Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Here you might discuss basically everything.

Moderator: SC Moderators

User avatar
Lyubov
Veteran debater
Veteran debater
Posts: 252
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:53 pm

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Lyubov »

The full text of the law including proposed changes is below. The current law may be found at https://cdsdemocracy.org/faqs/nl-7-1-go ... -hour-act/

NL 7-1 Government Question Time Act

Rationale:

In order to make the government more accessible this Act establishes an informal Government Question Time with at least one government ‘official’ from each branch of government present, once per month. The Chancellor may schedule additional Government Question Time meetings based on public demand. These meetings will be open to all CDS citizens to come and ask questions. The meetings will rotate to suit the RL hours of our community.

1. The Chancellor is charged with organizing a Government Question Time at least once per month. All members of the government (Executive, Legislative and Philosophical branches) will be invited to attend with at least one official from each attending.

2. The Chancellor is charged with facilitating representation from all three branches.

3. The Chancellor will rotate the hours of the Government Question Time to take into account the different time zones of the CDS community and to ensure representation from the different branches of government.

4. Meetings will be chaired by one of the government officials present and will be open to all citizens to attend. The Chair may be handed over to another government official present by a simple majority vote of those in attendance.

5. The Chair will post a transcript of the meeting to the CDS forums within seven (7) days. At the start, participants shall be informed that a transcript will be posted.

6. For each Question Time, the Chair will — at least seven (7) days in advance — announce date, time and meeting location in the Forum and via group notice. In the minutes before each Question Time begins, the Chair (or an alternate) will announce date, time and meeting location via group notice and in group IM.

7. Citizens will be invited by the Chair to ask questions at the beginning of the meeting, or to submit written questions via notecard in advance to the Chair, who will forward these questions to the Chancellor, Dean, and LRA in advance of the scheduled meeting.

8. The Government Question Time meeting may be adjourned after all questions have been addressed or after 60 minutes, whichever comes first.

User avatar
Tanoujin Milestone
I need a hobby
I need a hobby
Posts: 535
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:42 pm

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Nice job, Lyubov! I think it is not a good idea to code the possibility of a cosy teatime, but it is most likely exactly what we have to expect in the near future. Nevertheless, what Calli stated is true - we can not have enough controls of the government by the citizens. So it is good to have this in place.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Ian Maclaren
User avatar
Lyubov
Veteran debater
Veteran debater
Posts: 252
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:53 pm

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Lyubov »

NL 7-1 was updated at Sunday's RA meeting, adopting the proposed text. The 5 April RA transcript is available at http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9438

User avatar
Emilia Avindar
Seasoned debater
Seasoned debater
Posts: 60
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2018 8:01 pm

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Emilia Avindar »

Tanoujin Milestone wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:40 am

I like your latest draft, Lyubov. Nevertheless it should be made clear that I can simply appear in timely fashion to the GQH, wait until the record runs and ask away, without the need to write notices to the Dean, the LRA and the Chancellor beforehand - while the answer might be „I do not know at the moment, may I answer in a forum thread / at the next GQH / in person at a later date“

Furthermore I would like to give the attendees the option to hand over the chair to another person present with simple majority.

Finally I want to stress that we have to trust our people to be souvereign in a plenum, the more because this meeting can not make binding decisions as long as we have a representative democracy.

I really like the thoughtfulness of this reply, Tanoujin. As much as I like the sound of "*sovereign in a plenum" I must admit that I struggle with it. But in the context of the sentence, of course, it makes perfect sense. I just wanted to note how carefully chosen words do work, although some percolation may be required for some of us.

Thank you, and everyone who expanded here in your thread.

Chancellor, 32nd Term, December 2019 - May 2020.
User avatar
Gwyneth Llewelyn
Forum Wizard
Forum Wizard
Posts: 1183
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 8:00 am
Contact:

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Gwyneth Llewelyn »

Argh. I was trying to find the latest and greatest revision of NL 7-1 for approval (waiting for the minutes to be published), and now I realise that this is being discussed for 2 ½ years! :shock:

Seriously, guys, I know we're all slow in approving things, but I'm sure we're beating world records here :lol:

No disrespect intended, mind you. I'm just on a sarcastic mood today 😼

"I'm not building a game. I'm building a new country."
  -- Philip "Linden" Rosedale, interview to Wired, 2004-05-08

PGP Fingerprint: CE8A 6006 B611 850F 1275 72BA D93E AA3D C4B3 E1CB

User avatar
Lilith Ivory
Forum Admin
Forum Admin
Posts: 587
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:43 pm
Contact:

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Lilith Ivory »

No, no, this isn't discussed for 2 1/2 years.
By now two amendments got approved and NL 7-1 has been changed accordingly.
This discussion just starts over and over again. Hopefully this time NL 7-1 gets ammendet in a way we all can live with :)

The Question is: Do we really need this law or wouldn't it be better to leave it at the discretion of the chancellor to organize question hours if needed?

I fully support the idea of having GQT again and to turn them into an educational event. It's just that in the past mostly reps of the three branches were sitting there alone without anyone feeling the need to ask a question. Our weekends are full with meetings and events already and imo it is not fair to our hard working chancellors to force them by law to donate another hour of their time to CDS while there is no interest from the citizenship.
Sadly in the past a lot of chancellors have just ignored this law for said reasons, which doesn't make me as a member of the SC very happy.

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."
Terry Pratchett
User avatar
Rosie Gray
Forum Wizard
Forum Wizard
Posts: 2046
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:47 am

Re: Govt Question Hour - Transcript Discussion

Post by Rosie Gray »

I just want to echo Lilith's thoughts about this law. As a former Chancellor and RA member who participated in these GQHs as many times as possible, I have to agree that out of all of the meetings there were almost never anyone other than the actual gov't reps and perhaps a friend or two that attended and nobody asking questions. If anyone has a question for the government they can ask any time from their elected officials, or attend RA meetings and ask there.

So, I'm no opposed to these, but I don't see them as being as useful to the time that the representatives have, especially the Chancellor who is always busy.

"Courage, my friend, it's not too late to make the world a better place."
~ Tommy Douglas
Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”