Proposed Tier Collection and Land Reclamation Bill - Revised

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Widget Whiteberry
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Re: Proposed Tier Collection and Land Reclamation Bill - Rev

Post by Widget Whiteberry »

Section added

Part Four: Private Sales
For parcel sales to be complete, the new buyer's name must appear both in the Land and Hippo object. If the seller neglects to clear their name from the Hippo object, the executive clears the seller's name so the new parcel owner can pay tier.

2014 Tier Collection and Land Reclamation Bill

CDSL 13-03 pertains to a since-retired proprietary tier collection system. Since the system has changed, it is impossible for the Executive to comply with CDSL 13-03. Therefore we propose this Tier Collection and Land Reclamation Bill

Alignment is needed with CDSL 16-03, the Citizenship Establishment Act, and applicable parts of CDSL 13-10 the Citizenship Bill.

Repeal CDSL 13-03 Motion to amend NL 9-2 the Land Sales Reclamation Act , NL 4-3 Land Sales Reporting Act and NL 5-5 Section 2, Duties of the Treasurer as obsolete because they also pertain only to retired systems:.
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Three sections: Tier Collection, Reclamation - Special Circumstances

Part One: Tier Collection

Since 2011, CDS has used the Hippo Rental system; significantly altering the method by which CDS collects tier.

1. Tier is paid, to the Estate Owner, in advance of use, beginning on the date a citizen acquires a parcel. Citizens pay tier via the Hippo object assigned to their parcel. They have the option to pay for one, two or three months at a time. Citizens must pay tier – via the Hippo object – on a parcel that lists them as the owner in the land tool.

2. Through the Hippo object, a citizen can collect a refund when selling or abandoning a parcel. There are three types of abandonment and/or ownership termination events and appropriate procedures and responsibilities associated with each.

3. The Executive shall employ the following procedures for tier collection, reclaiming parcels under ordinary circumstances and clearing (resetting) Hippo objects.

a. Parcel abandoned from the land tool only - Executive clears the Hippo object and returns any outstanding funds if the avatar responds to IM. If no response from an avatar who has left CDS, the refund goes into the CDS general funds.
b. Parcel abandoned (ownership terminated) via Hippo only - Executive reclaims the land within a week and resets the Hippo object. (see Part Two for exceptions.)
c. Parcel abandoned from land tool and ownership terminated via Hippo - Executive resets the land for sale.
d. Before resetting the hippo object, the Executive informs the Treasurer – via email – of the name of the avatar , the refund amount or the balance due per the Hippo object.

4. The Hippo objects shall be set to use the notice functions that alert landowners of the expiration of their tier in advance of due date, and the days remaining until they are due. The Hippo object also announce numbers of days overdue. Landowners are expected to be in world to receive such notices and/or have provided LL with an email address allowing them to receive IMs while offline. Landowners are expected to set preferences to receive IMs when off line. Landowners who do not make provision to receive IMs in email, nor provide an email to the Executive, are still required to pay tier in a timely manner.

5. Because the Hippo object sometimes fails to send IMs, The Executive drops a notecard, sends an IM and sends an email to landowners who have provided their email address.

The Chancellor shall maintain a list of citizens with the email addresses provided by citizens on a no-modify notecard with an explicit request to notify them by the provided email address. “<date>: To the Chancellor: please use the following email address if you need to contact me about tier.”

Upon leaving office, the outgoing Chancellor will transfer that list to the incoming Chancellor.

6. The Estate Owner should include the following reclamation language in the CDS Covenant land tool: “The right to vote and stand for election is reserved for citizens in good standing, i.e. are current with tier.

Part Two: (Timing) When Tier Expires

1. Beginning three days before tier expires, the Hippo object is supposed to begin sending IMs to the parcel owner.

2. Within 7 days of being in arrears:

• The remaining time shows up on the Hippo spreadsheet, available to all Hippo managers.
• The Executive notifies citizens (via IM, notecard, email) of impending land reclamation at 14 days of delinquency and loss of voting rights once tier expires. Refer to CDSL 16-03, Item 2 regarding potential loss of voting rights.

3. Once tier runs out
• Hippo continues to send IMs until the object is reset
• The Executive notifies citizens (via IM, notecard, email) to the (now probationary) citizen.
• The 14 day time period begins in which the citizen can reclaim their parcel by paying all owed amounts. (Notification by IM, notecard and email - or IM when the citizen is not logged in.)
• The Executive announces the date of the impending land sale, both in the Forums and as a Group notice.

4. In addition to the census, CDS has the right to make public the lists of provisional citizens from time to time, as reasonably needed for its administration of government. The Treasurer creates the list, with provisional citizens noted at the bottom. The Executive posts it to the Forum using the subject line “Census, (month, day, year)." Treasurer adds the lists to the Praetorium census dispenser. Additionally, the Executive posts a notice to CDS group, announcing the publication of the list and it’s availability via the Forum or the Census Dispenser at the Praetorium.

5. At fourteen days overdue, if the landowner has failed to pay the full amount outstanding and absent a declaration of ‘special circumstances.’ then the Executive shall reclaim the parcel. Objects on the parcel shall be returned to the landowner and the parcels set for sale unless there are plans to redraw parcel lines or the parcel added - temporarily – to the public parcel holdings.


