The Royal Household Cleaning Act

[Hooligan]

Debate on this draft resolution is now closed.
The bill as presented below has been submitted to the Chancery
for consideration by the Ziu.

The Royal Household Cleaning Act

WHEREAS various offices which are not governmental in nature have been created from time to time to serve the King and his nation, and

WHEREAS some confusion has arisen as to the duties, responsibilities, and proper purview and extent of some of these offices, and

WHEREAS the duties and functions of these various offices are not uniformly described in law, and

WHEREAS it would do the Kingdom good to alleviate the confusion surrounding these offices and introduce uniformity to their methods of operation, now

THEREFORE be it resolved that the following offices are henceforth to be styled the Offices of the Royal Household, that the head of each such office shall be considered an Officer of the Royal Household, and that the duties and functions of the offices shall be those described below, including for each office any similar duties as may be assigned or imposed.

• The Chancery, headed by the Secretary of State. The functions of the Chancery are to prepare and submit the Clark, determine and report the passage or failure of each resolution considered by the Ziu, conduct, certify, and report upon all national elections, maintain the census and citizenship list, assist the citizenry in determining Talossan language personal names and register the same, register political parties, communicate census information to political party leaders, and track and maintain legislative seating assignments.
  
• The Scribery of Abbavilla, headed by the Scribe of Abbavilla. The functions of the Scribery are to maintain and publish the Organic and statutory laws of the Kingdom, perform any clerical improvements to the same, and oversee the Internet presence of the Kingdom.
  
• The Royal Archives, headed by the Royal Archivist. The function of the Archives is to preserve and make available the historical artifacts and information of the Kingdom in museums and other venues.
  
• The Royal Treasury, headed by the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue. The function of the treasury is to collect all revenues due the King, maintain and report on the fiduciary health of the Kingdom, and disburse from the treasury all funds legitimately appropriated by the Ziu, expended by the Royal House or its offices, or requested by the Government for the operation or institution of the policies of the Royal Bank and Post.
  
• The College of Arms, headed by the Squrrel King (or Queen) of Arms. The function of the College of Arms is to create and maintain all Talossan flags and coats of arms and achievements, and to advise and support the King in the awarding of all such arms and all titles of honour and nobility, advise the citizens regarding heraldic issues, and govern the armorial practice and regulations of the Kingdom.
  
• The Royal Talossan Bar, headed by the Chancellor of the Royal Talossan Bar. The function of the Royal Talossan Bar is to oversee the conduct of all persons practicing law within the Corts of the Kingdom, determine upon the efficacy of admitting and excluding persons to and from this body, and to assist and represent subjects of the King in pleas brought before His Majesty's justices.
  
• The Civil Service, headed by the Commissioner of the Civil Service. The function of the Civil Service is to do nothing at all, other than to grow by the addition of any number of willing civil servants enlisted from the citizenry, all of whom shall perform for the Civil Service this same function of inactivity.
  
• The Royal Geographic Society, headed by the Royal Geographer. The function of this office is to survey and map the Kingdom, determine provincial and territorial boundaries, and conduct all diggings, explorations, and expeditions calculated to expand the body of knowledge concerning His Majesty's realm.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED and reiterated that all Officers of the Royal Household shall shall have no fixed terms of office, and shall not be removed from office by the dissolution of the Cosâ. Unlike ministerial and other political officers, who are appointed by the Prime Minister acting alone, the Officers of the Royal Household shall be appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The two exceptions to this are that the Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Prime Minister acting alone, and the Chancellor of the Royal Talossan Bar shall be appointed by the King on the recommendation of a resolution of the Senäts.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that each of the Officers of the Royal Household is empowered to appoint one or more deputies who may act in the place of that officer in all cases. The King and nation shall be informed of all such appointments.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that each Officer of the Royal Household is empowered to organize or reorganize his office in any manner he deems shall best effect its services to the King, including by the creation of bureaus, departments, administrations, divisions, commissions, guilds, and other agencies or bodies of operation. Each Officer is empowered to appoint any Talossan citizen to any position within his office, and to dismiss any person from the same, and to empower any subservient official to make similar appointments and dismissals within any specific agency of the Office of the Royal Household.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of National Names is hereby dissolved, and that the Chancery is instructed to incorporate the duties of the Office of National Names into its functions.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Royal Bank and Post is responsible for setting and instituting the economic policies of the Kingdom, issuing and regulating the currency of the Kingdom, and investing funds from the royal treasury for best effect to His Majesty's realm. Be it further clarified by this act that the Chairman of the Royal Bank and Post is a political office and is not an Office of the Royal Household, and that therefore this Chairman shall lose his office when the Government that appointed him is replaced by a new elected administration. The Chairman of the Royal Bank and Post, when invited to participate in the Cabinet, shall be additionally styled and addressed as the Minister of Finance, and his office as the Ministry of Finance.

