 2024

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Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/x6UsMBY4

Government News

A NEW KING: Talossa sees new monarch as King Txec ascends the throne, names Sabor and various other honors:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3655.0

King John abdicates after 17 years on the Somewhat-Battered Throne:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3654.0

Refinished Cabinet: Sen. Plätschisch replaces da Schir as Finance Minister; Autófil as Deputy (and Acting) Foreign Minister
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3658.msg30659#msg30659; https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3660.0

Month of Recess declared for December:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3629.0

Civil Service News

Sir Lüc da Schir becomes Secretary of State after Txec becomes King:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3656.0

Long Fellow Autófil explores setting up the College of Arms' Royal Academy of Vexillology:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3612.0

Culture News

Culture Ministry finishes accepting entries for a Glheþ-only writing contest; winners to be announced December 12:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3588.0

On November 25th, Talossa celebrates Victory in its only war to date:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3649.0

The National Talossan League of Hockey heats up, as frontrunners Vuode Villians and Tigreux dal Belacostă have provided each other with their only losses to date:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3539.0

Provincial News

A new name, now a new Constitution? Belacostă mulls changes:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3613.0

Florencia currently without a Governor? The Nimlet discusses:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3363.15

Maricopan Premier Vilaçafat announces the first provincial tartan, and it looks really good:
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3635.0

Immigration News

Seven applications for citizenship were received in November: Matum, Jonas Schmidt, Stephane Pujol, Karim Bouchibane, Alan Libert, Giulia The Beautiful, and Ramiro de Jesús
https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=2.0

Hello friends! You  may be interested to know about some of the updates I've recently made to some of the templates we use on the wiki.

I made an interesting discovery today: the Composition Bar template, which parties can use to show their share of the Cosa or Nimlet or what have you, does use RGB color values, which default to red. However, most partys leave their bars red because trying to use nominal RGB values seemed to screw everything up (in my case, it would frequently turn my bar white). This is because you have to use "standard" RGB values -- instead of a 0-255 scale, you use anything from 0 to 1. So take your preferred color, divide each coordinate by 255, and then put that in the parameters like so:


10 seats awarded, 200 seats total, then the color values



The infobox for political parties now has spaces to enter three colors (col1, col2, and col3). The first two continue to act as the border and separator, respectively, on the infobox. If col1 is blank it defaults to gray, and col2 left blank defaults to col1. Any colors entered (use "rgb(r,g,b)" for this, which each value between 0 and 255!) will appear in little colorboxes at the bottom of the infobox, and you can add names (or clarify if your party uses a somewhat difficult color to see in the box given its size). Color values and names that do not have an entry will not show up, preventing your party's infobox from being filled with blank entries or any sort of error text. I've also fixed a few formatting issues re: spacing. Also, did you know I previously added a parameter to describe where your party sits on Talossa's political spectrum?

WHEREAS, the standardization of the electoral schedule is beneficial to the further development of non-political activity in Talossa, and

WHEREAS, the nationwide discussions on consensus have demonstrated a desire to fix the length of Cosă terms, and

WHEREAS, this makes modifications to confidence votes and Cosă dissolutions necessary,

BE IT RESOLVED that the following Amendments to the Organic Law are made:

• Article IV, Section 7, which currently reads:
  

  QuoteA newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to seven Clarks, subject to the provisions elsewhere in this Organic Law. During its last month, the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosâ may be dissolved, all its members shall resign.

  shall be amended to read:
  

  QuoteA newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to six Clarks, subject to the provisions elsewhere in this Organic Law. During its last month, the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosă may be dissolved, all its members shall resign.

• Article IV, Section 8, which currently reads as follows:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal may insert between any two Clarks, or after the final Clark, a "month of recess" in which no Clark is published. No more than one "month of recess" may be declared during any one term of office.

  is hereby amended to read:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal may insert in place of any single Clark, a "month of recess" in which no Clark is published. No more than one "month of recess" may be declared during any one term of office.

