Judicial Omnibus Act 2025
This legislation was repealed, vetoed, amended, or is otherwise out of date
Preamble:
The following summary outlines the purpose and scope of this Act:
- Replaces the Civil Code 2020 with a version removing superfluous and redundant language to ensure readability and modifiability in years to come.
- Folds the Governmental Accountability Claims Act 2024 into the tort of breach of civil rights.
- Amends the Bar Association Act 2023 to clarify the powers of the bar association in relation to other law and distribute the power of removal from the bar among its members.
- Folds the Bar Association Act 2025 into the Bar Association Act 2023.
- Folds the Speedy Courts Act 2024 into the courtroom procedure process.
- Repeals and replaces the Court Room Procedures Act with a trial format that better fits SimDemocracy's virtual being.
- Requires the latest version of all laws be maintained on the wiki to allow for easy and equitable access to the law for all.
Article 1: Short Title
§1. This Act may be cited as the Judicial Omnibus.
Article 2: Civil Code 2020
§1. The Civil Code 2020 is repealed in its entirety.
Article 3: Governmental Accountability Claims Act 2024
§1. The Governmental Accountability Claims Act 2024 is repealed in its entirety.
Article 4: Civil Code
Jurisdiction
§1. Entities of SimDemocracy may only have claims filed against them for the following reasons:
- §1.1. the infractions of the law were committed in r/SimDemocracy and its associated territories,
- §1.2. the infraction of the law directly affected r/SimDemocracy or its associated territories, or
- §1.3. the infraction of the law occurred in direct messages between two or more members of r/SimDemocracy.
Burden of Proof
§2. The burden of proof in all civil cases is the balance of probabilities, defined as being more likely true than false.
§3. For a defendant to be found liable in a civil hearing, the plaintiff must prove on the balance of probabilities that their claim is truthful and that the defendant is liable.
§4. A rebuttable presumption is taken as true until proven false. It may be rebutted on the balance of probabilities, unless otherwise specified.
Civil Process
§5. The plaintiff will seek charges most applicable for the facts presented.
§6. In a case where one action fits many torts, all may be pursued by the plaintiff.
§7. If the tort pursued by the plaintiff is not appropriate for a given violation, but another tort is, the judge has the duty to inform the plaintiff to refile their lawsuit under the more applicable tort.
§8. If there are multiple torts committed by an accused person; they are to be tried in a single civil hearing where practicable.
§9. The remedy is to be individually determined by whether the accused is liable for each tort; and the remedy is to be all of the remedies for all of the charges added together.
§10. With the consent of both parties, matters may be settled outside of court.
Legal Entity
§11. A legal entity in SimDemocracy is defined as anything that meets the following categories:
- §11.1. a group or individual that is capable of having an economic or political stake in SimDemocracy and its territories,
- §11.2. any group that is able to speak as a collective and have interests as a collective (should it be a group), and
- §11.3. any group or individual that is able to violate, follow, or take action with regards to SimDemocracy's laws.
§12. A legal entity may enter into contracts, loan and borrow money, own assets, divide and distribute portions of itself to others (with the exception of individuals and Government entities) and sue.
Remedies and Damages
§13. Remedies may be given as damages, which are to be given in amounts of Tau and time in days to pay, or as an injunction, or both.
§14. A remedy issued by a court takes force the moment it is declared.
§15. The presiding judge will decide if the actions described warrant an injunction.
§17. In the initial announcement of a suit, the plaintiff has the opportunity to declare desired damages.
§18. Damages are to be assigned if the defendant's actions have caused an undue financial or social burden on the plaintiff, or if the tort in question assigns such.
§19. The presiding judge decides on the final amount of damages to be assigned to the defendant if he is found liable.
§20. The final amount of damages will not exceed the amount stated in the plaintiff's initial request.
- §20.1. Should the plaintiff have no initial request for damages, the amount is not to exceed a month's wages for the President of SimDemocracy, or an equivalent high-paying role should the President be unpaid or obvious shenanigans involving the pay of the President be occurring.
§21. No provision regarding money and damages will apply when there is no economy in SimDemocracy.
§22. The presiding judge will rely on his best professional judgment to offer remedies within the bounds set by legislation and fair and proportional to the tort committed.
§23. The losing party of a civil case is to pay all of the winning party's legal fees.
