Promulgation Amendment (Procedures)

[Malliki]

I propose the following bill as an amendment to the Procedures of the Landsraad:

A.

1. After a bill has been presented, there is a period of exactly four days (96 hours) during which the members of the Landsraad can vote on it. Each member has one vote with a value outlined below, which he or she may cast in any unambiguous way to represent a vote of aye or nay, on any bill during the voting period. A vote only applies to a bill exactly as it has been presented. At the end of the period, the Praetor counts the votes, announces the result, and if the ayes outnumber the nays, updates the LawBook with the changes. The bill comes into effect when added to the LawBook. Bills not added to the LawBook are not in effect.

[Andreas the Wise]

The only change is that things not in the lawbook aren't in?

[Malliki]

Exactly. I've had it up to here (makes a throat-cutting movement with my hand) with laws that are in effect but not in the LawBook. This amendment clarifies that only the LawBook is law, so to speak. If the Prætor fails to update the LawBook, it is up to the Landsraad to hold him accountable.

[Andreas the Wise]

AYE, then. (1)

[Malliki]

Brookshire AYE. (Also see my recent ruling in the "Milord Arbiter" thread in the Judex)

[Ari Rahikkala]

I spent a good while deliberating this... it seems to be a change of heart to Mike Fors, and I'm so used to the Praetor as *mostly* a glorified rubberstamp that I thought the kind of power that this implies would be inappropriate for...

... but in the end, I think this *is* the right thing to do. The Praetor isn't an archivist anymore, zie's a statesman. Yes, this bill gives the Praetor a sort of an implicit passive-aggressive veto... but I think, if we can trust zir with vetoing Charter amendments, we can trust zir with this sort of power over Landsraad law. If we can't... well, if we ever end up in a situation where there's no Kaiser to hold an election for a new Praetor and the current Praetor is blocking the passage of an important bill, I promise to come in riding a white horse and impose martial law until people return to sanity .

There's also the minor niggle that this bill doesn't accommodate for one-time events. That's OK, neither does the rest of the Procedures, and we've done perfectly well ignoring that lack so far .

Straylight AYE.

[Malliki]

Anyone can edit the LawBook, really. Only the Prætor has a legal obligation to do so though.

[Nathan of Natopia]

This amendment to the procedures has passed 3-0.