[ASSEMBLY] - The Belacostan Unified Statute (BUS) Act

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Upon the recommendations of Consuls Autófil and Taiwos, the following is submitted to the Provincial Assembly. Voting shall last for one week from today, to end at 5:00 p.m. Talossan Daylight Time, Monday, May 5, 2025/XLVI. Should at least four MPAs vote either in favor or against before that time, voting will automatically close, as the fate of the bill will be sealed.

Members of the Provincial Assembly are hereby notified of the open vote:
@Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be
@Sir Lüc
@Iason Taiwos
@paolo.mellere
@Dien Xhorxh
@Istefan Perþonest

THE BELACOSTAN UNIFIED STATUTE (BUS) ACT

WHEREAS prior experience in both national and provincial administration would indicate having a single legal corpus is beneficial for provincial citizens and legislators alike, and

WHEREAS it would appear that at least one prominent Belacostan has attempted such an undertaking before, and

WHEREAS we're trying to keep our provincial renaissance going and this is a logical next step, then

BE IT RESOLVED that all previously-enacted Belacostan laws are hereby repealed, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following be enacted as the Belacostan Unified Statute, a single legal code for the Province, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the desire of the Provincial Assembly and Council that all further legislation take the form of Amendments to said Statute.

TITLE A: State
1. Subdivisions
    1.1. As per El Lexhatx and the Provincial Constitution, the Province is subdivided into two Cantons. The northern Canton is Mazzini and the southern Canton is Garibaldi, with the demarcation between the two running in an east-west line along the center of East Park Place across the entirety of the Province.
        1.1.1. The capital of the Province shall be Mazzini, with Riverside High School in that Canton serving as the provincial capitol building.
        1.1.2. This status as capital confers no special benefit and is merely for ceremonial and symbolic purposes.
    1.2. The province is further subdivided into Sixths, known in Talossan as "Sextieirs" and in Italian as "Sestiere".
        1.2.1. The Sextieir of Kenwood shall consist of all provincial lands north of the centerline of East Linnwood Avenue, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.2. The Sextieir of Locust shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Linnwood Avenue and north of the centerline of East Locust Street, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.3. The Sextieir of Riverside shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Locust Street and north of the centerline of East Park Place, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.4. The Sextieir of Webster shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Park Place, north of the centerline of East Bradford Avenue, and east of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
        1.2.5. The Sextieir of Prospect shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Bradford Avenue and east of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
        1.2.6. The Sextieir of Lorentzio shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Park Place and west of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
    1.3. The province is yet further subdivided into Wards, known in Talossan as Bairïu and in Italian as Rione.
    1.4. Geographic Assignment
        1.4.1. Citizens living within the territory of the Province shall be assigned to the Canton and Sextieir in which they reside.
        1.4.2. Citizens living outside the territory of the Province shall be assigned to the Canton of their choosing upon their naturalization as a citizen of Talossa and of Belacostă, or upon their reassignment to Belacostă from another province by the Chancery.
            1.4.2.1. Citizens who do not choose a Canton within two months of their assignment or reassignment to Belacostă shall be assigned by the Governadeir to the Canton with the smaller number of citizens currently assigned; should the Cantons be equal in population, this assignment shall be random.
            1.4.2.2. Extant citizens who have not yet received a Cantonal assignment will likewise have a two-month period to choose one, with said period beginning upon the effectivity of this Statute; citizens who fail to choose within that period will be assigned using the method described in 1.4.2.1.
            1.4.2.3. Citizens will be free to modify their Cantonal assignment within this two-month period.
        1.4.3. Citizens shall likewise be assigned by the Governadeir to a Sextieir within the Canton of their assignment, following the same method for Cantonal assignment.
        1.4.4. There shall be no limits to the population of a Canton or of a Sextieir, nor requirements that people do not join a Canton or Sextieir that has too many people in it.
        1.4.5. Dandelions shall be considered citizens of the Canton and Sextieir of their parents, and any Dandelion that arises to full citizenship shall be empowered to choose a different Canton and Sextieir as per 1.4.1., 1.4.2., and 1.4.3.
        1.4.6. Belacostans shall have an additional right to petition the Governadeir, no more than once per year, for their assignment to a Canton and/or Sextieir to be changed. Said petition shall specify a reason for changing the assignment, and the new assignment requested. The Governadeir shall have full discretion to grant the petition or refuse to do so.
        1.4.7. Assignment to a given Canton or Sextieir shall not be construed to affect the equal rights and privileges of all Belacostan citizens.
2. The tertiary language of the Province shall be the Italian language.
3. In the interest of streamlining national and provincial administration, it is the opinion of the Province that a merger on equal grounds with a neighboring province is desirable; for historical reasons, Florencia is considered the preferred partner.

