Presentation & Summary of CARE's Legislative Process Act

[michelmanen]

Our legislative drafting process is currenty the sole prerogative of RA members who:

1) often have little time to engage in the technical drafting of laws;

2) must focus their time and efforts more effectively on substantive policy determination; and who

3). often do not have the legal and professional training required to produce clear, succinct, coherent and effective Bills.

Therefore, CARE will propose a [i:3vgdx9ao]Legislative Process Act[/i:3vgdx9ao] designed to improve the RA's legislative drafting process and provide professional support to all RA members.

Anyone interested in the draft Media and Information Act and CARE's discussions on this matter can follow and participate here:
http://www.care-cds.com/forum/index.php ... sg57#msg57 .

[Flyingroc Chung]

Under your plan, will the legislative drafters also be excluded from other governmental or quasi-governmental roles?

[michelmanen]

Indeed. They must be entirely independent.

[Flyingroc Chung]

If all the CARE proposals get approved by the RA, how many government positions will have to be uniquely filled by an individual?

[michelmanen]

Depending on the specifics of various proposals and their final working, approximately 30. Please note CARE views this as a system of govenance in which as many citizens as possible should be given the opportunity to tale part, as opposed to a "professional government" to be insulated and kept separate from the large majority of citizens whose agree to be "governed" by others while focusing strictly on their private endeavours.

[Beathan]

[quote="Flyingroc Chung":1eq5z7a0]If all the CARE proposals get approved by the RA, how many government positions will have to be uniquely filled by an individual?[/quote:1eq5z7a0]

FR -- don't worry. If any of these proposals get approved, it will be in substantially modified form

Michel --

This is a clear usurpation of the legislative role by the executive. It forces all legislation to be edited by and through the executive. In other words, you are asking that all legislation, including that proposed by a legislature, be redrafted by the executive before it is voted on. This is crazy.

Beathan

[Fernando Book]

I don't know why the Chancellor has to appoint some kind of assistants to the Legislative: if the RA needs the [i:1k715xbs]drafters[/i:1k715xbs], the RA should appoint them, as Beathan has remarked.

Also, if we are looking for professional aid, probably this aid should be different if the RA is writing a law concerning IP rights, a covenant, or the Judiciary Act, so I don't find much useful to have the same advisers for every law.

Finally, it seems a bit contradictory to me to blame the RA for being a "professional government" and, simultaneously, for not having "the legal and professional training required".

[Patroklus Murakami]

For the benefit of those who don't want to click through to another website to get the text:

[quote="CARE/Michel":2kc13lvn]The Legislative Process Act

1. The Chancellor shall appoint two or more Legislative Drafters ("the LGs").

2. The LGs shall form the Legislative Drafting Committee ("the LDC").

3. The LDC shall work with, and under the supervision of, the RA in accordance with the following legislative process:

a) Introduction: any individual citizen generally or RA Member specifically may submit a draft Bill in the RA, presenting, outlining and summarising the substantive content of the desired bill.

b) First Reading: the RA shall consider and debate the draft Bill summary, make any changes or amendments it sees fit, and vote to approve or reject it.

c) Referral: If approved, the draft Bill summary will be referred by the RA to the LDC, which shall be led by the RA member who introduced the draft Bill, or by an RA member designated for that purpose by the RA if the Draft Bill was introduced by a non-RA Member;

d) Legal Drafting: The LDC will examine the draft Bill summary and draft the actual text of the future Act, based on the Bill summary received, instructions from the RA and under the supervision of the RA Member heading it.

e) Second Reading: the RA shall examine the text of the Draft Bill as submitted by the LDC to the RA, amend it as necessary and hold a vote on it.[/quote:2kc13lvn]

[michelmanen]

[quote:2vzruhek]
This is a clear usurpation of the legislative role by the executive. It forces all legislation to be edited by and through the executive. In other words, you are asking that all legislation, including that proposed by a legislature, be redrafted by the executive before it is voted on. This is crazy. [/quote:2vzruhek]

Absolutely not. The LC members are simply appointed by the Chancellor, just like all other non-elected public officials in our community are - but they are entirely independent of the Executive. They work with and for the RA, and their only interest is that of drafting the best possible Bills in accordance with the instructions of the RA and under the guidance of an RA member. Their role is, in effect, that of providing technical, specialised support. They have no powers of veto - once they finish drafting, the darft Bill goes back to the RA and the RA can modify the draft as it sees fit.

If the original apointment is such a problem, theoretically it can be done by the RA - but the risk of these appointments becoming politisised is much greater if a group of 9 individuals with very different political agendas must make them rather than the Executive, who already appoints all other non-elected public officials . Be that as it may, the key issue in this Bill is to have two technicaly competent, professional drafters with a good understanding of legal matters (no, they don't *have* to be lawyers ) to ensure both the best possible Bills are produced and to allow elected representatives to focus on what they are elected to do: policy-making and interaction with their electorate. As your community grows, these two aspects will become more and more important and the LC is the perfect solution to ensure both objectives can be achieved.

[michelmanen]

[quote:9ax1u8t4]I don't know why the Chancellor has to appoint some kind of assistants to the Legislative: if the RA needs the drafters, the RA should appoint them, as Beathan has remarked.[/quote:9ax1u8t4]

See my answer to Beathan above.

[quote:9ax1u8t4]Also, if we are looking for professional aid, probably this aid should be different if the RA is writing a law concerning IP rights, a covenant, or the Judiciary Act, so I don't find much useful to have the same advisers for every law.[/quote:9ax1u8t4]

Well, the text says 2 or more. I would expect the first two would each have a field of expertise - but remember, their task is to do legal drafting, not to set policy. Of course, as our community grows, and with it the RA [the constitution stipulates the RA can have up to 40 members - the quality of drafting, if left to RA members, will become more and more uneven and potentially inconsistent (another job of the LC would be to make sure various laws are not inconsistent or contradictory when drafted) if left to the RA members themselves] - the LC can also grow and individuals with different areas of expertise can be hired. I think that for now, 2 drafters would be quite sufficient , if one looks at the output of the RA over the last couple of years.

[quote:9ax1u8t4]Finally, it seems a bit contradictory to me to blame the RA for being a "professional government" and, simultaneously, for not having "the legal and professional training required".[/quote:9ax1u8t4]

I have never "blamed" the RA for not having "the legal and professional training required". In fact, that is not their job. They are elected to make policy and be available to their voters. Having an LC avoids exactly the danger of such a professionalisation of the RA - RA mebmers can have absolutely any background whatsoever, since they will all have the technical support they need in the LC. This is even more important in a community where any citizen can submit a Bill. We are in effect saying: dont worry about the technical drafting part, inconsistency with other laws and any other such matters: just give th RA your ideas, sumarise what is to be acheived and how, and then let the LC put it in the right format -with the RA having ultimate control over both content and form, of course.

In short, the LC introduced a differentiation of functions that allows us both to have high-quality, professionally-drafted Bills, and an RA where members need no particular techical expertise and they can rotate relatively quickly, all whilst focusing on policy, openness, acccountabilty and citizen participation.

[michelmanen]

Pat,

Carrying on with these CARE/Michel references only shows how disingenuous your assertions of keeping our discussions purely on the policy-making level really are. The fact is that the text you copied comes from the CARE forums and is a position put forward by CARE as a party -and not just by one individual. But if, as incoming LRA, it makes you happy to try to score partisan political points in any manner possible, be me guest- have a blast!

Michel