• Article IV, Section 9, which currently reads as follows:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal may appeal to the King to issue a Writ of Dissolution to dissolve the Cosa before its term has expired and call new elections. If the appeal is presented accompanied by the explicit support of members of the Cosa representing a majority of seats therein, the King shall dissolve the Cosa effective immediately or, should there be a Clark in progress, upon the completion of the Clark. If the appeal lacks such an explicit expression of support from a majority of the Cosa, the King shall not act on the appeal for a period of three days following its receipt, and shall then accede to the appeal but only if the Crown has not been presented during that time with a petition, supported by members of the Cosa representing more than half the seats therein, praying that the Cosa be not dissolved. A Writ, once issued, takes effect only at the end of the month in which it was issued, and may be rescinded before it has taken effect.

  is replaced in its entirety with the following:
  

  QuoteThe King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution to dissolve the Cosă in the month of August in odd-numbered Gregorian years, and in the months of April and December in even-numbered Gregorian years. A Writ, once issued, takes effect only at the end of the month in which it was issued, and may not be rescinded before it has taken effect.

• Article VI, Section 2, which reads:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal shall be selected by each newly elected Cosâ. When the King is presented with a petition to appoint a Seneschal, signed by MCs who together hold a majority of seats in the Cosâ as then constituted, the person named in the petition shall be appointed by the King to be the Seneschal. Should no such petition be made by the first day of the first Clark, that Clark shall include a Ranked Choice Vote to select the Seneschal. Each party holding seats in the Cosa may nominate one candidate for this election.

  is amended to read:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal shall be selected by the Cosă, including a mandatory selection by each newly elected Cosă. Whenever the King is presented with a petition to appoint a Seneschal, signed by MCs who together hold a majority of seats in the Cosă as then constituted, the person named in the petition shall be appointed by the King to be the Seneschal. Should no such petition be made by the first day of the first Clark, that Clark shall include a Ranked Choice Vote to select the Seneschal. Each party holding seats in the Cosă may nominate one candidate for this election.

• Article VI, Section 3, which reads:
  

  QuoteThe Seneschal has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King shall not be refused. He may also declare war and write treaties with the approval of the Ziu, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates.

  shall be amended by removal of the phrase "to dissolve the Cosâ and ".
• Article VII, Section 8, which currently reads:
  

  QuoteThe Clark must contain, in every edition, a Vote of Confidence. Each MC may answer this question in his Clark ballot every month, either with a "yes" or a "no." If at the end of any Clark the "no" vote outnumbers the "yes" vote, the King shall dissolve the Cosa and call new elections.

  is amended to read:
  

  QuoteThe Clark must contain, in every edition, a Vote of Confidence. Each MC may answer this question in his Clark ballot every month, either with a "yes" or a "no." If at the end of any Clark the "no" vote outnumbers the "yes" vote, the Leader of the Opposition shall become Seneschal.

• Article VI, Section 10 of the Organic Law is created to read:

  QuoteAll political parties holding seats in the Cosă but not having representation in the Cabinet shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short El Contrapharti or "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 within The Opposition with a plurality of seats.

Uréu q'estadra så:
Mic'haglh Autófil MC

Azul Belacostaes! (?)

Without performing necromancy on an old thread, I wanted to return to the idea of reform to our province's constitution.

Specifically, I wanted to re-submit this proposal for your review. (It has received a few minor updates since then.)

Key Points:
- The province moves to a unicameral "citizens' assembly" legislature where each interested citizen may claim a seat at the beginning of a term.
- The provincial executive is replaced with a three-member Provincial Council; Consuls are elected by the Borda method. A Governor serves as the primus inter pares presiding officer.
- The proposal includes several clauses that address the possibility of provincial mergers, which is (hopefully) an issue picking up steam among the nation as a whole. (More on this elsewhere soon...)

Two things this Constitution does not do:
- Describe in any way a provincial flag, which I thought would be more sensible to adopt by statute.
- Provide for a newly-renamed Order of Benito, which I believe is also better addressed by statute.

Does anyone currently do anything with the Royal Academy of Vexillology?

