Vetoed Dereliction Logging Act

[greymc]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
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A BILL TO

LOG DERELICTION BETTER




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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:


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PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Dereliction Logging Act’

(2) This Act shall be enacted when either the 40th House of Representatives or Senate have been called to order.

(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker _GreyMC.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Deputy Speaker HatManMC and Deputy President of the Senate ElegantAlly.

(5) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Legislative Standards Act

(6) This act is to be read with the Show Up for Work Act, adding harsher dereliction requirements.

2. Reasons and Intent

(1) The current legislation for logging dereliction tallies is minor, having a poorly defined public record.

(2) This act will make it so OCA will keep tallies of dereliction, and publicly announce when someone has committed dereliction of their duties.

(3) They will also keep track of the countdown established for dereliction in the Show Up for Work Act.

PART II - AMENDMENTS

3. Legislative Standards Act

(1) §6(3)(g) of the Legislative Standards Act shall be amended as follows:

(g) Keeping a public record of instances of actions by Congressional Members which contribute to being derelict.Keeping up with the dereliction requirements in the Constitution, including:

(i) keeping a publicly available list of dereliction tallies of each Congressional member

(ii) informing the public when a Congressional member has committed dereliction of their duties

(iii) keeping track of the removal timer when a Congressional member has committed dereliction of their duties

(iv) informing Congressional Members for each dereliction tally they acquire


(2) §11(16) of the Legislative Standards Act shall be added as follows:

(16) Motion to Save

(a) A Motion to Save seeks to “save,” or keep, a member in Congress if the member is found to have committed dereliction of their duties.

(b) A Motion to Save may only be made on one individual at a time.

(c) A Motion to Save must be made and voted on in accordance with the constitutional processes for keeping a member when they have committed dereliction, and the passing requirements shall be those that are defined in the Constitution.

 

[greymc]

NOTICE: I voted AYE in the House. Changing my vote will make the poll show different results for House, so I am logging my original vote here.

 

[xXTheoryXx]

Veto

PRESIDENTIAL VETO​

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The Dereliction Logging Act rewrites §6(3)(g) of the Legislative Standards Act so that the Office of Congressional Affairs keeps a public tally of dereliction for every member, announces when a member becomes derelict, tracks the removal timer, and notifies each member of every tally recorded against them, and it adds a Motion to Save to §11. By its own terms it is to be read with the Show Up for Work Act, and it commences with the 40th Congress. I have today returned the Show Up for Work Act to Congress. This Act is the machinery for it, and I am returning the machinery with it.

I record the following for Congress.

1. The Act is built on constitutional text that does not exist. The removal timer in paragraph (iii) and the "constitutional processes for keeping a member" in the Motion to Save appear only in the Bill I have returned. Under §51 of the Constitution nothing in a statute can supply them, so on assent those provisions would refer to a process that is not law and may never be, or may return in a different shape. A statute should not be enacted on the assumption that a constitutional amendment will pass unchanged, because the reasons I gave for returning that amendment are reasons to change it.

2. When Congress redrafts the Show Up for Work Act, this Act will need redrafting to match it. If the redraft adds a mandatory notification on the fifth strike and a period to respond, as I have asked, the Office's duties under paragraph (g) are the natural place to put the mechanics, and they should be written against the final text rather than the returned one. Passing this Act now would mean amending it again within weeks.

3. The parts of this Act that stand on their own are good and should come back. A public tally that anyone can check against the definition in force, an announcement when a member becomes derelict, and notice to the member each time an entry is made are the fair warning the constitutional Bill lacked. Congress should bring them back with the redraft, and should say in the tally what vote was missed, on what date, and whether the member was on leave.

4. Section 1(2) commences the Act when "the 40th House of Representatives or Senate" is called to order. Chambers are not numbered; Congresses are. Section 1(6) directs that the Act be read with a Bill that is not an Act. Both should be fixed on the way back.

Accordingly, I veto this Bill and return it to Congress.

I thank Speaker _GreyMC for authoring the Bill, and Deputy Speaker HatManMC and Deputy President of the Senate ElegantAlly for co-sponsoring it. The pair should travel together, and I hope they return together.

Given under my hand and the Seal of the President on 21 September 2026

Theory Fontaine
30th President of the Commonwealth of Redmont​