Regulation

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Proposal:

A regulation is a kind of law that prohibits behavior or compels behavior related to a specific activity.

The legislative branch may enact laws regulating behavior of the other branches of government and of the public, in accordance with the constitution.

The legislative branch SHALL NOT delegate regulation to any other body.

The legislature SHALL maintain an index of all laws and regulations governing any activity, such that all branches of government and the public may learn the laws and regulations.

Other branches of government and the public MAY propose legislation or make recommendations to the legislative branch. The legislative branch SHALL review such proposals and recommendations, edit them in accordance with the constitution, including adding, changing, and removing, and put them to a vote to enact into law.

All branches of government, including the legislature, MAY enact policies and procedures for their own conduct, in accordance with existing laws and the constitution. Such internal policies and procedures are not considered regulation.

Intent:

To ensure that all lawmaking power is vested exclusively in the legislative branch. To enable each branch to establish its own policies and procedures that comply with laws and the constitution, in order to quickly respond to changing circumstances. To establish a procedure for other branches to propose regulations to the legislative branch for consideration and enactment.

To react quickly to changing circumstances, the legislature should allocate time for routine and emergency reviews of such proposals and recommendations.

Discussion:

A regulation is a law that applies to a specific activity.

A regulation may prohibit behavior, such as “A driver SHALL NOT cross a double yellow line to pass another vehicle”.

A regulation may compel behavior, such as “A driver SHALL turn on the turn signal indicator at least 5 seconds before making a turn”.

Regulations only apply to specific activities, such that only people who engage in those activities need to be aware of those regulations. In some cases, this means regulations must be written twice or more to cover situations where multiple activities are involved. For example, to regulate interactions between drivers and pedestrians, there could be two regulations: for the driver, “a driver must yield to pedestrians crossing a road” is a driving regulation, and for the pedestrian, “a pedestrian must cross the road at a crosswalk or yield to drivers when crossing not at a crosswalk” is a walking regulation.

The legislative branch MAY create a special process to accept and review such proposals and recommendations, make changes to them, and put them to a vote to enact them into law. That process could include one or more committees that specialize in various topics, so they can quickly review and understand the proposals and consider them fully and make recommendations to the larger body.

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