Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

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Lilith Ivory
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Re: Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

Post by Lilith Ivory »

I want to say it once again:
As we hold those question hours to follow the NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act and as Chancellor, the RA and the SC are supposed to chair those meetings as representatives of our government those meetings can not be seen any different than official and open for all to get informed about pending CDS matters.
A meeting required by law is a proceeding and you can read in the Constitution both RA and SC both have to keep and publish a journal of their proceedings. (Section 5 - Journal)
We all want our government to be as transparent as possible and holding back transcripts of official meetings would be extremely counterproductive.

I fully understand one might want to ask questions or make statements about sensitive topics. But if one does not want to see them published the official gov´t question hour might not be the right place for them.

In my opinion we need both: the official question hour as an informal and educative event and also more semi private gatherings so new or less active citizens get a chance to met the representatives of their government in a more relaxed and private setting.
Now that we are about to reduce the official question hours to one per month I plan to invite citizens to less formal brunches more often and highly encourage my fellow government members to do the same.

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Re: Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

code - Government Question Hour Act ( replaces NL 7-1 Government Question Hour Act)


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

For clause 5 we have 3 different wordings for the RA to choose from

Coop/Han’s version:
5. The Chair will post a summary of the meeting on the forum, to include topics of discussion and attendance for archival purposes. Optionally, the Chair may keep a transcript of the meeting and post it in whole or in part to the CDS forums. This is only as a courtesy for those unable to attend, and is not intended as a formal record.

Callie's version:
5. The Chair will keep a transcript of the meeting and post it to the CDS forums. The Chair may also choose to include a summary of the content of the meeting.

Lilith/Widdget’s version:
5. The Chair will post a transcript of the meeting to the CDS forums, which may also include a summary of the content of the meeting. At the start, participants shall be informed that a transcript will be posted.

6. For each Question Hour, the Chair will -- in advance -- announce date, time and location in a Forum and via group notice. In the minutes before each Question Hour begins, the Chair (or an alternate) will announce date, time and location via group notice and in group IM.

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Re: Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

Post by Bagheera »

Han Held wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2016 8:36 pm

The choice is simple:
You can create a safe place where people can come and speak their mind without worrying about some jack-off quoting them chapter and verse five years from now for things they said during a feedback meeting they'd long forgotten about

OR

You can create an unsafe environment that excludes people who are intimidated by the forums, meetings etc and does nothing at all to draw in anyone other than the same old crowd.

I agree 100%. There is a huge difference in the repercussions between having people in-world who are present when you state your chat in conversation and having that conversation stated on an Internet BBS where the information is available in perpetuity to anyone with an Internet connection.

To my mind, CDS started as an in-world virtual experience and early laws seem to me to clearly delineate the difference. Government transcripts regarding financials and laws make sense to post on the Internet because a persistent record needs to be kept. Mandating posting Q&A sessions on the internet that happen inworld makes me wonder if the emphasis is now changed to where it is no longer any fun.

For those of you advocating posting Q&A transcripts on the forums, please explain what pragmatic benefit is derived from codifying that into law?

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A heads up for the new RA Archivist

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

The RA decided on this on 10th of September 2016 (transcript: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php? ... ept#p43717). Lilith's/Widget's version was chosen for clause 5. Unfortunately the text of this law has not been updated on the portal yet.

Text for reference:

code - Government Question Hour Act ( replaces NL 7-1 Government Question Hour Act)


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

1. The Chancellor is charged with organizing a Government Question Hour 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 Hour 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.

5. The Chair will post a transcript of the meeting to the CDS forums, which may also include a summary of the content of the meeting. At the start, participants shall be informed that a transcript will be posted.

6. For each Question Hour, the Chair will -- in advance -- announce date, time and location in a Forum and via group notice. In the minutes before each Question Hour begins, the Chair (or an alternate) will announce date, time and location via group notice and in group IM.

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Re: Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

Post by Widget Whiteberry »

Thank you, Tan.

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Re: Updating NL 7-1 Gov't Question Hour Act

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Law was updated on the portal several weeks ago. We are done here, thank you everyone.

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