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that this act supercedes and replaces any and all existing statutory laws pertaining to the various Offices and Officers of the Royal Household, the Office of National Names, and the Royal Bank and Post, which are in conflict with the provisions of this act.

Uréu q’estadra så: Barôn Tepistà (Senator, Vuode)

[Trotxâ]

mha said:

Be it FURTHER RESOLVED and reiterated that all Officers of the Royal Household shall not have fixed terms of office, that they shall not be removed from office when the government of the day loses a vote of confidence or is replaced through the election and inauguration of a new administration.

So - are you saying that you'll be Scribe of Abbavilla for life?

[Hooligan]

Dang it. I knew I forgot SOMEthing!

[King John]

Good omnibus clarification bill. I like it.

We need some kind of language in here to vague it up a little regarding the "functions" of the various offices; something like "the function of X is, but is not limited to, A B and C", or "the function of X is A B and C and other such duties as shall be assigned or imposed". Like for instance, a function of my office that you left off the list is to keep the lists of members of the Cosâ, Senäts, Provincial Assemblies, etc. Other functions of the College of Arms are to assist citizens in designing and applying for arms, and in displaying them, to maintain the peerage, to provide general information on heraldic issues to anyone who asks, etc.

— John Woolley, UrN, Secretary of State

[Hooligan]

S:reu Secretary --

You are right that a bit of "and so forth" language would be good. I will add it.

You are also right that "certifying elections," which I thought would cover the Chancery's tracking of elected officials, does not do so, since legislators are seated after elections by the party leaders. I will add this seat-tracking duty to your office.

The Baron

[Trotxâ]

mha said:

I will add this seat-tracking duty to your office.

I'm shocked, shocked! that this duty was forgotten a member of the RUMP!



Trotxâ

[Sir Samuhel Tecladeir]

Oh please, more RUMP jokes. I mean NO more RUMP jokes! That's what I meant. Really.

I think it's a good start, but shouldn't the Regent or His Majesty decide who is a member of the royal household? Or at least shouldn't it be he that proposes it?

[Hooligan]

In response to discussion on various points, I have modified the bill to make the following changes:

• Specified that the duties of each office are not exhaustively listed, and that they include "similar" functions as assigned and imposed.
  
• Removed the provision that the appointment of the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue be changed such that it is recommended to the King by a resolution of the Cosâ, leaving it as is (a recommendation by the Prime Minister). The reason for this contemplated change was simply to provide symmetry between the two houses of the Ziu, since the Senate recommends one of the officers. However, it was pointed out to me that the Cosâ already is solely responsible for the recommendation to the King concerning the appointment of the Prime Minister himself, so it was silly to have that body usurp the appointing authority for the Burgermeister from its own appointee, the PM.
  
• Added the legislative seat tracking responsibility to the litany of things the Chancery does.
  
• Added the duties of assigning and registering Talossan language names to the litany of things the Chancery does.
  
• Modified the clause abolishing the Office of National Names so that it does not mandate that the Chancery create a Bureau of the Census (as this goes against the clause stating that each officer is free to organize his office into departments or bureaus however he sees fit).
  
• Removed the mandate that the Royal Geographic Society create within it a Bureau of Astronomy (for the same reason -- the Royal Geographer shall remain free to organize his office however he wishes).

In response to S:reu Tecladéir's comment that the Royal House should be organized by royal rather than legislative fiat, your point is well-taken, and it would be a boon to this bill if our esteemed Regent would join in sponsoring it. How about it?

[Hooligan]

On 29 December this proposal will have been hopping ten days. It seems that it has not sparked any objection. This is notice of my intention, at that time, to ask the Secretary of State to be so kind as to Clark the bill as currently drafted for presentation to and consideration by the January session of the Ziu.

If any legislator would like to add his or her name as a co-sponsor of the act, please let me know; I would be happy to oblige.

Hooligan

[Sir Samuhel Tecladeir]

Could you post a revised draft? I don't foresee any problems, but it's helpful to me to see exactly how it's worded.

[Hooligan]

My policy (which I hope other authors of hopping bills adopt) is to keep updating (as comments and suggestions come in and are accepted, etc.) the very first posting in the thread. What sits there is indeed the latest, greatest revision of the proposal.

Hooligan

[Hooligan]

S:reu Secretary of State:

Having, I believe, reached a national consensus that the bill hopping in this thread, entitled The Royal Household Cleaning Act, would be of beneficial effect to the Kingdom of Talossa, I hereby submit it to the Chancery in its final form as it appears at the head of this thread, and ask that it if it please the Chancery, it be offered for consideration by the Ziu during the Third Clark of the 35th Cosâ.

Respectfully,
Barôn Tepistà (Senator, Vuode)