TITLE B: Symbols
1. Flag
    1.1. The flag of the province is five units in height and eight units in length.
    1.2. The flag is composed of a field of Savoy Blue two units width in the hoist and a field of Bicoloreu Red five units width in the fly, separated by a wavy-edged field of white one unit in width.
        1.2.1. Savoy Blue is defined as #4B61D1 and shall symbolize the Manaweg and the connection to both the Italian heritage of the Province's territory and the many contributions by Italian-born Belcostans to the Province's history.
        1.2.2. Bicoloreu Red is defined as #E20308 and shall symbolize the Belacostan people and their tenacity.
    1.3. Centered in the red field shall be a circle of three white stars of five points each, tops pointing outward, evenly spaced such that one star is centered at the right-most point of this circle.
2. Holidays
    2.1. Lombardi Day, to be observed on Super Bowl Sunday, commemorating the longtime coach of the Florencia Packers, for whom the Super Bowl Trophy is named after.
    2.2. Constitution Day, February 22, to celebrate the promulgation of our provincial Constitution by King Txec.
    2.3. Mazzini Day, March 22, commemorating the birthday of the Italian patriot and politician for whom our northern Canton is named. This is Canton Mazzini's Cantonal Holiday.
    2.4. Cjovani Heritage Week, April 1 to April 7, commemorating the Cjovani Belacostans of Ohio and their unique contributions to our provincial culture and history.
    2.5. Founders' Day, to be observed the first Sunday after April 19, commemorating the establishment of Belacostă as a province of Talossa on April 20, 1982.
    2.6. Garibaldi Day, July 4th, commemorating the birthday of the Italian patriot and politician for whom our southern Canton is named. This is Canton Garibaldi's Cantonal Holiday.
    2.7. Province Day, December 28, encouraging the Belacostan citizenry to be involved in provincial life.
3. The motto of the Province is "Sürvixhilind Delmás l'Espuendă", or in English, "Standing Watch Along the Water's Edge".
4. The nickname of the Province is "The province so nice, they renamed it twice."

TITLE C: Honours
1. Order of Belacostă
    1.1. The Order of Belacostă is an order to be bestowed upon Talossan citizens who provide exemplary service to the Province.
    1.2. Recipients of the Order of Belacostă are entitled to use the title of "Don" for men or "Donna" for women.
    1.3. The Order of Belacostă is bestowed on the prerogative of the Governadeir.
    1.4. To falsely claim membership in the Order of Belacostă, or to use the title of "Don"/"Donna" without authorization, shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable prescribed by the Cort pü Inalt and/or by expulsion from the Provincial Assembly for the remainder of the present term.
    1.5. The Order of Belacostă is conferred in two grades.
        1.5.1. The upper grade shall be the Order of Belacostă, First Class, also known as the Commander of the Order of Belacostă.
            1.5.1.1. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the post-nominal "C.O.Be".
            1.5.1.2. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the wearing of a ribbon consisting from left to right of a thick stripe of Savoy Blue, a thin stripe of white, a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Red, a thin stripe of white, and a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Green, bearing upon it a golden oak leaf emblem.
            1.5.1.3. This grade shall only be awarded for extraordinary service to the Province, or for extraordinary service to the Nation by a Belacostan.
        1.5.2. The lower grade shall be the Order of Belacostă, Second Class, also known as the Officer of the Order of Belacostă.
            1.5.2.1. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the post-nominal "O.Be".
            1.5.2.2. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the wearing of a ribbon consisting from left to right of a thick stripe of Savoy Blue, a thin stripe of white, a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Red, a thin stripe of white, and a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Green.
    1.6. All prior recipients of the Order of Benito or the Order of Belacostă are hereby confirmed to have retained their membership in the Order as constituted under this Statute, including but not limited to:
        1.6.1. Sieu Garp Ian, Duke of Lupul (First Class)
        1.6.2. Istefan Perþonest (Second Class)
        1.6.3. Flip Molinar (Second Class)
        1.6.4. Timoþi M. Asmorescu (Second Class)
        1.6.5. Lüc da Schir (Second Class)
        1.6.6. Mic'haglh Autófil (Second Class)
    1.7. Membership in the Order of Belacostă may be revoked by a two-thirds majority of the Provincial Assembly in cases of flagrant fraud or conduct unbecoming to a member of the Order.
2. Styles
    2.1. The Viceroy shall be styled "[His/Her] Excellency, The Most Honourable [Name], Viceregal Representative to the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă".
    2.2. The Governadeir shall be styled "The Right Honourable [Name], Governadeir of Belacostă".
    2.3. Provincial Consuls shall be styled "The Right Honourable [Name], Consul of Belacostă".
    2.4. Members of the Provincial Assembly shall be styled "The Honourable [Name], [Assemblyman/Assemblywoman] of Belacostă".
    2.5. Citizens of the province shall be entitled to the post-nominal "Esq." during service as an Arbiter.
    2.6. No provision of this Title shall prohibit the use of any style or title awarded by the King, the Ziu, the Uppermost Cort, any other provincial government, political subdivisions thereof or in accordance with statutes governing the offices of the aforementioned bodies.

