Founder Citizenship Amendment

[Cormac]

Founder Citizenship Amendment

(1) Article VIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Pacifica will be amended as follows:

Article VIII. Out-of-character Administration

Founder citizenship

(1) The Founder of Pacifica will automatically be a citizen of the Republic of Pacifica, and will remain a citizen without regard to maintenance of a nation in the region or any additional criteria for maintenance of citizenship which may be established by law.

(2) The Founder will be considered the most senior citizen of Pacifica, defined as the citizen who has maintained citizenship for the longest continuous period of time, for all legal purposes that may require determination of the most senior citizen.

Regional administration

(1) (3) The Founder will not be required by law to grant Executive power to the World Assembly Delegate, nor Border Control power to the World Assembly Delegate or any other Regional Officer.

(2) (4) Nothing in this Constitution nor any law or policy will be construed to prevent the Founder or Regional Officers duly authorized by the Founder from banning any resident of the gameside region, or off-site property administrators from banning any user, for commission of a grievous out-of-character offense that:

a. Poses an unacceptable risk to the out-of-character safety or security of other players;
b. Poses an unacceptable risk to the out-of-character security of the gameside region or off-site property;
c. Violates the terms of use or service imposed by NationStates or an off-site property host.

(3) (5) The Founder may manage regional recruitment and moderation of the gameside Regional Message Board, or may delegate such responsibilities to officials of the regional government of the Founder's choosing.

Founder succession

(4) (6) Should the Founder wish to retire as Founder, they may determine their own successor, provided the successor is a citizen of Pacifica.

(5) (7) In the event that the Founder nation ceases to exist, the President will assume all responsibilities and powers of the Founder, until such time as the Founder nation is restored, should that be possible, or until such time as the gameside region is refounded or a replacement gameside region is founded.

[Cormac]

I noticed the other day that we don't have any constitutional provision guaranteeing the Founder's citizenship, and that really could become a thorny issue at some point, so it's something I think is best addressed by making clear the Founder is always a citizen. At the end of the day, it's not anyone's place to tell the Founder of the region that they don't have political rights in their own region based on a legal technicality. That's just not how any of this works. So the simplest and cleanest solution is to ensure the Founder is always a citizen.

In addition to that, I think it makes sense to declare the Founder the "first citizen" of Pacifica, which I've done here by defining the Founder as the most senior citizen. This would give the Founder the first prerogative to be an election administrator if needed under the Election Administration Act, along with any other times we may assign something to the most senior citizen. To be clear, the Election Administration Act assigns election administration to the most senior citizen who is available, so if the Founder isn't available it would just continue down the citizenship roster in order of longest continuous citizenship. So the Founder not being available isn't a problem. When the Founder is available, I think it makes sense to give them first option for these sort of administrative things.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Deleted]

I’m all for this.

[rachael]

*yes*

[Cormac]

I kind of forgot this was here for a bit. I move for a vote.

[Toerana]

I second this motion

[qwabourharbour]

This is at vote

[lancashire]

May I move that the motion be split?

[Dino]

Feb 23, 2019 9:31:16 GMT -5 lancashire said:

May I move that the motion be split?

What do you mean?