[HoC] End of term Report Jan/Feb 2013

Day 1,923, 12:28 • Published in India United Kingdom • by Cadfan


Hi guys! I’m Cadfan, and this is the end of term Head of Congress report for January-February 2013. 😃

Well, how quickly a month goes when you are in an important position. This was my first term as HoC and I was very grateful to be voted into the post. I decided to step up to the role because in the first month I was in congress, there was no HoC and congress was a shambles. However, I hope that this month I helped contribute to a better term than the last one, in the congress’ point of view. We had a lot of discussions and even passed some proper laws. I concede that I was a bit hesitant in the job as the term started, but I finally got into my stride as it progressed.


This report will cover both the results of my proposed reforms, and coverage of the proposals and CS approvals debated this month. To start, I will discuss the two reforms I championed at my appointment as HoC a month ago.

1. Rule shortening
I thought that the rules as they were, were far too long and tedious for people to pay proper attention. So I decided to try and make them shorter and more concise. I believe I succeeded in this and the rules are better and easier to read yet contain the same information. This means it is easier for people to read and understand the information.

2. Citizenship form
I saw that the citizenship system in my previous term in congress was a shambles. People had to apply through the forums, and after deliberations with senior players, I found that the forums were dead, so I decided to make a Googledoc. The questions were designed to be clear and give us the right information to decide whether to accept someone’s citizenship or not. The form has worked well once people filled it in, and it helped the congress make informed decisions. The only thing I would say is that the form needs to be more visible, i.e. more congress members to post the link in their ‘about me’ section.


The next thing we are going to discuss are the proposals and the CS approvals fielded this month.

It was a great month to be in Congress – there were so many things to be debated, from confidential govt strategies to taxation changes. Everyone contributed, and the newer members certainly shone. Some senior members have also told me that this congress has been one of the disciplined in recent months – this month there were only 3 rogue proposals and 2 rogue citizenship approvals. The rogue congressmen in question have accepted that they made a mistake, and gone on to become productive members of Congress.

This month the congress introduced some new tax laws. We increased the VAT and import tax on weapons and food. This was brought up by the MoF and after a discussion in congress, we agreed to allow this to go to the proposal stage. The reasoning was to try and increase government profit margins without increasing the price of the goods themselves and to make the market more focused towards eIndians rather than foreigners. It is too early to say whether this was a success, but we will see.

A hotly debated topic came up as well in regard to a certain CS approval. Octavius Dryst, who was a former CP who lost 4mil cc from the government coffers, applied for CS. This really split the congress as different people had different views in regard to the magnitude of what he had done and whether we should welcome him or turn our backs. In the end, it was decided that we were gonna give him a chance. We listened to the concerns of the people who opposed his return and took heed of them. This process took longer than I would have liked a CS application to take but this was a special case, and it was good to have a rational debate.


Once again, it was a honour to serve as HoC for this month. I will probably be running for re-election next month – stay tuned! 😃

Thanks

Cadfan
Head of Congress, eIndia.