Estats Xhenerais - States General - Grand Session XII

[Viteu]

I guess that means i will have to figure out what the premier actually does now, you are putting an awful lot of faith in a very new citizen but if confirmed i will do my best.

Whoe--on-set delirium from sleep deprivation actually resulted in a successful post with minimal typos. Go me!

Honestly Tric'hard, you're over thinking this. We may be in our 12th Session, but the passing the Claiming Our Authority Byelaw and Senate National Election Byelaw were the pinnacle of activity.  Eðo enacted the UPDs, which have the power of law but can be annulled, although what he enacted is entirely uncontroversial so I cannot imagine why it would be changed.  Unfortunately, we never got around to updating our Wiki and had a digest running on Old Witt, but I just made a new thread with the Digest of Byelaws and Decrees. 

I began to summarize our Senate law and the issues surrounding it, but it became something else, so I'm going to post it elsewhere.

In any event, take a moment to read our Digest of Byelaws and UPDs in https://talossa.proboards.com/thread/13425/reference-digest-byelaws-decrees?page=1&scrollTo=164597.  The Senate law is the most controversial (mostly from outside the province), which I address in another thread.  The UPDs passed by Eðo are entirely uncontroversial. 

Second, I would suggest you take a moment to read our constitution  http://wiki.talossa.com/Constitution_of_Vuode_(text), drafted by Eðo in 2013, with some minor assistance from Sir T and myself, and ratified in 2013.  Vuode fiercely defends this constitution.  It's short, sweet, and allows for a high degree of self-governing for a very small province.  Granted, some of the provisions have become ceremonial in light of practicality, like the Cunstaval swearing in the E-X Councillors or Premier. At this point, it's an implied swearing in.  And I've had to play with the dissolution language for obvious reasons.

So let's iron out a bit of how things work:

The Grand Session is instantly convened and dissolved with the national Ziu--Clark 1, Day 1 of the Ziu = Day 1 of the Grand Session. Writ of dissolution of the Cosa mean end of the Grand Session.  That simple. Whether the Cosa and Senat decide to use a month for administrative purposes is their prerogative. We only care about the clock.  However, we're supposed to have "six" legislative session that mirror the national Ziu, which are convened and conducted by the Presiding Officer. We've never really done this.

Down to responsibilities: the Premier is the head of the government.  They can enact UPDs, which have the power of law but can be repealed with 2/3 majority of the E-X (of course, a future Premier can also repeal the UPD at whim). In the event of a vacant senate seat, the E-X has 10 days to appoint, and if no appointment, the Premier has 5 days, and after that period, it falls to the Crown. That's pretty much it.

The Presiding Officer, on the other hand, convenes and conducts legislative sessions, of which there should be six, and should act in a similar matter to the SOS.  They are responsible for maintaining a Digest of Byelaws. In practice, we generally have one ongoing session and bills can be voted on whenever someone calls a vote. That's about it.

All bills require the Cunstaval to assent, and 30 days of silence is considered silent assent.


So don't over think this. Unofficially, the United Provinces fall somewhere between parliamentary supremacy and constitutional supremacy due to realistic aspects of circumstance.  I'd argue that the real supreme law of the United Provinces is based on convention as informed by civility, fair play, and realistic expectations.  And our convention has been that the more ceremonial/ministerial aspects of the constitution (e.g. swearing in, holding actual sessions) have become implied in practice, but the actual parameters, such as convening sessions, holding seats, voting on laws, passing UPDs, follows the constitution.  One might think of it as substance of style.

But very little gets done at the end of the day, and we always hope that will change.

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

Thank you! I have read the constitution and found it very informative but didn't give much in the way of detail (your post helps a lot). At least now i know what sort of responsibilities i have as both premier and as a councilor, I hope to be active once i gain a full working understanding of how things work. I learn better by doing things than i do by reading about them but this helps a lot!

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

Okay, let's wrap up.

(1) Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir nominated Éovart Grischun for presiding officer and Viteu Marcianüs as Premier.

(2).Councillor Éovart Grischun nominated Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir for Premier and Councillor Viteu Marcianus as Presiding Officer.

(3) Viteu Marcianüs nominated Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir for Premier and Éovart Grischun for presiding officer.

Results:
For Premier--Tric'hard Lenxheir carries support of 2/3 of the chamber (Éovart and Viteu).

For Praising Officer--Éovart Groschen carriea support of 2/3 of the chamber (Viteu and Tric'hard).

The Chamber has spoken. I move the vote be certified.

I second the movement

[Viteu]

Thank you! I have read the constitution and found it very informative but didn't give much in the way of detail (your post helps a lot). At least now i know what sort of responsibilities i have as both premier and as a councilor, I hope to be active once i gain a full working understanding of how things work. I learn better by doing things than i do by reading about them but this helps a lot!

Glad it helped, typos and all! I'm also more of hands-on learner.  You'll do fine.

[Viteu]

Okay, let's wrap up.

(1) Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir nominated Éovart Grischun for presiding officer and Viteu Marcianüs as Premier.

(2).Councillor Éovart Grischun nominated Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir for Premier and Councillor Viteu Marcianus as Presiding Officer.

(3) Viteu Marcianüs nominated Councillor Tric'hard Lenxheir for Premier and Éovart Grischun for presiding officer.

Results:
For Premier--Tric'hard Lenxheir carries support of 2/3 of the chamber (Éovart and Viteu).

For Presiding Officer--Éovart Groschen carries support of 2/3 of the chamber (Viteu and Tric'hard).

The Chamber has spoken. I move the vote be certified.

I second the movement

Well, with two votes, looks like seats are assigned. I will step out of the way for Presiding* Officer Groschen to call the session into order.

[Viteu]

I guess that means i will have to figure out what the premier actually does now, you are putting an awful lot of faith in a very new citizen but if confirmed i will do my best.

Whoe--on-set delirium from sleep deprivation actually resulted in a successful post with minimal typos. Go me!

I got too cocky.  How long we were going to let my motion for Etho to be praising officer go?

Post fixed. I should not type posts from my phone.