Lavinium Senate
The Lavinium Senate is the principal diplomatic forum and policy-making body of Lavinium. Though its legal authority extends only to '[ensuring] co-operation between the . . . region's members and facilitating diplomacy with the larger international community,' the Senate has interpreted its powers to be fully legislative and, thus far, plenary, as it has not yet been challenged by any of the region's Member Nations.
Contents
History
The idea of a Lavinium Senate was first floated in talks between Telidian Foreign Minister Dirk Mensfield and Budazian government officials in the fall of 2004. The exact details of these talks are not known, but what resulted was a proposal, called an 'Agreement on Senate Organization,' authored by representatives from both countries and circulated amongst all the countries in the region.
Government officials from several countries gathered in Bundazi to discuss the details of the agreement beginning 17 November 2004. The officials remained muted on the document for the better part of a week, voicing their positions only privately and off the record. On 23 November, the Bundazian government sent word that the Bundazian electorate had approved the document in a national referendum, a significant event given Bundazian regional influence then, and one which greatly improved chances of the document's success.
The first recorded objection was voiced by Zlatnik, whose officials argued that mere residence in the region, then the only stipulation for representation in the Senate, was too low a threshold and could result in bad policy. This flaw was remedied by a slew of amendments offered by Haile Khufu, a member of the Alkebulian delegation. The amendments had several major characteristics, namely, preserving national sovreignity, weakening the powers granted to the presiding officer, mandating a miminum threshold for passage in the Senate, and requiring a more strict standard for membership.
Following a series of negotiations betweent the Telidian and Alkebulian governments, the final proposal was presented to the full gathering on 9 December 2004 and approved unanimously.
Powers
Membership and Qualifications
There are two classes of members in the Lavinium Senate -- Representatives, and Senators.
Any nation resident in the region retains the right to send Representatives to the Senate, and there exists no mechanism to bar this class of Senate members from initial entry into the body, nor any mechanism to expel either class once seated. Further, Lavinian law places no lower or upper limits on the number of Representatives a government may designate, no limits on the species, gender, age, or social status of designated Representatives, and only negligible limits on the content of proposals or motions presented before the Senate, -- that they be, in the estimation of the presenter, to the benefit of the whole region -- and the content of remarks made from the floor -- that they not be, in the judgement of the General Secretary, obstructive.
There are, however, three significant limitations placed on the activity of Representatives within the Senate, and they constitute the essence of the division between the two classes. First, a Representative can present a proposal or motion to the Senate only after gaining the support -- a parliamentary 'second' -- of a Senator. There is some dispute surrounding this particular provision owing to the contradictory language of Regional Declaration I. While Article III prescribes the necessity of a Senator's 'second,' Article I seems to bar Representatives from the power to make motions altogether. Complicating matters further still, Article XI neither disallows nor in any way limits the power of Representatives to make motions. However, no point of order invoking Articles I or III has ever lain against a Representative's motion to date, so the full limits of Representatives' power to make motions remains untested and unknown. Second, Representatives are strictly barred from voting on business before the Senate. This provision has the effect of limiting decision-making to individuals who have gained the trust of the Region's Senators, who must formally vote to confer the title of 'Senator' and the attendant power to vote. It also balances nations' power within the Senate since it effectively limits the number of votes to one per delegation instead of one per individual Representative. Finally, the power to preside over the Senate, -- the principal responsibility of the General Secretary and the right of each government resident in the Region -- and the power to serve as Delegate are denied to Representatives.
The second and more senior class of Senate members, Senators, gain their status by vote of sitting and active Senators. Senators are not bound by law or custom to consider any specific criteria when considering so-called 'Senatorship Requests,' and may vote to grant or deny a request for any reason with or without justification. The eligibility threshold for Senators is the same as that for Representatives. Senators, however, enjoy all the powers expressly denied Representatives -- namely, the power to offer motions for debate, the power to vote, the power to serve as General Secretary, and eligibility to be appointed to the Office of the Delegate. Within this class of Senate members, there is a further division -- Active and Absent Senators. Lavinian law requires the General Secretary to designate any Senators away from debate for ten days or more as Absent. Absent Senators are not counted when ascertaining the Senate's necessary quorum to transact business, and become ineligible to serve as General Secretary. The Absence designation is automatically rescinded when a Senator returns to debate.
