Bill: Draft Federal Reserve Act

[Omegabiebel]

A
BILL
To

Establish an Independent Economic Steward​

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 'Economic Management Act' or the ‘EMA’
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker Omegabiebel, Secretary Gribble19 and Senator CaseyLeFaye.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Moyfr.

2 - Reasons
(1) The FRB is fundamentally broken due to vague legislation
(2) To repeal and replace the Federal Reserve Act.

3 - Definitions

(1) Monetary resources​

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(a) Types:​

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(i) Cash​

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(ii) Financial instruments such as debt, shares, bank notes, derivatives and investments​

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(b) Spawning in and despawning monetary resources shall mean the spawning and despawning of cash.​

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(2) Cash shall mean money in an in-game balance.​

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(3) Material resources​

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(a) Types:​

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(i) Items​

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(ii) Mobs​

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(iii) Entities in general (such as boats, minecarts…)​

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(4) Spawning shall include:​

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(a) The introduction of any resource into the server through means other than standard gameplay mechanics. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of administrative commands, external modifications, exploits, or plugins.​

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(i) Recipes made through a plugin shall not be considered as spawning, unless the recipe cost is egregiously low that it equates to spawning.​

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(5) Despawning shall mean the permanent removal of any item, block, mob, cash, or equivalent of any listed, from the server. This includes but is not limited to using commands like /trash or throwing an item into lava to be destroyed.​

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(6) Board members consist of two roles​

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(a) Sitting Board Member is a Member of the Board who was confirmed into the position.​

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(b) Ex Officio Board Member is a member who holds the seat by virtue of being Department of Commerce Secretary.​

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(7) A supermajority shall be defined as greater than or equal to 2/3rd AYE, excluding formally cast abstentions.​

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(8) A majority shall be defined as more than 50% AYE, excluding formally cast abstentions.​

4 - General

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(1) This act shall create an independent organization called the “Federal Reserve Bank” or the “FRB”.​

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(a) This shall be a public legal entity.​

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(2) Mandate of the FRB:​

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(a) Manage the health of the economy.​

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(b) Operate with independence to carry out its responsibilities without political or financial interference.​

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(c) Be transparent about its operations, only limited by the reasonable adverse effects of this transparency.​

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(3) The FRB may require the DOJ to defend it in court cases.​

5 - Governance

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(1) The Federal Reserve Board​

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(a) The Federal Reserve Board shall be the governing body of the Federal Reserve Bank.​

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(b) The Federal Reserve Board shall set the internal budgets of the FRB.​

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(c) It shall have 4 seats for Sitting Board Members and additionally 1 ex officio seat for the Secretary of the Department of Commerce.​

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(d) Any authority or power given to the FRB as a whole shall be regarded as given to the Federal Reserve Board.​

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(e) Each Board Member shall have 1 vote.​

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(f) An individual may only occupy one Board Member seat.​

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(g) There shall be a quorum of 4 votes on all motions, decisions, and decrees. Any votation that do not meet this quorum will be invalid.​

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(i) Votes made by the Secretary of the Department of Commerce shall not count towards the quorum.​

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(h) The Secretary of the Department of Commerce shall be the ex officio Board Member​

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(i) They shall be considered a full Board Member except where otherwise defined.​

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(ii) They shall not vote, unless to break a tie.​

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(iii) They shall not be able to become Governor or Lieutenant-Governor.​

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(iv) They shall be exempt from any provision in this Act which removes, suspends or limits Board Members through a vote (Board, Senate or otherwise) except where otherwise defined.​

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(i) Sitting Board Members shall be nominated by the House of Representatives with a majority, and confirmed by the Senate with a supermajority.​

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(i) Upon the proposal of a motion to nominate, a joint hearing shall be created for Representatives and Senators. The voting period of the House motion shall end 48 hours after conclusion of the hearing and the motion shall go to the Senate.​

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(j) Term:​

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(i) A Sitting Board Member may not serve a term longer than 4 months before needing reconfirmation, but may serve multiple terms.​

