Bill: Proposed Community Petitions Act

[nanicholls]

A
BILL
TO
Encourage Citizen Participation in Democracy​

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This bill shall be referred to as the "Community Petition Act".
(2) This bill was authored by Nanicholls MP.
(3) This bill shall be enacted immediately.

2 - Reasons
(1) This bill will allow members of the community another medium to engage in Democracy and forward the issues they care about onto the agenda of parliament.
(2) This bill will ensure grassroots democracy thrives.

3. Set Up
(a) A forums channel, under the Government section of the forums will be created and titled “Community Petitions”.
(b) Under this channel, there will be a guide on what should be included in a petition.
(i) Included in the petition must be the individual's name, a preamble on their cause and either “a call to action” or “request for awareness” from Parliament.
(ii) “A call to action” can be defined as a request for the Parliament to take a clear action on an issue. (Ex: Lower plot prices, Improve transport, build more parks.)
(iii) “A request for awareness” can be defined as a request for Parliament to acknowledge an issue that exists. (Ex: Crime is on the rise, we need more events.)
(c) The Petition Page should be open for all citizens to see and comment on.

4. Process for Petitions
(a) Once a petition is submitted, it must be approved by the Speaker as including all things outlined in section 3 of this bill.
(b) After the Speaker confirms that the petition includes all the required components, they may comment on the forum page that the petition is now open for signatures.
(c) Once open for signatures, the petition will remain open for seven days.
(i) An individual may sign the petition by commenting “sign” on the forums post.
(d) After seven days, the petition signing period will close and the speaker shall comment on the forum page that the petition is now closed.
(e) If a petition has received a signature count of twenty or more, Parliament is required to allot at least one hour of debate to discussion of the petition.
(f) If a petition has received a signature count of less than twenty, Parliament is not required to debate the petition but may still choose to debate it if an MP motion passes for debate on it.
(g) Taking action on the topic of a Community petition is not required.