The "It's The Immigration, Stupid" Act

[Ian Plätschisch]

WHEREAS Immigration is important, and

WHEREAS that importance should be reflected in the composition of the Cabinet, and

WHEREAS Interior is pointless because we have not hosted a Living Cosa or TalossaFest for at least the past seven years and we do not appear likely to any time soon

THEREFORE Lex.2.3, which currently reads:

2.3 The Interior Minister, who shall: oversee immigration policy and head the Bureau of Immigration; act as the liaison between the national government and the provincial governments; assist in the organisation of Living Cosâs; provide governmental assistance to the organisers of TalossaFest celebrations; provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

2.3.1. El Büreu dàl Înmigraziun (the Bureau of Immigration), which shall be responsible for the execution of the nation's laws appertaining to immigration of new citizens into the realm and shall work to attempt to increase quality and quantity of immigration applications. This bureau shall be responsible for the integration of new citizens into their new Talossan lives and shall work to find ways to most effectively involve new citizens in Talossan affairs. This Bureau shall work closely with the Chancery and its Bureau of the Census to ensure that all incoming citizens are properly processed through immigration as provided by law.

shall be amended to read:

2.3 The Immigration Minister, who shall oversee the immigrant and new citizen experience. This includes the following responsibilities:
2.3.1 Administering the immigration process in cooperation with the Chancery as described by law
2.3.2 Working with the Ministry of STUFF to increase immigration
2.3.3 Integrating new citizens into their new Talossan lives and working to find ways to most effectively involve new citizens in Talossan affairs.

FURTHERMORE Lex.D.2.7.1 (which is currently blank) is amended to read:

2.7.1. The Bureau of Home Affairs, which shall assist in the organisation of Living Cosâs; provide governmental assistance to the organisers of TalossaFest celebrations; provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

FURTHERMORE Lex.D.2.9 is renumbered as Lex.2.8.10.

FURTHERMORE a new Lex.D.2.9 is added, which reads:

2.9    The Ministry of Technology, headed by the Technology Minister.
    2.9.1 The Ministry of Technology shall be responsible for the administration of the publicly-readable Internet presence of the Kingdom, excluding those websites under explicit jurisdiction of other entities of the Kingdom as described in El Lexhátx A.20 or elsewhere in El Lexhátx.
    2.9.2. Talossa.com and Kingdomoftalossa.net are the property of the government and shall be operated by the Ministry of Technology.
    2.9.3. There shall exist within the Ministry of Technology an officer to be known as The Talossan Web Registrant who shall act as the domain name registrant for the domains stated in D.2.9.2 and any other government operated domains as required. The Talossan Web Registrant shall be appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Technology. The Talossan Web Registrant shall inform the government of any payments due or made towards domain registration and hosting of any government operated websites and domains and shall be reimbursed for any payments made as soon as is practicably possible and in accordance with all law relating to the governmental budget.
    2.9.4. The Minister of Technology shall ensure that access details for all official internet accounts are held in a secure and central location and shall ensure the continuity and smooth handover of these details between changes of government.

FURTHERMORE D.2.10 is amended to read:

  2.10.  The Minister of STUFF, heading the Ministry of STUFF (Ministrà del Sanavar da Talossa al Ultra-Fiôvân Folâs), which shall be responsible for the internal and external promotion of the Kingdom, all events therein and all things Talossan through public relations, and shall dutifully ensure that the Kingdom and its events are regularly publicised and may use any means and media available to them to achieve this.
    2.10.1  The Minister of STUFF shall be directly responsible for the content of one or more websites and/or social media accounts named as the 'official' website(s) and social media account(s) of the Kingdom.
    2.10.2. The Ministry of STUFF shall be in charge of TalossaWare, that is, the production of "physical embodiments of Talossanity", whether for distribution to citizens, to publicise the Kingdom to outsiders, or to sell for profit.
    2.10.3 The Ministry of STUFF shall be responsible for ensuring the availability, for all Talossans, of the following: a) the records of the Scribery as described in C.1.2; b) up-to-date information on the personnel of all Government, Royal Household, Civil Service and Chancery office-holders.

FURTHERMORE, the word "Interior" in the following provisions of el Lexhatx shall be changed to "Immigration":
A.9.4
A.9.8
A.16.1
C.2
E.1
E.2
E.3
E.4
E.5
E.6
E.7
E.11 and E.11.1-11.3
F.11.17

Ureu q'estadra sa:
Ian Plätschisch (Sen-MM)

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I've given a technical response in the CRL, but would you also argue that the remaining duties of Interior are useless?

act as the liaison between the national government and the provincial governments; ...  provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

I mean, as the incumbent all that stuff is so far down my priorities list it's fallen off the bottom. But traditionalist Talossans might chafe at utterly, legislatively, removing the Government's responsibilities towards the GTA.