TITLE D: Judiciary
1. The Judiciary of the Province is hereby established as a system of binding, voluntary, and citizen-led arbitration.
2. In the case of a conflict over provincial law, the aggrieved shall publicly declare their grievance and the two shall find a mutually agreeable party to function as Arbiter.
3. An Arbiter may be any Belacostan citizen in good standing.
4. Should the parties be unable to agree on an Arbiter, the Governadeir shall be charged with finding an Arbiter, from outside the province if necessary.
5. Upon appointment of an Arbiter, each side shall plead their case. The Arbiter shall not issue a ruling until both sides of the case have been heard.
6. The Arbiter shall base their decision on appropriate provincial and national law as well as custom and judicial precedent with an eye toward fair play.
7. The Arbiter's decision is final and binding upon all parties, though all such decisions may be appealed to the national court system.
8. While conducting Judiciary business, the Arbiter shall wear a special hat of their own devising. For the interests of cultural legacy, the Province will maintain a registry of all such hats.

TITLE E: Elections
1. Should any ballot list the same choice in citizen for Provincial Consul more than once, only the highest choice shall be counted towards that citizen.
2. Should any ballot list fewer than three choices for Provincial Consul, the citizens listed shall be presumed to start with the first choice and descend from that point.
3. Citizens who claim a seat in the Provincial Assembly for the term may do so via any option made available for such purpose on a General Election Ballot as issued by the national Chancery; however, it is the request of the Assembly that such option note that citizens will need to be active on Wittenberg in order to make use of their seat.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Member	Per	Con	Aus
Autófil	X
da Schir	X
Taiwos	X
Perþonest		X
Xhorxh
dal Cräpscaßada
Total	3	1	0

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

I vote Per.

[Iason Taiwos]

I vote an enthusiastic Per.

[Sir Lüc]

Also an enthusiastic Per from me.

[Istefan Perþonest]

Contra.

Nothing huge -- but it bothers me that it is specified that sentence in the case of falsely claiming membership in the Order of Belacostă can only be pronounced by the Cort pü Inalt, not any lawful court hearing the case. Especially since the same unified statutes then specify how the provincial-level courts work.

So, the "Contra" is as much my fault as anybody's, because I didn't actually look at this back when a revision in accordance with my objection would have been easy. Sorry.

Anyway, assuming this passes, I'd appreciate if the Consuls would soon propose an amendment to eliminate that specificity.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Contra.

Nothing huge -- but it bothers me that it is specified that sentence in the case of falsely claiming membership in the Order of Belacostă can only be pronounced by the Cort pü Inalt, not any lawful court hearing the case. Especially since the same unified statutes then specify how the provincial-level courts work.

So, the "Contra" is as much my fault as anybody's, because I didn't actually look at this back when a revision in accordance with my objection would have been easy. Sorry.

