Infrastructure & Archives Renewal Act

Infrastructure & Archives Renewal Bill 2025

Preamble

Whereas, the present Infrastructure, Wiki and Archives are unintuitive, and unfriendly for new members.

Whereas, SimDemocracy's Discord Server has become cluttered, and information has become ever more difficult to find.

Whereas, accessible, understandable Infrastructure & Archives are essential for a fairer democracy.

Whereas, information on bill formatting and the functioning of the Archives Commission is not easily accessible, which has affected its operations

Whereas, the Statute Law Revision Act 2023 is a confusing act that should be restated for ease of access.

HEREBY presents the Infrastructure & Archives Renewal Act 2025.

Part 1 - National Archives & Archives Commission

Article 1: Secretary Name National Archives

§1. In recognition of wellitsaname's tireless work in maintaining the National Archives, the official name of the archives shall be the Secretary Name National Archives.

§2. All references to the National Archives in past and future legislation, as well as henceforth in this Act, shall be construed to refer to the Secretary Name National Archives.

§3. The National Archives shall contain the following,

§3.1. The Constitution of SimDemocracy,

§3.2. Ratified Treaties,

§3.3. Statute Law,

§3.4. Executive Orders,

§3.5. Formatting Standards as outlined by this Act and by orders from the Chief Archivist,

§3.6. A record of repealed legislation,

§3.7. Orders made by the authorities of SimDemocracy's colonies (e.g. from a Minecraft Server),

§3.8. Case Law,

§3.9. A link to the currently administered bar exam, and

§3.10. Any documents or information of public interest, including those of historical, cultural, and educational importance.

Article 2: Archives Commission

§1. The Archives Commission shall be an independent statutory body tasked with maintaining the National Archives.

§2. The Archives Commission shall comprise of the Chief Archivist, who shall serve as its head; the Deputy Archivist, to whom the Chief Archivist's duties shall be delegated when they are inactive and/or unavailable; and other archivists as determined by the Archives Commission.

§3. Should the actions or the inactions of this Archives Commission be reviewed by a court, it must consider and give considerable weight to the time, resources, and personnel available to the Archives Commission.

§4. The Archives Commission shall be responsible for making sure the National Archives are accessible to all citizens of SimDemocracy, if possible.

Article 3: Chief Archivist

§1. The appointment and dismissal of the Chief Archivist shall be,

§1.1. Made by the President,

§1.2. Confirmed by the Senate with a simple majority vote.

§2. The former Chief Archivist shall remain in their post after the passing of this Act, now subject to the conditions specified by it, without any necessary appointments or confirmations.

§3. The Chief Archivist shall have the right to appoint and dismiss Archivists, and the Deputy Archivist, at will.

§4. The Chief Archivist shall have the power to enact, amend, and repeal orders regulating,

§4.1. The internal procedures of the Archives Commission,

§4.2. The archiving priorities of the Archives Commission,

§4.3. What the Archives Commission considers as documents or information of public interest, other than those already protected by law,

§4.4. Formatting standards and style guides set by the Archives Commission,

§4.5. The platform(s) the National Archives are available on, while being compliant with the provisions of this Act.

Part 2 - Formatting Standards

Article 4: Formatting Standards

§1. The Archives Commission shall have the right to set style guides and formatting standards for Bills, Acts & Executive Orders.

§2. Any changes to the style guides and formatting standards are subject to a simple majority confirmation vote by the Senate.

§2.1. This vote will be considered a "Privileged Motion" under Senate Procedures, if applicable.

§2.2. The Archives Commission may make minor changes to formatting standards and style guides, with the approval from the Speaker of the Senate.

§2.2.1. If a simple majority of Senators contest the Speaker's decision as outlined on this section - under the corresponding Senate Procedures, a confirmation vote shall still take place for the corresponding change to formatting standards and/or style guides.

Article 5: Formatting Corrections

§1. Unless contrary intention has been explicitly stated to deviate from them, the Archives Commission shall be tasked with editing legislation to be compliant with the style guides and formatting standards they set.

