Appropriations Process Act

[CaseyLeFaye]

House Vote: 6-0-0
Senate Vote: 4-0-0

A
BILL
To

Establish a Modernised Appropriations Process​

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Appropriations Process Act.'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker CaseyLeFaye, President UnityMaster, and Vice President lcn.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Rep. Yeet_Boy.

2 - Reasons
(1) The current Appropriations Process Act is severely outdated and unclear.

3 - Repealed Acts
(1) The Appropriations Process Act and the Urgent Budget Consideration Act are hereby repealed.

4 - Definitions
(1) The monthly Federal Budgetary Bill may be referred to as the “Appropriations Bill.”
(2) An “Appropriations Act” is an Appropriations Bill that has been signed into law.
(3) For the purposes of this Act, “federal government institution” shall mean any Redmont federal government Department, any Redmont federal government Branch, any institution established under Redmont federal law, and any institution established by Redmont Executive Order.
(a) Towns, and their institutions, such as Town departments, are not considered federal government institutions.
(4) A “Fiscal Month” begins on the 1st day of that month at 05:00 UTC and ends on the 1st of the next month at 05:00 UTC (e.g. the Fiscal Month of January would start on January 1st at 05:00 UTC and end of February 1st at 05:00).

5 - Budget Requests
(1) Between the beginning and the final week of a Fiscal Month:
(a) The President should submit to Congress the requested appropriations for each Department, in addition to any Executive Funds and the Presidential Reserve.
(b) The Chief Justice should submit to Congress the requested appropriations for the Judiciary.
(c) The Speaker of the House should submit to Congress the requested appropriations for the Legislative.
(d) The heads of any other federal government institutions may submit to Congress the requested appropriations for their respective institutions.
(2) The requests described above, along with any reasons provided for them, shall be made visible to all of Congress.
(3) If they are submitted, then Congress should consider these requests in the writing of the Appropriations Bill.

6 - Monthly Federal Budgetary Process Outline
‘(1) A Representative may propose an Appropriations Bill to Congress for approval by a simple majority in both chambers, provided that no appropriations Act is already in effect for the Fiscal Month of said Bill.
(2) Appropriations Bills, and Bills which amend them, are not subject to any congressional bill cool-off period and may be proposed at any time.
(3) An Appropriations Bill, or a Bill which amends an Appropriations Act, is automatically urgently considered.
(4) At the start of and during each Fiscal Month, if an Appropriations Bill for that Fiscal Month has been signed into law, all funds shall be returned from each federal government institution’s balance to the DCGovernment balance within 24 hours. Then, each federal government institution shall be distributed funds in accordance with that Fiscal Month’s Appropriations Act.
(a) In the scenario that an Appropriations Bill is not signed into law, then the most recently used Appropriations Act shall be reissued and distributed. These appropriations shall only be made to federal government Departments and federal government branches.
(ii) If the current fiscal month's appropriations are passed after the previous fiscal month's appropriations are reissued, the positive difference in funds will be distributed. No federal government institution shall have their monthly budget retroactively lowered.
(5) Only one Appropriations Act can be used per month. If multiple Appropriations Bills are signed into law in the same Fiscal Month, only the first to be signed shall be used to distribute appropriations in accordance with Subsection 6(4) of this Act.

7 - Budget and Financial Transparency
(1) A #budget channel will be made under the Government category on Discord.
(a) The #budget channel is to be publicly viewable.
(b) The Presiding Officers of Congress, the Deputy Presiding Officers of Congress, the Cabinet, Deputy Secretaries, Executive Officers, Judicial Officers, and heads of any federal government institutions — including, but not limited to, the Federal Reserve Bank — shall be able to view and write in this channel.
(i) Additional positions may be able to view and write in this channel if permitted by the President or Chief Justice.
(c) A transcript of this channel will be made available to the public at the end of each Fiscal Month.
(d) With the exclusion of criminal fines, All payments made for any reason by federal government institutions will need to be declared in this channel; all money received by federal government institutions must be reported in this channel.
(i) Federal government institutions without a corresponding Minecraft account are exempt from this. Instead, they must submit a transcript of all transactions in #budget following the end of each Fiscal Month.

8 - Presidential Reserve
(1) The President may have a discretionary fund for the purposes of appropriating to Executive departments as required.
(2) Distributions from the Presidential Reserve must be disclosed in #budget with which department they are distributed to and the reasoning.
(3) The reserve amount will be set in each Appropriations Bill.
(4) Funds in the Presidential Reserve shall not be exempt from the requirement to be returned described in Subsection 6(4) of this Act.

