Petition to the SC for Citizen List/Voter Roll relief

[Delia Lake]

Petition to the SC from Beathan Vale, received via notecard 11-28-11

Petition to the SC for Citizen List/Voter Roll relief.

SDolphin and his partner, Jia53, purchased land in NFS as a couple, as allowed by NL 5.7 as Amended by NL 7.7, which provides, in relevant part, that "Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens."

SDolphin and his partner Jia53 bought land in Neufreistadt as a couple and informed the estate manager of that fact. Together, from joint funds, they paid tier, satisfying the personal contribution requirment of ownership as a couple. The time of the purchase would have made both eligible as voting citizens for the general election for the 16th RA. However, due to an oversight or scrivener's error by the estate manager, only SDolphin was entered on the voter's rolls as a citizen. Jia53 was erroneously excluded.

Prayer for relief:
1. For a writ of mandamus directing the Estate Owner to amend the official list of citizens eligible to vote in the general election for the 16th RA to include Jia53;
2. For an order of the SC accepting this amended list as the proper list for election for the 16th RA;
3. For a further order of the SC indicating that the number of eligible citizens for the 16th RA general election was 70, not 69, and that therefore the RA should have 7 members, rather than 5; and
4. For a further order of the SC directing the convening of a by-election to fill the two vacant seats at which all citizens who had been citizens for 28 days prior to the close of the by-election shall be eligible to run and vote.

[Delia Lake]

from Beathan Vale, also received 2011-28-11, Addendum/Errata to Petition Re Jia53

One basis for the error was that the estate owner, in setting up the tier box, misspelled the name of Jia53, preventing her from paying under her own name. This was a scriveners error that should not prevent a citizen from otherwise enjoying the full rights to which she was entitled. While payment of back rent might be an appropriate precondition of the relief I sought, nonpayment of amounts that could not have been paid by a citizen due to the error of the estate manager should neither change the citizen's list nor prevent that citizen from full enjoyment of the civil rights of a CDS citizen.

[Delia Lake]

For the record, the name listed on the SL profile of this avatar is jia53 Resident, with a lower case j not Jia53 with a capital J as stated in both the petition and the Addendum received by the SC and copied verbatum above.

[Callipygian]

Petition to the SC from Beathan Vale, received via notecard 11-28-11

Petition to the SC for Citizen List/Voter Roll relief.

SDolphin and his partner, Jia53, purchased land in NFS as a couple, as allowed by NL 5.7 as Amended by NL 7.7, which provides, in relevant part, that "Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens."

SDolphin and his partner Jia53 bought land in Neufreistadt as a couple and informed the estate manager of that fact. Together, from joint funds, they paid tier, satisfying the personal contribution requirment of ownership as a couple. The time of the purchase would have made both eligible as voting citizens for the general election for the 16th RA. However, due to an oversight or scrivener's error by the estate manager, only SDolphin was entered on the voter's rolls as a citizen. Jia53 was erroneously excluded.

Prayer for relief:
1. For a writ of mandamus directing the Estate Owner to amend the official list of citizens eligible to vote in the general election for the 16th RA to include Jia53;
2. For an order of the SC accepting this amended list as the proper list for election for the 16th RA;
3. For a further order of the SC indicating that the number of eligible citizens for the 16th RA general election was 70, not 69, and that therefore the RA should have 7 members, rather than 5; and
4. For a further order of the SC directing the convening of a by-election to fill the two vacant seats at which all citizens who had been citizens for 28 days prior to the close of the by-election shall be eligible to run and vote.

My observations regarding this petition:

Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the petition are dependent on the outcome of part 1 - the requested addition of jia53 to the official citizen list used to calculate the number of seats of the 16th RA and to identify citizens eligible to vote in that election.

Sudane has provided the following information in regard to this petition.

No notecard was received regarding jia53's desire to be become a citizen based on her partnership and joint tenancy with SDolphin. Some days after it was first published, Sudane received an IM request asking why jia53 was not listed as a citizen on the list of voters; it appeared that, based on incorrect information provided by another resident, SDolphin believed jia53's status as a citizen would be automatic. Sudane explained what was required to establish citizenship for jia53.

Sudane installed a tier payment box for jia53, based on the information provided to her, and sent a notecard explaining the tier payment process in NFS. However, the information Sudane received contained a case error - Jia53 - the same one evident in this petition and its addendum. As the tier payment system is case-sensitive, the tier payment box would not work.

When it became evident to jia53 that the box was not working, SDolphin or another citizen contacted Sudane in-world and complained that the box was not working.jia was brought to the box to attempt a payment that failed.