If not, I would volunteer as its head; it may not also be an awful idea for us to delineate the Academy's responsibilities and powers a bit more clearly going forward.

Based on my summary of feedback to the initial PdR reform plan, I submit for public review the "Reform" Plan, Reformed.

Key Points:

Ziu Reform:

• Unicameralism: The Senäts is abolished with the general election following ratification of the relevant Organic amendment.
  
  • Senators are still "grandfathered" into a "merged" Cosa as previously proposed, in slightly different ways depending on the electoral method below.
• Cosa Option 1: Biproportional Representation
  
  • One of the two proposed methods of Cosa election is the "biproportional representation" method previously proposed.
  • Seats are apportioned among each province based on how many votes were cast from that province in the previous election, and parties are awarded seats within a given province based on their proportion of votes within that province.
  • Any seats that cannot be assigned to a single party are awarded at the national level via a "topping-off" once all provincial seats possible are awarded.
  • The apportionment of seats to provinces and the awarding of seats to parties (both at the provincial level and the nationwide "topping-off" stage) is all accomplished via the Webster method.
  • Incumbent Senators at the time of the Senäts' dissolution (of which there would be five) are automatically assigned half of their respective province's seats for each election during the remainder of what would have been their current Senatorial term. Should any of these ex-Senators appear on a party's list (with their consent) during such an election, their automatic seat assignment will count towards that party's seats in that province instead.
• Cosa Option 2: Mixed-Member Proportional Representation
  
  • The Cosa is split between "provincial seats" and "list seats".
  • Each province is assigned an equal number of seats, such that the total number of provincial seats does not exceed one-half of the whole Cosa.
  • Provincial MCs are elected by Instant-Runoff Vote and hold all of their province's seats.
  • The remaining seats are apportioned between parties, taking the provincial seats into account in order to arrive at a proportional amount.
  • Incumbent Senators are considered their province's "provincial MC" for the remainder of their Senatorial term.

[Note: It may not be an awful idea to submit these two options, along with "Status Quo", to Ranked-Choice Referendum 2]

A Fixed Legislative Schedule:

• Elections now occur three times over a biannual schedule (every eight months).
• The Seneschal may still issue a single month of recess per Cosa term, but this no longer pushes back subsequent Clarks (in other words, this Cosa will instead have five Clarks instead of six).
• Because elections are now fixed, a Vote of Confidence is no longer capable of calling a new election. As a result, the current-style VoC is removed from the Clark.
• It is replaced by a "Constructive Motion of No Confidence" -- this bill, which can be moved through the Hopper quickly as it may be an emergency, names a specific candidate to take over as Seneschal. If it does not pass, the current Government remains in office.
• As an alternative, we could simply extend the ability to submit a "majority petition to name a Seneschal" throughout the term, since as the law is currently written it may only be usable upon the seating of a new Cosa.
  
  • This could potentially be harder to use, since the petition requires a majority of the whole Cosa, and not just a majority of seats currently held. As a result, an "absentee Government" could still be active enough to avoid losing their seats, blocking the usage of the petition.
  • On the other hand, this could also prevent a poorly-timed absence from a given Clark from allowing a minority government to take office based on little more than luck.

Other Reforms:

• The ability of MCs to petition the Chancery for official recognition / "parliamentary status" for a new party in the middle of a Cosa term is retained in this proposal, along with the same limitations on doing so.
• A convention to coordinate provincial mergers is also retained.

Removed:

• The "power-swapping" arrangement between the Crown and Ziu regarding Seneschal appointments and vetos. (This was the only plank to get a negative score when I summarized the feedback.)
• Retaining the entire country as a single electoral district when moving to a unicameral Ziu. This proposal, one of two for the method of electing the Cosa, was replaced with MMP in this new proposal.
• The move to a yearly Cosa schedule had quite a bit of support from the people who supported it, and quite a bit of opposition from the people who opposed it. (It actually registered a perfectly even 0 in my summary tally.) So while I believe we should continue to push for it, I also recognize that sometimes you need to walk before you can run. The point is establishing consensus, after all.

