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- Jun 30, 2024
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Author: Lysander Lyon, MP, and Lil Digi, MP
Sponsor: N/A
Type: Act of Parliament
Preamble: Local autonomy will lead to greater community self-representation in Parliament and stronger local bonds.
1. Short Title & Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the “Local Representation Act”.
(b) This bill was authored by Lysander Lyon and Lil Digi.
2. Electoral Districts
(a) The Members of Parliament elected to a winner-take-all district shall be known as Mayor-Members of Parliament, with unique local authority in their district.
3. Powers Delegated To Districts
(a) Each district shall be empowered to submit budget requests to Parliament.
(i) These budget requests should act as a high level overview of the spending, split by agency or major project.
(ii) Parliament may set additional guidelines through later legislation for how detailed district budget requests are expected to be, or may request additional information about a budget when it is submitted.
(iii) Budget requests are expected to be submitted on a monthly basis, although special budget requests may be made outside of the normal timeframe if the need arises.
(b) The districts will be empowered to set and enforce standards for what constitutes an eyesore, and shall be empowered to enforce zoning regulations within the district.
(c) All existing buses in each district shall be turned over to the respective district they are in, with all maintenance costs and authority over those buses turned entirely over to the district.
(i) Buses and transportation systems outside a district shall remain the authority of the Azalea Isles Government.
(ii) Fees shall remain the authority of the Azalea Isles Government.
(d) Districts are empowered to create, manage, and expand the transportation networks in their district, so long as there are at least three connections to the other districts’ transportation networks.
(e) Districts are empowered to set spending levels and policies through local ordinances.
(i) Local ordinances act as binding laws within the district, and persist unless repealed.
(ii) Local ordinances may not override national law.
(iii) In addition to policy creation, local ordinances may be used for agency establishment, regulations, budget allocations, and all proper legislative action that does not conflict with national law.
(iv) Local ordinances may not be used to define new crimes, or interfere with existing ones.
(f) Districts are empowered to propose and pass referendums that establish, change, or repeal policies.
(i) Referendum results are binding and cannot be repealed by an ordinance, only by another referendum or by national law.
(ii) Referendum structure and policy is delegated to the districts to set via initial ordinances.
(iii) Referendum policies may not override national law.
(g) Districts are empowered to support a local police force that shall work with the Ministry of Justice.
(h) Districts are empowered to support a local health team that shall work with the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health.
(i) Districts are empowered to declare and establish relevant local holidays.
(j) Large-scale national projects must get approval from the district they would occur in.
(i) This does not refer to items that are not reasonably large-scale, such as events, or building a new government building on a government-owned plot, but refers to projects that have direct relevance to the district, such as transportation, road reconstruction or expansion, plot expansion or creation, public utility construction, and similar projects.
(k) Districts are empowered to create and provide grant programs.
(l) Districts are empowered to establish local stockpiles of resources.
(m) Districts may request expansions of their district, which must be approved by a simple majority vote of Parliament, and the Crown.
(i) Plot creation and sales are subject to the oversight and approval of the Ministry of Urban Development.
(ii) Cost appraisal for land expansions is the responsibility of the Crown.
(iii) Parliament shall follow the normal 48 hour debate and 48 hour vote time periods for this vote.
(/n) Districts may hire employees to staff agencies or programs.
(o) Each district shall have its own forum subsection, which shall include subforums for mayoral orders, local ordinances, and referendums.
(p) Each district will be given ownership of the rentals within the district, and shall be granted authority over them, unless otherwise provided for by law.
(q) All revenue from new plots created in a district, or from auctions or other similar sales of plots evicted for death (inactivity) or failure to follow regulations, shall be split evenly between the national government and the district.
(i) Evicted/seized plots are still the property of the national government until a sale is made.
(r) Districts shall create and use companies for their governance, which shall be exempted from balance taxes.
(i) District governments should strongly refrain from excessive company creation.
4. Mayor-Members of Parliament (MMPs)
(a) MMPs shall be responsible for drafting and submitting budget requests to the Speaker of Parliament, as outlined in Section 3(a).
(i) The Speaker is expected to open debate on a budget request within 48 hours of receiving it. The budget request shall follow the normal legislative process for debate and voting.
(b) MMPs are empowered to draft, sign, and enact local ordinances, which act as the laws of the district and are used to govern and manage district policy.
(i) Local ordinances shall be used for governing the transportation network; budgets and spending levels; referendum structure, processes, and policy; local holidays; grant programs; resource stockpiling programs; district agency creation; and district expansion.
(ii) Local ordinances may also add additional responsibility to appointed district officials.
(c) MMPs are empowered to draft, sign, and enact mayoral orders, which direct agency actions and policy for local agencies.