9 - Executive Funds
(1) The President may create Executive Funds by means of Executive Order.
(2) Executive Funds are created for a specific purpose, as described in the Executive Order, and can only be spent for that purpose.
(3) Executive Funds may be appropriated money in the Appropriations Bill.
(4) Funds in Executive Funds shall be exempt from the requirement to be returned described in Subsection 6(4) of this Act.

10 - Miscellaneous
(1) Funds in the following federal government institutions shall be exempt from the requirement to be returned described in Subsection 6(4) of this Act:
(i) federal government institutions established by law outside the Constitution, not including Departments; and
(ii) federal government institutions established by Executive Order.

 

[Unitymaster]

Presidential Assent

This bill has been granted assent and is hereby signed into law.

 

[Omegabiebel]

House Vote: 10-0-0
Senate Vote: 3-0-0

A
BILL
To

Quickfix to confidential transaction data being released​

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Transaction Report Quick Fix Act'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Omegabiebel.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Senator CaseyLeFaye.

2 - Reasons
(1) Very privileged and confidential data could get released if transaction reports are published unredacted, for example of the FRB.

3 - Amendment
The Appropriations Process Act of 2024 shall be amended as follows:
7 - Budget and Financial Transparency
(1) A #budget channel will be made under the Government category on Discord.
(a) All members of Congress shall be able to read this channel.
(b) The Presiding Officers of Congress, the Deputy Presiding Officers of Congress, the Cabinet, Deputy Secretaries, Executive Officers, Judicial Officers, and heads of any federal government institutions — including, but not limited to, the Federal Reserve Bank — shall be able to view and write in this channel.
(i) Additional positions may be able to view and write in this channel if permitted by the President or Chief Justice.
(c) A transcript of this channel will be made available to the public at the end of each Fiscal Month.
(i) Confidential data such as trade secrets may be redacted from this transcript.
(d) All payments made for any reason by federal government institutions will need to be declared in this channel; all money received by federal government institutions must be reported in this channel.
(i) Federal government institutions without a corresponding Minecraft account are exempt from this. Instead, they must submit a transcript of all transactions in #budget following the end of each Fiscal Month.[/B][/B]

 

[Kaiserin_]

Presidential Assent

This bill has been granted assent and is hereby signed into law.

 

[Silly Billy(Raz0Baz0)]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
​

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A BILL TO

Amend the Appropriations Process Act of 2024




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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:


​

PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Budget Publication Act’

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

(3) This Act has been authored by Representative Raz0Baz0.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Representative pricelessAgrari.

(5) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Act of Congress - Appropriations Process Act of 2024

2. Reasons and Intent

(1) The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont deserve transparency in the activities of their government in regards to its spending and budget.

PART II — AMENDMENTS AND TRANSITION

3. Amendments

(1) Section 7 of the Appropriations Process Act of 2024 is to be amended as follows:

7 - Budget and Financial Transparency

(1) A #budget channel will be made under the Government category on Discord.
(a) All members of Congress shall be able to read this channel. The #budget channel is to be publicly viewable.
(b) The Presiding Officers of Congress, the Deputy Presiding Officers of Congress, the Cabinet, Deputy Secretaries, Executive Officers, Judicial Officers, and heads of any federal government institutions — including, but not limited to, the Federal Reserve Bank — shall be able to view and write in this channel.
(i) Additional positions may be able to view and write in this channel if permitted by the President or Chief Justice.
(c) A transcript of this channel will be made available to the public at the end of each Fiscal Month.
(i) Confidential data such as trade secrets may be redacted from this transcript.
(d) With the exclusion of criminal fines, all payments made for any reason by federal government institutions will need to be declared in this channel; all money received by federal government institutions must be reported in this channel.
(i) Federal government institutions without a corresponding Minecraft account are exempt from this. Instead, they must submit a transcript of all transactions in #budget following the end of each Fiscal Month.

4. Transition

(1) Staff and the Department of Homeland Security are given a period of three (3) weeks to exclude criminal fines from the #budget channel.

 

[Technofied]

Presidential Assent

This bill has received Presidential assent and is hereby signed into law.

Reason: This Bill makes the existing #budget channel public to Citizens to view in real time. I do hold concerns that this real-time transparency could lead to scrutiny over individual transactions, prior to more elaborate explanation or reasoning provided.

That said, a valid counterargument is if this information is already published monthly, making it real-time shouldn't change anything substantively.