Anyway, assuming this passes, I'd appreciate if the Consuls would soon propose an amendment to eliminate that specificity.

Noted! To be clear, I don't think anything prohibits Members of the Assembly from drafting legislation, just that it must be "sponsored" by at least two Consuls before moving to a vote. If you were to draft it yourself, I would sponsor it, because I think that's a reasonable change to make.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Voting has closed; the proposal passed by a vote of 3-1 with two not voting.

As per our provincial Constitution, the bill now heads to the King or Viceroy for their approval or veto. Should no action be taken by either before the end of May, it will take effect anyway.

@King Txec
@Glüc

[Glüc]

Thank you S;reu Autófil. I have read the bill. I am inclined to approve. I do however have one concern about the proposal, about which I would like to confer with His Majesty. Im also interested in the views of the assembly on this matter. I'd also like to confer with His Majesty more generally about the delegation of royal powers with regards to Belacostă. So those are the reasons for any delay, but know that I'm working on this.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Thank you S;reu Autófil. I have read the bill. I am inclined to approve. I do however have one concern about the proposal, about which I would like to confer with His Majesty. Im also interested in the views of the assembly on this matter. I'd also like to confer with His Majesty more generally about the delegation of royal powers with regards to Belacostă. So those are the reasons for any delay, but know that I'm working on this.

Of course, Viceroy. I am sure that the Assembly would be happy to address any concerns you may have.

[Glüc]

The concern is about E.2

2. Should any ballot list fewer than three choices for Provincial Consul, the citizens listed shall be presumed to start with the first choice and descend from that point.

However, according to the Belacostăn constitution:

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. [...]

Now in many cases of positional voting being used it is not allowed to not rank the required number of candidates. Giving points to more than one candidate also affects the electoral prospects of the first choice candidate. My reading of the constitution would be that it does not allow for fewer than three candidates to be ranked.

My reading of this proposal is that it would allow fewer than three candidates being ranked and therefore contradicts the constitution. I suspect if such votes were to be counted affected candidates could have a valid case for a lawsuit based on the constitution.

I'm interested to hear if the assembly shares this concern

[Glüc]

Looking at the last assembly election results it does appear that there were votes with fewer than three candidates that were counted as valid. I now wonder if counting these votes may have been unconstitutional

[Mic’haglh Autófil, O.Be]

Speaking for myself and not on behalf of the Assembly, this is a fair concern, though at least in the case of the last election, ballots cast for the Provincial Council that did not name three candidates ultimately did not affect the outcome of the race -- myself and Consuls da Schir and Taiwos would have still finished atop the count, albeit with slightly different point totals, and so the "harm" criterion in a lawsuit centered on this specific election would likely go nowhere (and the results themselves would not be invalidated or affected).

However, regarding the overall discrepancy, I would state that one, our provincial constitution itself states that as the province's supreme law, the order of precedence is clear, and thus this section of the BUS could be interpreted as being unenforceable without a constitutional amendment (not affecting the enforceability of the rest of the law); two, I am open to such an amendment; and three,  alternatively, could we allow people to cast votes for "present"? Interested to hear what other MPAs think.

[Sir Lüc]

What Sir Glüc is pointing out is exactly what I meant with my comment on the proposal thread - after poring over provincial statutes while I was building the database, I noticed our constitution exactly mandates three preferences rather than "up to" three.

Sadly my comment was very rushed and unspecific and I also completely forgot to follow up on the changes you made. I am not entirely sure how to proceed except that:

- The points based voting system clearly would hinder other candidates if one could only give three points to their top choice - many editions of TMT20 are a helpful reminder - and so if the system is to stay, casting exactly three choices would be fairest;

- Conversely, strict rules lead to potential disenfranchisment. The database could help ensuring voters do rank three choices via software checks and hint texts, ALTHOUGH in the last election it did allow leaving choices blank; voting publicly on Witt could be a more serious disenfranchisment risk should someone undervote due to missing or misunderstanding the rules for the provincial vote.