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(ii) This term shall begin on the first day of the month according to the Board Members' class.​

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(1) Class A: February, June, October​

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(2) Class B: April, August, December​

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(iii) Sitting Board Members shall be divided into 3 members in class A and 3 members in class B.​

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(iv) This term shall end 4 calendar months after the earliest point it was able to begin.​

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(v) The Sitting Board Member whose term has ended shall be automatically removed unless reconfirmed before the term ended.​

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(vi) An individual may be confirmed up to 7 days before the term begins. In this case, they shall only become a Sitting Board Member at the start of the term.​

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(k) Exclusions:​

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(i) If a Sitting Board Member is appointed or elected to an excluded position, then they shall be removed from their position as Sitting Board Member upon deciding to accept the excluded position unless overridden.​

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(ii) An exclusion may be overridden by a supermajority in both chambers of Congress.​

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(iii) Suspended Sitting Board Members shall be able to be removed with a majority vote in both chambers of Congress without the need for an impeachment trial.​

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(iv) The following positions shall be excluded from becoming a Sitting Board Member:​

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(1) Senators​

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(2) Representatives​

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(3) The Secretary of the Department of Commerce​

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(4) The President​

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(5) The Vice-President​

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(l) A Board Member shall not be regarded as a principal officer of the Executive.​

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(m) Removal of a Board Member​

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(i) A Board Member shall only be able to be removed through impeachment, except otherwise defined by law.​

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(ii) Impeachment​

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(1) Only the following charges are reasons for impeachment:​

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(a) Abuse of power​

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(b) Serious negligence​

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(c) Corruption​

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(d) Serious incompetence​

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(e) Persistent inactivity​

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(2) Process:​

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(a) The House of Representatives shall lay the charges by supermajority vote.​

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(b) The Senate shall be the judge in the trial, with the President of the Senate leading the trial.​

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(c) The Senate can only convict a Board Member with a supermajority.​

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(i) The punishment for conviction may be one or a combination of the following:​

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(1) A public reprimand​

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(2) Suspension as a Board Member for a duration up to the rest of the term.​

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(3) Removal as a Board Member.​

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(iii) A Board Member may be removed with a majority vote in both chambers of Congress if they are inactive.​

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(1) Inactivity shall not take playtime into account (Comments: FRB members are mostly discordcrafting. This is the same thing as with judges, they are also more on the forums than in-game.)​

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(2) The inactivity statute shall be suspended for Board Members who receive an Excuse from Duty passed by a majority vote in the Senate.​

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(3) Inactivity shall be defined as follows:​

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(a) If at least 4 Board motions, decisions, resolutions, or Decrees fail due to lack of quorum, each at least 24 hours apart, over the span of a week.​

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(b) If there is a clear lack of involvement in the governance of the FRB, beyond a reasonable doubt. It may be judicially challenged in the Federal Court of Redmont. The case must be filed within 10 days of the removal.​

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(2) The Governor of the FRB​

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(a) Authority:​

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(i) The Governor shall have the executive authority of the FRB.​

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(ii) The Governor shall be the principal representative of the FRB.​

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(iii) The Governor may delegate powers and responsibilities to the Lieutenant-Governor.​

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(b) Responsibilities:​

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(i) Ensuring the good management of the FRB.​

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(ii) Ensuring compliance with all laws and regulations.​

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(iii) Execute the laws and decrees within the purview of the FRB.​

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(c) The Governor shall be internally elected and removed by a majority of the whole Federal Reserve Board according to a process determined by the board. This process shall be free and fair. The vote requirement may not be changed.​

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(d) The Governor must be a Board Member.​

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(3) The Lieutenant-Governor of the FRB​

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(a) The Lieutenant-Governor shall be the second in command.​

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(i) The Lieutenant-Governor shall become the Acting Governor if the Governor is incapacitated or the position is vacant.​

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(ii) The Lieutenant-Governor who became the Acting Governor shall be relieved of the Acting Governor position if the incapacitation of the incapacitated Governor ends.​

