Fwurg

[Former Senator Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria]

"Based on the results of the previous vote, a second round is required to pick an option for the Safety of the Union act.

The law we are voting on is this one:

Safety of the Union Act

1. In order to promote worlds to construct their own defence forces, each member world of the Union will be granted a one time 500 subsidy to construct one Defence Force, to be paid out when their Defence Force is being constructed.
2. To promote member worlds to build their own fleets, the Union will pay 10 upkeep for a single fleet for each member world, if such a fleet is present.
3. To further promote member worlds to build their own fleets, the Union will pay a 1000 subsidy to member worlds who construct a fleet, with a maximum of once per member.
4. Article 3 applies only if the Capital Ships for this fleet are produced by the member world themselves or if they are acquired from another member world who produced them through trade.
5. When researching a technology relevant to Defence under the Tax Deductible Technological Research Law, a subsidy of 500 will be made available for each such technology developed.
6. Funds acquired through Article 5 may be distributed amongst the researching nations by their mutual agreement. In case an agreement cannot be reached, no subsidy will be paid out.
7. Any technology developed through subsidies in Article 5 should be made available for purchase to other union members at no more than half the cost of its research.
8. To finance these subsidies, Tax Bracket 3 will be increased to 33%, for a total additional tax per turn of up to 75 per member world.
9. All subsidies of the Safety of the Union Act (but not the offer of aid addendum) will be paid out only if the member world (or all participating member worlds in case of Article 5) has been paying taxes in Tax Bracket 3 for the past 10

Offer of Aid Addendum

A) To promote new worlds defending themselves, Defence Forces may now be purchased with the 'Offer of Aid' funds granted to new members.

To be clear, this is option 5 in the previous vote, the basic proposal plus variation Charlie.

The options of this vote are:

No - I do not support the Safety of the Union Act
Yes - I support the Safety of the Union Act as listed above.

This vote will close December 9th 2012.

The following Union Members may vote:

• Astai Republic
• Divine Fiefdom of Highmons
• Free Peoples of Wrarrbo
• High Chiefdom of Skuldda
• Hiocan Society
• Holy Heimgolian Theocracy
• Interregnum Democracy of Scir
• Kingdom of Komès
• Liberal Assencia
• Miomanian Colonists
• Praetorian Empire
• Principality of Suma
• Silver Forests of Remunzia
• Socialist Republic of Niom
• Stellarian Triad Federation
• Sundarian Federation
• Teprogrenaian Consensus
• Unified Republic of Darya

"

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"The current proposal will only divide the Union, it emphasizes the fact that only the largest economies can afford a military force now. The Praetorian Empire votes NO!"

[Atheos]

"Nothing relevant has changed, so we stick to the same vote as last time, no."

[Maria Latharion]

"The Stellarian Triad Federation votes no."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

The Teprogrenaian Consensus believes that this law proposal is even worse than the original, due to the fact that it is no longer equal for all Union members. It offers no protection for the weaker and more vulnerable factions.

We vote NO.

[Former Senator Cabew Illix of Skuldda]

I vote YES on the proposed law, as I believe this will increase our safety greatly.

[Senator Harek]

The Hiocan Society still votes NO.

[Senator Gregory Konev]

My statement form before still stands so The Unified Republic of Darya votes NO

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

The position of the Sundarian federation as explained in the previous vote on this subject has not changed, we still vote NO

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

Apparently Senator Bolv'ar doesn't take a hint, even when it is done in the most obvious manner. Our position on this subject remains the same: NO

[Former Senator Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria]

"The Divine Fiefdom of Highmons has registered a vote through holonet. They vote 'yes'."

[Representative Anselim of the Free Peoples of Wrarrbo]

"We vote 'yes'."

[Representative Lophos of the Interregnum Democracy of Scir]

"After careful deliberation, Scir votes 'yes' on this proposal."

[Representative Uriel of Liberal Assencia]

"Liberal Assencia votes 'yes' on this proposal."

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

"The Silver Forests of Remunzia vote 'no'."

[Senator Ght'Twwf of the Socialist Republic of Niom]

"After deliberate consideration, the Socialist Republic of Niom has decided that it shall cast its vote for the Safety of the Union act proposed by Chancellor Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria, electing to vote in the second round of voting on the option 'yes', in favour of the basic Safety of the Union Act with Variation Charlie replacements of articles 8 and the addendum of article 9."

[Former Senator Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria]

"The Holy Heimgolian Theocracy has also voted by holonet for the option 'yes'."

[Senator Acehtoo of the Miomanian Colonists]

"Mioman votes 'yes' on this proposal."

[Former Senator Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria]

"My fellow Senators. I have received word regarding the last vote to be cast on this issue by our Suman friends. They have sent us the following message which they asked me to read.

We do not support the boycotting campaign by the Veolian Commonwealth and its political allies, which we believe to be counter-productive and hostile.

In fact, we support the law in its current form, and we believe the smaller members in the Union need to carry more weight than they currently do. The Union is a project we do together and that means it cannot just be the economically larger members who bear the cost of protecting the great Union that we have created together while the smaller members carry the benefit.

The large members have been very generous and it would honour the smaller members if they showed a greater appreciation of all the gifts they are receiving.

For this reason, we cannot vote 'no' on this proposal.

That being said, we also believe that this topic should be resolved in a way where there is no one group of winners and one group of losers. It should be resolved in a way that all or at least a large majority of members agree, even if that means taking another electoral period to debate it.

This vote was set up at least as poorly as the angry response to it. We therefore cannot vote 'yes' on this proposal either.

Being unable to vote for either option, Suma hereby abstains from voting on this issue.

"

[Former Senator Bolv'ar of the Confederacy of Excaria]

Result of the vote:

• Yes - 8 votes
• No - 9 votes
• Abstains - 1 votes

With 17 votes and 1 abstention, the absolute majority is 9 votes. Motion is denied. I shall leave it to the next chancellor to complete this most complex issue.