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- Jul 3, 2021
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- 17
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- #1
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 'Referendum Timeframe Fix Act.'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Representative Moyfr.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Representative ToadKing.
2 - Reasons
(1) Currently, a loophole exists in the Constitution in which the president can indefinitely hold off referendums being held for constitutional amendments by simply not requesting that they happen.
(2) It is not illegal for the president to do this. If this is not changed now, there may come a time when an amendment needs to go through, but is blocked by a president for dishonest reasons, and we would be powerless to change it, since this too, is part of the constitution.
3 - Amendment
(1) The Referendum Act shall be amended to state the following:
"4 – Referendums
(1) A Referendum is a binding vote by the people on a law.
(2) A referendum can only be held if:
(a) The Constitution requires it; or
(b) Congress passes a law requiring it;.
(3) If a law which requires a referendum has been passed by Congress, and has been granted assent by the President, then it is the duty of the President to notify the Secretary of the Department of State within 48 hours of granting assent to hold a referendum.(a) If a law which requires a referendum is vetoed by the President, and Congress overrides the veto, then it is the duty of the President of the Senate to notify the Secretary of the Department of State to hold a public vote on the referendum.
(b) If a law has been automatically assented, the duty to notify the Secretary of the Department of State falls onto the President of the Senate.
(4) For all intents and purposes of the Electoral Act, a referendum is regarded as an election.(5) The Department of State, after being notified by the President or President of the Senate, shall have one week to put the referendum to a public vote.
(a) If the referendum is derived from a bill that was under urgent consideration while in Congress, the referendum shall be started by the Department of State within 48 hours after notification by the President or President of the Senate of assent.
(6) Referendums shall take place over a period of 48 hours.4 - Amending the Electoral Act
(1) The Electoral Act shall be amended to remove the following:
(2) Referendums take place over a period of 48 hours.
(3) Referendums shall be started within the following time period:
(a) If the referendum is for a bill under urgent consideration, the referendum shall be started within 48 hours of the request of the President, if the bill has been granted Presidential Assent, or if its Presidential Veto has been overridden.
(b) If the referendum is for a bill not under urgent consideration, the referendum shall be started within 1 week of the request of the President, if the bill has been granted Presidential Assent, or if its Presidential Veto has been overridden.
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