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(b) The Lieutenant-Governor shall be internally elected and removed by a majority of the whole Federal Reserve Board according to a process determined by the board. This process shall be free and fair. The vote requirement may not be changed.​

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(c) The Lieutenant-Governor may not be the same individual as the Governor.​

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(d) The Lieutenant-Governor must be a Board Member.​

2 - Rule Making Authority

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(1) The FRB shall have rule making authority through the enactment of Decrees.​

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(a) This authority shall be limited to:​

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(i) The internal governance and internal structure of the FRB;​

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(ii) The use and delegation of the powers granted to the FRB; (Comments: This does NOT mean the FRB can give itself power. It just needs to be able to limit its power to be able to delegate it to employees.)​

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(iii) Any other area over which authority has been given by law or another authority to the FRB, subject to the limits that were set.​

6 - Economic Powers

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(1) The FRB shall be able to lend, borrow, buy, sell, hold, receive, and distribute monetary or material resources.​

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(2) The FRB shall be able to lend, borrow, buy, sell, hold, receive, distribute, and create financial instruments.​

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(3) The FRB shall have the exclusive authority to set the resources and the source of these resources a player gets when joining DemocracyCraft for the first time.​

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(4) The FRB shall have the exclusive authority to set the rewards obtained by voting, including but not limited to the vote crate and the vote shop.​

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(5) The FRB shall have the exclusive authority to set regulations for the spawning of resources by supermajority Board vote.​

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(6) The FRB shall have the exclusive authority to set regulations to compensate for the spawning of resources through the real-life shop. The FRB shall have no authority over the real-life shop or the products offered therein.​

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(7) The FRB shall have the exclusive authority to set monetary policy, including pegging the currency.​

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(8) No individual, person, legal entity, institution, company, or organization (except staff) may spawn in money or material resources without FRB approval.​

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(9) The FRB shall have the authority to request the following data from staff regarding staff-spawned resources:​

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(a) The type of resource, and item/mob/entity type, if it’s a material resource;​

(b) The time the resource was spawned in;​

(c) The amount of the resource.​

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(10) The FRB shall have the authority to despawn money or material resources with a supermajority board vote. The FRB may only despawn resources in its ownership or the government's ownership.​

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(11) The FRB shall have the authority to determine material resource requirements for functions, activities, practices, operations, infrastructure, buildings, or equivalents of these of the Government by majority Board vote.​

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(a) The destination of the resources shall be set by the FRB, this may include despawning;​

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(b) The FRB may set roleplay consequences or set fines to be despawned in case of failure to meet these resource requirements.​

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(12) The FRB shall have exclusive authority to set bonus materials received when gathering material resources.​

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(13) Reserve Requirements​

(a) The FRB sets reserve requirements, which are the minimum amounts of funds that commercial banks and credit unions must hold in reserve against their deposits.​

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(b) The Reserve Bank has the authority to require commercial banks and credit unions to hold this reserve within the Reserve Bank.​

8 - Oversight

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(1) The FRB shall publicly release a monthly report on the 15th of the following month, which shall contain, at least, the following information about that month:​

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(a) Amount of funds held, paid and received.​

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(b) Amounts and types of material and monetary resources held, disbursed and received.​

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(c) Amount of liabilities held​

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(d) The health of the market, economy and financial industry​

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(e) Any decisions issued, both executive and legislative in nature​

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(f) Amount of monetary and material resources spawned in by the FRB​

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(g) Amount of monetary and material resources despawned by the FRB​

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(2) Reporting of material resource quantities may be rounded to stacks or shulkers.​

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(3) If the FRB fails to release a report without an excuse from duty by majority Senate vote, then the minimum Board Member removal vote requirement shall be lowered to only a majority in the Senate. No trial shall need to be conducted.​

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(4) The FRB shall keep full accounting books.​

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(5) An FRB Sitting Board Member shall diligently, speedily and publicly report any and all actual or appearances of conflicts of interest. Failure to do so constitutes an act of corruption as defined in law. This report must be updated within reasonable time.​

