Towards Voluntaryism (Part 23)
3.6. Government: Enacting & Enforcing Articles 1-5.
Towards Voluntaryism (Part 23)
Enacting & Enforcing Articles 1-5
The following proposed legislation is intended to provide guidelines as to how to enact and enforce the legislation speculated on in the previous sections. Time restrictions on transition period including disclosures of records relevant to any transgressions of Articles 1-4 during term(s) in office. Deadlines for elections to enact the provisions of Articles 1-4. A review of all laws in the jurisdiction is to take place, with questionable legislation subjected to ratification. How offices and positions vacated by the enactment of Articles 1-4 are to be filled. Legislation as successful petition to include itself on the ballot of next higher instance. Valid forms and modes of voting. Double jeopardy for public servants.
The goal of Article 5 is to enact Articles 1-4 in such as way as to "clean house" and ensure that any attempts to change this legislation is subject to a vote by the applicable constituency. To avoid a return to the current state of affairs, public servants must be held accountable through transparency and heightened accountability to the law.
To that end, I suggest:
Article 5: Enactment and Enforcement of the Anti-Corruption Act.
§5.1:The passing of the legislation proposed in Articles 1-4 by any constituency immediately causes Articles 1-4 to enter into effect for any and all elected and/or appointed public servants within the relevant jurisdiction.
§5.2: Following the enactment of Articles 1-4, elected public servants have a grace period of 30 days to disclose all transgressions of the statutes present in Article 1 committed during their tenure(s) as a public servant. All disclosed transgressions shall be pardoned except those resulting in bodily injury or death to any persons or governmental seizure of property under asset forfeiture guidelines where no crime was committed. Property and objects of value confiscated under asset forfeiture laws or its equivalent value shall be returned within 90 days.
§5.3. The disclosure of any transgression by elected officials as detailed in Article 1 shall result in non-eligibility for a renewed term in office or the holding of any other paid position as a public servant until the end of their days. In the event disclosure of all transgressions is not provided, said public servant shall be investigated by an independent counsel, the bringing of charges pursuant to Article 1 and the results provided in a public announcement.
§5.4: If an elected public servant fails to publicly declare their express intent to comply with §5.2., within 14 days of the successful vote for its implementation, they shall automatically forfeit their public office and shall be banned from holding public office until the end of their days. Said public servants who forfeit their office shall be prohibited from receiving financial support or compensation from any entity, group or individual that lobbied or provided them with compensation or gifts of any kind (in keeping with Article 1) during their term(s) in office for a period of no less than 20 years. Further, the public servant shall have no entitlement to severance pay or governmental pension benefits accrued during their tenure in public office.
§5.5: Following the enactment of Article 1, appointed public servants have a grace period of 30 days to disclose all transgressions of Article on their part committed during their tenure(s) in any public office or to abdicate their post. All disclosed transgressions shall be pardoned except those resulting in bodily injury, death or seizure of property under asset forfeiture guidelines where no crime was committed. The disclosure of any transgression pursuant to Article 1 shall result in non-eligibility for a renewed term in office or the holding of any paid public service position until the end of their days. In the event disclosure of all transgressions is not provided, said public servant shall be investigated by an independent counsel, the bringing of charges pursuant to Article 1 and the results provided in a public announcement.
§5.6: All elected public offices vacated or forfeited shall be filled by a special election to be announced within 60 days of the passing of the Article 1. This special election must be in paper ballot form and take place within 90 days of its announcement. In the event no public servants remain in office who are capable of executing the special election, the duty shall fall to the highest ranking and remaining public servant of the local sheriff's office. Said public servant shall be responsible for organizing a forum for the community to elect candidates to the special election.
§5.7: All appointed public offices vacated or forfeited shall remain vacant until the relevant elected public office has been filled that possesses the power to appoint or hire. Any and all fees, taxes, licenses or paperwork required by said offices shall be temporarily suspended until such time as the office is once again occupied and operating.
§5.8: All elections for public office are to be held only in paper ballot form or, if such technology is sufficiently developed and available to the public, via an open-source blockchain/hyperledger single-voter, single-vote verified identification system that requires proof of citizenship and residency in the jurisdiction in question. Elections that do not adhere to this condition are to be considered null and void. Under no circumstances are non-paper or non-traceable elections to be considered a valid or binding representation of the will of the voting public.
§5.9: Any attempt to repeal, amend or limit the scope and/or intent of Articles 1-5 shall be subjected to a general popular vote of the relevant constituency. Any public servant who initiates a vote to repeal, amend or limit the scope of said legislation that is unsuccessful automatically forfeits their office. Any public servant who attempts or successfully initiates a vote to repeal, amend or limit the scope and/or intent of said legislation shall be investigated pursuant to Article 1 by an independent counsel to verify they are acting in the public interest.
