Sunshine Act
The Sunshine Act was a proposal that was to be kept in accordance with Sandaoguo's 2016 Great Council.
The original debate can be found here.
The original vote can be found here, and a summary table is here as well:
| Sandaguo (Working Group Draft) | No change | |
|---|---|---|
| Sandaguo (Working Group Draft) | 0 | 25 |
| No Change | 2 | 0 |
One (1) ballot was discarded for being incomplete.
By a vote of 25-2 (92.59%), the proposal as proposed by Sandaoguo (Working Group Draft) was adopted by the Great Council of 2016. This proposal was passed to be kept on 5-26-2016, 11:17 am.
The Present Sunshine Act
Sunshine Act
An act to periodically publish threads in private government forums
1. Documentation
(1) Discussion within a government institution that leads to a motion or a decision by that institution into taking deliberate action or inaction beyond that institution's inner working area is to be considered significant discussion.
(2) All significant private discussions of government institutions must be documented on the regional forums for the purpose of persistence and posterity.
(3) Significant discussions occurring via real-time communication methods may be quoted verbatim or reasonably summarized on the forums, as deemed most reasonable by that institution. If the communication via such a method cannot be saved, meeting minutes must be taken of that discussion.
2. Publishing of Discussions
(1) The significant discussions of an institution shall, in due time, be released for public archival accessible to all members of the South Pacific.
(2) The release of discussions shall occur at the following times:
- a. For a Cabinet term, discussions from the Cabinet shall be released no later than 6 months after the completion of that term.
- b. For a High Court case, they shall be released no later than 6 months after the ruling or, if appealed, the ruling on the appeal, has been announced.
(3) Discussions may be withheld from release if
- a. they are ongoing or directly related to another ongoing discussion,
- b. if the public release of information contained therein threatens the security of the region or an ally,
- c. if any personally identifiable information is contained therein, or
- d. if they contain diplomatic conversations with other regions or organizations.
(4) A discussion may be released in a redacted form by copying the discussion and censoring information not intended for public consumption. The normative copy of the discussion thread must then remain in the private forum.
(5) If reasonably possible, the institution should strive to release discussions containing classified information in redacted form, rather than withholding them. Any personally identifiable information must always be redacted upon release.
3. Audits of Discussions
(1) The High Court, as part of a case, may compel an institution to grant the Court insight into related discussions.
The Original Sunshine Act
Sunshine Act
An act to periodically publish threads in private government forums
1. Publishing of Cabinet Discussion
(1) The discussions of the Cabinet shall be released every 8 months for public archival accessible to all members of The South Pacific.
(2) The Cabinet may institute a classification system to ensure that discussions that are still undergoing or discussions that would seriously threaten the security of the region are not released too early.
(3) The Cabinet shall regularly update the classification status of its discussions and not abuse the classification system to prevent its discussions from being published.
(4) The Cabinet may publish its discussions at earlier intervals if it wishes or has been petitioned to do so by a member.
2. Failure to Publish Cabinet Discussions
(1) The Cabinet may refuse to publish a discussion that has been petitioned by a member.
- a. The reasons for which as well as the discussions in questions must be made available to the High Court.
- b. The High Court may overturn the Cabinet refusal to publish a discussion.
(2) In the event that Cabinet discussions older than 8 months have failed to be published, the current Cabinet must publish those discussions in a speedy manner.
3. Publishing of High Court Proceedings
(1) The private discussions of the High Court, pertaining to a case, shall be made public after the period for an appeal has passed without an appeal being filed.
(2) Should an appeal be filed, private discussions pertaining to the case shall be withheld until after a ruling has been announced.
Amendments to the Sunshine Act
Amendment 1
Sunshine Act
An act to periodically publish threads in private government forums
1. Publishing of Cabinet Discussion
(1) The discussions of the Cabinet shall be released every 8 months for public archival accessible to all members of The South Pacific.
(2) The Cabinet may institute a classification system to ensure that discussions that are still undergoing or discussions that would seriously threaten the security of the region are not released too early.
(3) The Cabinet shall regularly update the classification status of its discussions and not abuse the classification system to prevent its discussions from being published.
(4) The Cabinet may publish its discussions at earlier intervals if it wishes or has been petitioned to do so by a member.
2. Failure to Publish Cabinet Discussions
(1) The Cabinet may refuse to publish a discussion that has been petitioned by a member.
- a. The reasons for which as well as the discussions in questions must be made available to the High Court.
- b. The High Court may overturn the Cabinet refusal to publish a discussion.
(2) In the event that Cabinet discussions older than 8 months have failed to be published, the current Cabinet must publish those discussions in a speedy manner.
3. Publishing of High Court Proceedings
(1) The private discussions of the High Court, pertaining to a case, shall be made public after the period for an appeal has passed without an appeal being filed.
(2) Should an appeal be filed, private discussions pertaining to the case shall be withheld until after a ruling has been announced.
1. Documentation
(1) Discussion within a government institution that leads to a motion or a decision by that institution into taking deliberate action or inaction beyond that institution's inner working area is to be considered significant discussion.
(2) All significant private discussions of government institutions must be documented on the regional forums for the purpose of persistence and posterity.
(3) Significant discussions occurring via real-time communication methods may be quoted verbatim or reasonably summarized on the forums, as deemed most reasonable by that institution. If the communication via such a method cannot be saved, meeting minutes must be taken of that discussion.
2. Publishing of Discussions
(1) The significant discussions of an institution shall, in due time, be released for public archival accessible to all members of the South Pacific.
(2) The release of discussions shall occur at the following times:
- a. For a Cabinet term, discussions from the Cabinet shall be released no later than 6 months after the completion of that term.
- b. For a High Court case, they shall be released no later than 6 months after the ruling or, if appealed, the ruling on the appeal, has been announced.
(3) Discussions may be withheld from release if
- a. they are ongoing or directly related to another ongoing discussion,
- b. if the public release of information contained therein threatens the security of the region or an ally,
- c. if any personally identifiable information is contained therein, or
- d. if they contain diplomatic conversations with other regions or organizations.
(4) A discussion may be released in a redacted form by copying the discussion and censoring information not intended for public consumption. The normative copy of the discussion thread must then remain in the private forum.
(5) If reasonably possible, the institution should strive to release discussions containing classified information in redacted form, rather than withholding them. Any personally identifiable information must always be redacted upon release.
3. Audits of Discussions
(1) The High Court, as part of a case, may compel an institution to grant the Court insight into related discussions.
Debate
The debate can be found here
Vote
The vote can be found here
Table
A summary table is here for convenience:
| Aye | Nay | Abstain |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | 1 | 10 |
This amendment was passed with 68.57% saying "Aye", 2.86% saying "Nay", and 28.57% saying "Abstain".