Act of Congress Classification Act

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Construction & Transport Department
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Redmont Bar Assoc.
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Willow Resident
xEndeavour
xEndeavour
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House Vote: 7-0-0
Senate Vote: 4-0-1

A
BILL
To

Provide for laws in relation to the protection of Government Information.

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 “Classification Act”.
(2) This Act shall be enacted 30 days after its signage.

2 - Reasons
(1) To establish a form of document classification and therefore access.
(2) APGI provides no clause or reasons as to why it is not immune from Political Communication
(3) Cabinet solidarity is important.

3 - Reasonable Limitations
The Freedom of Political Communication does not apply to classified information for the purpose of preserving national security, cabinet solidarity, and the good order of society.

4 - Classification Enforcement
(1) A document or channel must be explicitly assigned a classification for the classification to be enforceable.
(2) The Executive is responsible for assigning security clearances.
(3) The Chief of Staff is responsible for security clearance patronage.
(4) The author of a document, given they are a member of a branch of government may classify their document for an unlimited timespan. However, the document is declassified if the author leaves their job in the government branch.
(5) The Chairperson of a committee may apply a classification to all future messages in the committee.
(6) The Presiding Officer of a chamber may apply a classification to all future messages in the chamber discussion channel.
(7) The Chief of Staff may apply a classification to all future messages in a cabinet discussion for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(8) A Secretary may apply a classification to all future messages in a department discussion of theirs, or to a department support ticket. The player that opened a ticket made classified and any players added to it have temporary clearance.
(9) Judicial discussions for ongoing court cases are classified by default and no player outside the discussion may be given access to view them, regardless of clearance. The classification expires when the verdict is announced, however the Supreme Court may classify parts of the discussion to prevent confidential evidence from being released.
(10) Classification is officially done in a channel by writing the classification level in all caps. Unless otherwise specified, the classification applies only to future messages but can be made to classify a specific previous message in a channel and onwards.
(11) A player may only classify to a level they have clearance to.
(12) The classifier may declare at any time that future messages in the channel will no longer be classified. This occurs by default at the specific institution's end of term. The classifier may additionally declare previous information they classified, to now be public.

5 - Classifications
(1) The following classifications will apply:
a. SECRET - Information that has the potential to cause significant collateral damage to the Government or National Security.
b. CABINET - Information that has the potential to cause collateral damage to the solidarity of Cabinet.
c. OFFICIAL - Information that has the potential to cause minor collateral damage to the Government or National Security
d. UNCLASSIFED - Information that has not been assigned a classification or has been publicly announced or distributed by authorised individuals.

6 - Security Clearences
(1) By default, security clearances are applied as follows below. However, the Chief of Staff may manage clearances at the direction of the President. Security clearances are reverted to default with a new President. Note a high clearance does not give access to multiple classification levels. (i.e., SC-1 does not give clearance to CABINET information)
a. SC-1 - Authorised to view SECRET information. This clearance includes all Representatives and Senators.
b. SC-2 - Authorised to view CABINET information. This clearance includes all members of Cabinet, including the President.
c. SC-3 - Authorised to view OFFICIAL information that is in relation to their course of duties. This clearance includes all members of a department, each department having a separate SC-3 clearance.
d. Nil - Authorised to view UNCLASSIFIED information. This includes all players.

7 - Breach of Integrity
(1) Where classified material is breached, the individual whom shared the classified information in the first instance is to be held accountable.
(2) Whistleblowers are exempt where deemed by the court.
(3) A new law is established:
Breach of Integrity
Where an individual shares information of classified nature when unauthorised.
Per Offence: Fine between $5,000 and $20,000 through a lawsuit

8 - Immunities
(1) Judicial Privilege - Legal immunity enjoyed by judges and parties of litigation whereby information being used in court as evidence is exempt from Breach of Integrity. Content of the evidence should be considered to determine if an open court is appropriate.
(2) Executive Privilege - Legal immunity enjoyed by the Executive whereby the Executive may deny producing a document to the legislative on the basis of cabinet solidarity or national security. This may be overturned by the courts.
(3) Congressional Privilege - Legal immunity enjoyed by members of Congress whereby Information provided to chambers or committees is exempt from civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. Anonymous witness information does not apply to this immunity.

