10 February 2023
Today, the largest National Assembly session in Phillip's history took place. A total of five bills were presented to representatives, ranging from the annexation of a new subdivision to an expansion of Presidential authority. Three of those bills passed through the Assembly and were subsequently passed into law by President Jaxson Renny. During this session, VP Luke Fitzgibbins attempted to pass his Family Voting Bill for the third time. As expected, the bill failed to gain support from almost every member of the Assembly, including VP Fitzgibbins himself. Reportedly, he is temporarily pausing his campaign to pass the bill to focus on growing and developing Phillip's economy. It's believed by some that he could potentially resume campaigning for it in mid-April after the 2nd General Election occurs and a new government is put into power.
The most important bill to come out of this session was one regarding the annexation of the Estado Libre District. The district is an almost nine-hundred-square-meter piece of residential property close to the Tarkis District and the capital, Port Phillip. The land was offered to Phillip by Governor Owen Itzen, who ceded the land with the intent of gaining a seat in the Assembly for his party. Over the past week, Governor Itzen has been slowly attempting to grow his political power in Phillip. After working with Minister Cooper Norfolk to pass a bill allowing citizens to register businesses within the country, he was appointed as the Minister of Corporations by President Renny. Becoming a representative in the National Assembly would be huge for him, as he would be able to represent the interests of his new corporation, ONSG Inc.
The name "Estado Libre" means "Free State" in Spanish. The district's name is not meant to signify any level of autonomy from Phillip, but to emphasize the sovereignty of Phillip as a whole. The annexation of this new land has increased the population of Phillip by three, all of which are members of Governor Itzen's family. This leaves the population of Phillip at 28. Below is the flag of Estado Libre, which was designed by Governor Itzen with inspiration from the Falangist Movement of Spain.
President Jaxson Renny hasn't yet appointed a Governor to the new district, but it most likely will not be Governor Itzen as he is already Governor of the Calabaza District.
There were two other bills passed by the Assembly, the "Salary Procedures Bill" presented by Minister Norfolk, and the "Executive Orders Bill" presented by VP Fitzgibbins. The Salary Procedures Bill gives the Assembly the ability to decide the salary of all Mint employees while also giving the Minister of Mint, in conjunction with their council, the ability to decide the salary of the President, their cabinet, and the Assembly representatives. This bill was created to provide a way for government officials to be paid for their work in a manner that would avoid potential corruption. This bill also put in place a rule that if the President or Vice President suspects that a government official's pay is unfairly high, they can take them and the person who decided their pay to the court.
The last bill passed by the Assembly today was the Executive Orders Bill, which gives the President the authority to declare land under Phillip's jurisdiction a national park. The President can do this by signing an executive order, which they were previously able to do under the constitution before the "Management of Territories Bill'' was passed. The bill also created the Phillip National Parks Service, which will be in charge of maintaining all national parks within Phillip. Currently, the Head Ranger of the service has not been appointed.
During this session, the Phillip National Front was able to block a bill that would have lessened the power of Minister Norfolk significantly. The "Citizenship Application Bill" presented by VP Fitzgibbins would have removed Minister Norfolk as the head of the Ministry of Citizenship. The bill would appoint someone new to work on citizenship applications and keep a census of Phillip. VP Fitzgibbins wanted to remove Minister Norfolk from the position in order to start the process of decreasing his power in the government. This move again proves how much dominance the PNF currently has over the Assembly.
This session of the National Assembly was historic because of the number of bills presented, but it will soon be surpassed. VP Luke Fitzgibbins has called for a special National Assembly session to take place on the 11th of February. The session is being called to vote on multiple important things, the most important of which is the annexation of another new district. This session will have representatives vote on six different bills. Overall, this is a great sign for the progression of Phillip's political environment.