- §23.1. If the presiding Judge believes that the winning party's legal fees are unduly or unreasonably costly, he is to reduce or set to zero the amount paid by the losing party.
§24. No entity may be relieved of liability for violating the law only because it was unaware of its content.
Statutory Defences
§25. Statutory defenses contained are mitigating factors in considering remedies.
§26. Necessity is a statutory defence where a tort has been committed in order to prevent greater harm. To be accepted, the defendant must prove that:
- §26.1. the social harm of the tort he sought to avoid is higher than the social harm of the tort he has been charged with,
- §26.2. he had no reasonable alternative,
- §26.3. he ceased to engage in the prohibited conduct as soon as the danger passed, and
- §26.4. he did not himself create the danger he sought to avoid.
§27. If the defence of necessity is accepted, the remedy for a tort may be nullified entirely, or reduced at the discretion of the presiding judge.
§28. Consent is a statutory defence where a tort was done by the defendant to one who voluntarily and knowingly consented to it and remained consenting throughout the whole process of the action.
§29. If the defence of consent is accepted, the defendant is to be held not liable.
Torts
Defamation
§30. Defamation is the act of knowingly communicating false or misleading statements, or lying by omission, about a person or entity with the intent to cause harm.
§31. Statements made in jest or sarcastically without malicious intent are not defamation.
§32. Statements made with the reasonable belief that they were true are not defamation.
§33. Damages for defamation are to be payment for any salary or business lost due to the defamatory statements, if applicable.
Wrongful Dismissal
§34. Wrongful dismissal is the termination of an employee who did not warrant termination.
§35. The defendant must prove just cause for the termination.
§36. Damages for wrongful dismissal are payment for any salary or business lost.
Withheld Salary
§37. Withheld salary is the lack of complete payment to an employee of an entity for seven or more days following the expected payday.
§38. Damages for withheld salary are payment to the plaintiff of double the salary withheld.
Breach of Contract
§39. Breach of contract is the infringement of the terms of a legal contract, including a failure to fulfill obligations.
§40. Damages for breach of contract is payment to the plaintiff up to double the demonstrated value of the contract.
Impersonation
§41. Impersonation is acting as another in order to mislead a legal entity of one's identity or powers for malicious purposes.
§42. Remedies available for impersonation are an injunction against the actions resulting from impersonation as well as payment for any salary or business lost, if applicable.
Violation of Privacy
§43. A violation of privacy is the release of non-public information about an entity without the consent of the entity.
Uncompensated Expropriation
§44. Uncompensated expropriation is the direct or indirect expropriation of private property which has not been abandoned by the State without fairly compensating the affected parties.
§45. Damages for uncompensated expropriation are two times fair compensation for the private property and/or business lost.
Breach of Police Accountability
§46. The following constitute a breach of police accountability:
- §46.1. failing to follow procedure as required by law in exercising emergency banning powers,
- §46.2. exercising the powers of the SimDemocracy Bureau of Investigation in a way that constitutes gross misconduct, or
- §46.3. breaching a duty of care owed to the public to ensure that proper standards are enforced within the SBDI and that unlawful orders are not issued.
§47. Only the SDBI Director and the Attorney General have a duty of care under §46.3.
Breach of Civil Rights
§48. A breach of civil rights is committed when a government employee or employees, or a governmental body, violates a citizen's or a group of citizens' constitutional or statutory rights, and does so with intention or recklessness.
§49. A person may be held liable for breach of civil rights even if he was not acting in an official governmental capacity if he nevertheless exercised powers associated with a current or former governmental position, or if he had knowledge of the violation of civil rights but failed to report such, or if he was unaware of the violation of civil rights due to negligence, or if he failed to take reasonable action to prevent violations of civil rights.
Torts under Common Law
§50. If there is no appropriate statutory or common law tort, the plaintiff may propose for a new tort to be recognized under common law.
§51. In the announcement of the suit, the plaintiff must specify the proposed tort and the remedies sought.
§52. In the verdict, a judge may choose to recognize the proposed tort under common law, or not. If the proposed tort is recognized, the judge must specify the name of the tort and a definition in the verdict.
§53. All torts under common law are subject to appeal and review by the Supreme Court.