The Senate does not enjoy the power to expel a Representative or Senator once admitted. In cases where the Senate would wish to remove a member, its only recourse is to repeatedly suspend the member -- for successive periods not to exceed seven days each -- or to petition the Founder (or, in the Founder's absence, the Deputy Founder) to deport (that is, eject) the nation of origin which would effectively render the offending member ineligible to serve.
Officers
The Lavinium Senate appoints two distinct groups of officers: one group to facilitate the Senate's own work, and another to enforce its mandate outside the Senate. Findhornian political scholar L. F. Crisp, in his treatise, The Senate of Lavinium, refers to these groups separately as, 'Officers of the Senate,' and 'Officers of the Region.'
Officers of the Senate
Officers of the Senate work to facilitate the Senate's activities. Current statutory officers are appointed (or reappointed) directly by the Senate and are subject to removal by the Senate. Certain ad hoc officers have been, to date, appointed by the General Secretary and, presumably, serve at her leisure. They are assumed to receive some compensation for their work, but as they are not statutory officers, nothing is known of the type, quantity, or method of receipt of payment. To date, the Senate has not conferred compensation of any kind on statutory Officers of the Senate.
General Secretary
All sitting Senators are entitled by law to serve as General Secretary unless they are disqualified by 'Absence' or concurrent service as Delegate. Eligibility to serve as General Secretary is determined by seniority. Prior to October 2006, seniority was based on the residency date of a Senator's nation of origin. The Senate has since amended Region law, however, to require membership at the offsite as prerequisite to service as General Secretary. Before the end of an incumbent General Secretary's term in office, Lavinian law requires that she announce which among the Senators is eligible to succeed her. A prospective General Secretary may, 'confirm, decline or . . . Abstain' the nomination. Since the Senate's inaugural sitting, five Senators have been eligible to assume the office, and one has declined, namely, Senator Kyriana Hawthorne of the Free Land of Barefoot Empoweredness in March 2007. An earlier declination was attributed to the government of the Democratic Republic of Yankha. Yankha had not, however, registered a 'Senatorship Request,' and a Yankhan Representative's assumption of the Secretariat would not have strictly comported with Lavinian law. Several Senators, though quite senior, have never occupied the Secretariat due to disqualification by Absence (Senators Zeeg and Lendle, amongst others) or service as Delegate (Senator Khufu fils).
General Secretary Pro Tempore
Clerk of the Senate
Parliamentarian
Ad Hoc Offices
Officers of the Region
Officers of the Region work to enforce Senate policy in regional security, foreign affairs, immigration, public relations, and Regional Message Board and offsite management. Current statutory Officers of the Region are appointed (or reappointed) directly by the Senate and are subject to removal by the Senate. Currently, no Officer of the Region is compensated for their work. However, the Senate has specifically made provision for the future compensation of the Delegate should the Senate choose to adopt a common currency at some later date. No similar provision was made for the Founder, and the record of the Senate's debate on the matter does not give clues as to Senators' reasoning for this distinction. Commentators, notably L. F. Crisp, have speculated that the justification lies in the statuses of the offices' occupants: an individual in the case of the Delegate, but a state in the case of the Founder.
Founder
The Founder of Lavinium is appointed by natural presumption (in the case of the First Founder) or two-thirds vote of the Senate (in cases of Successive Founders). The Founder serves an indefinite term but may be removed by the Senate following a period of Martial Law, submittal of Cyclic Reports, or Senate Review. The Founder cannot, however, be relieved of office by Ceasing to Exist, nor by simple resignation. This precedent was established by a ruling of General Secretary Hoalohalani Mapuana on 26 April 2007. In fall 2006, then-Founder the Kingdom of Telidia Ceased to Exist, leaving the duties of the office to the Deputy Founder. After Telidian revival in spring 2007, Senator Derkil moved for a Senate vote appointing a Founder and noted Telidia's willingness to resume the office. The General Secretary discarded the motion, ruling that Lavinian law requires an affirmative action by the Senate to remove a Founder before a successor may be appointed. By this ruling, Telidia never ceased in its service as Founder despite having ceased to exist as a state. This ruling is a significant feature of Lavinian precedent due to its assertion of an implicit power of the Secretary to proffer caselaw persuant to statute and resultant expansion of the Secretary's authority. As it was not contested by the Senate en masse, this precedent carries the force of law, and it presumably applies to all current Officers of the Region.
L. F. Crisp speculates that the Senate's Founder removal formulation may be unique in the multiverse due to its codification of a redefined Regional sovereignty principle. The Founder removal formulation effectively presumes that Regional sovereignty rests with Member States instead of a Founder or Delegate.