[Ian Plätschisch]

I've given a technical response in the CRL, but would you also argue that the remaining duties of Interior are useless?

act as the liaison between the national government and the provincial governments; ...  provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

I mean, as the incumbent all that stuff is so far down my priorities list it's fallen off the bottom. But traditionalist Talossans might chafe at utterly, legislatively, removing the Government's responsibilities towards the GTA.

I can add it back if you think it's important, but I have never seen any Interior Minister do any of that stuff.

[Ian Plätschisch]

The references to the Interior Ministry have been fixed.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

Okay. So let's look at the current Government's agreed priorities for the Interior Ministry this term:

Charitable causes. Charity is not only a moral obligation on us as human beings, but it is an excellent way to increase awareness of Talossa in the outside world. We work with the Culture Ministry to raise funds for charity through games, tournaments and quizzes, paying particular attention to the Cestoûr population of the Greater Talossan Area and the nearby Milwaukee region..
La C’hronica. We will revive the monthly Government newsletter, emailed to all citizens, informing them of recent Talossan events and issues.
New Citizens’ Information Packet. Quite often new or prospective citizens don’t even know what to do in Talossa. We will create a packet of information which explains what they need to know. We will explore bringing back the old tradition of an “open-book civics test” on this material, as a prerequisite for getting an ID Card.
Restart the TalossAssistant Programme.

Obviously 3 and 4 would be Immigration, and the first 1 is part of the "GTA relations" section which you've suggested we don't need any more. With your suggested reforms, who would be in charge of La C'hronica, and other Government-citizen communications? Also, who would design/issue ID cards?

[Mic’haglh Autófil, MoFA]

I would be happy to help with designing the next generation of TalossaWare, if it’s not stepping on anyone’s toes at least

[Ian Plätschisch]

Okay. So let's look at the current Government's agreed priorities for the Interior Ministry this term:

Charitable causes. Charity is not only a moral obligation on us as human beings, but it is an excellent way to increase awareness of Talossa in the outside world. We work with the Culture Ministry to raise funds for charity through games, tournaments and quizzes, paying particular attention to the Cestoûr population of the Greater Talossan Area and the nearby Milwaukee region..
La C’hronica. We will revive the monthly Government newsletter, emailed to all citizens, informing them of recent Talossan events and issues.
New Citizens’ Information Packet. Quite often new or prospective citizens don’t even know what to do in Talossa. We will create a packet of information which explains what they need to know. We will explore bringing back the old tradition of an “open-book civics test” on this material, as a prerequisite for getting an ID Card.
Restart the TalossAssistant Programme.

Obviously 3 and 4 would be Immigration, and the first 1 is part of the "GTA relations" section which you've suggested we don't need any more. With your suggested reforms, who would be in charge of La C'hronica, and other Government-citizen communications? Also, who would design/issue ID cards?

La C'hronica seems like it could be handled by STUFF. As for charity and ID cards, I don't have a great idea. I'm not tied to getting rid of Interior, but I feel like we could probably find someone to do those things without an entire Ministry.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

If the central issue is to restore Immigration to full Cabinet rank, then of a surety we need to have more of a think of how the other functions currently delegated to Interior might be distributed. As a matter of fact, for a while I've thought that the domain of Culture is underspecified, while STUFF is overspecified. Right now, STUFF is responsible for all the national websites and social media, and also TalossaWare - everything externally focused. I do think we need to retain a Ministry which is responsible for internally-focused initiatives - but that might mean a (full or partial) amalgamation with Culture?

ID cards in particular might be given to the Chancery to distribute, but surely the Government should still make the decision over design?

[Ian Plätschisch]

I do think we need to retain a Ministry which is responsible for internally-focused initiatives - but that might mean a (full or partial) amalgamation with Culture?

That sounds like a good idea to me. I am not sure that we need to add all this stuff to the Culture statutes though, given all our apprehension about over-legislating everyone.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I think the following stuff could slide in quite easily under Culture:

provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

I mean, not that we're doing any of it right now, but I think we need to make a Platonic commitment to the idea that it's a good thing to do. Unless we're going full Peculiarist/"Milwaukee and the OGs don't matter". Which is a respectable position, but not mine.

There's one other thing under Interior which doesn't fit under Culture or Immigration:

act as the liaison between the national government and the provincial governments

and that, I think, is probably not needed to specify. As for La C'hronica, you're right that it comes under the existing STUFF description of "internal and external promotion of the Kingdom".