Part Three: Private Sales

For parcel sales to be complete, the new buyer's name must appear both in the Land and Hippo object. If the seller neglects to clear their name from the Hippo object, the executive clears the seller's name so the new parcel owner can pay tier.


Part Four: Reclamation - Special Circumstances

From time to time, real life circumstances – either personal or technical – prevent a citizen from keeping current with tier (coming in-world and paying). On the ‘in-world’ side, Hippo objects sometime fail to send proper notification; IMs are sometimes capped per LL and may prevent a citizen from receiving email. We refer to these as ‘special circumstances.’

In the event of special circumstances either before or after reclamation – where the Citizen does not intend to let tier lapse – the Citizen, members of a group to which the parcel is assigned, friends of the citizen, the community at large, and the Executive might
offer to pay tier (parcel owner or partner of)
contact the parcel owner
notify the Executive of special circumstances
notify the community of special circumstances and call for help
petition the SC for relief

Citizens whose circumstances advise using the partner option on the Hippo object, can recruit someone to cover their tier. Note, paying tier as a partner does not confer citizenship. Repeated payment by the named partner can result in status change to ‘provisional’ and put voting rights in jeopardy.

This law repeals and replaces CDSL 13-03, any provisions of prior CDS laws (including CDSL 13-03) that specify land reclamation or rent payment methods, to the extent that they contradict the explicit terms of this law.

Callipygian
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Re: Proposed Tier Collection and Land Reclamation Bill - Rev

Post by Callipygian »

3. The Executive shall employ the following procedures for tier collection, reclaiming parcels under ordinary circumstances and clearing (resetting) Hippo objects.

a. Parcel abandoned from the land tool only - Executive clears the Hippo object and returns any outstanding funds if the avatar responds to IM. If no response from an avatar who has left CDS, the refund goes into the CDS general funds.
b. Parcel abandoned (ownership terminated) via Hippo only - Executive reclaims the land within a week and resets the Hippo object. (see Part Two for exceptions.)
c. Parcel abandoned from land tool and ownership terminated via Hippo - Executive resets the land for sale.
d. Before resetting the hippo object, the Executive informs the Treasurer – via email – of the name of the avatar , the refund amount or the balance due per the Hippo object.

4. The Hippo objects shall be set to use the notice functions that alert landowners of the expiration of their tier in advance of due date, and the days remaining until they are due. The Hippo object also announce numbers of days overdue. Landowners are expected to be in world to receive such notices and/or have provided LL with an email address allowing them to receive IMs while offline. Landowners are expected to set preferences to receive IMs when off line. Landowners who do not make provision to receive IMs in email, nor provide an email to the Executive, are still required to pay tier in a timely manner.

5. Because the Hippo object sometimes fails to send IMs, The Executive drops a notecard, sends an IM and sends an email to landowners who have provided their email address.

The Chancellor shall maintain a list of citizens with the email addresses provided by citizens on a no-modify notecard with an explicit request to notify them by the provided email address. “<date>: To the Chancellor: please use the following email address if you need to contact me about tier.”

Upon leaving office, the outgoing Chancellor will transfer that list to the incoming Chancellor.

Re 3a - I am not sure of the purpose of only refunding tier 'if an avatar responds to IM'. If the land is abandoned and about to be set for sale, there is no loss incurred by CDS, so what reason is there to keep the excess?

Re 3b - Within a week is too vague, since it can mean anywhere from 1 day to 7, with no explanation why there is such a range. Is the intent is to ensure land does not sit for an extended period in limbo, or is it to ensure that accidental abandonment isn't acted on too swiftly, or is it both? Wording to address both might be clearer: '48 hours after land abandonment the Chancellor may reclaim the land and reset the hippo box. Reclamation should always be completed within seven days of parcel abandonment.'

Re 3d- What is the purpose of the e-mails to the Treasurer? In the event of a refund it shows in Rudeen's transaction history - is it a benefit to the Treasurer to add another form of notification? In the case of a balance owed, is the intent for the Treasurer to keep a record of tier owed on departure so that it can be recouped if the avatar returns? If so, then an additional law allowing for that debt collection should be written; if not, then what is the purpose for adding to the volume of information the Treasurer deals with if there is no purpose to maintaining such a record?

Re: notification. I personally believe IMs and notecards should be enough and feel that maintaining a current e-mail list is adding more work to a job that already has a heavy workload. In addition I am concerned that there will be future 'I sent an e-mail' 'That was my old e-mail address - I updated it with the last Chancellor' petitions - not easy to resolve if the previous Chancellor was not a great record keeper, or has actually left CDS.

A better option might be an e-mail list maintained by a volunteer, or on a web page, where the burden of updating rests with the citizen themself. Alternately, can the hippo be set to allow owners to enter an e-mail address? I am just concerned that adding another level of 'things the Exec must keep track of to do their job' is unfair, and the responsibility to maintain up-to-date contact info should rest on the citizens themselves.

Calli

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd
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