Realizing it was an issue of the spelling, Sudane informed them that she would correct the error and let them know. She did so, and jia53 came to the box while Sudane was in-world, to check that it was working. jia53 touched the box and it recognized her, but she did not pay the box. This is known because the system notifies Sudane whenever a payment box is touched.

No payment was received through jia53's tier box by the month end closeout of October 23rd. The next payment cycle when the boxes were open for tier payment ran from October 28th through Nov 23rd. No payment was received through jia53's tier payment box during that cycle either. Therefore, as of Nov 23rd jia53 has never paid tier to the designated tier box establishing her citizenship and would not be eligible to vote, or be counted in the number of citizens used to establish the number of seats on RA.

Since jia53 cannot be added to the list of eligible voters, parts 2,3 and 4 of the petition are moot.

I think that the only information that would have any impact on jia53's status as a citizen would be the transaction # of a payment to Rudene, from the LL Transaction History. This method of providing a transaction # as proof of a purchase that was not received is fairly standard paractise in SL, but I do not know if it would work in this case, and would have to ask Sudane. Either way,since Beathan is a third-party making this petition, he does not have access to those records. If Sudane indicates that the transaction history is a viable method of confirming a contested payment of tier, then jia53 might choose to submit her own petition to establish her citizenship eligibility by providing the necessary transaction information.

Once again, it should be pointed out that the current system of establishing citizenship eligibility is confusing for those attempting to do so in any way other than buying a parcel, and is equally difficult for Sudane to administer in an efficient fashion. Hopefully the current commissions and proposed legislation regarding citizenship and electoral reform will address this. In addition it is important that information given to new residents by well-meaning citizens be accurate and provide enough information (whether the subject is tier payment, citizenship, covenants etc.), for the new resident to proceed.
The proposed Welcome Package and Welcoming Committee will hopefully be a solution to this.

[Lilith Ivory]

CDS Constitution

Article V – Election, Term, and Office
Section 1 – Voting Frequency

Section 3
No citizen shall be eligible to vote in any election for public office in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators unless he or she has been a citizen for not less than 28 consecutive days immediately before any such election.

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Code Of Laws
NL 5-5 Treasurer Act

TREASURER

The responsibility of the Treasurer is defined as follows:

The Treasurer shall oversee and be responsible for the receipt and disbursement of all money received by the City and for the investment of money received by the City.
It shall also be the responsibility of the Treasurer to assure that the fiscal integrity of the City is protected and that all funds are accounted for, whether revenues from taxes, rental charges, user charges, fees, grants, gifts, or any other source and that expenditures comply with applicable Linden Labs TOS's, City TOS's, City Constitution and Laws, City Policies, Administrative Policies and Procedures, court orders and any other mandates affecting expenditures of funds and the management of the City.
In addition, the Treasurer is responsible for establishing controls which will prevent any expenditure of funds which does not meet the requirement of this policy. Violations or attempted violations of this policy are to be reported to the AC, RA and SC(or their successors) immediately upon detection.
The Treasurer shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control procedures that include but are not limited to:

• Proper authorization of transactions and activities.
• Adequate documents and records.
• Adequate safeguards over access and use of assets and records.

In order that the City present fairly and with full disclosure its financial position and results of operations, the Treasurer is responsible for establishing and maintaining an effective accounting system that will result in the:
Identification and recording of all valid transactions.

• Description on a timely basis of the type of transaction in sufficient detail to permit proper classification of the transaction for financial reporting.
• Measurement of the transaction's value in a manner that permits recording of its monetary value in the financial statements.
• Determination of the time period in which the transaction occurred to permit recording of the transaction in the proper accounting period.
• Proper presentation of the transaction and related disclosures in the financial statements.

Policy Regarding the Treasurer
The RL person, in the form of their principal avatar, must be a citizen of Neufreistadt, as defined by the founding documents.
The RL person must establish an alternate avatar; that is, one different from their primary SL persona avatar. This alt avatar shall be technically a bank account of the governing entity". All funds of this "Treasurer avatar" are and shall remain the property of Neufreistadt, until the termination of the Treasurer's term in office, at which time they will be transferred to a newly appointed "Treasurer avatar".
Likewise, should the governing entity decide to continue accepting US$ payments, the RL person must establish a Paypal Business account with the buisness name corresponding to the governmental entity which the Treasurer serves. This account, too, shall be technically a bank account of the governing entity. All funds of this Paypal account are and shall remain the property of Neufreistadt, until the termination of the Treasurer's term in office, at which time they will be transferred to a newly appointed Paypal account.
The Treasurer must disclose their RL contact information in confidence to another Citizen of their own chosing in case the untoward should happen to the Treasurer. In this eventuality, access to the Treasurer' alt account and access to the Paypal account would be necessary.
The position of Treasurer shall be understood as a "civil service" type position. The citizen holding this role will not occupy any other elected or administrative position in the governed entity which he/she serves, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. She/he shall be appointed by the Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the RA, and shall jold their position until they may resign or removed for cause. Any such planned transition shall be of a duration of no fewer than 60 days to allow for reestablishment of accounts and the transfer of funds.

