Legislative Powers
Checks and Balances
Written by PabstOverdrive and Lloenflys
The 72nd Senate of Europeia have been busy establishing a more accessible and streamlined Constitution while also trying to establish concrete language in terms of Senate power and Executive power. These discussions have been ongoing for some time, and were reignited at the passing of this recent Executive Order (EO) instating private ballots.
In regards to why this EO 97 came down this author strongly suggest reading this article, and the proceeding arguments on both sides, written by the same initiator of the Executive Order.
Executive Orders
The Senate’s first order of business this term was to veto Executive Order 97 mandating private ballots. Executive Order 97 states “In any General election, First Minister election, by-election, or run-off, the results of the election shall remain hidden until the poll closes.” One of the prominent reasons behind the motion was due to the feeling amongst several members of the Senate that EO 97 was functioning as a way to circumvent Senate inquiry on the issue of private ballots. The Executive Order not only sidesteps the Senate, according the body itself, but private ballots also “have the potential to decrease public interest and participation in elections,” as Vice Chancellor Drecq asserted in his motion to veto. While Senate Speaker Lloenflys initially expressed some willingness to amend rather than veto the Executive Order, Senate support for a veto was overwhelming and in the end the Senate unanimously supported the veto motion.
Regional Discussion on Senate Power
Following the veto of Executive Order 97, the Senate took up the question of the appropriate scope of Executive Orders with consideration of the Executive Order Scope Amendment (2020). This relatively short Amendment was indented to clarify that Executive Orders could not overturn any Senate-passed law - something which Senators Malashaan and Lloenflys already believed may be the case under the current Constitution - but also specified that an EO could not concern a subject matter designated by the Constitution to another entity, such as elections which are Constitutionally the province of the Chancellery. This language would pass unanimously and be sent to the Executives for the People's Assent. Additionally, in an attempt to alleviate concerns that curtailing Executive Orders could prevent emergencies from being appropriate handled, the Senate passed the Emergency Legislation Amendment (2020) to allow for speedy passage of bills designated as emergencies. This bill would also pass unanimously.
Chief of State Pichtonia, upon reviewing the Amendment, felt that it went too far and hampered the the ability of the Executive to respond to possible emergencies that could arise in the region. As a result, Pichtonia vetoed the Amendment. Almost immediately afterward, Senator Drecq petitioned for a referendum to attempt to overturn the veto. The referendum quickly received the necessary number of signatures to become viable, and the region engaged in a spirited debate over the proper role of Executive Orders in the region and the proper role of the Senate in legislating in this area. Ultimately, the referendum came nowhere near the number of votes necessary to overturn the executive's veto, confirming the failure of the original amendment.
The veto process surrounding the Executive Order Scope Amendment demonstrated a potential weakness of the current referendum process, with an absolute 7 day window applying both to the length of time after Senate passage that the Executives had available to veto a bill and, concurrently, that the people of Europeia had to file a referendum petition. Given this system, an Executive could simply ride out the 7 day window until the very last moment before issuing a veto, effectively foreclosing the possibility of meaningful review. The Senate passed the People's Assent Referendum Amendment (2020) to extend the window in which a referendum can be sought to 14 days in order to avoid any such effort to game the system.
Despite the failure of the original Executive Order Scope Amendment, there was general agreement between the Executives and the Senate that some action was appropriate to limit the scope of Executive Orders to prevent the worst possible abuses. After a proposal that came from the Executives, further discussion led to some amendments, including the addition of an entrenchment clause. Despite Senator Drecq's protestations that the changes were still susceptible to abuse, the compromise would pass as the Executive Order Protocol Act (2020), being the strongest possible measure all sides could agree to.
Public and Private Elections
These discussions regarding Executive Orders, elections, and language in passed legislation involving government oversight led to further deliberation on cases for closed elections. This bill came to the Senate floor as the “Closed Elections Amendment (2020).” Amending the “Elections Act (2015)” this bill would establish the following:
“The voting tally in any General election shall be publicly viewable while the vote is ongoing.”
“The voting tally of any Run-Off Election shall be hidden from the public view while the vote is ongoing.”
“The voting tally may be public or hidden at the discretion of the election administrator during any other election.”
And finally,
“The voting tally in any election shall be public after the closing of the polls.”
This amendment passed 4-1 with one Senator abstaining. The dissenting opinion that this legislation should not be passed, but that this election process is one the “Chancellory can experiment with under their existing power,” according to Senator Malashaan. This was met by Vice Chancellor Drecq asserting, “If we do not legislate it one way or the other, […] then it leaves the door open for a new Executive Order to legislate close elections into existence.”
Revisions
The Awards and Honours Omnibus Act is a bill replacing the Awards and Honours Act passed in 2012. This new legislation updated the formatting of the previous bill and, according to Vice Chancellor Drecq, “Took out a lot of stuff that did nothing.” An important amendment to this bill is the additional provision to the Criminal Code, “Anyone displaying or claiming any Medal, Title, Honour, or other award of the Republic of Europeia without having a legitimate claim is guilty of the offense of stolen honour and is liable to punishment.
An amendment to the Awards and Honours Act was drafted later adding Supreme Chancellors “to the list of positions receiving the honorific prefix of ‘The Right Honourable’ for life.” This list included, among others, Presidents, Chiefs of State, and First Ministers. This amendment, "Chancellor Honorific Amendment (2020)" passed unanimously.
Current Deliberations
The Senate has been embroiled, since October, in heated discussions over the “Judicature Act (2019)” which is the overhaul and reformatting of the previous “Judicature Act (2012).” The hope of this ongoing deliberation is to increase the readability of the act and removing impractical aspects of the Act. After the Senate has agreed on the language of the new Act then it will move on through the Procedural Rules of the High Court.