I vaguely think the first concern is most important because undervoting would unfairly distort our current voting system. On the other hand, I'm not sure if our elections are going to be so hotly contested that we're going to fight over every ballot and throw out all undervotes. In my mind, we can:

- Allow undervotes but lower the points given to each vote, so your lead choice can only get three points if you fill out your ballot (something like: 1 choice = 1 point; 2 choices, 2 and 1; three choices, 3 and 2 and 1);

- Allow undervotes but switch to a different voting system altogether;

- Not allow undervotes: proclaim the BUS and immediately amend E.2, potentially switching it to instead allowing for curing undervotes in a certain time limit.

[Glüc]

I have read the responses with interest and also consulted with His Majesty.

I will be signing the legislation, with the caveat that my interpretation of title E section 2 is that it is unconstitutional for the reasons I mentioned and therefore null and void as long as the constitution or the law isnt amended. The constitution does take precedence. Royal assent for the law cannot make an unconstitutional section constitutional. Of course if this ever ends up having an effect on election results it is up to the courts to decide on the correct interpretation. Best to not let it come to this however.

I said earlier that I am inclined to approve of the legislation. The reason for this is that the one potentially unconstitutional section can be seen separately from the rest of the bill, which was passed by the provincial assembly. There is no reason to not enact the rest of the bill. And with regards to the offending section, as S;reu Autófil correctly states, the order of precedence is clear. If my interpretation is correct this simply means that the section is unenforceable.

In order to prevent future confusion or potential lawsuits the assembly is hereby strongly advised to either amend section E.2 or amend the constitution to resolve any contradictions.

THE BELACOSTAN UNIFIED STATUTE (BUS) ACT

WHEREAS prior experience in both national and provincial administration would indicate having a single legal corpus is beneficial for provincial citizens and legislators alike, and

WHEREAS it would appear that at least one prominent Belacostan has attempted such an undertaking before, and

WHEREAS we're trying to keep our provincial renaissance going and this is a logical next step, then

BE IT RESOLVED that all previously-enacted Belacostan laws are hereby repealed, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following be enacted as the Belacostan Unified Statute, a single legal code for the Province, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the desire of the Provincial Assembly and Council that all further legislation take the form of Amendments to said Statute.

TITLE A: State
1. Subdivisions
    1.1. As per El Lexhatx and the Provincial Constitution, the Province is subdivided into two Cantons. The northern Canton is Mazzini and the southern Canton is Garibaldi, with the demarcation between the two running in an east-west line along the center of East Park Place across the entirety of the Province.
        1.1.1. The capital of the Province shall be Mazzini, with Riverside High School in that Canton serving as the provincial capitol building.
        1.1.2. This status as capital confers no special benefit and is merely for ceremonial and symbolic purposes.
    1.2. The province is further subdivided into Sixths, known in Talossan as "Sextieirs" and in Italian as "Sestiere".
        1.2.1. The Sextieir of Kenwood shall consist of all provincial lands north of the centerline of East Linnwood Avenue, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.2. The Sextieir of Locust shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Linnwood Avenue and north of the centerline of East Locust Street, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.3. The Sextieir of Riverside shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Locust Street and north of the centerline of East Park Place, extrapolated across the entirety of the Province.
        1.2.4. The Sextieir of Webster shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Park Place, north of the centerline of East Bradford Avenue, and east of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
        1.2.5. The Sextieir of Prospect shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Bradford Avenue and east of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
        1.2.6. The Sextieir of Lorentzio shall consist of all provincial lands south of the centerline of East Park Place and west of the centerline of North Oakland Avenue.
    1.3. The province is yet further subdivided into Wards, known in Talossan as Bairïu and in Italian as Rione.
    1.4. Geographic Assignment
        1.4.1. Citizens living within the territory of the Province shall be assigned to the Canton and Sextieir in which they reside.
        1.4.2. Citizens living outside the territory of the Province shall be assigned to the Canton of their choosing upon their naturalization as a citizen of Talossa and of Belacostă, or upon their reassignment to Belacostă from another province by the Chancery.
            1.4.2.1. Citizens who do not choose a Canton within two months of their assignment or reassignment to Belacostă shall be assigned by the Governadeir to the Canton with the smaller number of citizens currently assigned; should the Cantons be equal in population, this assignment shall be random.
            1.4.2.2. Extant citizens who have not yet received a Cantonal assignment will likewise have a two-month period to choose one, with said period beginning upon the effectivity of this Statute; citizens who fail to choose within that period will be assigned using the method described in 1.4.2.1.
            1.4.2.3. Citizens will be free to modify their Cantonal assignment within this two-month period.
        1.4.3. Citizens shall likewise be assigned by the Governadeir to a Sextieir within the Canton of their assignment, following the same method for Cantonal assignment.
        1.4.4. There shall be no limits to the population of a Canton or of a Sextieir, nor requirements that people do not join a Canton or Sextieir that has too many people in it.
        1.4.5. Dandelions shall be considered citizens of the Canton and Sextieir of their parents, and any Dandelion that arises to full citizenship shall be empowered to choose a different Canton and Sextieir as per 1.4.1., 1.4.2., and 1.4.3.
        1.4.6. Belacostans shall have an additional right to petition the Governadeir, no more than once per year, for their assignment to a Canton and/or Sextieir to be changed. Said petition shall specify a reason for changing the assignment, and the new assignment requested. The Governadeir shall have full discretion to grant the petition or refuse to do so.
        1.4.7. Assignment to a given Canton or Sextieir shall not be construed to affect the equal rights and privileges of all Belacostan citizens.
2. The tertiary language of the Province shall be the Italian language.
3. In the interest of streamlining national and provincial administration, it is the opinion of the Province that a merger on equal grounds with a neighboring province is desirable; for historical reasons, Florencia is considered the preferred partner.