9 - Rescind APGI Act

10 - Freedom of Information
(1) Congress directly represents the people in government. Therefore congress does not have the power to permanently withhold information from the public. All information shared with a congressional committee or chamber shall be de-classified as well as made public by their respective presiding officer as soon as possible after the classification expires. Information as to the identity of a whistleblower will be exempt from this clause. All classifications in Congress expire at the end of the term. All classifications in Cabinet expire at the end of the President’s term in office. All classifications in a department expire with a new Senate-approved Secretary.
(2) Freedom of Information requests can be made by a congressional chamber, congressional committee, Courts, and/or individuals.
(a) A Freedom of Information request made by an individual is, made towards the Department of Legal Affairs. The Department of Legal Affairs is then expected to make a reasonable attempt to, provide all non-classified requested information. Providing the request is reasonable as decided by the Speaker for Congressional requests, the Chief of Staff for Cabinet requests, and the Chief Justice for Judicial requests. A request for something classified by a player without sufficient clearance is always an unreasonable request. The request may be for any unclassified document or chat discussion of the Congressional, Cabinet, or Judicial discord servers.
(b) A Freedom of Information request made by a court, congressional chamber or congressional committee is an ordained subpoena of information towards the cabinet. The cabinet is expected to provide all relevant information, with an SC of 3 or lower.
(3) Any person or government body with a significant interest in classified information can request the Federal Court to determine whether or not said information is justly classified. This request pertains to all classifications. If determined that the classified information is not justly classified, the presiding judge/justice will lower its classification to the highest justifiable level. Only, the presiding judge/justice shall gain access to the information from cabinet. In extreme cases, the executive may request for the Chief Justice to review the evidence instead of the presiding judge/justice.
 
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This bill is granted assent and shall become law in 30 days as codified, on May 9th.​
 
House Vote: 9-1-0
Senate Vote: 5-0-0

Classification Amendment Act

A
BILL
To
Amend the Classification Act.

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 “Classification Amendment Act”.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) Section 2-3 was written by Secretary of State, xEndeavour.
(4) Section 4 was written by Representative Milkcrack.
(5) Co-Sponsored by Milkcrack.

2 - Reasons
(1) If an official is granted a security classification, technically they can view whatever information of that classification that they like. Compartmentalising this information supports a 'need-to-know' principle whereby information is only shared and viewed when the individual has a reasonable and genuine purpose to view the information.

i.e. Electoral votes are SECRET information, however, the President has clearance to see SECRET information, so technically they could review the votes without breaking the law. If the security classification system is compartmentalised, the electoral system can be viewed as having its own sub-classification under the SECRET classification which the President has no genuine or reasonable need to view.

3 - Department of State
(1) The following clause will be added to Section 6 - Security Clearances:
(2) To support the 'need-to-know' principle of classified information, it is compartmentalised. Therefore, holding a clearance does not allow you to see all information that is classified under that classification. An individual must have a genuine and reasonable purpose in the course of their duties to view information that is classified under their security clearance.

4 - Freedom of Information
(1) A new "Section 10 - Freedom of Information" shall be added to the Classification Act containing the following clauses:

(1) Congress directly represents the people in government. Therefore congress does not have the power to withhold information from the public. All information shared with a congressional committee or chamber shall be de-classified as well as made public by their respective presiding officer as soon as possible after it has been shared.
(2) Freedom of Information requests can be made by a congressional chamber, congressional committee, Courts, and/or individuals.
(a) A Freedom of Information request made by an individual is, made towards the department of state. The department of state is then expected to make a reasonable attempt to, provide all non-classified requested information. Providing the request is reasonable.
(b) A Freedom of Information request made by a court, congressional chamber or congressional committee is an ordained subpoena of information towards the cabinet. The cabinet is expected to provide all relevant information, with an SC of 3 or lower.
(3) Any person or government body with a significant interest in classified information can request the Federal Court to determine whether or not said information is justly classified. This request pertains to all classifications. If determined that the classified information is not justly classified, the presiding judge/justice will lower its classification to the highest justifiable level. Only, the presiding judge/justice shall gain access to the information from cabinet. In extreme cases, the executive may request for the Chief Justice to review the evidence instead of the presiding judge/justice.
 
