The SAES Government

[Daryl]

Introduction

Welcome to the home topic of the SAES Government of 2019. This topic's purpose is to give you an overview of the government and give you all pertinent information without being too hung up on the details. Each department will have their own topic in the seperate sub-forum locate on this forum.

Non-RP Government Leadership

As a complex organisation the government requires leadership in a non-RP sense. In character, the government is led by the Senate and ultimately the President however in reality any decisions about the structure of the government will be made by the Non-RP leadership team. They will not override any RP decisions made. The non-rp leadership team comprises of the Group Managers and SAES HQ.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

Previous Versions

1st Version 20/01/2015
2nd Amendment 12/03/2015
3rd Amendment 03/01/2017
4th Amendment - 13/12/2018
5th Amendment - 22/03/2019
6th Amendment - 22/08/2019
7th Amendment - 23/03/2020

Section I - Legislation

• All legislative powers are represented in the Senate of San Andreas.

Section II - The Senate

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  The Senate is composed of 11 senators elected in their respective senatorial districts each year.

  
  


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  The leader of the senate will be named Senate Majority Leader (SML). This is an elected senator who is chosen by a vote within the senate. The SML must be an elected senator.

  
  


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  The Senate Majority Leader will Chair the Senate, accept bills and put them up for a vote.

  
  

Section III - Senate Meetings

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  Senate meetings will take place in the Senate Building, LS at the periods established by the Non-RP Government Leadership. Alternatively voting can and will take place on the Government discord. Voting is public and anyone can see how your senator votes.

  
  


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  Motions are presented at the Senate by the SML. Senators will provide the SML with the motions that they want the Senate to take to a vote. The SML will table the motions and a vote will be tallied. You may vote in Favour, Against or Abstain from motions.

  
  


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  Citizens may approach to their elected Senator with issues that concern them so that they may be brought up in Senate meetings.

  
  


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  In the event of a tie vote due to abstaining members, the deciding vote is cast by the Vice President of the United States.

  
  


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  Motions will be passed by simple majority and major constitutional changes will require a supermajority (66%+) and Non-RP Leadership Approval.

  
  


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  All motions must be finalised and approved by the President. The President cannot block any Bill which has a supermajority of 9 votes or more.

  
  

Section IV - Powers of the Senate

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  The Senate may pass or block motions and laws related to the economy and general laws of the country, assuming a majority of members vote. A bill cannot be passed unless at least 7 senators total cast a vote.

  
  


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  The Senate may not declare war or approve any military act.

  
  


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  The Senate does not have direct power to manage government agencies. However, the leader of each agency must first gain Senate approval. The President CANNOT directly appoint a leader of the executive branch without Senate approval.

  
  

Section V - Replacement of a Senator

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  In the event a Senator is not fulfilling their role a vote will be called to remove them from their role. A quota of 7 votes in favour must be garnered in order to remove the Senator. If this happens, a new election for that senators region will be called.

  
  


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  A senator is deemed to fail to fulfill their role if they miss in excess of 2 weeks of Government Duties OR fail to cast a vote in at least 5 motions where the total number of proposed motions has exceeded 7.

  
  


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  It should be noted that if a Senator is not fulfilling their duties but the party in power is fillibustering the replacement of this senator, a by-election can be called for that seat by the non-RP leadership team.

  
  


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  Senate may call for a motion for new elections, with the objective of replacing the Executive Branch, in the case it doesn't function. Motion requires 9 positive votes for approval, with non-RP leadership sign off.

  
  

Section VI- Elections

Senatorial Districts segment San Andreas into separately governed areas. Each Senatorial District has a single Senator representing the population in the Senate.

There are a total of 11 Senatorial Districts:

• Los Santos East


• Los Santos Central


• West Los Santos


• Red County


• Flint County & Whetstone


• Bone County


• San Fierro South


• San Fierro North


• Tierra Robada


• South Venturas


• North Venturas

A senator may take part in the elections as independent candidate or member of a political party.

Independent Candidates are candidates that feel that they don't fit in with any Party. They can run themselves and fight for their own policies.

