UVOTE ISSUE 207: EXCESSIVE GOVERNMENT REGULATION

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SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.1: CONGRESS ABIDES BY THE SAME RULES AS THE PEOPLE

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Congress shall pass no laws exempting themselves from any rules that apply to the general public.

JUSTIFICATION: Making Congress abide by the same rules as the American people will ensure that they are aware first hand of any deficiencies in those rules.

AUTHOR: UWSA SANTA CLARA CO EMAIL:humphrey@aimnet.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.1: CONGRESS ABIDES BY THE SAME RULES AS THE PEOPLE

SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.2: REQUIRED REGULATORY APPROVAL

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: No federal regulations shall become effective without subsequent approval by the President and a majority of both houses of Congress. Each federal agency currently authorized to formulate regulations that interpret and impliment congressional laws shall continue to perform that function. However these regulations shall not take effect until they have received further approval as follows. Each regulation shall be individually approved by the cabinet member in charge of that department. Said cabinet member may then bundle regulations (e.g. for a calendar quarter ) and submit them to the president for approval. The president may approve or reject the bundle or he may line item veto any specific regulation. Vetoed regulations go back to the regulatory agency for rework. The president may then rebundle the regulations and send them to Congress where they must receive a majority vote in both houses. 10% of the members of either house may request a vote on any specific regulation. Congress may also revise and then approve any regulation. Congress may by a 2/3 vote override the presidential veto of any regulation. Approved final form regulations shall be returned to the President for signature and shall then become law.

JUSTIFICATION: Regulations formulated by non-elected officials are a necessary expedient to save congress from the labor of formulating the detailed rules that impliment their laws (e.g. the classic example is the federal tax code). However the current open loop system, both prevents elected officials from directly controlling the regulations that actually impliment the law and more important allows elected officials to duck responsibility for unpopular or special interest directed regulations. Required regulatory approval/ modification makes elected officials responsible to the voters for the content of federal regulations that govern their lives.

AUTHOR: UWSA SANTA CLARA CO EMAIL:humphrey@aimnet.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.2: REQUIRED REGULATORY APPROVAL

SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.3: SUNSET PROVISIONS

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: All laws and statutes shall have sunset provisions which cause them to expire after a preset period unless they are renewed. The expiration date shall be based on the strength of the vote when they were passed. For example with a bare majority vote, the law must be renewed annually. With a 55% majority, the law must be renewed every two years. For each additional 5% majority, renewal is extended by one year up to 11 years for a unanimous vote.

JUSTIFICATION: Government by nature has a lot of inertia. With the present system that inertia is on the side of continuing whatever is in place forever. This system simply adds new regulations without removing the old. This results in a morass of outdated laws and regulations many of which no longer have popular support, but do enjoy the support of some special interest. Under the current system, the politicians have to offend the special iterest by repealing the unpopular law where with sunset provisions they would have to offend the majority of voters by reenacting that law.

AUTHOR: UWSA SANTA CLARA CO EMAIL:humphrey@aimnet.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.3: SUNSET PROVISIONS

SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.4 NO UNFUNDED FEDERAL MANDATES

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The federal government must fully fund the costs for any regulations imposed on state or local governments.

JUSTIFICATION: Unfunded federal mandates enable the federal government to effectively raise state and local tax rates without popular conscent. This is a direct violation "no taxation without representation" which is a cornerstone of America's social contract. The federal government should be free to pass laws they feel are necessary; however the funds to impliment those laws must also be approved concurrently.

AUTHOR: UWSA SANTA CLARA CO EMAIL:humphrey@aimnet.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.4 NO UNFUNDED FEDERAL MANDATES

SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.5 SUNSET BY MINORITY REPEAL

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Laws passed by legislative or popular initiative vote (including all current laws, which would be considered as new) may be repealed by popular initiative vote where the percentage required to repeal until the first anniversary of the law is 60%. Starting on the first anniversary of passage, the popular initiative vote percentage required to repeal a law decreases by 2% each year. After 30 years the law is automatically repealed by age without requiring a popular vote. The legislature may reinstate a law at any time and thereby reset the popular vote repeal percentage to 60%.

JUSTIFICATION: This sunset by minority repeal solution attempts to improve on the chronological sunset solution presented in 207.3 by allowing a chronologically decreasing percentage of the voters (reaching a minority after 5 years) by popular initiative to repeal laws. There is no need to require the legislature to keep repassing popular laws ( as in 207.3 which automatically sunsets all laws). Any legislative action runs the risk of riders and political deals that may do more harm than good. If a law is clearly popular, the legislature could leave it on the books for up to 30 years or repass it if the threat of a minority repeal presented itself. However if a law is unpopular, but legislative inertia and/or special interest pressure discourage legislative repeal efforts, a minority of the citizens can repeal the law or force a majority of the legislature to go on record in support of the law by their repassage.

Authors:
Gary Richard Lloyd Email: tmethod@gatecom.com
John M. Humphrey Email: humphrey@uvote.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.5 SUNSET BY MINORITY REPEAL

SOLUTION DEFINITION STATEMENT
FOR
SOLUTION #207.6 MINORITY REPEAL

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This solution creates a system of Minority Repeal under which a minority of the American people can by popular initiative vote to repeal any law except this repeal law itself which would always require a majority (50% + 1) to repeal. Beginning one year after the passage of this law, any law may be repealed by a 49% vote of the people through existing initiative procedures. Each subsequent year the percentage of the popular vote required to repeal any law would be reduced by 1%. Therefore 10 years after the passage of this law, 40% or more of the people could successfully repeal any law. A vote of the majority (50% + 1) could reset (raise or lower) the percentage required to repeal laws by 5%, but this could only be done once per year. The legislature could, through it's normal processes, reinstate a law that has been repealed. However repassage of a law would not reset the vote required for minority repeal of that law and the same minority of citizens could vote to repeal the reinstated law. Such an impasse would be resolved by 1)majority reset or 2)capitulation by either side or 3)compromise.

JUSTIFICATION: Minority repeal = Majority approval. This "sunset by minority repeal" solution would ensure that all laws would have the approval of the majority of voters, gradually increasing to super-majority approval, without disrupting the legislative process. The proposal includes the following safeguards:

The majority would ultimately control the percentage required to repeal, and in fact would be responsible for keeping the process from going too far.
The majority would have the option of repealing the repeal law.
The legislature could reinstate laws, but they would have to consider the political ramifications of doing so.

Author: Gary Richard Lloyd Email:tmethod@gatecom.com

OPTIONS FOR SOLUTION #207.6 MINORITY REPEAL