§54. This article is not to be construed to affect the statutory powers of the Senate, who may choose to codify common law torts into the Civil Code, and who may choose to repeal common law torts at its discretion.
Contracts
§55. A contract is an agreement between two or more legal entities to enter into a legal relationship.
§56. A legally binding contract consists of:
- §56.1. an offer,
- §56.2. acceptance of that offer, and
- §56.3. intention by both parties to be contractually bound.
§57. Contracts that are invalidated or in violation of the law are null and void.
§58. A mistake in the contract is grounds for invalidation of the contract provided that the mistake is significant in effect to the purpose of the contract.
§59. Fraud is grounds for invalidation of the contract provided that one of the parties has been misled into entering the contract through intentional misrepresentation.
§60. Threat is grounds for invalidation of the contract provided one of the parties has been forced by another party or by a third party to enter into the contract through provoking reasonable fear.
§61. Where a contract is recognized as null and void or is invalidated, each party must return everything it has received from the contract's existence.
§62. Contracts may only be modified, dissolved, or terminated by mutual consent of the parties or through provisions agreed upon within the contract itself
Article 5: Bar Association Act 2023
§1. Article 2 §2.4 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is repealed.
§2. Article 3 §3 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is amended to say "A panel made up of no less than six randomly selected National Bar Association members will judge the petition, investigate the matter independently, and hear testimonies from affected parties."
§3. Article 4 §1 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is amended to say "The National Bar Association may pass bylaws regulating its internal affairs and matters assigned to it by legislation."
§4. Article 4 §1.3 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is added to say "The National Bar Association is to manage the certification exam."
§5. Article 5 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is repealed in its entirety.
§6. Article 1 §4 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is amended to say "The members of the Bar must elect the Bar Director in accordance with the bylaws of the Bar, and such an election must be held in a free and fair democratic manner."
§7. Article 4 §4 of the Bar Association Act 2023 is amended to say "Bylaws and changes thereof require a simple majority of votes in favor to be ratified."
Article 6: Bar Association Act (Amendment) 2025
§1. The Bar Association Act (Amendment) 2025 is repealed in its entirety.
Article 7: Speedy Courts Act 2024
§1. The Speedy Courts Act 2024 is repealed in its entirety.
Article 8: Court Room Procedures Act
§1. The Court Room Procedures Act is repealed in its entirety.
Article 9: Trials
Types of Trials
§1. Trials are categorized as either constitutional, criminal, or civil.
- §1.1. Constitutional trials cover whether an act of government is in accordance with the constitution.
- §1.1.1. Constitutional suits may be brought about by any citizen against any law, government entity, or government action that a citizen is obliged to obey.
- §1.1.2. Constitutional trials may be heard by any Justice of the Supreme Court, or en banc, but the verdict must have the support of a majority of Justices.
- §1.2. Criminal trials cover whether an actor has committed a crime as defined in legislation existing at the time of the crime.
- §1.2.1. They may only be brought about by citizens directly negatively affected by the crime or by a federal prosecutor.
- §1.2.3. The verdict of a criminal trial is to be rendered unilaterally by the judge presiding over the trial.
- §1.3. Civil trials cover cases where the court is being asked to settle a dispute between two legal entities or when a legal entity seeks charges against another legal entity for committing a tort.
- §1.3.1. Civil suits may only be brought about and against by the legal entities involved in such disputes.
- §1.3.2. The verdict of a civil trial is to be rendered unilaterally by the judge presiding over the trial.
- §1.4. If it is not clear which category a lawsuit falls under, then it is up to the discretion of the presiding judge to decide.
- §1.5. Trials are referred to by the title "[Plaintiff or prosecution name] versus [Defendant name] [Trial Type]".
- §1.6. The Department of Justice must assist citizens in filing Criminal, Civil, or Constitutional Complaints (collectively referred to as CCs).
- §1.6.1. The Attorney General may deny this assistance to CCs that do not have a high likelihood of success on the merits of a related lawsuit and do not have a non-insignificant chance of harm resulting from the CC not being filed.
- §1.6.2. Petitioners may request that their criminal CC be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. Should a CC have a non-insignificant likelihood of success and a non-insignificant chance of harm resulting from the CC not being filed, the Department of Justice must accept.
