Emergency Act

EMERGENCY ACT

ARTICLE I: CONDITIONS

Section 1. The President shall have the power to declare a state of emergency in response to events during streams that fall into the following categories:

1. National security and foreign threats.
2. Rebellion and domestic unrest.
3. Economic crisis.
4. Natural disasters.

Section 2. To declare a State of Emergency, the President shall follow the process below:

1. Announce the State of Emergency on stream, the turn it’s being declared on, and why one is being declared.
2. Announce it on #gov-announcements, the turn it’s being declared on, and why one is being declared.

Section 3. The President may only declare one State of Emergency per stream.

1. A State of Emergency may only last 15 turns or until the end of the stream in which it was declared; whichever is sooner.
2. The proper way to calculate the turn limit shall be [x + 15 = turn limit] where the x stands for the turn number in which the State of Emergency was declared.
3. A State of Emergency does not carry over into the next stream.
4. A State of Emergency may be ended early by the president; who shall announce it so and shall explicitly state the turn number where it has ended.

ARTICLE II: EMERGENCY POWERS

Section 1. A state of emergency shall:

1. Authorize funding for the maintenance of new or additional military units.
2. Authorize funding for the purchase of new or additional military units.
3. Authorize funding for the upgrade of military units.
4. Authorize funding for the purchase of buildings.
5. Authorize funding for the constructions and/or maintenance of new roads.
6. Authorize the construction/destruction/replacement of forts or other tile improvements.
7. Authorize the nationalization of private units or other entities.
8. Authorize funding for trade deals that acquire strategic or luxury resources.

        i. No trade deal may violate existing embargoes.

Section 2. At the conclusion of the State of Emergency all powers granted by Article II, Section 1 shall cease and the President must operate under established law.

Section 3. The President shall have no more than five (5) turns to abide by the following provisions in effort to revert to a pre-emergency status-quo; unless stated otherwise.

1. The number of military units is returned to the legal legislated amount.

        i. If there are more units than legislated then the five turn deadline is in effect.

        ii. If there are less units than legislated then this subsection is void.

2. The number of civilian units is returned to the legal legislated amount.

        i. If there are more units than legislated then the five turn deadline is in effect.

        ii. If there are less units than legislated then this subsection is void.

3. Buildings purchased or produced under emergency powers are permitted to remain.
4. Roads built under emergency powers may remain.

        i. The legislature may legislate the removal of said road(s).

5. Tile improvements must be reverted back to their original state or turned into a farm within ten (10) turns; the president may request an extension of time from the Senate.

i. The legislature may vote to allow said improvement.

6. Private units and/or other entities nationalized during the state of emergency are returned to their respective owners.
7. Trade deals established under emergency powers may remain for the duration of the deal.

ARTICLE III: ACCOUNTABILITY

Section 1. The President, Minister of Defence are required to write and submit a public report about any State of Emergency that the president declares.

1. The President may delegate this task to another individual, however the liability remains on the President and Minister of Defence.

Section 2. The report must be released within 48 hours of the end of the stream in which the State of Emergency was declared.

1. The Senate may grant an extension of the deadline.

Section 3. The report shall include the following information:

1. The time and duration of the State of Emergency.
2. What circumstance motivated the President to call a State of Emergency.
3. A list of specific actions taken related to emergency powers.
4. A conclusion of what exactly the administration must do to fulfil Article 2, Section 3.
5. Any official recommendation to the legislature on laws they could pass to properly handle the circumstance should the issue still exist.

ARTICLE IV: PROTECTIONS

Section 1. The Supreme Court may order an injunction into a State of Emergency declaration and the emergency powers that fall under such a declaration.

Section 2. The Senate may hold a vote to force an immediate or earlier end to a State of Emergency.

1. A successful vote to end the State of Emergency shall not hold retroactive effect; thus any emergency powers used between the start of the emergency and the end shall not be deemed illegal solely by virtue of the Senate having voted to end the State of Emergency.

Section 3. Abusing this law by calling an unnecessary State of Emergency, or multiple, may be a criminal or lesser offense as determined by the Supreme Court and an impeachable offense as determined by the legislature.

Section 4. Below are essential questions that can be used to aid the court in determining abuse.

1. Did a circumstance occur that required action before the legislature could reasonably respond?
2. Could the circumstance have been sufficiently addressed through existing law or procedures?
3. Were actions taken/expenditures reasonably necessary to address the circumstance?
4. Did the President honestly believe the action was necessary?
5. Did the President promptly inform the public and explain its actions?

Section 4. A State of Emergency shall not be deemed abused merely because the emergency later proves less severe than originally believed, provided the President acted in good faith based upon the information reasonably available at the time.

Section 5. Abuse of emergency powers occurs when the President knowingly or recklessly invokes the State of Emergency without a reasonable basis to believe that an emergency existed or that expenditure was necessary.