Duties of the Treasurer
1. To pay to the Estate Owner, in a timely fashion, funds sufficient to cover the sim's monthly obligation to LL, along with associated costs which may in incurred.
2. To handle real estate transactions under the direction of the appropriate government bodies of Neufreistadt; e.g., to receive applications from new members and existing citizens for the purchase or transfer of sim(s) land; to prepare necessary the deeds, to guide applicants through the process to ensure transactions are properly executed, and to keep accurate public records regarding the sim(s); the land, the parcels, the ownership configuration, and the obligations of each citizen regarding their monthly fee.
3. To handle the financial transactions under the direction of the appropriate government bodies of Neufreistadt; e.g., to collect revenues, disburse expenses, transfer and exchange currency, and to maintain the necessary in-world and RL accounts needed to administer City funds in both L$ and US$.
4. To maintain a financial system in a manner consistent with RL standard accounting practices, using standard double-entry bookkeeping principles.
5. To maintain an open reporting and record systems which provides the Citizens of Neufreistadt information regarding the financial status of the city and land ownership data. However, RL information regarding Citizens, e.g., contact information, paypal account information, etc., shall be kept private.
6. To cooperate with the bodies of government as established by the citizens of Neufreistadt in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the office and to work with any special Committees established by such bodies to develop and implement suitable oversight systems.
7. To provide other duties as assigned.

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passed 14 September 2006
NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act (amended by NL 7-7)
NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act - amended by NL 7-7 21 October 2007

This extends the option of land ownership in Neufreistadt to couples and groups of citizens. Among others, this allows joint ownership of land by people in committed relationships, social, educational, and religious organizations.

1. Plots of land in Neufreistadt may be owned by couples or groups of citizens. All members must be citizens before joining the group.
2. Residents of SL receive citizenship in the CDS by owning land in one of the territories administered by the CDS, and by agreeing to comply with the laws and covenants of the community. The citizen, who shall be a RL person presenting themself as a single SL avatar, may hold land either through individual ownership (in which their name is displayed on the "About Land" page of their parcel), or through membership in a group (in which the group name is displayed as "owner" on the "About Land" page of their parcel). The group shall own, compliant with the covenants regarding maximum ownership by any single citizen, at least 128 sq meters of land for each individual whose citizenship is qualified by that land.
3. Furthermore, each citizen shall be required to pay their monthly fee for land ownership, in person, each month, at the sim location established for this purpose. Individual owners shall pay the entire cost of their parcels in this manner. Group members shall allocate among themselves each member's share of the fee for land owned by their group, with the minimum amount of L$100 allocated to any one person. A group representative shall provide to the Treasurer, in a timely fashion, the list of citizen members, and their respective allocations.
4. In the course of time, should it happen that an individual does not pay their monthly fee (according to schedules established by the Chancellor and the Treasurer), that person shall be liable to lose their citizenship. Should that citizen be a citizen by virtue of membership in a land owning group, other group members will NOT risk losing their parcel and thus their citizenship. Rather, at the point that the Chancellor/Treasurer shall determine that person to be delinquent, and thus ineligible for further citizenship, the remaining members of that group shall be required to re-allocate their monthly amounts in order that 100% of the monthly fee be paid. If the resulting reduction in membership should cause the group to exceed its maximum land-owning allowance (as per the covenants), the group will be required to divest excess land.
5. If the citizen leaves a land holding group they have two months to reestablish their holdings to meet the above criteria.

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passed October 7, 2006 and amended by NL 7-7 21 October 2007

NL 5-15 Citizen Information Act
NL 5-15 Citizen Information Act

The avatar names of CDS citizens shall be considered public information. The Estate Owner shall make this information available both in world and via the world wide web. This information will be updated at least once per calendar month.

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passed 8 December 2006
amended 25 March 2007

NL 5-16 An Act Establishing a Special Commission on the Judiciary and Revising the Judicial Code of Procedure
NL 5-17 Census Scheduling Act

The number of seats in the RA shall be based upon the number of citizens as of the deadline for voting in the election that will elect that RA (per Article V).(see Article V above)

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passed 16 December 2006
modified 25 April 2010

CDSL 13-03 Motion to amend NL 9-2 the Land Sales Reclamation Act

Given the the Chancellor, Treasurer and the people assembled in commission meetings find the current collection rules ineffective, confusing and a hindrance to the effective management of tier collection, the following amendments are proposed to the Land Sales Reclamation Act.