TITLE B: Symbols
1. Flag
    1.1. The flag of the province is five units in height and eight units in length.
    1.2. The flag is composed of a field of Savoy Blue two units width in the hoist and a field of Bicoloreu Red five units width in the fly, separated by a wavy-edged field of white one unit in width.
        1.2.1. Savoy Blue is defined as #4B61D1 and shall symbolize the Manaweg and the connection to both the Italian heritage of the Province's territory and the many contributions by Italian-born Belcostans to the Province's history.
        1.2.2. Bicoloreu Red is defined as #E20308 and shall symbolize the Belacostan people and their tenacity.
    1.3. Centered in the red field shall be a circle of three white stars of five points each, tops pointing outward, evenly spaced such that one star is centered at the right-most point of this circle.
2. Holidays
    2.1. Lombardi Day, to be observed on Super Bowl Sunday, commemorating the longtime coach of the Florencia Packers, for whom the Super Bowl Trophy is named after.
    2.2. Constitution Day, February 22, to celebrate the promulgation of our provincial Constitution by King Txec.
    2.3. Mazzini Day, March 22, commemorating the birthday of the Italian patriot and politician for whom our northern Canton is named. This is Canton Mazzini's Cantonal Holiday.
    2.4. Cjovani Heritage Week, April 1 to April 7, commemorating the Cjovani Belacostans of Ohio and their unique contributions to our provincial culture and history.
    2.5. Founders' Day, to be observed the first Sunday after April 19, commemorating the establishment of Belacostă as a province of Talossa on April 20, 1982.
    2.6. Garibaldi Day, July 4th, commemorating the birthday of the Italian patriot and politician for whom our southern Canton is named. This is Canton Garibaldi's Cantonal Holiday.
    2.7. Province Day, December 28, encouraging the Belacostan citizenry to be involved in provincial life.
3. The motto of the Province is "Sürvixhilind Delmás l'Espuendă", or in English, "Standing Watch Along the Water's Edge".
4. The nickname of the Province is "The province so nice, they renamed it twice."

