SO 2017-15 Especial Privileges Act

An Act of Parliament to grant several privileges upon several individuals and offices.

WHEREAS We have regulated how crimes are to be tried in several Acts;

WHEREAS We have regulated that several actions could be described as a crime and are thus punishable;

BELIEVING that some positions, individually held or held by group, should be exempted from such trial and possible punishment for reasons outlined in this Act of Parliament;

BE IT ENACTED, by and with the advice and consent of Parliament, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Chapter I: General provisions
Article 1
The privileges and immunities granted by this Act of Parliament cannot be extended to also apply to matters in which they are claimed out of function by the incumbent officeholder and suspect.

Article 2
The privileges and immunities granted by this Act of Parliament can be extended to apply to a person formerly holding an office or a position in which he was granted one or more of the aforesaid privileges and immunities, however, only if the matter of subject is similarly extended, that is not just brought up another time.

Chapter II: Parliamentary privileges
Article 3
The Speaker of Parliament must uphold and defend the rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities of Members of Parliament at all times.

Article 4
Article 3 of this Act shall have similar effect with regards to Deputy Speakers, and (Deputy) Speakers of Parliamentary Commissions or Committees.

Article 5
All Members of Parliament shall have, within Our said Parliament, unrestricted freedom of speech and writ. This freedom does not apply if the speech or writ is presented in an out-of-character manner, so specifically identified beforehand.

Article 6
All Members of Parliament shall have, for their term of office, freedom from arrest and prosecution in all civil matters, as well as in all matters  and actions connected to or with regards to their position as Member of Parliament.

Article 7
All Members of Parliament shall have the privilege to demand the attendance of any member of the Executive, not being the administrative units, of a Sitting of Parliament and can request that the member of the Executive contributes to that Sitting.

Article 8
All Members of Parliament shall have the privilege to send questions to the Executive, and have the right to be answered.

Chapter III: Privilege of the Executive
Article 9
Where this Act of Parliament refers to “[the] Executive”, it shall be understood that it refers to the [Office of the] President, the [Office of the] Prime Minister, Cabinet, or any individual Minister.

Article 10
All members of the Executive shall have, for their term of office, freedom from arrest and prosecution in all matters and actions connected to or with regards to their position as such an Executive official.

Article 11
All members of the Executive shall have unrestricted freedom of speech and writ within Cabinet, and also within Parliament when they attend a Sitting of Parliament, so requested or demanded.

Article 12
The Speaker of Parliament must uphold and safeguard the privileges and immunities of the Executive against those of Parliament when they attend a Parliamentary Sitting so demanded or requested by Parliament.

February 26, 2017
Nassau-Windsor, Senator
Thomolia, Senator

Debate will last until Tuesday February 28, 2017.

I think Article 6 is an important protection for Senators. However, for the Executive Branch, their powers are much less defined, having a potential for abuse. Article 10 therefore would effectively legalize corruption. I cannot support that.

If Article 10 was removed I would theoretically support this bill (because of the uncertain timing).

Libertarian Democracy wrote:I think Article 6 is an important protection for Senators.  However, for the Executive Branch, their powers are much less defined, having a potential for abuse.  Article 10 therefore would effectively legalize corruption.  I cannot support that.

If Article 10 was removed I would theoretically support this bill (because of the uncertain timing).

As a member of the cabinet, I agree on your opinion.

I echo what has been said, and would adding that we should remember that most of the executive is appointed, though I think the elected executives should have immunity, unless impeached (but that applies to Parliament too). Also, I would like to point out that "Cabinet" is not synonymous with "executive branch", as Article 11 might lead us to believe: the President is most definitely not in Cabinet, and neither is the PM, though he does chair and appoint Cabinet, which can be a bit confusing. But the Constitution is pretty clear about that though.

I therefore table two amendments:

Amendment 1: To insert "Until impeached," in Articles 6 and 10 at the beginning of the said articles.

Amendment 2: To insert "elected" in Article 10 after "All" and before "members of the executive".

Amendment 3: To strike the word "Cabinet," and replace it with "the Executive," in the instance occurring between "within" and "and also".

I think that the last amendment is pretty minor, but the other two do significantly change the application of the bill.
Therefore, in my capacity as Chair, and noting that after this post I am obliged by law to dissolve this (8th) Parliament as per Article IV Section 3 Subsection 1 of the Constitution, I do hereby order an extension of the debate by two sitting legislative days, to be calculated from the reconvening of the next (9th) Parliament.

Debate on this topic has re-opened, and will be debated until March 30th, 2017.

To clarify, we are going to have to vote on those amendments before we can vote on the bill. And I do stand by my amendments, in case there's any confusion over whether me tabling them in the last Parliament would affect their validity in this one.

Debate is over; please go vote in the voting chamber on the amendments to the bill.