- §1.6.2.1. Criminal complaints prosecuted by the Department of Justice may be edited or dropped at will by the Department of Justice.
- §1.6.2.1.1. The original petitioner is to be notified upon the dropping of charges by the Department of Justice.
- §1.6.2.1.2. The Department of Justice may only edit CCs in good faith with the interest of both the petitioner and SimDemocracy in mind.
- §1.7. Criminal investigations may be started by the SimDem Bureau of Investigation (henceforth "SDBI"), with the evidence given to the Department of Justice to file a CC and prosecute independently.
- §1.7.1. Private citizens may request the SDBI to start a criminal investigation, providing evidence and rationale.
- §1.7.1.1. The SDBI has discretion in which requests to accept, but is encouraged to accept all those that could improve the well-being of SimDemocracy.
§2. When trials concern several legal entities, pieces of legislation, or acts of government in the same manner, they may be held as joint trials.
- §2.1. In a joint trial, the defence will, by default, have a single defence attorney. Should any person, or the government body being sued in the case of a constitutional trial, wish to be represented separately from the rest, that person has the right to be so.
§3. Trials may either be public or private, with the classification being determined by the presiding judge.
- §3.1. A public trial must be made public for viewing by any citizen.
- §3.2. A private trial may only be witnessed by the plaintiff or prosecution, defendant, and relevant authorities as decided by the presiding judge.
- §3.3. All trials are to be public except in the following circumstances:
- §3.3.1. holding a public trial would cause harm to a person or SimDemocracy, or
- §3.3.2. when confidential, personal, or classified information is involved.
- §3.4. The Supreme Court or Attorney General's office may issue a binding opinion of whether a trial is to be held publicly or privately to an inferior court.
- §3.4.1. Should a dispute arise, the opinion of the Supreme Court takes precedence.
§4. Should a defendant not be present in court, the prosecution may request the presiding judge to hold a trial in absentia.
- §4.1. If the presiding judge accepts the request, the trial will be held without the presence of the defendant, with a public defender being appointed within twenty-four hours.
Taking Up Cases
§5. Inferior courts are to accept all cases put before them, unless such cases are of an obviously malicious nature intended solely to clog the judiciary.
- §5.1. Should an inferior court refuse to take up a case, the petitioner may appeal such to the Supreme Court, which must render a binding opinion of whether or not a case is of an obviously malicious nature within forty-eight hours.
- §5.2. The Supreme Court is granted discretion in which cases to accept.
- §5.2.1. Should a Justice of the Supreme Court unilaterally choose to hear a case, that justice may preside over it alone; however, all verdicts resulting from a unilaterally heard trial must be voted on and passed with a majority of voting Justices.
§6. Cases are to be submitted to the Discord channel #court-case-request in the format of a CC.
- §6.1. The CC must identify the defendant(s).
- §6.2. Criminal Complaints must list out the crimes the defendant is being charged with, along with a number of instances of each crime being committed. Civil Complaints must do the same but with torts. Constitutional Complaints must give the law, government entity, or government action that is or are being challenged.
- §6.3. Criminal Complaints and Civil Complaints are encouraged to give a desired remedy, on a per-crime or per-tort basis. Should one not be given, the maximum possible punishment is to be used.
- §6.4. CCs are encouraged to provide all evidence necessary to justify their existence in the document.
§7. All justices are considered judges, and justices may hear cases in inferior courts as a visiting judge, but only judges on the Supreme Court are to be considered justices.
§8. A presiding judge for civil and criminal cases will be chosen on a rotating schedule of all judges who have made a post, comment, reply, or message on the SimDemocracy subreddit or Discord Server in the past week, unless another method is proscribed in the Constitution.
- §8.1. Should a judge fail to make a post, comment, reply, or message on the SimDemocracy subreddit or Discord Server in the past month, or fail to perform any judicial duties for two months, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is to request that the judge in question be removed from office by the Senate.
- §8.2. This rotation does not include judges who have recused themselves from the case.
- §8.2.1. Judges must recuse themselves if there exists a conflict of interest that prevents them from being unbiased.
- §8.2.2. Before making an opening statement, the plaintiff or prosecution or defendant may request the presiding judge to recuse himself.
- §8.2.2.1. Should the judge refuse, the Supreme Court may be asked for a binding opinion of whether or not the judge should recuse himself.