(i) Mayoral orders may not interfere with responsibilities assigned by this law to a district official, such as the Commissioner. Those responsibilities are at the district official’s discretion.
(ii) Mayoral orders may direct district official action or policy around additional responsibilities given to that official through a local ordinance.
(d) MMPs are responsible for appointing the Constable, Health Director, and Commissioner for the district.
(i) These officials serve at the pleasure of the MMP and may be dismissed at any time.
(ii) These positions are not required to be filled. An individual can serve in multiple roles, including while being the MMP.
5. The Constable
(a) The Constable shall be the district’s chief of police, responsible for working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure safe streets and enforce criminal law.
(b) The Constable may hire a Deputy Constable to assist with local district policing efforts, and a District Attorney to assist with local criminal prosecutions.
(c) The Constable is not required to become a national police officer, but is strongly encouraged to, in order to support local policing efforts. The Deputy Constable and District Attorney are both required to be Ministry of Justice employees before they can be hired.
(d) Individuals that hold a position as Constable, Deputy Constable, and/or District Attorney for a district recognize their responsibility to support and advocate for their district within the Ministry of Justice.
6. The Health Director
(a) The Health Director shall be the district’s top public health official, responsible for working with the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health to keep disease under control and support citizen health.
(b) The Health Director may hire a Doctor to support local health initiatives. The individual must hold the Doctor profession to be qualified.
(c) The Health Director and Doctor are not required to become an employee of the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health, but are recommended to, in order to support local health efforts.
7. The Commissioner
(a) The Commissioner shall be the district’s top development official, responsible for working with the Ministry of Urban Development to support zoning enforcement.
(b) The Commissioner shall work with the Ministry of Urban Development to advise on borough zoning policy for their district.
(c) The Commissioner shall have the power to determine whether a plot in the district follows the zoning theme, or not.
(i) Enforcement of non-subjective characteristics, such as build height and basement depth, shall remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Urban Development.
(ii) Enforcement of subjective characteristics shall be the responsibility of the district Commissioner.
(d) The Commissioner shall also be given the power to determine whether a plot is an eyesore, due to unfinished construction.
(i) Only plots with unfinished construction that are not demonstrating reasonable active progress should be considered eyesores; unfinished construction that is progressing at a reasonable rate is not an eyesore.
(e) If a plot is determined to be in violation of the zoning theme, or an eyesore, the Commissioner shall be responsible for warning the in-game owner of the plot.
(f) If the violation is not resolved after 7 days, the owner shall be fined $1,000, and given another 7 days to remedy the issue.
(i) All fines shall go to the district’s balance.
(g) If, after the next 7 days, the issue is still not resolved, the owner shall be fined again, and given another 7 days. This shall continue, with the owner being fined every week, until the violation is resolved.
(h) Owners may also be fined for lack of development,
8. Referendums
(a) No district may allow individuals to sign a petition or vote on a referendum if they are not registered to vote in the district. No district may allow individuals to vote on a referendum if they do not meet the constitutional eligibility requirements to vote for Parliament, or if they are not registered to vote in the district.
(b) Referendums must be initiated via a referendum petition, posted in the Petitions and Referendums forum space, or by a local ordinance.
(i) The petition must be titled according to the following format: [District Name] Referendum Petition: [Petition Short Title]
(ii) The petition must contain the full text of the referendum, including an enactment period.
(iii) If initiated by a local ordinance, the process is advanced to the referendum being posted for voting, as if it was a petition meeting signature requirements in Section 8(f).
(c) The Speaker of Parliament shall review and certify the petition, prior to any signature gathering. The Speaker of Parliament shall confirm the petition meets the requirements listed above, in the thread.
(i) Any signatures made before the certification is provided in the thread are null and void.
(d) The following requirements for a referendum may be changed by a local ordinance.
(e) Once a petition is certified, district residents shall have 48 hours to sign the petition. The petition must receive 10 signatures from individuals who:
(i) Were a registered voter in the district prior to the petition being filed
(ii) Meet the constitutional eligibility requirements to vote for Parliament by the time the petition signature collection period ends
(f) If the petition meets this requirement at the end of the 48 hours, it shall be submitted to a vote of the district.
(g) Individuals must have been a registered voter in the district for more than 120 hours (5 days) upon the conclusion of the vote for their vote to be counted. Individuals must also meet the constitutional requirements for parliamentary voting eligibility.
(h) The referendum shall pass if a simple majority of votes cast are in favor of the referendum, and shall otherwise fail.
9. Supersession
(a) The provisions of this law shall supersede in the event of a conflict with any other law.
Enactment: This Act comes into force for the election of the 13th Parliament of Azalea Isles.