Political Parties are groups of players who share similar political views. A Party must be registered in order to run in the elections. To register your party please read the pinned topics on this forum; https://saesrpg.uk/category/267/political-parties-and-manifestos

How a President and Vice President is Chosen

During the course of an election citizens will need to vote for a Senator per Senatorial District. They will ALSO need to vote in the Presidential Election which will run concurrently. The voter will be casting their vote on a Presidential ticket. ie. They will be voting for the Vice President at the same time. An example would be Obama/Biden or Trump/Pence. You cannot vote for one, without the other.

During an election, which lasts for 5 days the public may vote for their chosen candidate in EACH region.

After 5 days, voting is closed and the votes are counted. Afterwards, the new President is announced and arrangements for the swearing in of the new President are made.

For a Party to win the elections, they must have an outright majority of 6 seats or more, out of the total 11. If a single party doesn't achieve a majority, there are two choices. The party with the most seats may enter into a coalition with another party, or a minority government may be formed. Regardless of Party, if a senator wins his seat, he is guaranteed to sit in that seat.

Election Rules

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  It is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN to incentivise anyone in any way outside of RP to vote for you. You cannot make promises of governmental positions, money or group membership. Anyone in breach of this will be banned from the server and serve a lifetime suspension from the Government. If you are a member in a political party, action will also be taken against your party.

  
  


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  If you are a member of a political party you cannot hang around election booths, you cannot attempt to influence people who are voting at a booth to vote a certain way. You cannot ferry people to/from election booths after asking them to vote a certain way. If you are found in breach of this rule, you or your party, can be deducted votes.

  
  


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  Advertising a political party or candidate in main chat is strictly not allowed. You will be muted for 20 minutes by a member of staff. If this happens multiple times for the same candidate or party, there will be punishments. This will range from votes deductions for the specific candidate all the way up to exclusion from the vote.

  
  


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  You may not build signs advertising yourself or your party using construction panels, specifically near election booths.
  Not only would this likely get you removed from whatever groups construction panel you have used to do this, it will have a knock-on effect to your candidacy.

  
  


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  These rules are subject to change & update. Please keep an eye on them. Punishments will also be handed out in instances where common sense would dictate your actions are not allowed. You're candidates for senate, I do not expect I need to hold your hand.

  
  

Article II - Executive Branch

Section I- The President

The President of San Andreas is elected by the citizens of San Andreas directly as stated before in the Presidential Election.

The President is responsible for signing bills and motions voted by the senate into law, or in rare cases to overrule them. He or She is also responsible for appointing members to lead each department, pending Senate approval.

Section II- The Vice President

The Vice President has a casting vote in Senate matters. Outside of this their role is largely dictated by the President.

Section III- The Chief of Staff

Manages the Executive Branch Departments on behalf of the President.

Section IV- Departments

The administration may have up to 5 seperate departments with leaders for each. More information about the Departments currently in operation can be found on the following subforum;

Department leaders must be approved by a majority of senators. In the event of a tie, the casting vote comes from the Vice President.

https://saesrpg.uk/category/266/government-departments

ALL government departments must share a pool of 5 government staff for assistance. Going forward we will not be allowing staff per department. The government can choose 5 outside people as staff who will help across all departments.

Rules for Government members

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  You should only spawn as a member of the government to fulfill your RP role. You may NOT use this spawn for any purpose other than Roleplay.

  
  


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  Government members are not allowed to carry weapons.

  
  


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  Failure to follow these rules may result in immediate removal.

  
  


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  Advertisement of your party or Government will be limited to ways which make sense within roleplay. Usage of main chat for advertisement is strictly forbidden. Usage of (/ad) will be tolerated.

  
  

[Daryl]

In preparation for the new elections this topic has received an overhaul.

Please note going forward the following changes

• There are now 11 districts to vote in, as opposed to the previous 13. Tierra Robada has taken over Bayside and SF is now North & South (central removed) Whetstone & Flint County have merged.


• Government department leaders can no longer appoint people to staff. The government will choose 5 staffers to help all departments. There is now a maximum of 5 government departments. This is to avoid the situation we've had where there are more department leaders and staffers than senators.


• Elections will now last 5 days as opposed to the previous 1 week.


• Votes required for majority and super majorities updated to reflect new senator count of 11.