New Legislation Includes Citizenship Act; Enlargement of Capital

Sunset State, pictured here, is set to take on an addition of territory after a session of the National Senate yesterday. Sunset State is the seat of the Soundlandian government and home to the National Senate.

The National Senate passed a number of pieces of legislation yesterday, including the election of a Speaker pro tempore and two major bills after a period of adjournment that had lasted since August. The National Senate also adopted Standing Rules for the first time, formalizing the rules governing senate sessions.

Larger Capital; Citizenship Regulated

NSB - 1001, the "Sunset State Expansion Act", is the first senate act of the new term and annexes land adjacent west to the relatively small capital that has already been under de facto Soundlandian control for some time. The annexation includes a residential property, and will take effect a week from yesterday.

A larger piece of key legislation, the simply named "Citizenship Act", sets the legal paths for gaining citizenship and the responsibility of the Department of State for overseeing them. The State Department has handled citizenship affairs since the introduction of a formal naturalization process, but the wide-ranging act codifies the departments' authority and regulations into law. In addition, it clarifies the other ways individuals may become Soundlandians and includes statutes governing non-citizen residents.

The act sets out three paths to gain Soundlandian nationality: naturalization as a foreign national, citizenship by birth, and naturalization as a permanent resident. Foreign nationals are required to be recommended by a citizen before applying, but permanent residents - those that having been living within Soundlandian territory for a set amount of time, do not.

It also sets out ways citizens can lose their citizenship. These include self-renunciation and lying to naturalization officers, but also being convicted of a high crime such as treason or sedition.

Senate Adopts Formal Rules of Procedure; Selects Deputy Speaker

Aside from public laws, the National Senate ratified a set of Standing Rules to govern its sessions for the first time in its history. The move promises to ensure compliance to parliamentary procedure and the cementing of rules surrounding senate procedures, such as the passage of bills and no confidence votes. Interestingly, the rules abandon the ubiquitous Robert's Rules of Order as its basis, instead going for the Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, a younger and more streamlined but lesser known alternative.

In addition, the senate elected Senator Vera C. to serve as Speaker pro tempore, who chairs the body in the absence of the Speaker. Speaker Aidan Kraft was elected last August at the first session of the new term.