Bills

WHEREAS John Minot has fulfilled all the requirements given by the Immigration Ministry; and
WHEREAS the Cort has approved of his application;
THEREFORE the Ziu now votes to naturalise John Minot as a Talossan citizen

WHEREAS after many years of distinguished and exemplary service, Senior Justice John A. Jahn has seen fit to retire from the Uppermost Cort; and
WHEREAS a grateful nation once again owes Herr Jahn a debt of gratitude and thanks for his contributions to Talossa; and
WHEREAS former Uppermost Cort Justice John C. Eiffler has indicated his enthusiastic willingness to again take up the burdens of service in what is, arguably, the nation's highest office;
THEREFORE We, Robert I, King of Talossa and (probably) descendent of the Counts of Toulouse, do hereby nominate John C. Eiffler to the post of Uppermost Cort Justice, effective upon the resignation of Senior Justice Jahn; and
THEREFORE the Ziu hereby approves said nomination by this act, conveys all appropriate plaudits to outgoing Justice Jahn, and confirms the title of Senior Justice upon Matthias Muth, next in line as titular leader of Talossa's Uppermost Cort.

WHEREAS the King of Talossa is Ben Madison and Talossa wouldn't be Talossa without a King; and
WHEREAS The King is also a PC member holding a seat in the Ziu and the Talossan population or lack thereof once demanded that the king play a dual role as king and citizen; and
WHEREAS Talossan citizenship is at a high and Talossan citizens like to have fun; and
WHEREAS having more positions available for citizens may encourage "inactive" citizens to have more fun and Talossa needs more active citizens; and
WHEREAS "one more" active Talossan is better than "none more," and "Real" Nations do not have a king that votes as a common citizen; and
WHEREAS "Real" Nations do not have a king that sits on the governing legislature as a Citizen and Bug Nations use this format in their government; and
WHEREAS Talossa is not a "bug" and Talossa should be as little "Bug-Like" as possible;
THEREFORE the Ziu removes the right of the King to vote in the general elections and that his Seat in the Ziu must be returned to the party that had given it to him.

WHEREAS the Kingdom of Talossa uses an electoral system used by no other nation; and
WHEREAS this Hundred-Sided Die electoral system gives chance an overly large rôle; and
WHEREAS the current system is more suited for a micronation than for a small, yet real, nation like our own;
THEREFORE Article Seven, Section Two is hereby rescinded, to be replaced by the following wording:
VII §2 Based on the final vote tally, the Secretary of State shall calculate the apportionment of seats among the parties, taking the calculation to four decimal places. The SoS shall start by ignoring the decimal remainders.

a) If the whole numbers of the calculation add up to 20, the SoS shall declare that to be the final vote total.

b) If the whole numbers of the calculation do not add up to 20, the SoS shall use the decimal remainders to allocate the N remaining seats, where N is the number of seats that remain, taking the N largest decimal remainders. The party with the largest decimal remainder shall get the 1st remaining seat, the party with the second-largest decimal remainder shall get the 2nd remaining seat, and so on until the party with the Nth largest decimal remainder gets the Nth remaining seat.

c) If two or more parties have equal decimal remainders and are thus eligible for a single seat, a dice roll shall be used to determine the owner of that seat. If the SoS does not have dice, he may use another chance-producing instrument, such as a deck of cards or a table of random numbers.

WHEREAS the requirements for citizenship require new citizens to buy books from the Cudëscherïa; and
WHEREAS these books are denominated in American dollars; and
WHEREAS few American banks will take cheques denominated in foreign currencies without hefty service charges; and
WHEREAS Canadian Talossans have to pay their own service charges at their banks for buying American-dollar money orders in payment; and
WHEREAS there is one Talossan, namely Jay Shorten, who has bank accounts in both countries and can process payments in either currency;
THEREFORE:
Any Canadian Talossan (whether citizen or prospective), or any Talossan who finds it easier to pay in Canadian dollars rather than American dollars, will send messages to Jay Shorten and Ben Madison or John Jahn (or any future author) announcing his desire to pay in Canadian dollars.
Ben Madison (or other Cudëscherïa author) shall send a confirmatory message to Jay Shorten confirming the Talossan's desire to pay in Canadian dollars.
Upon receipt of the confirmatory message Jay Shorten shall check that day's exchange on www.oanda.com. He shall then send a message to the author and the citizen with the equivalent Canadian dollar amount to be paid.
The citizen shall send a cheque (or money order) to Jay Shorten's Canadian address.
Upon receiving word of the cheque's deposit into his account, Jay Shorten shall write a cheque to the author with the American dollar amount.
If a Canadian writes a book to be sold by the Cudescheria, Jay Shorten will provide the reverse service in American dollars.
This service will expire upon announcement to the Cosâ by Jay Shorten that he can or will no longer provide it.

WHEREAS in the years since the adoption of the Organic Law, considerable genealogical research has been done on the ancestry of the Talossan Royal Family; and
WHEREAS recent discussions have concerned the prospect of changing the official designation of the Royal Family to reflect its ancient roots among the Counts of Toulouse;
THEREFORE the Ziu hereby approves, and confers to the people for their decision in a referendum, the following law:
The sentence

"The present Royal Family shall be styled, in the national language, La Casâ és la Dünastà Donatüs. In the English language, 'The House and Dynasty of Madison'",

in the first part of Article III, Sec. 4, of the Organic Law is changed to read as follows:

"The present Royal Family is styled as is appropriate on historical grounds, __________. The designation of the name of the Royal Family shall be announced by the King and confirmed by a law of the Ziu."