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(6) Sitting Board Members shall be allowed to be renominated.​

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(7) Votes of Board Members on motions, non-binding resolutions and Decrees shall be public.​

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(8) The content of Board motions and Gubernatorial Orders shall be public, but may be classified to prevent harm.​

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(9) All Decrees shall be public.​

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(10) The Senate shall appoint an Inspector General to the Federal Reserve. The Inspector General shall be appointed by a majority vote of the Senate and serves at the pleasure of the Senate. The Inspector General shall not be part of the Federal Reserve nor any financial institution.​

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(11) The Inspector General shall have unfiltered access to view all Federal Reserve Communications. The Inspector General may not communicate in any of these channels unless authorized by the Reserve Governor.​

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(12) The Inspector General is responsible for holding the Board of Governors accountable, addressing issues to Congress, and ensuring that the Federal Reserve operates in the best interests of the Commonwealth.​

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(13) The Inspector General is required to present an audit report to Congress the 17th every month and the general public to show the Federal Reserve is meeting their obligations and is operating lawfully.​

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(14) The Inspector General's salary shall be decided by Executive Order.​

9 - Vote Requirements

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(1) A Decree, Gubernatorial Order or Board motion shall be able to be vetoed with a supermajority vote in both chambers of Congress.​

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(2) A Decree, Gubernatorial Order or Board motion may be suspended for up to 72 hours once with a supermajority vote in one chamber of Congress.​

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(3) Repeals shall be seen as amendments in this Act​

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(4) Vote requirements in both chambers of Congress:​

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(a) Amendments to oversight, accountability, and transparency provisions of the FRB shall need a majority​

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(b) Amendments to restrict the powers or authorities of the FRB shall need a supermajority except if this is an amendment clearly of general nature and not meant to specifically limit the power or authorities of the FRB​

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(c) Amendments to governance of the FRB or the appointment, suspension and removal of Board Members shall need a supermajority.​

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(d) Amendments to spawning regulations and provisions shall need a supermajority.​

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(e) Acts reducing or restricting budgets of the FRB shall need a supermajority​

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(f) Amendments changing the vote requirements in this section shall need a supermajority​

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(g) All other amendments to this act shall need a majority.​

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(5) Acts that amend, repeal or legislate the FRB, the subject matter of this Act or the vote requirements above shall be considered amendments to this Act in terms of vote requirements.​

10 - Transition

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(1) All current Board Members shall keep their positions, and shall need to be renominated by the House of Representatives and reconfirmed by the Senate within 21 days of signing unless they are ineligible to become a sitting board member. Upon elapse of this period they shall be removed if not reconfirmed.​

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(2) Existing Board Members ineligible to become a Board Member confirmed by the Senate shall be automatically removed.​

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(3) All current Sitting Board Members shall be able to be removed with a majority vote in both chambers of Congress until they are reconfirmed.​

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(4) In the confirmation motion, Sitting Board Members shall be put in either class A or B.​

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(5) The president shall be able to extend the transition period by 14 days with an Executive Order.​

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(6) All FRB acts, decisions, orders, rules, regulations and equivalents which were active before the signage of this act shall be repealed. Their repeal shall happen at the end of the transition period. Amendments to these during the transition shall be considered as a reconfirmation.​

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(7) The DCT shall have spawning approval of items and blocks during the transition period.​

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(8) The FRB legislated and created by the Federal Reserve Act shall be seen as continuing to exist. The FRB in the Federal Reserve Act and the FRB in this act shall be seen as the same institution and entity.​

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(9) The DHS shall have spawning approval of money through treasury debt during the transition period.​

11 - Consolidation

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(1) The Federal Reserve Act shall be repealed and replaced with this Act.​

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(2) The following shall be added to PART IX of the Criminal Code Act:​

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"​

25 - Reserve Requirement Violation
Offence Type: Indictable
Penalty: a fine of up to $20,000 + forceful transfer of the reserve amount to the FRB
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) Failing to meet reserve requirements after seven days' notice from the FRB
Relevant Law:
"

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