Employees and other individuals who incur expenses on behalf of the Government as such should take care to provide informative reasons, while remaining succinct, moving forward, if they are not doing so already.

Technofied

 

[TheArtemis_]

House Vote: 8-0-0
Senate Vote: 5-0-0

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
​

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A BILL TO

CLEAN UP THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS




​

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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:


​

PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Modern Appropriations Act’

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon assent.

(3) This Act has been authored by Gwi Styx.

(4) This Act has been sponsored by Representative Julia Tempest and co-sponsored by President of the Senate Talion Contour.

(5) This Act amends the Appropriations Process Act.

2. Reasons and Intent
(1) Congress has consistently failed to pass appropriations bills in time over the past few fiscal months.

(2) The process needs to be streamlined to allow congress to be as flexible as the other branches when appropriating funds to the wider government.

(3) Appropriations need to begin the process of becoming law much sooner.


PART II — AMENDMENTS

4. General amendments

(1) A clerk, or other such authorised individual, shall make the amendments necessary to the formatting of the Appropriations Process Act to bring it into line with other, modern Acts of Congress, as laid out in the Bill & Resolution Formats.

5. Amendments to Section 4

(1) Section 4 (3) of the Appropriations Process Act shall be amended as follows:

‘(3) For the purposes of this Act, “federal government institution” shall mean any Redmont federal government Department, any Redmont federal government Branch, any institution established under Redmont federal law, and any institution established by Redmont Executive Order, including Towns.
(a) Institutions under Towns, and their institutions, such as Town departments, are not considered federal government institutions.

6. Amendments to Section 5

(1) Section 5 (1) of the Appropriations Process Act shall be repealed and replaced with the following:

‘(1) Requests for appropriations for the following Fiscal Month shall be made no later than the 15th of the current month by:

(a) The President for each Department, in addition to any Executive Funds and the Presidential Reserve.

(b) The Chief Justice for the Judiciary.

(c) The Speaker of the House for the Congress.

(d) The heads of any other federal government institutions for their respective institutions.

(e) The Mayors of the Towns where they seek federal funding for their Town.’


7. Amendments to Section 6

(1) Section 6 Subsections (1-3) of the Appropriations Process Act shall be amended as follows:

‘(1) A Representative may propose an Appropriations Bill to Congress for approval by a simple majority in both chambers, provided that no appropriations Act is already in effect for the Fiscal Month of said Bill.

(2) Appropriations Bills, and Bills which amend them, are not subject to any congressional bill cool-off period and may be proposed at any time.
(a) Bills that seek to amend an Appropriations Act are not exempt from the congressional bill cool-off period.

(3) The An Appropriations Bill, or a Bill which amends an Appropriations Act, is automatically urgently considered in the last week of the month, 24 hours after being proposed.’

(2) Section 6 (4) of the Appropriations Process Act shall be repealed and replaced with the following:

‘(4) At the start of each Fiscal Month, all funds not exempted by statute shall be returned from each federal government institution’s balance to the DCGovernment balance within 24 hours. Following this, funds shall be distributed according to the latest Appropriations Act signed into law.

(a) Where an Appropriations Act for a Fiscal Month, or an amendment to that Act, comes into law after the distribution of funds:

(i) that Act or amendment shall supersede any Appropriations Act previously used for distribution for that Fiscal Month;

(i) positive discrepancies in appropriated funds may be subsequently distributed; and

(ii) negative discrepancies in appropriated funds shall be moot, as funds shall not be returned once distributed until the start of the next Fiscal Month.

(3) Section 6 (5) of the Appropriations Process Act shall be struck.

8. Amendments to Section 10

(1) Section 10 of the Appropriations Process Act shall be amended as follows:

‘(1) Funds in the following federal government institutions shall be exempt from the requirement to be returned described in Subsection 6(4) of this Act:

(i) Towns;

(ii) federal government institutions established by law outside the Constitution, not including Departments; and

(iii) federal government institutions established by Executive Order.’

 

[Franciscus]

Presidential Assent

Setting a budget deadline is a good step towards ensuring that budgets are voted on with enough time to get them to pass. It also provides clarity with respect to towns, whose status in our Constitution now renders them as not being federal government institutions.

I do have some concerns about the 15th being chosen; that is Inauguration Day for new presidents, and I think that a president should have a bit more time to form their own budget in their first months, rather than having the first ~1.5 months of their 4 month term be restricted by a prior administration’s spending priorities. But the Congress has over 3 months to fix this before the next President is elected, and I trust they will.

This bill is granted assent and is signed into law.