Political Watch, June 7 2021

This Week in Political News:

The Legislature has been busy passing three new bills and one new resolution. 

The Governor’s office also released a statement regarding violence in the state.

H.R. 008 – Legal Adjustments Act of 2021 has been deferred until a later date by both Reps. Paxton and Jackson 

H.R. 009 – The Commerce Regulation Act of 2021,

• This bill which was introduced by Representative Jackson outlines the mission of the Chamber of Commerce and its role in promoting a business community in the state.
• It also adds two charges to the criminal code, one being unlicenced operations of a business and the other being unlicensed operation on unauthorized property
• It outlines transparency measures and privacy surrounding FOIA requests and audit results and processes.

This bill passed with two votes in the affirmative and one vote abstained, it has not been signed by the Governor into Law

H.R. 010 – The Public Defenders Act of 2021,

• This bill which was introduced by Representative Paxton establishes a Public Defenders office for Free Representation
• It provides the pay rate for the offices employees and outlines its responsibilities
• It stipulates that any client must not have a networth of over $25,000 meaning free representation is only available to those who only have a net worth under this figure

This bill passed with two votes in the affirmative and one vote abstained, it has not been signed by the Governor into Law

H.R. 011 – Amendment to H.R. 006 – The Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Act of 2021,

• This amendment bill which was introduced by Representative Paxton corrects multiple parts of H.R 006, motifying the language in areas to better clarify and keep to the intent of the previous bill.
• H.R. 006 now allows law enforcement forty-eight hours to temporarily cease items with a ‘valid cause’ and only the judiciary can order temporary seizure beyond forty-eight hours, with a maximum of fourteen days.

This bill passed with two votes in the affirmative and one vote abstained, it has not been signed by the Governor into Law

H.R. 012 – Resolution Regarding the Appointment of Various Executives

• This resolution introduced by Representative Paxton endorses the Legislatures commitments to the appointment of; 
  • Josh Zimmerman to the role of Commissioner of the Chamber of Commerce, and
  • Eli Goodman to be the role of Public Defender of the State of San Andreas

This Resolution passed with two votes in the affirmative and one vote abstained

This week in the state was one of chaos and violence, with multiple instances of motivated attacks against the state and it’s public servants. On Friday the governor’s office released the following memo:

My fellow Citizens of our wonderful state,

I am writing to you all today with a heavy heart, and great sadness has given what I learned transpired last night. It has been brought to my attention that several organised groups had functionally declared all-out war and reaped carnage across our fine state with the target being the public workers of San Andreas.

These Violent crimes cannot and will not go unpunished, we live in a civilised society where we all have a duty to uphold and respect the laws that govern us. All of the people involved in last night’s violence will be brought to justice and will be given the opportunity to settle their cases in court as equal members of our society(if pleading not guilty or no contest). This is the right held by all people in our state who choose to plead not guilty or no contest to their crimes. Remember we are a society where we are judged for crimes before impartial judges and a separated judiciary, not the court of public opinion and vigilante justice. We are innocent until proven guilty, or accept and confess to our guilt.

This is one of the pillars of our society is our fair and unbiased justice system where our disputes should be settled, not by mass bloodbaths on the streets and the attempt to cripple our fine law enforcement officers and terrorising our Doctors and EMT’s who put their lives on the line to protect and save us.

This here comes the one and only warning, so let me and my office be explicitly clear:

If these organised attacks on our city, our state and our people continue, then all of the organisations involved in architecting this folly shall be identified, dissolved and declared terrorist organisations subjected to the fullest extent of the law.

This is the one and only warning. let us stop this bloodshed and come together as one unified state, as one united people and settle our disputes in a civilised fashion, the days of settling disputes with bloodshed and murder should be left well behind us as members of a modern and progressive state.

My sincerest condolences to the people and the families who were impacted by this senseless violence.

Your Governor

Andrew McKinley