- §8.3. Should all eligible judges recuse themselves or be inactive, a Justice of the Supreme Court is to hear the case as a visiting judge.
Trials Extra Judicium
§9. Up-to-date information of all court proceedings, including their dates, their participants, their statuses, and the locations of their occurrences must be publicly available information at all times in spreadsheet format.
- §9.1. Private trials are exempt from this requirement when ongoing. Once finished, and to the extent that security conditions allow, private trials are recommended to be made public due to case law and precedence concerns.
§10. A mistrial has the effect of starting a trial from scratch, as if it were newly filed.
§11. The attorneys, counsel, or public defenders of the plaintiff or prosecution and the defendant are to be included under the collective labels of plaintiff or prosecution and defendant respectively where appropriate.
Trials Intus Judicium
§12. Should a major, irreparable error of procedure or of the presiding judge during a trial occur, the trial is to be declared a mistrial.
- §12.1. Outside of these errors of procedure, and within the confines of the law, presiding judges have wide discretion to run their courtrooms, accepting or denying requests or motions as is in accordance with good ethical and legal principles and accepted legal precedent.
§13. Before making their opening argument, the plaintiff or prosecution or defence may request the judge to file a subpoena, including in the request the exact person or piece of evidence requested for and the reasoning for the subpoena.
- §13.1. Should the presiding judge accept the request, courtroom proceedings are to be delayed by twenty-four hours while the subpoenaed information or persons is or are gathered. While more requests can be asked for and granted, only one twenty-four-hour delay may be given.
- §13.2. A subpoena is a judicial order to compel testimony or the handover of evidence.
§14. Trials may have witnesses who must speak the truth under oath.
- §14.1. No questions that are leading, solely antagonizing, argumentative rather than questioning in nature, ambiguous, compound, assertive of facts that are not known as true or presented in evidence, asking for opinion or guesswork rather than fact, irrelevant, outside of the ken of the witness, or beyond the scope of the trial may be asked of witnesses.
- §14.2. Should any such question be asked of a witness, the presiding judge is to ignore the question and its answer in rendering a verdict and give the appropriate punishment (in most cases a verbal one) to the questioner.
Timing
§15. Trials are to be held asynchronously to accommodate differences in time zone and schedule.
- §15.1. Trials may be held at a scheduled time and date; however, this is only to be done in the most extreme circumstances as approved by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
§16. Trials are to start with the judge asking the prosecution or plaintiff and the defence for their opening arguments, presented all at once and without cross-examination.
§17. After the presentation of opening arguments, both the prosecution or plaintiff and the defence are to argue back and forth at will, presenting evidence and giving rationale in an asynchronous manner.
- §17.1. The presiding judge may ask questions of the prosecution or plaintiff and the defence should such questions be of an important nature to the outcome of the trial or be used to ensure fairness in judicial proceedings. For example, if an important point of law is being forgotten by both the prosecution or plaintiff and the defence, or if a piece of evidence has ramifications beyond what is being considered, or if one side's inexperienced counsel mentions a strong argument but forgets to bring it up later.
§18. When a natural closure of debate is reached, or after seventy-two hours after the presentation of the first opening argument, the presiding judge is to ask the prosecution or plaintiff and the defence for closing arguments. The prosecution or plaintiff will then give closing arguments, along with the defence.
- §18.1. With the consent of both the plaintiff or prosecution and the defendant, the presiding judge may choose to extend debate for up to seventy-two hours after this deadline. Judges may not extend more than once.
§19. After the presentation of closing arguments, the presiding judge will declare the case closed, rendering a verdict within twenty-four hours.
- §19.1. The Supreme Court must render a verdict within seventy-two hours. At this seventy-two-hour deadline, whichever verdict has the most votes in the Supreme Court is rendered.
- §19.2. The presiding judge has wide discretion within the confines of the law, rationality, precedent, and highest standards of good-faith reason to render a verdict that best fits the case at hand and SimDemocracy as a whole.
- §19.2.1. Judges are bound by applicable laws for deciding punishments. Should no applicable laws exist but a crime was clearly committed, then the judge is to request a binding recommendation of punishment from the Supreme Court, which will be rendered by a majority vote of the Justices of the Supreme Court.