As part of the Government's commitment to revitalize and improve the structure of our state apparatus, we have thus far held a discussion in which many valuable ideas were submitted, discussed, and initially refined. The next step is to allow, as per the Avant! coalition agreement, "each party [to] promote its own preferences." To that end, I submit the Reform Plan (in that it is the proposal of the Reform Party, not the definitive roadmap for reform -- cf. the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, etc.) Keep in mind of course that this is not a concrete legislative proposal -- we need to know what the goal is in order to know what legal changes must be proposed, after all!

The main points of the plan can be found here.

For a bit more detail:
Crown Reform:

• The Crown and Ziu execute a bit of power-swapping arrangement.
• The King regains the right to appoint a Seneschal after consultations with the various party leaders in the Cosa, but it also becomes easier for the Cosa to override a royal veto.
• The royal veto on Organic amendments is eliminated, simplifying the process and ensuring vital amendments are not logjammed by a single individual.

Ziu Reform:

• The Senäts is abolished with the general election following ratification of the relevant Organic amendment.
• Because Senators pay to serve in the Senäts, and in doing so directly contribute to the upkeep of our nation (web presence etc), I believe it unfair to strip them of something before they have gotten that which they pay for. As a result, I believe it necessary to "grandfather" in Senators to Cosa membership for the remainder of their Senatorial term -- effectively making this somewhat of a "merger" as opposed to an "abolition". There are two ways to do this that I foresee, which I will go into more detail below.
• Option 1: Biproportional Representation:
  • As a means of retaining a form of "provincial representation" despite a lack of Senäts, the Cosa is now elected using electoral districts (which for the sake of ease are coterminous with provinces). (I should point out here that this practice is actually fairly common, very few proportional-representation legislatures use the entire country as a single electoral district.)
  • Seats are apportioned among each province based on how many votes were cast from that province in the previous election. This is meant to be equivalent to "apportionment by population", but renders useless any attempts to "gerrymander" catchment areas. It also is useful as a tool to both encourage and reward activity.
  • Parties are awarded seats within a given province based on their proportion of votes within that province (these seats do not necessarily need to be assigned to an MC from that province).
  • Any seats that cannot be assigned to a single party (for example, if one province has two seats left to be apportioned and three parties equally deserving) are awarded at the national level via a "topping-off" once all provincial seats possible are awarded. This method takes all provincial seats into account as well as the nationwide proportional vote.
  • The apportionment of seats to provinces and the awarding of seats to parties (both at the provincial level and the nationwide "topping-off" stage) is all accomplished via the Webster method.
  • In this case, incumbent Senators at the time of the Senäts' dissolution (of which there would be five) are automatically assigned half of their respective province's seats for each election during the remainder of what would have been their current Senatorial term. Should any of these ex-Senators appear on a party's list (with their consent) during such an election, their automatic seat assignment will count towards that party's seats in that province instead.
• Option 2: Retain a Single District:
  • The Cosa remains elected on a purely nationwide basis, but the Webster method is still adopted. This maintains a very proportionate outcome in terms of seats awarded to each party, but also abolishes the "percentile dice" system currently in place for something that uses straightforward mathematical rule as opposed to pseudo-random number generation.
  • In this case, incumbent Senators could be granted some equal number of Cosa seats (perhaps 10 each?) outside of the 200 seats normally elected. In other words, this would see the Cosa increase from 200 to 250 at the Senäts' dissolution, shrink to 220 at the next election after that, and then return to 200 seats starting with the election after that. Ex-Senators may still be assigned party seats, but are of course subject to the same limit as every other MC on the number of seats an individual MC may hold, and these additional seats count towards that limit.

A Fixed Legislative Schedule:

• Elections now occur annually from January 15 - February 1.
• This increases the length of a Cosa term from six Clarks to nine. Namely, March through November, with December kept clear for the sake of the Chancery (preventing too much overlap between holidays and election prep work).
• The Seneschal may still issue a single month of recess per Cosa term, but this no longer pushes back subsequent Clarks (in other words, this Cosa will instead have eight Clarks instead of nine). This aligns with the preceding point of keeping December clear.
• Because elections are now fixed, a Vote of Confidence is no longer capable of calling a new election. As a result, VoCs now become "constructive" -- MCs voting Non are asked to provide a replacement candidate for Seneschal, who, upon review by the King and consultation with party leaders, can name a new Seneschal should a VoC fail (as per their restored power to do so anyway).

