Concerns over prioritisation of work in RA

[Diderot Mirabeau]

While I applaud the willingness of the remaining members of the RA to put in a lot of work to serve the city in these times where there is a need for everyone to put in an extra effort I also have some concerns about the present state of affairs.

Correct me if I'm wrong but at the moment the RA is effectively lacking an opposition due to the absence of any elected member of the old SDF sitting in the RA, right?

In a situation where two of the seats of the RA are not vacated with people who with some degree of reasonability could be considered to be in opposition to the viewpoints represented by the LRA I think it would be prudent by the remaining members to exercise some caution with regard to the pace and extent of change being facilitated through legislation.

I am worried that the present state of affairs in the RA does not to my view exercise such caution. I am specifically worried about the following:

- Meeting frequency of the RA seems to have increased rather than stayed put or decreased
- Meetings are consistently being placed at times where it is utterly impossible for citizens in European timezones to participate
- Transcripts of previous sessions have yet to be placed on the wiki. Additionally, the wiki lacks documentation of any acts that have been passed since 4-25

I therefore encourage the RA as a body to take into consideration the fact that they are not as representative of the population now as they were a month ago and that they take heed of this fact in scheduling and prioritising their political work.

Now is not the time for passing legislation that has the potential to derive citizens of their property or rights. In this situation the maximum emphasis should be given to ensuring transparency towards the citizens and not towards increasing the frequency of RA meetings being held at "exclusive" hours to use an unrepresentative majority to pass potentially heavyhanded legislation.

I just want this to be understood as a concern and nothing more. I realise that there is likely no malign intent behind the current practice in the RA and as stated I acknowledge the great effort of work that is being shown by the members. I simply want to encourage the members of the RA to be aware that the current situation is highly unusual from a democratic perspective and I think it calls for some extraordinary caution as well.

[Claude Desmoulins]

Your concern is appreciated.

The last time I looked, the SDF was still valid. If the statement in Article I section 2 about factions controlling their seats has any meaning, the SC should provide the SDF a mechanism, perhaps an immediate ranking of all current faction members, to fill its seats in the current RA.

I would point out to my distinguished colleague that the constitution mandates that ranking of faction members occur parallel to citizen ranking of factions during the general election. I can find nothing to indicate, however, that it is not allowed at other times.

[Flyingroc Chung]

The meeting times are a simple matter of scheduling, I'm not available during weekends, and Pel isn't available during working hours (EDT) on weekdays, and Claude has to put the kids to bed at night, I think.

I would like to say that I think the eminent domain bill was proposed after we scheduled the next RA meeting, and it was by someone outside of the RA (which, of course, we'll have to consider in the meeting). I don't think we're trying to railroad anything here.

[Claude Desmoulins]

To allow the SC an opportunity to meet and consider the apparent dissolution of the SDF as a city faction ( at last check it had only two citizen members, Eugene Pomeray and Patroklus Murakami) and the effect of same on RA membership, the RA will postpone its meeting until Monday at 7:30 pm SLT.

[Diderot Mirabeau]

Thank you for your consideration and prompt replies to my concerns.

Let me emphasise that my posting was made as an individual citizen and has nothing to do with the Scientific Council at all.

I appreciate that the RA meeting has been postponed and hope that perhaps the interim time can be put to fruitful use by ensuring that the wiki is updated with transcripts and copies of the acts that have been passed at the most recent meetings of the RA.

I do not see how the fact that the SDF has only two citizens as members is an event that calls for the involvement of the SC. My personal and professional view of the SC is that it is a branch of government that has as its task to ensure the constitutionality of any acts and actions passed by the Representative Assembly and other government bodies in a reactive manner i.e. to consider appeals lodged by citizens, who feel that the action of a government body has been in violation of the constitution.

Since the SC does not have a democratic mandate it would be wrong in my view for it to take an active role in submitting enabling legislation or making advance statements about what is the recommended course of action. This would be in line with making policy without a democratic mandate to do so. The SC should stick to being the enforcer of the constitution with respect to the acts and actions of other government bodies. It should not take any independent initiative in my view to influence legislation for example before it has been passed.

I would therefore view it as solely the privilege and duty of the RA to address political circumstances as they arise by passing the necessary enabling legislation as they see fit with the knowledge that if a citizen feels constitutionally wronged by an act or an action they can appeal the decision for review by the SC.

To sum it up it the SC does not have as a service role the task of proposing solutions to constitutional problems for the RA to make use of in my view and it can therefore not be expected to put forward solutions of its own accord.

[Claude Desmoulins]

[quote="Diderot Mirabeau":3842mqio]Thank you for your consideration and prompt replies to my concerns.

I appreciate that the RA meeting has been postponed and hope that perhaps the interim time can be put to fruitful use by ensuring that the wiki is updated with transcripts and copies of the acts that have been passed at the most recent meetings of the RA.

[/quote:3842mqio]

Alas, some of the journal entries were voted secret and these must be examined by the SC to uphold or overturn the secrecy.

[Brian Livingston]

Did the RA meeting take place tonight? I popped in world around 7:50 and noone was in the sim.

[Flyingroc Chung]

Claude had some scheduling issues and couldn't come, and I was late... we'll have to resched the RA meeting.

[Jon Seattle]

I want to voice support of Diderot's concern about the scheduling of RA meetings. Neualtenburg has a number of European citizens that bring a bring a great deal to the community. It is vitally important for any citizen to be able to participate in legislative meetings. This is close to impossible if meetings are scheduled in the middle of the night.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Jon, as always, we have to work on compromises here Currently, I think it's next to impossible for the RA to meet at any other hour than the appointed one; while I personally would also love to attend one or two meetings, it's been so hard to get the RA together on a specific hour with a quorum, that we really have to allow them to meet at a time that is best for [i:320rbvxw]them[/i:320rbvxw], although it might mean that other citizens will never be able to be present.

The RA has often adjusted their timetables every time a member is replaced, for instance; this seems to be currently the best time for most of the RA members to attend, so, sadly, it means that it can't be done easily on Euro-friendly hours... but we'll see what happens when the remaining 2 vacant seats are filled again. Highly likely this will mean rescheduling the meeting day once more... eventually to a different hour/day.