SO 2017-33 Parliamentary Journals Act 2017

Parliamentary Journals Act 2017

An Act to regulate Parliamentary Journals.

WHEREAS there is at this current moment not yet a comprehensive overview of proceedings within a Session of Parliament;

BELIEVING that there should be created such an overview;

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

Article 1
A Parliamentary Journal (hereafter ‘Journal’) shall be an overview of the proceeding and minutes within each Session of Parliament.

Article 2
Journals are to be used to inform Members of Our Region about the proceedings in Parliament. They shall contain objective information only.

Article 3
A Journal shall be created at the end of each Parliament by the Founder, or another person to whom this privilege shall be delegated to.

Article 4
Journals are to be published at the Lobby of Parliament, or in a dispatch to which a link is then put on the Regional Message Board, as soon as they are completed. Journals shall not be publicized in the International Gazette.

Article 5
Each Journal shall contain at least:
a. The names of Senators who actively took part in the proceedings that specific Session;
b. The number of proposals of law that were introduced during the Session, in total as well as by Member;
c. The number of proposed amendments to the law that were introduced during the Session, in total as well as by Member;
d. The number of proposed repeals that were introduced during the Session, in total as well as by Member;
e. The other proposals that were laid before Parliament in that Session, in total as well as by Member;
f. The number of questions that were asked in the General Debate Topic of that Session, outlining who the question asked, and who answered;
g. The outcome of each and every vote taken during that Session in the Voting Chamber, as well as an overview of the votes casted per Member;
h. The result of the election for the Speaker Pro Tempore of Parliament, if there was one;
i. An overview of papers that were laid before Parliament by the Cabinet or any other executive position or office;
j. All other such measures that have any significant impact upon or relate to the proceedings in Parliament for that Session.

Article 6
This Act may be cited as “[The] Parliamentary Journals Act 2017”.

Monday 1 May 2017
The Rt. Hon. Nassau-Windsor MP LSM
The Rt. Hon. Libertarian Democracy MP GSM LSM, Minister of Development
The Hon. Abdoa MP GSM LSM

Solid piece of legislation. Co-sponsored.

I would perhaps argue that either the Speaker at the end of the Parliament or maybe the Rules Committee should be tasked with writing the journal, as they actually have to follow everything anyways, whereas the Founder constitutionally should maintain minimal influence in other activities in that function, and therefore doesn't need to follow the actions of parliament. Otherwise, I love this bill, and I co-sponsor it anyways.

Abdoa wrote:I would perhaps argue that either the Speaker at the end of the Parliament or maybe the Rules Committee should be tasked with writing the journal, as they actually have to follow everything anyways, whereas the Founder constitutionally should maintain minimal influence in other activities in that function, and therefore doesn't need to follow the actions of parliament. Otherwise, I love this bill, and I co-sponsor it anyways.

I thank my Honourable friend [Abdoa] for his statement. I too looked into this possibility before writing this Bill, however, it may be that the members of that committee are unwilling or unable due to time-restrictions to properly and quickly write such a Journal. I am confident and willing to keep the Journal up, and I am also fairly confident that I have enough time to write it. Should there ever be a time in which I become unable or unwilling to write such a Journal, there are two options: 1) I can ask anyone else to write it (through Article 3); or 2) the Act can be amended and the task can be delegated to the Commission.

On the point of intervening with the governance, I would like to point to Article 2, which states that only objective information (i.e. facts and not opinions, et cetera) may be included. It is to be a record of proceedings only; it deals with what happened earlier only.

And of course, I wish my Rt. Hon. and Hon. friends [Libertarian Democracy and Abdoa] for sponsoring this Bill.

I fully trust that the current founder is capable, but I think that a Speaker who is not very active is a very bad speaker while a not very active founder is still acceptable, and in any case, can't be forced out. We are less than two years old, and are already on our second founder, so I suggest that the speaker at the end of the parliament be automatic redactor, but can delegate the work if needed to another official (founder, commission, etc).