I was a little too brief; I meant I am not sure the current language would allow simply abolishing the Senäts (as opposed to doing something else to it) without provincial consent as the introduction to this bill implies.

Quote from: Sir Ian Plätschisch on Today at 03:01:45 PMAre we sure that abolishing the Senäts wouldn't count as "affect[ing] the representation of a province in the Senäts"?

"differently to other provinces" I thought was the key phrase, but if you can think of a better way to word it...

Are we sure that abolishing the Senäts wouldn't count as "affect[ing] the representation of a province in the Senäts"?

Stage 18 (ITT)  »  El Puerto de Santa María  ›  Jerez de la Frontera

The second and longer individual team trial was, as predicted, a Cjovani-led affair; the Belacostan team had the potential to put as many as five or six riders in the points, to most other teams's one or two. And indeed, while non-TCAT riders got first and second, CJO placed Almeida in third, Roglic in fourth, van Aert in fifth, Armirail in seventh and Chamberlain in thirteenth, winning the stage by a wide margin and making back almost 500 points on BDC.

The stage result is deceptive, though: GC leader Enric Mas, thought to be doomed to dropping around 1:30 minutes to (much more competent time trialist) Primoz Roglic, actually limited his losses to just 33 seconds from the Slovene, placing 12th in a performance that could very well seal the deal in his bid to win the general classification. This is very good news for BDC, of course, as is the good performance of Oscar Onley, who placed 17th after somewhat struggling during the second week. Conversely, Felix Gall and Richard Carapaz performed about as expected and limited their losses, while Matthias Skjelmose, initially thought to be the other somewhat competent time trialist other than Roglic, floundered to a lowly 28th, losing time to all other GC riders except for Kuss.

This all means that, while the score delta between Cjovani and BDC is about what was to be expected, the situation in the general classification has not changed enough for Cjovani to have an advantage in End of Tour points (worsened a bit, actually, because of Sepp Kuss losing time). If the Belacostans want to win their second TCAT edition more than four years after their first, they will have to get 450 more stage points in the remaining three stages, plain and simple.

Standings after stage 18:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	6531	+132
2nd	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	6080	+628
3rd	(+1)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	5259	+172
4th	(-1)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	5154	+39
5th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	5077	+84
6th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	4996	+254
7th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	4403	+224
8th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	4386	+371
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	3309	+49
10th	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	3254	+240
11th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3093	+184

I learned how to draft the bill here.

How are national laws drafted and submitted to Parliament?

Now I am more looking forward to becoming a full citizen, a completely fair election.

Minor note: There appears to be an extra s in the word refers, "referss," within the second paragraph of the first amended section.

WHEREAS King Txec I was democratically chosen as Talossa's Head of State under our Organic Law, and he enjoys the confidence and affection of a great majority of our nation;

AND WHEREAS, not withstanding this, the principle of the Union of Free Reformists remains in favour of the regularly elected representatives of the people in Ziu assembled;

AND WHEREAS the King's response to bills passed by the Ziu should properly take the form of friendly advice, rather than a veto;

AND WHEREAS the King may be more likely to give the nation the benefit of such advice if it would not mean thwarting the will of the majority of the people's representatives;

AND WHEREAS it would be good at this point to introduce the ability of the King to ask for legal advice about the consequences of such a bill;

BE IT ENACTED THAT Organic Law VII.11, which currently reads:

QuoteEvery bill which passes the Ziu shall be presented to the King before it comes into effect. The King may sign such a Bill, in which case it shall immediately enter into effect and become law; or he may veto the Bill, in which case it shall be returned, with his objections, to the Ziu, which shall reconsider it in the next Clark. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the Cosa agree to pass the bill, or the part of the bill objected to, with the approval of the Senäts, it shall become a law over the objection of the King. If a bill vetoed by the King in a certain term of the Cosa is passed by a simple majority of the Cosa and the Senäts in the subsequent term of the Cosa, the bill shall become law over the King's objections, and cannot be vetoed. If the King neither signs nor vetoes a Bill before the last day of the month in which it was passed by the Ziu, he shall be deemed to have signed it.

shall be amended to read:

QuoteEvery bill which passes the Ziu shall be presented to the King before it comes into effect. The King may sign such a Bill, in which case it shall immediately enter into effect and become law; or he may veto the Bill, in which case it shall be returned, with his objections, to the Ziu, which shall reconsider it in the next Clark. If, after such reconsideration, a majority of the Cosa agree to pass the bill, or the part of the bill objected to, with the approval of the Senäts, it shall become a law over the objection of the King. If the King neither signs nor vetoes a Bill before the last day of the month in which it was passed by the Ziu, he shall be deemed to have signed it.

The King may, before either signing or vetoing any bill to which this Article referss, refer that bill to the Supreme Court for a decision on the question as to whether such bill or any specified provision thereof is or are repugnant to this Organic Law or to any provision thereof.

And Organic Law XII.2, which currently reads:

QuoteThe King shall assent to amendments proposed by the Cosa and Senäts unless he returns them with his objections within thirty days of their proposal, or within fifteen days in the case of amendments passed on the last Clark of a Cosa term. The King shall not refuse assent if the identical amendment is approved by three-quarters of the same Cosa with an absolute majority of the Senäts, or by two-thirds of the following Cosa with a simple majority of the Senäts.

shall be amended to read:

QuoteThe King shall assent to amendments proposed by the Cosa and Senäts unless he returns them with his objections within thirty days of their proposal, or within fifteen days in the case of amendments passed on the last Clark of a Cosa term. The King shall not refuse assent if the identical amendment is approved by two-thirds of the Cosa with an absolute majority of the Senäts.

The King may, before either assenting to or returning any amendment, refer that Amendment to the Supreme Court for a decision on the question as to whether such Amendment or any specified provision thereof would introduce a contradiction to the Organic Law which could not be resolved without a further Amendment.

WHEREAS the threshold for amendments to the Organic Law is given in OrgLaw XII.1:

Quote"Amendments to this Organic Law may be proposed by two-thirds of the Cosa with approval of the Senäts. Approval of the Senäts shall be by simple majority, except that amendments to this article, amendments to the articles regarding election to and composition of the Senäts, and amendments to the article regarding territorial subdivisions require approval of two-thirds of the Senäts"

AND WHEREAS Organic Law XII.3 provides that these amendments must be approved by the people in referendum;

AND WHEREAS Organic Law XII.5 provides the special circumstance that amendments to the Covenants of Rights and Freedoms need a two-thirds majority in referendum;

AND WHEREAS Organic Law XII.4 states:

QuoteProposed changes to this Organic Law that affect the representation of a province in the Senäts, or of the territory or equal sovereignty of a province, shall not take effect unless approved by a majority of participating voters in that province.

BUT WHEREAS there is credible legal argument to the effect that for the basis of election of the Senäts to be changed`away from provinces (for example, to an at-large system), OrgLaw XII.4 would require a positive referendum result in every single province;

AND WHEREAS this would be a greatly higher hurdle than abolishing the Senäts altogether;

AND WHEREAS anyone who wants to protect the Senäts should support removing a loophole where it is easier to abolish the Senäts than to reform it;

BE IT ENACTED that Organic Law XII.4 is amended to read:

QuoteProposed changes to this Organic Law that affect the territory or equal sovereignty of a province, or affect a province's representation in the Senäts differently to that of other provinces, shall not take effect unless approved by a majority of participating voters in that province.