Sponsor: N/A
Type: Act of Parliament
A
BILL
TO
Establish District-Level Governance
BILL
TO
Establish District-Level Governance
Preamble: Local autonomy will lead to greater community self-representation in Parliament and stronger local bonds.
1. Short Title & Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the “Local Representation Act”.
(b) This bill was authored by Lysander Lyon and Lil Digi.
2. Electoral Districts
(a) The Members of Parliament elected to a winner-take-all district shall be known as Mayor-Members of Parliament, with unique local authority in their district.
3. Powers Delegated To Districts
(a) Each district shall be empowered to submit budget requests to Parliament.
(i) These budget requests should act as a high level overview of the spending, split by agency or major project.
(ii) Parliament may set additional guidelines through later legislation for how detailed district budget requests are expected to be, or may request additional information about a budget when it is submitted.
(iii) Budget requests are expected to be submitted on a monthly basis, although special budget requests may be made outside of the normal timeframe if the need arises.
(b) The districts will be empowered to set and enforce standards for what constitutes an eyesore, and shall be empowered to enforce zoning regulations within the district.
(c) All existing buses in each district shall be turned over to the respective district they are in, with all maintenance costs and authority over those buses turned entirely over to the district.
(i) Buses and transportation systems outside a district shall remain the authority of the Azalea Isles Government.
(ii) Fees shall remain the authority of the Azalea Isles Government.
(d) Districts are empowered to create, manage, and expand the transportation networks in their district, so long as there are at least three connections to the other districts’ transportation networks.
(e) Districts are empowered to set spending levels and policies through local ordinances.
(i) Local ordinances act as binding laws within the district, and persist unless repealed.
(ii) Local ordinances may not override national law.
(iii) In addition to policy creation, local ordinances may be used for agency establishment, regulations, budget allocations, and all proper legislative action that does not conflict with national law.
(iv) Local ordinances may not be used to define new crimes, or interfere with existing ones.
(f) Districts are empowered to propose and pass referendums that establish, change, or repeal policies.
(i) Referendum results are binding and cannot be repealed by an ordinance, only by another referendum or by national law.
(ii) Referendum structure and policy is delegated to the districts to set via initial ordinances.
(iii) Referendum policies may not override national law.
(g) Districts are empowered to support a local police force that shall work with the Ministry of Justice.
(h) Districts are empowered to support a local health team that shall work with the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health.
(i) Districts are empowered to declare and establish relevant local holidays.
(j) Large-scale national projects must get approval from the district they would occur in.
(i) This does not refer to items that are not reasonably large-scale, such as events, or building a new government building on a government-owned plot, but refers to projects that have direct relevance to the district, such as transportation, road reconstruction or expansion, plot expansion or creation, public utility construction, and similar projects.
(k) Districts are empowered to create and provide grant programs.
(l) Districts are empowered to establish local stockpiles of resources.
(m) Districts may request expansions of their district, which must be approved by a simple majority vote of Parliament, and the Crown.
(i) Plot creation and sales are subject to the oversight and approval of the Ministry of Urban Development.
(ii) Cost appraisal for land expansions is the responsibility of the Crown.
(iii) Parliament shall follow the normal 48 hour debate and 48 hour vote time periods for this vote.
(/n) Districts may hire employees to staff agencies or programs.
(o) Each district shall have its own forum subsection, which shall include subforums for mayoral orders, local ordinances, and referendums.
(p) Each district will be given ownership of the rentals within the district, and shall be granted authority over them, unless otherwise provided for by law.
(q) All revenue from new plots created in a district, or from auctions or other similar sales of plots evicted for death (inactivity) or failure to follow regulations, shall be split evenly between the national government and the district.
(i) Evicted/seized plots are still the property of the national government until a sale is made.
(r) Districts shall create and use companies for their governance, which shall be exempted from balance taxes.
(i) District governments should strongly refrain from excessive company creation.
4. Mayor-Members of Parliament (MMPs)
(a) MMPs shall be responsible for drafting and submitting budget requests to the Speaker of Parliament, as outlined in Section 3(a).
(i) The Speaker is expected to open debate on a budget request within 48 hours of receiving it. The budget request shall follow the normal legislative process for debate and voting.
(b) MMPs are empowered to draft, sign, and enact local ordinances, which act as the laws of the district and are used to govern and manage district policy.
(i) Local ordinances shall be used for governing the transportation network; budgets and spending levels; referendum structure, processes, and policy; local holidays; grant programs; resource stockpiling programs; district agency creation; and district expansion.
(ii) Local ordinances may also add additional responsibility to appointed district officials.
(c) MMPs are empowered to draft, sign, and enact mayoral orders, which direct agency actions and policy for local agencies.
