Honours and Commendations Act 2023
Honours and Commendations Act 2023
Explanatory notes
- The bill will introduce a new highest honour, the Knighthood
- Bestowing:
- Only people already with an NC (with their oldest one bestowed at least 6 months ago) may be awarded a knighthood
- President, Speaker and Chief Justice recommends a person for a knighthood
- 2/3 vote in the Senate to confirm knighthood
- Revocation:
- Revocation of NC automatically revokes knighthood and vice versa
- Benefits
- Right to use the title of Sir, Dame, or Noble depending on preference (e.g. Sir Alex NC, Dame Alex NC, Noble Alex NC), which will be used for official purposes.
- Bestowing:
- This bill seeks to bring back the old 2021 regime of commendations, which has National Commendations, alongside branch specific commendations.
- National Commendations (NC)
- Bestowing:
- President, Speaker, or Chief Justice recommends NC
- 2/3 vote in the Senate to confirm NC
- Revocation:
- President, Speaker, and Chief Justice (unanimously) recommends removal
- 2/3 vote in the Senate to confirm removal
- Benefits:
- Right to use post-nominal NC (e.g. President Jack NC), which will be used for official purposes
- Bestowing:
- Presidential Medals of Honour (PHon.)
- Bestowing:
- President bestows PHon. through EO
- Revocation:
- President revokes PHon. through EO
- Benefits:
- Right to use post-nominal PHon. (e.g. Secretary of State Jack PHon.)
- Bestowing:
- Senatorial Medals of Honour (SHon.)
- Bestowing:
- Senator recommends SHon.
- 2/3 vote in the Senate to confirm SHon.
- Revocation:
- Senator recommends removal of SHon.
- 2/3 vote in the Senate to remove SHon.
- Benefits:
- Right to use pre-nominal SHon. (e.g. Secretary of State Jack SHon.)
- Bestowing:
- Senior Counsel (SC)
- Bestowing:
- 2 eligible people (Justices, Bar Director, SCs) jointly nominates SC
- 2/3 vote in the Bar Association to confirm SC
- Revocation:
- Majority of Supreme Court and Bar Director recommends removal of SC
- 2/3 vote in the Bar Association to remove SC
- Bar Association may pass bylaws to regulate how votes are scheduled for confirmation/revocation of SC status
- Benefits:
- Right to use post-nominal SC (E.g. Attorney General Jack SC)
- Shall be automatically granted status of Certified Attorney and exempt from bar exam while maintaining SC status
- Bestowing:
- The bill also has other provisions:
- Bans other commendations/honours being created other than by statute
- Bans self-nomination including self-joint nominations (e.g. incumbent President, Speaker, and CJ can never nominate any one of themselves for NC or Knighthood)
- Commendation benefits include Discord role and right to use relevant titles, pre-nominals, and post-nominals
- Requires changing/removal of Discord nicknames and Reddit flairs if they improperly use titles, pre-nominals, and post-nominals and can reasonably mislead people (e.g. not used satirically)
- Criminalises stolen valour as a minor ticketable offence (max of 1 week mute), which:
- Is acting/presenting oneself in a way that would mislead a reasonable person to believe they possessed an honour/commendation which they did not have while having an intention to mislead people into thinking they were commended
- Gives a person an absolute defence to the crime of stolen valour if done for purposes of jest or satire
- Formalises the process of legacy commendations, including giving the Archives Commission power to amend Schedule 1 of this Act (which has a table of equivalent commendations)
- Gives the Chief Archivist the power to formally recommend a person for a knighthood if they possess legacy commendations so historically exceptional that they would have been nominated for a knighthood if they existed back then (but whether the President/Speaker/CJ actually nominates based on this recommendation is up to them)
Part 1: Full Commendations
Article 1: Knighthoods
§1. The Knighthood shall be the highest honour the State of SimDemocracy can give, and it shall be given to citizens who have made legendarily positive contributions to SimDemocracy.
