Vetoed Presidential Succession Order Allotment Act

[HatManMC]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
​

---

A BILL TO
PROVIDE A LIST OF SUCCESSION OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT AS PROVISIONED IN THE PSIA


​

---

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 'Presidential Succession Order Allotment Act" or "PSOAA".

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

(3) This Act has been authored by Representative HatManMC, coauthored by Stanley582, with review and revision from Representative ameslap, Representative _GreyMC, and Chief of Staff winterwolf.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Speaker of the House _GreyMC.

(5) This Act is to be utilized in accordance with §26(2)(b) of the Constitution as amended in the Presidential Succession Insurance Act.

2. Reasons and Intent
(1) After the succession crisis involving the dissolving of both House and Senate, the resignation of the Presidency under Multiman155, and the resignation of the Presidency under Just_Jada, it was proven that our current succession provisions in the Constitution are not extensive enough.
(2) The Act working in tandem with this one, the Presidential Succession Insurance Act, provides that Congress is to create a list of succession for the Presidency past the President of the Senate, as to ensure changes to succession can be done without having to amend the Constitution.
(3) This Act will provide said list.

3. Definitions
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) Succession. The rising to the office of the Presidency due to vacancies in higher seats.

PART II - PROVISIONS
4. Order of Succession
(1) As pursuant to §26(2)(b) of the Constitution, this act shall set the order of succession past the President of the Senate.

(2) The list for the succession of the office of the Presidency, assuming that the offices of the President, Vice President, and President of the Senate are all vacant, shall go as follows, with (a) being the start of the list and (k) being the end.
(a) The Speaker of the House
(b) The Secretary of the Department of State
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Commerce
(d) The Secretary of the Department of Justice
(e) The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
(f) The Secretary of the Department of Construction and Transport
(g) The Secretary of the Department of Health
(h) The Secretary of the Department of Public Affairs
(i) The Secretary of the Department of the Interior
(j) The Secretary of the Department of Education
(k) The Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank

(3) A person who becomes President through succession remains President notwithstanding any subsequent replacement of an office higher on the list.
(a) Any Acting Secretaries shall be skipped in the list of succession and will not be considered to fill the office of the Presidency.

 

[greymc]

Votes prior to H-50/39

 

[xXTheoryXx]

Veto

PRESIDENTIAL VETO
​

---

The Presidential Succession Order Allotment Act is the companion to the Presidential Succession Insurance Act. It supplies the order of succession that the amendment would authorise Congress to set: the Speaker of the House, then nine Secretaries in a fixed order, then the Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank. I have today returned the amendment to Congress for correction. This Act cannot stand without it, and it carries defects of its own that a corrected amendment would not cure. I veto it, and I return it with the amendment so that the two can come back together.

---

First, the Act has nothing to stand on.

Section 1(5) provides that the Act operates "in accordance with ยง26(2)(b) of the Constitution as amended in the Presidential Succession Insurance Act". That paragraph is not in the Constitution today, and will not be until an amendment has passed both chambers, received assent and survived a referendum under section 36. Section 51 provides that a law which purports to hold constitutional power without being in this document has none. Succession to the Presidency is a constitutional matter, so until the amendment is in force this Act would be law and inert. Section 1(2) commences it on signature regardless, so on the best case it would be in force nine days before the provision it implements, and permanently if the referendum failed. Its commencement should be tied to the amendment's.

Second, its first successor cannot lawfully serve.

Section 28(2) provides that no person may hold the position of Executive Officer concurrently with an elected position in Congress, and section 41 makes the President an Executive Officer. Section 26(2)(a) carves the President of the Senate out of that rule. It carves out no one else, and by section 51 an Act of Congress cannot. The Speaker, placed first at section 4(2)(a), could therefore serve only by resigning the Speakership and their seat, to hold an administration that must "immediately facilitate a presidential election" and will last days. In the crisis section 2(1) cites, with both chambers dissolved, there is no Speaker at all. Either the Speaker comes out of the list or the carve-out goes into the Constitution.

Third, the Act confers an office the Constitution does not.

Section 26(2) gives the successor a caretaker administration and a duty to call an election at once. It does not make them President. This Act defines succession as "rising to the office of the Presidency", provides that a person "becomes President" and "remains President", and speaks of filling "the office of the Presidency". That is more than the amendment would authorise, and section 51 does not permit a statute to hand out the office itself. The successor under this Act is a caretaker in the sense section 47 already defines, and the Act should say so.

Fourth, the smaller matters.

Section 4(2) repeats the "all vacant" trigger and so inherits the inactivity gap I have recorded against the amendment. "Acting Secretary" is undefined. The list names the Departments by their present names and breaks on the first rename, which "or the Department succeeding to its functions" would cure. And the Act cites paragraph (2)(b) throughout, which a corrected amendment would letter (c).

---

What I would sign.

An Act that commences on the day the amendment does; that lists Executive Officers and the Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank, and includes the Speaker only if the Constitution has been amended to let them serve; that calls the successor a caretaker administration subject to section 47 and to the duty to call an election immediately; that keeps the rule in section 4(3) that a later filling of a higher office does not displace the caretaker; and that defines Acting Secretary. Reintroduced alongside the corrected amendment, both will have my assent.

---

My thanks to Representative HatManMC for authoring this Bill, to Stanley582 for co-authoring it, to Speaker _GreyMC for co-sponsoring it, and to Representative ameslap and my Chief of Staff winterwolf for their review of it.

Accordingly, I veto this Bill, and it is returned to Congress.

Theory Fontaine
30th President of the Commonwealth of Redmont
​