(i) Mayoral orders may not interfere with responsibilities assigned by this law to a district official, such as the Commissioner. Those responsibilities are at the district official’s discretion.
(ii) Mayoral orders may direct district official action or policy around additional responsibilities given to that official through a local ordinance.
(d) MMPs are responsible for appointing the Constable, Health Director, and Commissioner for the district.
(i) These officials serve at the pleasure of the MMP and may be dismissed at any time.
(ii) These positions are not required to be filled. An individual can serve in multiple roles, including while being the MMP.
5. The Constable
(a) The Constable shall be the district’s chief of police, responsible for working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure safe streets and enforce criminal law.
(b) The Constable may hire a Deputy Constable to assist with local district policing efforts, and a District Attorney to assist with local criminal prosecutions.
(c) The Constable is not required to become a national police officer, but is strongly encouraged to, in order to support local policing efforts. The Deputy Constable and District Attorney are both required to be Ministry of Justice employees before they can be hired.
(d) Individuals that hold a position as Constable, Deputy Constable, and/or District Attorney for a district recognize their responsibility to support and advocate for their district within the Ministry of Justice.
6. The Health Director
(a) The Health Director shall be the district’s top public health official, responsible for working with the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health to keep disease under control and support citizen health.
(b) The Health Director may hire a Doctor to support local health initiatives. The individual must hold the Doctor profession to be qualified.
(c) The Health Director and Doctor are not required to become an employee of the Ministry of Social Services’ Department of Health, but are recommended to, in order to support local health efforts.
7. The Commissioner
(a) The Commissioner shall be the district’s top development official, responsible for working with the Ministry of Urban Development to support zoning enforcement.
(b) The Commissioner shall work with the Ministry of Urban Development to advise on borough zoning policy for their district.
(c) The Commissioner shall have the power to determine whether a plot in the district follows the zoning theme, or not.
(i) Enforcement of non-subjective characteristics, such as build height and basement depth, shall remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Urban Development.
(ii) Enforcement of subjective characteristics shall be the responsibility of the district Commissioner.
(d) The Commissioner shall also be given the power to determine whether a plot is an eyesore, due to unfinished construction.
(i) Only plots with unfinished construction that are not demonstrating reasonable active progress should be considered eyesores; unfinished construction that is progressing at a reasonable rate is not an eyesore.
(e) If a plot is determined to be in violation of the zoning theme, or an eyesore, the Commissioner shall be responsible for warning the in-game owner of the plot.
(f) If the violation is not resolved after 7 days, the owner shall be fined $1,000, and given another 7 days to remedy the issue.
(i) All fines shall go to the district’s balance.
(g) If, after the next 7 days, the issue is still not resolved, the owner shall be fined again, and given another 7 days. This shall continue, with the owner being fined every week, until the violation is resolved.
(h) Owners may also be fined for lack of development,
8. Referendums
(a) No district may allow individuals to sign a petition or vote on a referendum if they are not registered to vote in the district. No district may allow individuals to vote on a referendum if they do not meet the constitutional eligibility requirements to vote for Parliament, or if they are not registered to vote in the district.
(b) Referendums must be initiated via a referendum petition, posted in the Petitions and Referendums forum space, or by a local ordinance.
(i) The petition must be titled according to the following format: [District Name] Referendum Petition: [Petition Short Title]
(ii) The petition must contain the full text of the referendum, including an enactment period.
(iii) If initiated by a local ordinance, the process is advanced to the referendum being posted for voting, as if it was a petition meeting signature requirements in Section 8(f).
(c) The Speaker of Parliament shall review and certify the petition, prior to any signature gathering. The Speaker of Parliament shall confirm the petition meets the requirements listed above, in the thread.
(i) Any signatures made before the certification is provided in the thread are null and void.
(d) The following requirements for a referendum may be changed by a local ordinance.
(e) Once a petition is certified, district residents shall have 48 hours to sign the petition. The petition must receive 10 signatures from individuals who:
(i) Were a registered voter in the district prior to the petition being filed
(ii) Meet the constitutional eligibility requirements to vote for Parliament by the time the petition signature collection period ends
(f) If the petition meets this requirement at the end of the 48 hours, it shall be submitted to a vote of the district.
(g) Individuals must have been a registered voter in the district for more than 120 hours (5 days) upon the conclusion of the vote for their vote to be counted. Individuals must also meet the constitutional requirements for parliamentary voting eligibility.
(h) The referendum shall pass if a simple majority of votes cast are in favor of the referendum, and shall otherwise fail.
9. Supersession
(a) The provisions of this law shall supersede in the event of a conflict with any other law.
Enactment: This Act comes into force for the election of the 13th Parliament of Azalea Isles.