Resignation of Elected Members of Government Act -draft

[Callipygian]

This draft addresses a formal process for resignation and provides a record of it on the Forums in an appropriate location for future reference; while Forum members in general cannot respond to postings in the government announcement forums, they can of course start discussion threads of their own in General Discussion if they wish to discuss such a resignation.

This draft also addresses concerns that were raised that an LRA might not act on a resignation; the Dean of the SC acts as a check and balance to this concern.

While there was some discussion of a 'cooling off' period when a resignation could be retracted, this draft assumes that any official would give serious consideration to their actions before submitting a resignation and therefore the submission would be considered official and binding.

It is assumed here that the populace accepts that a resignee might choose to run in the by-election they have triggered, since that is currently occurring in the Chancellor by-election. If that is not the case, additional wording to address that situation could be added: 'No individual may run in a by-election caused by their own resignation.'

Calli

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Resignation of Elected Members of Government Act

Preamble: To ensure that it is clear when an elected government official has resigned and the process to replace him or her must begin. To also provide a record of such resignation, and provide a check and balance to ensure that resignations are acted on.

An elected member of government who wishes to resign will do so by submitting a notecard to the LRA and to the Dean of the SC indicating that he or she is resigning; he or she will also post a notice of their resignation in the relevant discussion Forum of his or her arm of government:
-Chancellor in the Executive Branch Announcements Forum
-RA member in the Representative Assembly Discussion Forum

The LRA will immediately post a notice of the resignation in the RA Announcements Forum and by in-world notice in the C.D.S. group and request that the process for replacement begin.
If the LRA chooses to resign, he or she will do so by notecard to the Dean of the SC, who will immediately post a notice of the resignation in the SC Announcements Forum and by inworld notice to the C.D.S. group, and begin the process for replacement.

If the Dean of the SC has received a notecard of resignation and the individual resigning has posted their resignation in the designated Forum, the Dean of the SC will proceed with the process of replacement, even in the absence of a notice or request from the LRA.

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[Delia Lake]

I would like to see your sentence 'No individual may run in a by-election caused by their own resignation.' added to this draft Act. I realize that there are a number of circumstances that would lead an elected official to resign office. I accept that. I do not accept that it is OK for a person to resign office then turn around and say that they want to run in the by-election. If they wanted to be in office and do the job, if they could do the job they should have stayed in office in the first place. Allowing people to resign office then run in a by-election in my opinion encourages officials to resign in a pique or a hissy-fit. I believe this is detrimental to the operation of our government. I would be in favor of allowing a person who resigned to run in the next general election, but not in the by-election they set into motion.

[Rosie Gray]

I would like to see your sentence 'No individual may run in a by-election caused by their own resignation.' added to this draft Act. I realize that there are a number of circumstances that would lead an elected official to resign office. I accept that. I do not accept that it is OK for a person to resign office then turn around and say that they want to run in the by-election. If they wanted to be in office and do the job, if they could do the job they should have stayed in office in the first place. Allowing people to resign office then run in a by-election in my opinion encourages officials to resign in a pique or a hissy-fit. I believe this is detrimental to the operation of our government. I would be in favor of allowing a person who resigned to run in the next general election, but not in the by-election they set into motion.

I agree with Delia's request for the addition of 'No individual may run in a by-election caused by their own resignation.' Otherwise, I think the rest of the draft is good.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Our democracy lacks the existence of a "Vote of Confidence" (or its opposite). A good reason for a member of government to resign and then to run again is to establish that the citizens have confidence in them.

I'd be happy with Delia's suggestion if we could also draft a "Vote of Confidence" bill. The problem here is that in RL, votes of confidence are just held at the representative assemblies; in our case I believe that a resignation for the purposes of polling all citizens might be justified in certain cases.

The alternative would be to hold a referendum; but the way our Constitution works, the referendum is only held at the end of the term, so it would be pointless to use a referendum for establishing confidence.

However, I'm also opposed to an abuse of resignations and subsequent by-elections

[cleopatraxigalia]

What I asked to be put in the draft previously has been added, Thank you Calli...

.. just to summarize.. and what I said in the earlier post.....:

What concerns me.. in that there is a lack of transparency ..

A notecard to the LRA is fine, but I would also like a public notice directly to the citizens .. via a NOTICE in group, a post on the forums.. or group chat...

I would not like to hear of an instance where the person wants to resign, tells the LRA in a notecard. The LRA then persuades insists, begs and pleads and then the person decides to stay, even though they cannot meet the requirements of the job.. because someone insists to avoid an unwanted by election or such.

I think that the notice should go directly to the Citizens via one of at least THREE methods we have to contact us directly AND send it to the SC and the LRA too, but I would like to have this process be very open and transparent..

Glad that was added.

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RELEVANT TO THIS BILL AND ITS NEED ARE TWO OTHER ISSUES..

1. the small size of the RA, being limited to 5 members makes the loss of one or two more of an issue. Lets go back to the previous law now that we have grown that would give us 7 RA members now. That would solve a lot of worry about the loss of one member of the RA and let the RA function comfortably even without one member, easily meet quorum and work.

2. As far as the Chancellor position and resignations, if the Chancellor had a Vice Chancellor that ran with him or her.. that would mean we had a succession plan.. add in a PIO that is announced at the time of the election, and then you have two who can take over should a chancellor resign ( awaiting a by election of course) ...

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I agree with Delia's point about a person resigning and running in the by election.
As far as Gwyn's point about "vote of confidence" .. every six months you get one or not, that seems like its often enough to me

[Callipygian]

This concerns me.. in that there is a lack of transparency ..

A notecard to the LRA is fine, but I would also like a public notice directly to the citizens .. via a NOTICE in group, a post on the forums.. or group chat...

I would not like to hear of an instance where the person wants to resign, tells the LRA in a notecard. The LRA then persuades insists, begs and pleads and then the person decides to stay, even though they cannot meet the requirements of the job.. because someone insists to avoid an unwanted by election or such.

I think that the notice should go directly to the Citizens via one of at least THREE methods we have to contact us directly.

I would suggest rereading what is posted in the draft Cleo:

"..An elected member of government who wishes to resign will do so by submitting a notecard to the LRA and to the Dean of the SC indicating that he or she is resigning; he or she will also post a notice of their resignation in the relevant discussion Forum of his or her arm of government:
-Chancellor in the Executive Branch Announcements Forum
-RA member in the Representative Assembly Discussion Forum

The LRA will immediately post a notice of the resignation in the RA Announcements Forum and by in-world notice in the C.D.S. group and request that the process for replacement begin.
If the LRA chooses to resign, he or she will do so by notecard to the Dean of the SC, who will immediately post a notice of the resignation in the SC Announcements Forum and by inworld notice to the C.D.S. group, and begin the process for replacement.


If the Dean of the SC has received a notecard of resignation and the individual resigning has posted their resignation in the designated Forum, the Dean of the SC will proceed with the process of replacement, even in the absence of a notice or request from the LRA. .."

It addresses the concerns of transparency you raise, provides the notification you want, and has a 'back-up' action if the LRA fails to act.

If on rereading it still does not appear to do that to you, then edit and post the wording you would like to see - that is the point of a draft.

Calli