§2. The Archives Commission shall have the power to correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and referential mistakes in legislation.

§3. The Archives Commission shall construe any validly passed motions, orders, etc. which purport to enact, amend, or repeal legislation as being legislation itself.

§3.1. A motion, order, etc. shall only be considered validly passed if it has gone through the appropriate legislative process as if it were legislation.

§4. Incorrect formatting shall not be a reason to invalidate or void the effects of legislation.

Article 6: Repealing, Amending, and Spent Enactments

§1. Where legislation repeals a repealing or amending enactment, the repeal does not revive that enactment unless words are added explicitly reviving it.

§2. Legislation shall be considered repealed as spent if it has entirely exhausted all of its purpose.

§2.1. All statutory and Executive Order amendments and repeals, as well as constitutional amendments, shall be considered as exhausting all of its purpose, unless there are additional provisions within the legislation that are still active.

§3. Individual provisions cannot be considered repealed as spent, only entire pieces of legislation can.

Part 3 - Infrastructure & Eminent Domain

Article 7: Eminent Domain

§1. The Archives Commission, through the Chief Archivist, shall have the right to initiate the expropriation of any Discord channel, subject to a simple majority vote by the Senate.

§1.1. Upon the passing of said vote, channel ownership shall lie in the government of SimDemocracy after 7 (seven) days, subject to further conditions this Act will impose.

§1.2. The Speaker of the Senate is responsible for properly notifying the corresponding channel owner upon the passing of this vote, as well as notifying them of the timeline outlined on §1.1.

§1.3. The Chief Archivist may include a provision to the corresponding vote to archive the channel after expropriation.

§2. A channel may only be subject to expropriation if one of the following is met,

§2.1. The channel has been inactive for a consecutive period of 60 (sixty) days, with some part of said period taking place within the past 7 (seven) days,

§2.2. The channel has fallen into disrepair and/or irrelevance,

§2.3. The channel no longer serves a meaningful and/or clear purpose for SimDemocracy, its community or its citizens.

Article 8: Compensation & Wrongful Expropriation

§1. When any person's channel is expropriated, within the timeframe specified by Article 7 §1.1., the channel owner may file claims the Judiciary, to do any of the following,

§1.1. Seek fair compensation for the expropriated property,

§1.2. Appeal the expropriation.

§2. Compensation for expropriation shall be determined by the competent court based on the following factors,

§2.1. The original purchase cost of the channel, if applicable,

§2.2. The level of activity and community engagement in the channel prior to expropriation,

§2.3. Any investments or custom modifications made by the owner to enhance the channel's functionality.

§3. To appeal an expropriation, the channel owner must submit a complaint to a competent court.

§3.1. Proceedings will follow standard appeal procedures, as dictated by law.

§3.2. The court's decision shall be based on whether the channel in question fulfilled any of the requirements outlined in Article 7 §2.1-3 of this act.

§4. If the channel owner pursues any of the proceedings outlined on §2 and §3 of this Article, the time set by Article 8 §1.1. of the present Act shall be frozen until the proceedings have concluded, in which case it shall resume (if applicable).

§5. If the channel owner does not pursue any of the proceedings outlined on §2 and §3 of this Article, within the timeline set by Article 8 §1.1. of the present Act, they shall be interpreted to have withdrawn their right to do so indefinitely.

Appendix 1: Repeals

§1. Article 8 of the Platform Accessibility Act is to be repealed in its entirety. §2. The Statute Law Revision Act 2023 is to be repealed, leaving in effect all restatements, repeals, simplifications and/or consolidations made by its provisions, as well as all references made to said Act by other legislation.

§2.1. All amendments and repeals made to the legislation restated, repealed, simplified and/or consolidated by the Act are not affected by this repeal.

§2.2. If references to the Statute Law Revision Act 2023 in past legislation are referring to the legislation formatting standards established by said Act, they shall be interpreted to be referring to the formatting standards established by the present Act instead.

§2.2.1. The Archives Commission is given the power to change such references to the Statute Law Revision Act 2023 in past legislation to fit this description.