So in sum, this is what I'm suggesting, in addition to what you've already written:

2.7. The Minister of Culture, heading the Ministry of Culture, who shall promote Talossan culture, including our national language, our musical and sporting heritage, our mythical Berber connections, and all of our other quirks. The Ministrà dal Cúlturâ (Ministry of Culture) shall include: (50RZ9)

        2.7.1. The Bureau of Home Affairs, which shall assist in the organisation of Living Cosâs; provide governmental assistance to the organisers of TalossaFest celebrations; provide governmental assistance to all citizens making the Haxh; provide counsel to the Seneschal and other ministers in ever maintaining the connection and bond of Talossans worldwide to their homeland; and shall, generally, be responsible for the order and well-being of the homeland and its environs.

        2.7.2. The Büreu del Glheþ Talossán (Language Bureau)... etc

And also an additional paragraph under STUFF:

2.10.5 The Ministry of STUFF shall be in charge of TalossaWare, that is, the production of "physical embodiments of Talossanity", whether for distribution to citizens, to publicise the Kingdom to outsiders, or to sell for profit.

I found by digging the Wiki that STUFF was historically in charge of TalossaWare, but there was no legislative backing for it; and ID cards surely come under the above description.

If you agree with this I think we're 99% of the way there. There's one final issue IMHO and that's whether STUFF isn't too big for one person? Do we need to separate the "administering the online backend" stuff from the "writing publicity, posting on social media" etc?

[Ian Plätschisch]

I have made the proposed changes. I also split the "Ministry of Technology" off from STUFF, so tell me what you think. This would bring the cabinet to nine people, which seems very large. I am thinking it would be best to fold Defense into Culture, given that Culture is all we could possibly use it for.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

We tried folding Defence up previously, but we had to split it again because some people just like playing soldier and it's best to give that to them if they need it.  I think there's no reason why we can't make a tradition of "culture + defence go together unless anyone's really keen to do the latter".

Perhaps a minor quibble in your STUFF/Tech split. Who would be in charge of the social media? You've got "content and administration" of the websites under Tech, but I assumed that content would be STUFF, admin would be Tech. And shouldn't Tech look after the passwords?

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

In other words, here's how I'd do it:

2.9    The Ministry of Technology, headed by the Technology Minister.
    2.9.1 The Ministry of Technology shall be responsible for the administration of the publicly-readable Internet presence of the Kingdom, excluding those websites under explicit jurisdiction of other entities of the Kingdom as described in El Lexhátx A.20 or elsewhere in El Lexhátx.
    2.9.2. Talossa.com and Kingdomoftalossa.net are the property of the government and shall be operated by the Ministry of Technology.
    2.9.3. There shall exist within the Ministry of Technology an officer to be known as The Talossan Web Registrant who shall act as the domain name registrant for the domains stated in D.2.9.2 and any other government operated domains as required. The Talossan Web Registrant shall be appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Technology. The Talossan Web Registrant shall inform the government of any payments due or made towards domain registration and hosting of any government operated websites and domains and shall be reimbursed for any payments made as soon as is practicably possible and in accordance with all law relating to the governmental budget.
    2.9.4. The Minister of Technology shall ensure that access details for all official internet accounts are held in a secure and central location and shall ensure the continuity and smooth handover of these details between changes of government.

   2.10.  The Minister of STUFF, heading the Ministry of STUFF (Ministrà del Sanavar da Talossa al Ultra-Fiôvân Folâs), which shall be responsible for the internal and external promotion of the Kingdom, all events therein and all things Talossan through public relations, and shall dutifully ensure that the Kingdom and its events are regularly publicised and may use any means and media available to them to achieve this.
    2.10.1  The Minister of STUFF shall be directly responsible for the content of one or more websites and/or social media accounts named as the 'official' website(s) and social media account(s) of the Kingdom.
    2.10.2. The Ministry of STUFF shall be in charge of TalossaWare, that is, the production of "physical embodiments of Talossanity", whether for distribution to citizens, to publicise the Kingdom to outsiders, or to sell for profit.
    2.10.3 The Ministry of STUFF shall be responsible for ensuring the availability, for all Talossans, of the following: a) the records of the Scribery as described in C.1.2; b) up-to-date information on the personnel of all Government, Royal Household, Civil Service and Chancery office-holders.

[Ian Plätschisch]

I was thinking that STUFF would be in charge of social media while Technology would be in charge of the websites. Making Technology only be responsible for the backend seems like not enough, unless I am underestimating how much work it is.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

And I would argue that we need a unified online presence with the website and the social media complementing each other. Things like the social media alerting subscribers when the website's updated, etc. with a new La C'hronica.

I think the techie stuff is *more* than enough to keep a single Minister (or PermSec) occupied, and it's a specialist role. Right now it's pretty much what Eðo is doing in his PermSec role. (One option for next term would be to have a single STUFF/Tech minister but keep Eddie on as PermSec doing the entire Tech portfolio.)