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Presidential Assent

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

 
House Vote: 8-0-0
Senate Vote: 4-0-0

A
BILL
To
Amend the Classification Amendment Act.

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 “Classification Amendment Repair Act”.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage provided that the "Classification Amendment Act" is signed into law
(3) Co-Sponsored by Milkcrack.

2 - Reasons
(1) To add Whistleblower protection


3 - Whistleblower protection
(1) Provision 1 of Section "10 - Freedom of Information" will be amended from:
(1) Congress directly represents the people in government. Therefore congress does not have the power to withhold information from the public. All information shared with a congressional committee or chamber shall be de-classified as well as made public by their respective presiding officer as soon as possible after it has been shared.

to

(1) Congress directly represents the people in government. Therefore congress does not have the power to withhold information from the public. All information shared with a congressional committee or chamber shall be de-classified as well as made public by their respective presiding officer as soon as possible after it has been shared. Information as to the identity of a whistleblower will be exempt from this clause.
 
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Presidential Assent

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

 
House Vote: 9-0-0
Senate Vote: 5-0-0


A
Bill To
Amend the Classification Act

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 ‘Freedom of Confidentiality Act’
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act was authored by Rep. Mhadsher101
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Senator f6rn

2 - Reasons
(1) The bill in its current form suggests Congress cannot classify any discussion, due to the wording that Congress cannot withhold information from the public.
(2) The bill does not clearly suggest who has the authority to classify.
(3) The Executive almost never assigns security clearances and so default security clearances are appropriate.
(4) Classifications should expire eventually to defend the public’s right to information.
(5) A minimum fine for Breach of Integrity is appropriate to set a baseline punishment and show the severity of leaking confidential information.
(6) The Department of Legal Affairs currently oversees Freedom of Information requests as per the Constitution.
(7) The bill in its current form does not protect judicial discussions of active cases from Freedom of Information requests.

3 - Amendments to Classification Act
(1) Classification Enforcement
(a) A document or channel must be explicitly assigned a classification for the classification to be enforceable. A document or forum post should have a classification assigned at the top-centre in red and capitals, where practicable.
(b) The Executive is responsible for assigning security clearances - with exception to the Judiciary and the Legislature whereby law prevails where an automatic SC-3 is assumed that cannot be removed.
(c) The Chief of Staff is responsible for security clearance patronage.
(d) The author of a document, given they are a member of a branch of government may classify their document for an unlimited timespan. However, the document is declassified if the author leaves their job in the government branch.
(e) The Chairperson of a committee may apply a classification to all future messages in the committee for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(f) The Presiding Officer of a chamber may apply a classification to all future messages in the chamber discussion channel for a time span of up to 2 weeks, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(g) The Chief of Staff may apply a classification to all future messages in a cabinet discussion for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(h) A Secretary may apply a classification to all future messages in a department discussion of theirs for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(i) Judicial discussions for ongoing court cases are classified by default and no player outside the discussion may be given access to view them, regardless of clearance. The classification expires when the verdict is announced, however the Supreme Court may classify parts of the discussion to prevent confidential evidence from being released.
(j) Classification is officially done in a channel by writing the classification level in all caps and including the following information: the expiry date, clearly stating it applies to all future messages, the players that have clearance as mandated by the particular classification (listing individual players is unnecessary, saying ‘cabinet members’ is appropriate), and pinging channel members.
(k) A player may only classify to a level they have clearance to.


(2) Security Clearances
From:
(1) The Chief of Staff is to manage security clearances at the direction of the President.
a. SC-1 - Authorised to view SECRET information that is in relation to their course of duties.
b. SC-2 - Authorised to view CABINET information that is in relation to their course of duties.
c. SC-3 - Authorised to view OFFICIAL information that is in relation to their course of duties.
d. Nil - Authorised to view UNCLASSIFIED information.


