Bill: In Debate Petition Reform Act

[wish]

Sponsor: Wish Coolperson, MP
Type: Act of Parliament

A
BILL
TO
AMEND THE PARLIAMENTARY NORMS AND PROCEDURE ACT AND RECALL ACT TO CHANGE THE PETITIONING SYSTEM​

Preamble: This bill makes it easier to create a petition via moving it to Discord, removes the requirement of the Speaker checking a petition before it can be signed, and lowers the requirements in general.

1. Short Title and Enactment
(a) This Act comes into force immediately upon passage.
(b) This Act may be cited as the "Petition Reform Act".

2. Creation of the #petitions Channel
(a) A channel titled "#petitions" shall be created in the main Discord server under the "Media" category.
(b) #petitions shall be set to the forum channel type.
(c) The channel shall be readable by all citizens and able to be posted and replied in by all citizens.

3. Petitions and Referendums Renaming
(a) The "Petitions and Referendums" forum shall be renamed to "Referendums".
(b) Any existing petitions in the Referendums forum shall remain accessible.
(c) Any act that uses the Referendums and Petitions forum for purposes unrelated to petitions shall remain in effect, instead being changed to be using the Referendums forum.

4. Amendments
(a) Section 15 of the Parliamentary Norms and Procedure Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) Community petitions to Parliament must follow these rules:
(i) Citizens may submit petitions to Parliament in the Petitions and Referendums forum. Citizens must be able to read and comment on petitions there.
(ii) A petition must give the petitioner's name, briefly explain the issue, and ask Parliament to act or acknowledge it. The Speaker must publish a guide to these requirements.
(iii) Within 48 hours after submission, the Speaker must open the petition for signatures by announcement in its thread or identify the missing requirements for correction.
(iv) Signing must remain open for seven days from the opening announcement. To sign, a citizen must reply “Sign” with their Minecraft username and in-game legal name. Each citizen must be counted only once.
(v) When signing ends, the Speaker must announce the closure and valid signature count in the thread.
(b) Parliamentary consideration of petitions under subsection (a) must follow these rules:
(i) Within 48 hours after the signing period ends for a petition with at least 30 valid citizen signatures, the Speaker must open voting on whether to recognize and address it.
(ii) Within seven days after Parliament votes to recognize and address a petition, Parliament must issue a formal response stating its proposed action or explaining its decision. Any Member may propose the response. The response must be approved by ordinary vote and published by the Speaker in the petition's thread.
(a) Community petitions must follow these rules:
(i) Citizens may create a petition by making a thread in the #petitions channel. Citizens must be able to comment on and read the petition.
(ii) A petition must state a clear goal for Parliament to achieve that Parliament can reasonably perform.
(iii) Any citizen may sign, or agree to, a petition by announcing their signature in the thread of the petition.
(iv) The Speaker may close a petition, should it not meet these rules. They shall close it by replying to the thread with a valid reason and notice that current and future signatures on it are invalidated.
(v) Any citizen who has signed a petition may revoke their signature at any time prior to the petition reaching 12 signatures.
(vi) A petition's author may request the retraction of the petition by the Speaker.

(b) Parliamentary consideration of petitions under subsection (a) must follow these rules:
(i) A petition shall have 1 week to gain signatures.
(ii) Upon reaching 12 signatures, not including the petition's author, the Speaker or Deputy shall announce it on the Parliament floor for all MPs to become aware of.
(iii) Should the petition reach 20 signatures, the Speaker or Deputy must open a vote on whether Parliament should discuss the topic of the petition.
(iv) A petition's existence shall not prevent an MP from discussing or creating a bill on the matter.

(c) The Speaker may optionally create a post to explain the rules of petitions inside of #petitions.

(b) Section 3 of the Recall Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) Any citizen of Azalea with over 3 hours of cumulative playtime, and 1 hour of monthly playtime in the last month may petition for the recall of a Member of Parliament.
(i) They may make this request for Recall under the “Petitions and Referendums" section of the forums in the #petitions channel in the main Discord server.
(ii) They must follow all the criteria laid out in this bill when filing a Petition for Recall.
(b) After filing a Petition for Recall under the “Petitions and Referendums" section of the forums, the citizen must await approval from a justice that the petition complies with the criteria laid out in this bill.

(c) Section 4 of the Recall Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) Any citizen of Azalea with over 3 hours of cumulative playtime, and 1 hour of monthly playtime in the last month may petition for the recall of a Member of Parliament.
(b) Citizens may file a Petition for Recall under the “Petitions and Referendums” section of the forums in the #petitions channel in the main Discord server.