§20. It is the responsibility of the presiding judge to ensure the timely processing of a court case and to ensure that all court procedures are being followed.
§21. No member of government may prolong or delay a trial in any way save the presiding judge within the confines of existing legislation or the Supreme Court.
- §21.1. The Supreme Court may issue a binding decree requesting an inferior judge to move along with the judicial process in the interest of time.
- §21.2. Presiding judges may, during emergencies or when otherwise necessary to ensure the proper functioning of SimDemocracy, speed along the trial process as quickly as possible by suspending the argument phase of trials and moving immediately into closing arguments or the rendering of a verdict.
- §21.2.1. This suspension is appealable to the Supreme Court, who must respond with a binding opinion within twenty-four hours.
§22. In a civil case, should the plaintiff fail to follow codified courtroom procedure in a timely manner, the presiding judge may dismiss the suit.
§23. Any participant in a legal procedure is considered inactive if, upon being given instruction by the court, or during a time when a reply is expected, does not reply within forty-eight hours.
§24. Should the state prosecutor in a criminal trial become inactive, the Department of Justice must assign a new one within twenty-four hours. Should this fail to occur, the presiding judge must declare a mistrial.
§25. Should every person in one party in a civil trial become inactive, the presiding judge must automatically and instantly find in favour of the non-inactive party.
Pleas
§26. A defendant may plea guilty to a charge before making an opening statement.
§27. Following a guilty plea, the normal trial process is skipped, and the presiding judge is to render a verdict within twenty-four hours.
§28. A plea deal is an agreement between the prosecution or plaintiff and the defendant where the defendant pleas guilty to all charges in exchange for accepting a punishment within the confines of the permissible punishments for the crimes the defendant is being charged with.
- §28.1. Plea deals may happen at any point during the trial phase before the presenting of closing arguments.
- §28.2. The acceptance of the plea deal of the plaintiff or prosecution, the defense, and the presiding judge must be clearly stated in the court channel.
- §28.3. Plea deals take effect instantly upon agreement.
- §28.4. The presiding judge must reject plea deals used to evade expected punishment by a defendant working with a sympathetic plaintiff or prosecution.
§29. Should a defendant who first joined the server within three days of committing a crime leave the server within a short time of arrest and become uncommunicative with his public defender, the public defender is to try to reach a plea deal with the prosecution or plaintiff as promptly as possible.
Article 10: Writs and Injunctions
Injunctions
§1. An injunction may be requested by a person whom a private or public action affects in a substantial way from a court to halt any private or public action and issued by the relevant presiding judge in a court case seeking to end the private or public action or be issued as part of a civil remedy.
§2. An injunction may only be given by a court if such a request satisfies at least one of the following requirements:
- §2.1. a chance beyond reasonable doubt of irreparable harm should such action continue,
- §2.2. public interest in the matter beyond what is due for the action being halted, or
- §2.3. a high likelihood of success on the merits of a related lawsuit.
§3. Injunctions are to end upon the closure of all relevant cases and cessation of all relevant actions, unless otherwise specified.
§4. Failure to comply with an injunction or any other judicial order, including writs, constitutes contempt of court, along with other crimes as may be applicable.
- §4.1. No injunction ordering an unlawful action is valid.
Writs
§5. A judge may issue a writ, subject to the process of judicial review. The following writs are legal and valid in SimDemocracy:
§6. A writ of mandamus that orders a public entity to take an action or refrain from taking an action in accordance with the law. Should such action not be taken (or be refrained from being taken), the person in charge of the public entity is to be suspended from his position (excluding the power to take or cease taking the relevant action) until such action is taken (or refrained from being taken).
§7. A writ of quo warranto orders an actor to justify by what legal right or power an action is being undertaken. Should the actor be unable to produce convincing evidence, all such actions taken by the actor using the power(s) claimed are to be declared null and void, and the actor is to be removed from the claimed positions if applicable.
- §7.1. Writs are only to be used in cases that necessitate their immediate and urgent usage. Should they be abused by a judge, that judge may be barred from issuing writs for three months by a majority vote of the Supreme Court.
Article 11: National Archives
§1. The latest version of all legislation, including amendments, must be made available within the name of the law in the national archives.
- §1.1. For example, the text of the Bar Association Act 2023 must be amended within the National barassociation page upon passage of this legislation.