§2. A person shall only be eligible for a knighthood if they:
- §2.1. Already have a National Commendation, with their oldest National Commendation being given at least six (6) months prior to nomination, and
- §2.2. Have not received a knighthood yet.
§3. For an eligible person to receive a knighthood, they must:
- §3.1. Be jointly nominated by the President, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Chief Justice with unanimous consensus, and
- §3.2. Have the nomination confirmed by the Senate with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§4. A revocation of a person’s National Commendation shall automatically revoke a person’s knighthood.
§5. A knighthood shall confer a person the right to use the official title of "Sir", “Dame”, or “Noble” depending on their preference.
Article 2: National Commendations
§1. The National Commendation shall be the second highest honour the State of SimDemocracy can give, and it shall be given to citizens who have made significantly positive contributions to SimDemocracy.
§2. For a person to receive a National Commendation, they must:
- §2.1. Be jointly nominated by the President, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Chief Justice with a simple majority, and
- §2.2. Have the nomination confirmed by the Senate with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§3. For a person to have a National Commendation revoked, they must:
- §3.1. Be jointly recommended by the President, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Chief Justice to have their National Commendation revoked with unanimous consensus, and
- §3.2. Have the revocation confirmed by the Senate with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§4. A National Commendation shall confer a person the right to use the post-nominal of "NC".
Part 2: Branch Commendations
Article 3: Presidential Medals of Honour
§1. The Presidential Medal of Honour shall be given to citizens who have made positive contributions to SimDemocracy as recognised by the executive branch.
§2. For a person to receive a Presidential Medal of Honour, they must be given one by an Executive Order.
§3. For a person to have a Presidential Medal of Honour revoked, they must have one revoked by an Executive Order.
§4. A Presidential Medal of Honour shall confer a person the right to use the post-nominal of "PHon."
Article 4: Senatorial Medals of Honour
§1. The Senatorial Medal of Honour shall be given to citizens who have made positive contributions to SimDemocracy as recognised by the legislative branch.
§2. For a person to receive a Senatorial Medal of Honour, they must:
- §2.1. Be nominated by a Senator and,
- §2.2. Have the nomination confirmed by the Senate with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§3. For a person to have a Senatorial Medal of Honour revoked, they must:
- §3.1. Be recommended by a Senator to have their Senatorial Medal of Honour revoked, and
- §3.2. Have the revocation confirmed by the Senate.
§4. A Senatorial Medal of Honour shall confer a person the right to use the post-nominal of "SHon."
Article 5: Senior Counsel
§1. Senior Counsel status shall be given to distinguished attorneys, judges, and jurists as recognised by the legal community.
§2. For a person to be made a Senior Counsel, they must:
- §2.1. Not already be a Senior Counsel,
- §2.2. Be jointly nominated by at least two (2) people who are any of the following:
- §2.2.1. A Supreme Court Justice,
- §2.2.2. A Senior Counsel, or
- §2.2.3. The Bar Director, and
- §2.3. Have the nomination confirmed by the Bar Association with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§3. For a person to have their Senior Counsel status revoked, they must:
- §3.1. Be jointly recommended by a majority of the Supreme Court and the Bar Director to have their Senior Counsel status revoked, and
- §3.2. Have the revocation confirmed by the Bar Association with a two-thirds (⅔) majority.
§4. Senior Counsel status shall confer a person the right to use the post-nominal "SC" .
§5. Senior Counsel status shall also automatically confer Certified Attorney status.
- §5.1. A Senior Counsel who obtains Certified Attorney status this way shall keep their status, irrespective of any other statutory requirements of certification, while they remain a Senior Counsel.
Part 3: Other Provisions
Article 6: Prohibition of other honours and self-nomination
§1. Save for the honours and commendations under this Act and other statutes, no other honour or commendation; nor any right to use titles, pre-nominals, and post-nominals for official purposes; shall be recognised under law.
§2. No person may nominate or jointly nominate themselves for any honour or commendation under this Act.
Article 7: Commendation benefits
§1. All honours and commendations under this Act shall confer the right to be given a Commended Citizen role on SimDemocracy’s associated server.
