13 February 2023
Today, President Jaxson Renny reviewed multiple bills passed by last Saturday's National Assembly session. Representatives were presented with six bills to vote on, the largest amount in Assembly history. Five of those bills passed the house and moved on to the President. The two most important of which were the Expansion of Port Phillip Bill, written by Minister Norfolk, and the Annexation of Bolston Bill, written by Minister Reed Von. The first bill would expand the Port Phillip District to include President Renny's family's full residential property. This bill has been long requested by President Renny and his family as some of them wanted to ability to vote in general elections. The Bolston District was offered to Phillip by Minster of Fish & Wildlife Reed Von in order to give himself a seat in the Assembly. Both of these bills would not only increase Phillip's territorial claims, but grow the population by around 25%. The annexation of these new lands would add seven official residents to Phillip.
President Renny would go on to pass these two bills, increasing the population of Phillip from 28 to 35. He also passed the National Assembly Attendance Bill. The bill would prevent an Assembly session from ending before every representative has voted. This provision was put into place just in case someone were to close an Assembly session before every representative had voted on purpose. This bill also gave the National Assembly the ability to appoint two new positions. Both are related to who can be in charge of creating ballots for elections in Phillip.
The last bill that President Renny approved was one that would create two seats in the Assembly for the newly annexed Bolston and Estado Libre Districts. Once the bill was passed into law, a special election lasting two days was called into effect. Both seats have basically already been confirmed as each candidate is running uncontested. Minister Owen Itzen (LFJML) will most likely represent Estado Libre while Minister Von (BBB) will most likely represent Bolston. This bill increases the number of seats in the National Assembly to nine. Despite these changes, the Butter Butta Bentley Party will still be able to maintain a solid five out of nine majority in the Assembly. Below is an updated seating chart of the National Assembly.
The only bill that President Renny vetoed was the "Jolly Parliament Polygamy Bill" written by Minister Norfolk. The bill would replace a line in the constitution that bars members of the Mint's advisory board, also known as the Jolly Parliament, from holding more than one government office. Minister Norfolk wanted to pass the bill in order to fill more positions in government. The President denied the bill after VP Luke Fitzgibbins discussed the implications that the bill could have on corruption in the mint.