[PUBLIC] Interior Ministry, Term XIV

[Hyzhenhok]

This is the headquarters of the federal Interior Ministry. It is here the MoI shall publish for the public any important information, and it is also where the public should come to make inquiries or petitions (Note that this can be done privately through directly contacting [PM] the Minister).

Internal workings of the ministry and private meetings occur directly in the Minister's office (Private Threads).

The current Minister is constantly adjusting the thermostat to ensure that the building is neither too hot nor too cold. Besides the standard office plants, the building is not particularly fancy.

 

[Hyzhenhok]

The following announcements come from the Interior Ministry:

The budgetary increase provided by the Assembly to the environment are thus: .2 of the increase shall to disaster cleanup, most of which is to directly fund the cleanup of the Helia situation, and the remaining .05 shall go to the EEA (for a total of .3) to speed up the creation of that organization.

The basic charter of the EEA is thus:

The Eutopian Environmental Agency (EEA)

Purpose

The Eutopian Environmental Agency is responsible for inspecting air, water, and ground quality at, surrounding, and near businesses to ensure compliance, and for levying fines and closing noncompliant businesses.

Structure

1. The Eutopian Environmental Agency shall be under the control of the Interior Minister, as authorized in the Clean Eutopia Act. Directly reporting to the Interior Minister and at the head of the EEA shall be a Deputy Minister of the EEA, appointed by the Interior Minister. The Deputy Minister may be removed at the Interior Minister’s discretion.

2. The UPE shall be divided among provincial lines into Environmental Districts. Each Environmental District shall have a EEA Branch whose head shall report directly to the Deputy Minister. Each Environmental District Branch shall be responsible for maintaining and inspecting environmental standards, levying fines and closing noncompliant businesses in its own district. In day-to-day business all Districts report only to the Deputy Minister, but the Interior Minister is empowered to pass the Deputy Minister and interact directly with districts in the event of vacancy or other emergency. Methods of enforcement and individual districts remain under the discretion and authority of the Interior Minister.

Powers

The EEA shall have only the powers mandated by the General Assembly. The EEA may not take any action beyond what is prescribed by the General Assembly.

Basic steps are being taken to create this agency at this time.

 

[Hyzhenhok]

Shortly after thew new orders are sent to the Coast Guard, Zhokhyen makes an announcement.

"In an effort to better serve my country, I must resign from my position as head of the Interior Ministry. The PoL shall appoint my replacement shortly. I must say I am glad to have been given the oppurtunity to do as much as I have in this short period. The EEA is up and running; a cleanup of the pollution disaster in Helia is underway at a much faster pace that before I took office. I look forward to the future, despite the dark clouds overhead.

I give my condolences to all of the friends and family of the late President Gonzov. He may have been my political enemy, but no one deserves the misfortune that has fallen upon him."

 

[Hyzhenhok]

An announcement.

Last term, the Ministry of Finance put into place some regulations regarding the infrastructure of Eutopia. As this area belongs under the Interior Ministry's directive, I shall be overtaking these programs.

The Supplementary Seatbelt Regulations put into place last term are to remain and be enforced.

The Road/Highway Vehicle Category Definitions and Supplemental Registation Fees will not remain. All limousine owners, or owners of "Buses with seating capacity of eight", who have paid the additional registration fee shall have that amount refunded. No additional registration fees for limousines, or "Buses with seating capacity of eight" shall be required from this point on.

Copies of these two directives are available..

 

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An e-mail arrives:

Interior Minister Zyhokhyen:

You appear to be usurping the authority of the Finance Minister to regulate commerce, just because it makes use of our infrastructure, which all commerce does. You did this without a public comment period. You do this despite the fact that a case regarding this matter is pending before the High Court, for which you did not even bother to file an amicus curiae brief. That suit risks being thrown out due to the absence of the counsel for the plantiff, who was being funded by the now absent Colin Leary. If you are interested in authoritatively determining which department has jurisdiction, and not merely in creating chaos in the cabinet, you could request the plantiff appoint you or representative as counsel and resume the case, or seek a legislative remedy. While you are pursuing either of those alternatives, or another of your own devising, you will suspend the implementation of your "announcement", or face legal action. You should be aware that you may be personally responsible for any sums inappropriately refunded. Your failure to hold public hearings appears to disrepect the democratic process and indicates that you have no faith in the people.

Signed,

 

[Hyzhenhok]

A response:

It is the opinion of this office that the previous Finance Minister usurped to powers of the Interior Ministry to regulate infrastructure when passing these regulations. Now that the Interior Ministry in inhabited by an active head instead of an inactive one as it was in Term XIII, it makes sense for these usurpations to cease and be passed on to the rightful office. It is the opinion of this office that this method is best to resolve the issue at hand.

The court case in question is likely to be dismissed with the absence of the plaintiff. This office hopes legal action can be avoided, but it believes it is in the right and will defend that stance if necssary.

 

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An e-mail replay arrives:

Interior Minister Zyhokhyen:

Thank-you for your response to my prior message. I would like to point out that the high court did not say that the plaintiff in Al'Sahwari v. Minister of Finance was missing, but that:

Counsel for Per Al'Sahwari...shall have 7 days from the issuing of this order to appear for oral argument. Should Counsel fail to do so, this suit shall be dismissed with prejudice.

The suggestion was that you or your counsel could approach the plaintiff and seek to become the replacement for the missing counsel. As that case bears directly on the issue of whether the Finance Minister had the power to implement the regulations in question or not, its resolution would appear to settle this issue.

You also stated a hope that legal action can be avoided, but offered no alternative. I was aware, Alan Jones was aware, and Saul Florian will soon be if he is not already aware, i.e. all the Finance Ministers since the implementation of the regulation are aware that you felt it was a matter for Interior Minister rather than the Finance Minister. You were told, in no uncertain terms, first by myself and then by Alan Jones, while we were Finance Ministers, that we disagreed. Thus, there clearly was an unresolved dispute, between you and the Finance Ministry, with a court case that could have led to its resolution. Now that you are Interior Minister, you appear to have standing to bring suit on this matter directly, if you don't want to insert yourself in the prior case. Rather than issuing a contradictory regulation, consultation or legal action would have seemed to have been the appropriate course of action to press your view.

Have you consulted with the new Finance Minister and gotten his agreement on this matter? If not, the dispute is still unresolved. Your announcement, claiming to undo the supplemental registration fees, does not resolve the matter at hand, as the heart of the matter, which cabinet minister has jurisdiction over this has not been agreed. Thus, as this is therefore not a method to resolve the matter at hand, I ask you one last time to actually commence a process that would lead to its resolution, not its escalation, as your announcement did. If you do not, I predict that the court action you hoped to avoid will swiftly ensue.

Signed,

 

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*A letter for the Minister arrives from the Speaker's Office*

The Speaker's Office
General Assembly of Eutopia
Eutopia City​

Sir,

the General Assembly is currently debating Bill E4-14, the Property Defense Rights Act. As said Act was introduced by yourself, I would like to formally invite you to participate in the debate. As author of the Act, you are entitled to speak to it first.

Yours faithfully,
Jerome Vandelft
Speaker of the General Assembly

 

[Hyzhenhok]

The Vehicle Exhaust Regulations Bill shall be enforced by the authority of the Eutopian Environmental Agency (EEA).