§2. Knighthood titles and Senior Counsel post-nominals shall be used for all official purposes of SimDemocracy, which shall include:
- §2.1. Formal announcements given by the government and other public bodies,
- §2.2. Formal documents drafted and used by the government and other public bodies,
- §2.3. Judicial proceedings, and
- §2.4. The National Archives.
Article 8: Prohibition of stolen valour
§1. Relevant authorities shall have the power to change and remove Discord nicknames and Reddit flairs if:
- §1.1. A person uses a Discord username, nickname, or Reddit flair which uses a title, pre-nominal, or post-nominal to which they have no right to and,
- §1.2. There is probable cause to believe that a person may be misled into believing that they were given the relevant honour or commendation in question.
§2. Insert Article 46a into the Criminal Code titled "Stolen Valour" with the following text:
- §1. A person commits stolen valour if they:
- §1.1. Act or present themselves in a way which would mislead a reasonable person into believing that they possessed an honour or commendation which they did not have, and
- §1.2. Did so with the intention to mislead people into believing that they possessed such an honour or commendation.
- §2. A person charged with an offence under this Article is deemed to have an absolute defence if they committed the act for the purposes of jest or satire.
- §3. The sentences available for stolen valour shall be a mute of up to one (1) week.
- §4. Without prejudice to the accused person’s right of appeal, a law enforcement officer may, for the alleged commission of the offences under this Article, summarily issue the accused person a ticket.
- §5. Tickets issued for the offences under this Article shall result in a muting of no less than thirty (30) minutes and no more than one (1) day.
Article 9: Legacy commendations
§1. Honours and commendations given under previous legislation enacted before this Act shall be considered legacy commendations.
§2. Legacy commendations, as prescribed under Schedule 1 of this Act, shall be considered as equivalent, for all intents and purposes, to honours and commendations granted under this Act.
§3. A person who possesses evidence of a legacy commendation may apply to the Archives Commission to have their legacy commendation recognised.
- §3.1. If the legacy commendation presented is not covered under Schedule 1 of this Act, the Archives Commission shall have the power to amend Schedule 1 as necessary to add it.
- §3.2. The Archives Commission shall not recognise any legacy commendation as equivalent to a knighthood, nor shall it amend Schedule 1 of this Act to that effect.
§4. The Chief Archivist, at their sole discretion, shall have the power to formally recommend an eligible person for a knighthood to the President, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Chief Justice, if:
- §4.1. The person concerned possesses at least one legacy commendation equivalent to that of a National Commendation, and
- §4.2. In the Chief Archivist’s professional judgment, their legacy commendation or commendations can be considered so historically exceptional that they would have been nominated for a knighthood if it had existed back then.
Article 10: Amendments and repeals
§1. The Commended Citizen Award Act 2022 shall be repealed.
§2. Article 2, §2.3 of the Bar Association Act 2023 shall be repealed.
§3. Insert Article 2, §2.4 of the Bar Association Act 2023 with the following:
- §2.4. Senior Counsel shall be exempt from the requirement to take or retake the certification exam.
§4. Amend Article 4, §1 of the Bar Association Act 2023 with the following:
- §1. The National Bar Association may pass bylaws regulating matters under its administration, including but not limited to the certification exam, disbarment, votes on confirmation and revocation of Senior Counsel status, and administrative issues.
Schedule 1: Legacy commendations
The following legacy commendations shall be considered as equivalent to the following honours and commendations under this Act:
| Legacy commendation | Legislation (if applicable) | Equivalent commendation |
|---|---|---|
| National Commendation | All Acts | National Commendation |
| National Commendation with Distinction | All Acts | National Commendation |
| Presidential Medal of Honor | EO 65 | Presidential Medal of Honour |
| Executive Commendation | Commendation Act 2021 | Presidential Medal of Honour |
| Legislative Commendation | Commendation Act 2021 | Senatorial Medal of Honour |
| Senior Counsel | Commendation Act 2021 | Senior Counsel |