1. Citizens of CDS are expected to pay tier rentals to the CDS Treasurer in a timely fashion. The Treasurer shall set (by posting to the CDS Forums) due dates for tier, which shall be the due date thereafter. The due date will be no earlier than five days after payment boxes are open to accept tier payments. Landowoners must contact the treasurer directly to arrange pre-payment as necessary.
2. The CDS Executive Branch shall provide for notice (which may be by IM or notecard) to each land owner when they have failed to pay tier rental by the established due date within 5 days of the delinquency.
3. Five calendar days after the due date, a landowner who has failed timely to pay rental tier becomes a 'provisional citizen', and shall not have the right to vote or hold office in the CDS until and unless all amounts overdue to CDS are paid in full. The citizen shall receive a notice (by IM or notecard) advising her or him of this risk and imminent change is status, and noting the deadline for final payment pursuant to this Act.
4. CDS has the right to make public the lists of provisional citizens from time to time, as reasonably needed for its administration of government.
5. Fourteen days after the due date, if the landowner has continued to fail to pay the full amount then overdue to CDS, then CDS shall reclaim all parcels owned by the landowner and hold all parcels in reserve. Objects on the parcels will be be returned to the landowner and the parcels be set for re-sale
6. If a landowner who has failed to pay rental tier owns more than one CDS property, all of that owner's properties are subject to the reclamation rules specified above.
7. The CDS Executive Branch is encouraged to take reasonable additional steps to notify citizens of past due amounts and all other matters described in this Act, but timely rent payment primarily is the citizen's responsibility to monitor.
8. This law repeals any provisions of prior CDS laws (including NL 7-6) that specify land reclamation or rent payment methods, to the extent that they contradict the explicit terms of this law.

CDSL 13-10 Citizenship Bill

Preamble

The CDS Constitution makes a clear link between citizenship and land. In respect of this principle, this bill describes the possible methods of attaining citizenship in CDS and their implementation.

1. The following methods to attain citizenship in CDS are possible:

a. Land ownership (landowner citizen)
b. Sponsorship of landmarks, parks or common lands will, designated as 'sponsored locations' (sponsor citizen)
c. Group (group-owned parcel citizen)

2. All rules regarding tier payment and the right to vote or te be candidate for an official position apply on landowner citizen as well as on sponsor citizen and on group-owned parcel citizen.

3. The smallest size a sponsored location or a part of a group-owned parcel is 256 mq. There is no minimum for parcels owned by a single owner.

4. The smallest tier for sponsorship and group citizenship is 250 L$.

5. The landowner citizen has the right to build in the parcel. The sponsor citizen has no right on the parcel. The rights of a group-owned parcel citizen on the parcel is defined in the group charter.

6. Each citizen has a tier box and appears in the list of citizen.

7. The sponsored locations are defined by the executive and accepted by the RA. They are listed in the masterplan of each sim. The names of the sponsors are listed on the location.

8. The owner of the group and the avatar requesting citizenship notify the CDS Treasurer of the desire for a group citizenship, and request a tier box be assigned on one of the parcels of the group. The owner of the group pays the difference between the fees paid by the group-owned parcelcitizen from his /her group and the official tier.

9. A policy is made by the Executive to fix every detail of citizenship management. The Executive is responsible to inform all poeple who are concerned by the adoption of this bill.

10. The various possibilities to attain citizenship are described in the different information and communication channels and especially in the portal and in the in-world kiosks.

11. The act NL 5-9 Group Land Ownership Act is abrogated.

12. The avatars who are citizen by payjng a fee of 100 L$ stay citizen for 2 entire terms after the adoption of the current law. After this period, the Treasurer will offer them a sponsored location.

[Delia Lake]

As I stated in the SC Meeting of 12 December 2011, I recuse myself from the discussion and voting as an SC member, beyond the first 3 postings in this thread*, regarding the "Petition to the SC for Citizen List/Voter Roll relief" and the conference of citizenship via land purchase by "SDolphin and his partner, Jia53, [who]purchased land in NFS as a couple" as the land I believe this petition refers to is the parcel at 1600 Catfarht that was purchased on 25 September 2011 from me.

*Postings 1 & 2 are copied verbatum from the petition and its addendum received by me from Beathan Vale plus my "for the record" 3rd post in this thread regarding the spelling of jia53's name.

Delia Lake