TITLE C: Honours
1. Order of Belacostă
    1.1. The Order of Belacostă is an order to be bestowed upon Talossan citizens who provide exemplary service to the Province.
    1.2. Recipients of the Order of Belacostă are entitled to use the title of "Don" for men or "Donna" for women.
    1.3. The Order of Belacostă is bestowed on the prerogative of the Governadeir.
    1.4. To falsely claim membership in the Order of Belacostă, or to use the title of "Don"/"Donna" without authorization, shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable prescribed by the Cort pü Inalt and/or by expulsion from the Provincial Assembly for the remainder of the present term.
    1.5. The Order of Belacostă is conferred in two grades.
        1.5.1. The upper grade shall be the Order of Belacostă, First Class, also known as the Commander of the Order of Belacostă.
            1.5.1.1. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the post-nominal "C.O.Be".
            1.5.1.2. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the wearing of a ribbon consisting from left to right of a thick stripe of Savoy Blue, a thin stripe of white, a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Red, a thin stripe of white, and a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Green, bearing upon it a golden oak leaf emblem.
            1.5.1.3. This grade shall only be awarded for extraordinary service to the Province, or for extraordinary service to the Nation by a Belacostan.
        1.5.2. The lower grade shall be the Order of Belacostă, Second Class, also known as the Officer of the Order of Belacostă.
            1.5.2.1. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the post-nominal "O.Be".
            1.5.2.2. This grade shall entitle the recipient to the wearing of a ribbon consisting from left to right of a thick stripe of Savoy Blue, a thin stripe of white, a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Red, a thin stripe of white, and a thick stripe of Bicoloreu Green.
    1.6. All prior recipients of the Order of Benito or the Order of Belacostă are hereby confirmed to have retained their membership in the Order as constituted under this Statute, including but not limited to:
        1.6.1. Sieu Garp Ian, Duke of Lupul (First Class)
        1.6.2. Istefan Perþonest (Second Class)
        1.6.3. Flip Molinar (Second Class)
        1.6.4. Timoþi M. Asmorescu (Second Class)
        1.6.5. Lüc da Schir (Second Class)
        1.6.6. Mic'haglh Autófil (Second Class)
    1.7. Membership in the Order of Belacostă may be revoked by a two-thirds majority of the Provincial Assembly in cases of flagrant fraud or conduct unbecoming to a member of the Order.
2. Styles
    2.1. The Viceroy shall be styled "[His/Her] Excellency, The Most Honourable [Name], Viceregal Representative to the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă".
    2.2. The Governadeir shall be styled "The Right Honourable [Name], Governadeir of Belacostă".
    2.3. Provincial Consuls shall be styled "The Right Honourable [Name], Consul of Belacostă".
    2.4. Members of the Provincial Assembly shall be styled "The Honourable [Name], [Assemblyman/Assemblywoman] of Belacostă".
    2.5. Citizens of the province shall be entitled to the post-nominal "Esq." during service as an Arbiter.
    2.6. No provision of this Title shall prohibit the use of any style or title awarded by the King, the Ziu, the Uppermost Cort, any other provincial government, political subdivisions thereof or in accordance with statutes governing the offices of the aforementioned bodies.

TITLE D: Judiciary
1. The Judiciary of the Province is hereby established as a system of binding, voluntary, and citizen-led arbitration.
2. In the case of a conflict over provincial law, the aggrieved shall publicly declare their grievance and the two shall find a mutually agreeable party to function as Arbiter.
3. An Arbiter may be any Belacostan citizen in good standing.
4. Should the parties be unable to agree on an Arbiter, the Governadeir shall be charged with finding an Arbiter, from outside the province if necessary.
5. Upon appointment of an Arbiter, each side shall plead their case. The Arbiter shall not issue a ruling until both sides of the case have been heard.
6. The Arbiter shall base their decision on appropriate provincial and national law as well as custom and judicial precedent with an eye toward fair play.
7. The Arbiter's decision is final and binding upon all parties, though all such decisions may be appealed to the national court system.
8. While conducting Judiciary business, the Arbiter shall wear a special hat of their own devising. For the interests of cultural legacy, the Province will maintain a registry of all such hats.

TITLE E: Elections
1. Should any ballot list the same choice in citizen for Provincial Consul more than once, only the highest choice shall be counted towards that citizen.
2. Should any ballot list fewer than three choices for Provincial Consul, the citizens listed shall be presumed to start with the first choice and descend from that point.
3. Citizens who claim a seat in the Provincial Assembly for the term may do so via any option made available for such purpose on a General Election Ballot as issued by the national Chancery; however, it is the request of the Assembly that such option note that citizens will need to be active on Wittenberg in order to make use of their seat.

In the name of King Txec I hereby assent to this bill.
Done by my hand this 8th day of May in the year of the common era 2025, in the first year of the reign of our gracious sovereign King Txec, and of the independence of Talossa the 46th.

Glüc da Dhi, Viceregal Representative to the Free and Sovereign Province of Belacostă