§5.10: Within one year of the enactment of the Article 1-5, public servants in the legislative and judiciary branch of the relevant constituency and jurisdiction shall begin reviewing all laws, legislation and regulation enacted by all previous public servants to determine which conform to and support the principles formulated in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. Those laws or regulations deemed contrary to the values and intent of said documents shall be suspended until such time as a new vote by the relevant legislative body can occur to either ratify or repeal the law or legislation. Such vote must take place within 180 days or the suspended law shall expire. Any law eligible for re-ratification shall not be enforced during the period of deliberation.
§5.11: In the execution of §5.19, public servants shall be obliged to engage a panel of independent legal experts, no less than 12 in number, and to update the public on a weekly basis in a public forum of the panel's recommendations. These independent legal experts shall, for the duration of their investigation and presentation of results, be considered public servants and thus accountable to the provisions of Articles 1-5.
§5.12: The constituency of any jurisdiction shall have the right to request and be granted a public vote on any legislation, regulation or ordinance active in their jurisdiction.
§5.13: The enactment of Articles 1-5 by any constituency and at any level of jurisdiction obliges the next higher jurisdiction to include it on the next public ballot, or by the next higher district or jurisdiction as the manifest will of the people. This means that the passing of Articles 1-5 by any constituency simultaneously serves as a successful petition for its inclusion on the ballot at the next higher level or governance. This obligation to place Articles 1-5 on the ballot renews itself annually until such time as they become law, if ever. This means that if a municipality passes Articles 1-5, the county is obliged to include it on the next ballot so that it can be voted on at the county level. If a county vote passes Articles 1-5, the state is obliged to include it on the next ballot.
§5.14. If a state government enacts Articles 1-5 via popular vote as state law, it shall summarily be included on the following ballot to become an amendment to the state constitution. At such time as Articles 1-5 become a constituent part of a State Constitution, that state's representatives to Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) must attempt in all good faith to bring Articles 1-5 to a vote at the congressional level to become federal law in each and every session until such time as it is passed into law at the federal level and all federal employees are subject to its mandates.
§5.15: Elected or appointed public servants who vote against the enactment of Articles 1-5 in their legislative capacity shall be audited for conformity to Articles 1-5 annually until their term in office expires.
§5.16: Should an elected or appointed public servant unknowingly or unintentionally transgress against any aspect of Article 1, they shall be afforded amnesty and the offense pardoned if, within 30 days of the transgression, they compensate the source for double the benefit they realized. No actions or votes undertaken in the course of the public servant's duties during this time shall be considered valid, legal or binding.
§5.17: Any public servant found to have willfully subverted or broken the stipulations of Article 1 shall be considered in double jeopardy. All charges pursuant to §1.5. ("bribery, conspiracy, malfeasance in office, perjury, unjust enrichment and perverting the course of justice for each instance as well as any other applicable laws dealing with corruption in public office.") shall carry double the fine and, should incarceration be eligible punishment, the transgressor shall be sentenced to the maximum possible prison sentence with no opportunity for parole.
§5.18. No conviction reached due to transgression against Article 1 shall be allowed more than three appeals, nor shall any appeal last longer than 12 months, i.e. all appeals of convictions for shall be fast-tracked by the judicial system or considered forfeit.
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§5.19. Votes shall be organized within 90 days to enact Article 3 on campaign financing and Article 4 on public servant determination of salary and benefits. Following the votes and determinations stipulated in Articles 3&4, all employment contracts shall be revised and reissued within 90 days. The complete wage transition shall be completed within 180 days.
§5.20. All lobbying instances, proxies and representatives that contributed anything of value to any public servant within their most recent term in office shall be provided with a letter instructing them to cease and desist from any action would could put them in violation of Articles 1&2 within 90 days of the legislation being enacted.
§5.21. The local sheriff or equivalent shall be responsible for collecting and evaluating all materials postulated as well as empowered to form any necessary committees or working groups to carry out the provisions of Articles 1-5. Sheriffs shall be responsible for enforcing Articles 1-5 on all public servants within their jurisdiction. Following the transition, the Sheriff shall be allowed to maintain an office with limited staff to provide oversight and enforcement of Articles 1-5. This office shall be subject to a citizen oversight committee established for this purpose.
This is very much a working proposal and I welcome feedback. I am trying to find the correction formulation for the proposed legislation so that it can ultimately be introduced as a ballot measure. The following sections will address how to enact and enforce the legislation proposed thusfar.
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