Other Reforms:

• MCs may petition the Chancery for official recognition / "parliamentary status" for a new party in the middle of a Cosa term.
  • Each MC who defects from their original party forfeits half of their personally-assigned seats to do so (which, as all their seats do, return to the original party).
  • Each MC may not defect more than once per Cosa term.
• A convention / commission / panel / what-have-you will examine, in a coordinated manner, the best possible paths to reduce the number of provinces. Individual provinces are strongly encouraged to heed their recommendations.

While I know we've discussed the possibility of redoing the Zouaves' logo previously, I had a little burst of creativity the other day and produced the attached.

And yes, as the linked post mentions, the legal Talossan name of the Zouaves is apparently incorrect, but as was discussed there, it is the legal name nonetheless, so that's what I used.

- SPC Autófil

Azul Talossaes! As one of its goals, the incoming Government is committed to a nationwide discussion on reforms to the Organic Law and Talossa's constitutional structure. This discussion is open to all, and it is intended to be open-ended. In recent weeks, we've seen different suggestions and brainstorming for reforms to the monarchy and succession, ideas on how to reform both the Cosă and the Ziu, and various suggestions for how to reform how provinces function (and even how many of them there should be) -- but the list shouldn't stop there if you have something else you'd like to discuss!

I think as a first step, it would be prudent for anyone who has posted such a suggestion in some other thread to repost it here in a central location, and I can start keeping a list of the different ideas posted. If you have an idea you haven't posted elsewhere, add it anyway! This will make it easier for us to identify popular ideas and areas in which we can move the discussion forward productively.

You can find a recap of the discussion so far here. Anyone with this link can also comment.

Pursuant to El Lexhátx C.1.1, as Minister of Technology I recommend to the King that @Danihel Txechescu be appointed as Permanent Secretary in the Office of Backend Admin under the Ministry of Technology.

This position is the same one to which the outgoing Permanent Secretary @Sir Lüc da Schir, was nominated in 2022, and as such carries the same responsibilities.

Qe ça piaçadra Voastră Maxhestà:

Osprei ünă eleziun xheneral conductadă par la Cantzelerïă, noi, els Membreux dal Cosă subsignhats, represantent ünă maxhorità dels eschcaes da din această cámeră. Noi piedent respectunösmint qe Voastră Maxhestà, d'osprei las stipulaziuns d'Artical IV del Legeu Orgänic, apünta Miestră Schivă come voastră Seneschal.

---

May it please Your Majesty,

Following a general election conducted by the Chancery, we, the undersigned Members of the Cosă, represent a majority of seats within that house. We respectfully petition that Your Majesty, under the provisions of Article IV of the Organic Law, appoint Miestră Schivă as your Seneschal.

---

@Miestră Schivă, UrN
@Bråneu Excelsio
@Mic'haglh Autófil, SMC EiP
@Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir
@Bentxamì Puntmasleu
@Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP
@Sir Lüc

WHEREAS the Legislative Chancery of the Province Formerly Known as Benito passed an Act renaming that Province to Belacostă; and

WHEREAS the citizenry of that Province did approve of the renaming via referendum; and

WHEREAS the Act in question requests the Ziu and Government to implement this renaming at the national level at their earliest convenience, then

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that all uses of the word "Benito" in El Lexhatx are replaced with the word "Belacostă", namely those in Lex.B.12, Lex.E.7.5, Lex.F.12.3, Lex.F.26.3, Lex.F.29, and Lex.F.36.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the use of the word "Benitians" in Lex.F.5.2.3 is replaced with the word "Belacostans".

Uréu q'estadra så,
Mic'haglh Autófil, MC
Lüc da Schir, MC