To:
(1) By default, security clearances are applied as follows below. However, the Chief of Staff may manage clearances at the direction of the President. Security clearances are reverted to default with a new President. Note a high clearance does not give access to multiple classification levels. (i.e., SC-1 does not give clearance to CABINET information)
a. SC-1 - Authorised to view SECRET information. This clearance includes all Representatives and Senators.
b. SC-2 - Authorised to view CABINET information. This clearance includes all members of Cabinet, including the President.
c. SC-3 - Authorised to view OFFICIAL information that is in relation to their course of duties. This clearance includes all members of a department, each department having a separate SC-3 clearance.
d. Nil - Authorised to view UNCLASSIFIED information. This includes all players.


(3) Breach of Integrity
From:
Breach of Integrity
Where an individual shares information of classified nature when unauthorised.
Per Offence: Maximum fine of $20,000

To:
Breach of Integrity
Where an individual shares information of classified nature when unauthorised.
Per Offence: Fine between $5,000 and $20,000 through a lawsuit

(4) Freedom of Information
(1) Congress directly represents the people in government. Therefore congress does not have the power to permanently withhold information from the public. All information shared with a congressional committee or chamber shall be de-classified as well as made public by their respective presiding officer as soon as possible after the classification expires it has been shared. Information as to the identity of a whistleblower will be exempt from this clause. All classifications in Congress expire at the end of the term. All classifications in Cabinet expire at the end of the President’s term in office. All classifications in a department expire with a new Senate-approved Secretary.
(2) A Freedom of Information request made by an individual is made towards the Department of State Legal Affairs. The Department of State Legal Affairs is then expected to make a reasonable attempt to provide all non-classified requested information. Providing the request is reasonable as decided by the Speaker for Congressional requests, the Chief of Staff for Cabinet requests, and the Chief Justice for Judicial requests. A request for something classified by a player without sufficient clearance is always an unreasonable request. The request may be for any unclassified document or chat discussion of the Congressional, Cabinet, or Judicial discord servers.

Not-Quite-Chief-Justice JoeGamer said this bill's name is an oxymoron. I told him that's exactly what I'm going for.
 
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Presidential Assent

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

 
A
Bill To
Amend the Classification Act

The people of Democracy Craft, 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 ‘Easy Classification Act.’
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act was authored by Rep. Mhadsher101.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Rep. ElainaThomas29.

2 - Reasons
(1) The classification process was made too difficult and convoluted to follow properly, as seen from the very limited proper use in Congress.
(2) There are too many unneeded restrictions in the classification process.

3 - Amendments to Classification Act
(a) A document or channel must be explicitly assigned a classification for the classification to be enforceable. A document or forum post should have a classification assigned at the top-centre in red and capitals, where practicable.
(b) The Chairperson of a committee may apply a classification to all future messages in the committee for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(c) The Presiding Officer of a chamber may apply a classification to all future messages in the chamber discussion channel for a time span of up to 2 weeks, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(d) The Chief of Staff may apply a classification to all future messages in a cabinet discussion for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(e) A Secretary may apply a classification to all future messages in a department discussion of theirs, or to a department support ticket. The player that opened a ticket made classified and any players added to it have temporary clearance. for a time span of up to one month, with all messages subsequently declassified.
(f) Classification is officially done in a channel by writing the classification level in all caps. Unless otherwise specified, the classification applies only to future messages but can be made to classify a specific previous message in a channel and onwards. and including the following information: the players that have clearance as mandated by the particular classification (listing individual players is unnecessary, saying ‘cabinet members’ is appropriate), and pinging channel members.
(g) The classifier may declare at any time that future messages in the channel will no longer be classified. This occurs by default at the specific institution's end of term. The classifier may additionally declare previous information they classified, to now be public.

4 - Note
(1) Classifications in Congress will continue to expire and the information becomes public at the end of a congressional term. In Cabinet, it is when there is a new president, and in a department, it is when there is a new Senate-approved Secretary, as per the Freedom of Confidentiality Act.
 
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Presidential Assent

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

 
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