Bill Proposal: Amendment to Budget and Accountability Act

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Amendment to the Budget and Accountability Act

Rationale

CDSL 13-11 'Budget and Accountability Act' removes the effective control of the Representative Assembly over new regions introduced by acts such as NL 8-4 'Private Development Act' by stating on its first article that tier payments do not require to be budgeted for. This lapse effectively allows the Chancellor to add new regions, using whatever legislation allows that, without requiring explicit budget approval by the Representative Assembly for an increased expense. CDSL 13-11 also fails to clarify what happens if a budget is not approved.

Therefore, the Representative Assembly determines:

1. Amend the first article of the CDSL 13-11 'Budget and Accountability Act' to read:

Neither commitments to pay nor actual payments shall be made by the Executive without first having a budget approved by the RA.

2. Add a new article between 1. and 2. reading:

The budget shall include discretionary spending as well as an estimate of total tier spending throughout the term, based on current land prices set by the grid operator at the time the budget is presented.

3. Amend article 6 to read:

Changes in the budget in excess of 10% of the total funds shall be resubmitted to the RA for approval.

4. Include an article between 5 and 6:

If the budget is not approved, that the last approved budget shall be used instead.

[Rosie Gray]

Gwyn, I have to disagree that the only issue with NL 8-4 is to do with the budget and accountability, although I do agree that it is an important piece of the trouble with it.

I think that NL 8-4 should also include a provision that requires a complete survey of the citizens as to what theme and placement would be acceptable to the majority. Otherwise, the CDS is forced to take on a themed sim that most people may not want or support, despite that it may fall within the now quite old GMP which should have been updated.