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socialjusticeartshare · 4 years

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ICE Expels Migrant Children Without Trial, Making Them ‘Impossible To Find’

A teenage girl carrying her baby arrived at the U.S. border this summer and begged for help. She told federal agents that she feared returning to Guatemala. The man who raped her she said had threatened to make her “disappear.”

Then, advocates say, the child briefly vanished — into the custody of the U.S. government, which held her and her baby for days in a hotel with almost no outside contact before federal officers summarily expelled them from the country.

Similar actions have played out along the border for months under an emergency health order the Trump administration issued in March. Citing the threat of COVID-19, it granted federal agents sweeping powers to almost immediately return anyone at the border, including infants as young as 8 months. Children are typically entitled to special protections under the law, including the right to have their asylum claims adjudicated by a judge.

Under this new policy, the administration is not deporting children — a proceeding based on years of established law that requires a formal hearing in immigration court.

It is instead expelling them — without a judge's ruling and after only a cursory government screening and no access to social workers or lawyers, sometimes not even their family, while in U.S. custody. The children are not even granted the primary registration number by which the Department of Homeland Security tracks all immigrants in its care, making it “virtually impossible" to find them, Efrén C. Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, wrote in a court declaration arguing that the practice is illegal.

Little is known about how the process works, but published government figures suggest almost all children arriving at the border are being rapidly returned.

Between April and June, Customs and Border Protection officials encountered 3,379 unaccompanied minors at or between ports of entry. Of those, just 162 were sent to federal shelters for immigrant children run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Health and Human Services agency tasked with their care. CBP would not say whether the remaining minors had been expelled or explain what had happened to them.

The precise number of children who are detained or to what situations they are returned is difficult to ascertain.

“We are only reaching a tiny fraction of these kids," said Lisa Frydman, vice president of international programs at Kids in Need of Defense, an advocacy group for migrant children with partners across Central America. “The rest are just gone."

Lawyers have fielded frantic calls from family members whose children suddenly went missing after crossing the U.S. border. Of the thousands of unaccompanied minors expelled under the health order, advocacy organizations said that they have only found about three dozen after months of searching across the United States, Mexico and Central America.

The Guatemalan teenager is one of them. She told child protection workers in Guatemala that she was sent to an American hotel with her baby for days and allowed only a brief call with her father in the United States. Then she and her infant were flown to Guatemala, where her case so alarmed international refugee groups that they referred her for protection in another country, determining that she was in peril. Advocates would not provide her age or other personal details to protect her.

The Associated Press first reported last month that the administration has detained at least 169 children in three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in El Paso and McAllen, Texas, as well as Phoenix, before expelling them. New government numbers show that practice grew to more than 240 children over the past three months. Children reported being held for weeks in hotel rooms by an unlicensed government contractor, with little ability to reach anyone outside.

Advocates said the administration's expulsion policy is far more concerning than simply the practice of lengthy hotel detention, which they argue violates a long-standing court settlement protecting migrant children. Most kids who now reach U.S. soil are quickly flown back to their home countries — often to danger, forcing the intervention of international child welfare agencies to protect them from harm. Some children told advocates that they were sent to Mexico, even if they were not from there, in the middle of the night.

The U.S. government has largely declined to comment or release statistics, citing litigation that the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy organizations have brought against the expulsion program.

In June, a desperate father in Houston found Linda Corchado, an immigration attorney in El Paso. His 16-year-old son was detained somewhere in an American hotel, although where or by whom he did not know. He said the government was about to fly the boy back to Honduras, where he feared his son might be executed by gang members who threatened him after he saw them kill another man.

Corchado alerted the ACLU, and the boy became the first plaintiff in what lawyers hoped would be a test case as they argued that the government was illegally using an obscure provision of the federal Public Health and Welfare Code, written in 1893, to justify expelling all migrants, even children, at the border.

The boy's case spurred an emergency court hearing in June in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who ruled that the ACLU was “likely to succeed" in its arguments that the government did not have the authority to expel the boy under the health declaration, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Within days, Justice Department attorneys paused the boy's expulsion and agreed to allow him to request asylum through the immigration courts — the legal process usually required for migrant children coming here alone.

Attorneys found more children facing expulsion.

The relative of another 16-year-old Honduran boy told an advocate at the U.S. port of entry in El Paso that the teenager had disappeared in U.S. custody after they crossed the border together. Corchado called CBP and requested the protection screening allowed for the boy under the expulsion process, but federal agents said that they were moving him to a hotel to fly him back.

Once migrants are transferred to a hotel under the care of a government contractor, it is as if they vanish into a “legal abyss" where it is unclear which federal agency retains custody, Corchado said.

“You can't advocate for them," she said.

She said a supervisor with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told her that after migrants are moved there, “it's kind of off our radar."

Under the threat of litigation by the ACLU, the administration agreed to halt the boy's removal and transfer him to a federal shelter while he fought for asylum, his lawyers said.

Coordinating with advocates across the country, ACLU attorneys have located at least 18 children as of late July who were being expelled, court filings show. In each case, the government agreed to halt proceedings against them — a win for the child, but a concession that blocked lawyers from obtaining a judge's ruling on the policy as a whole.

“We assumed the government would want to have a test case in court to decide the lawfulness of this highly controversial and unprecedented practice of using public health laws to effect shadow deportations of children," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney fighting the program in court. “The government is getting away with a complete end run around all of the protections for children that Congress has painstakingly enacted."

Alexa Vance, a Justice Department spokesperson, declined to comment. So did April Grant, a spokesperson for ICE, citing the pending lawsuits.

Grant also refused to release statistics on children expelled by the agency, including those it detained in hotels, or provide the repatriation agreements that the U.S. holds with at least eight countries — including Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — that would shed light on how those countries have agreed to accept expelled children and under which circumstances.

Matthew Dyman, a spokesman for CBP, similarly said the ongoing litigation meant he couldn't answer most questions about the policy. Alexei Woltornist, a DHS spokesman, did not respond to emails.

“Nobody Can Find Them"

Advocates said the secrecy reminds them of their search two years ago for thousands of immigrant children whom the Trump administration separatedfrom their parents at the border.

Then, government agents sent children to federal shelters under ORR, often without tracking numbers linking them to their parents in ICE detention centers. It took a federal court order and months of taxpayer-funded efforts before many could be reunited with their parents. A few never were because their parents had been deported and so they were released instead to acquaintances or other relatives in the U.S.

What's different now is that children are not entering the U.S. system for migrant children at all.

“Nobody can find them," said Jennifer Podkul, vice president for policy at KIND, the advocacy group.

The majority are quickly flown back to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, the three main origins of unaccompanied children to the U.S.

Once in Central America, they don't have access to protections offered before the pandemic. Strict lockdowns have made it hard for watchdogs such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to track unaccompanied children after they are sent back to government repatriation centers.

Government representatives in those three Central American nations said that they could not differentiate between children who had been returned under the health order and those who had been deported under usual proceedings. But what they could report alarmed advocates.

Since the start of the pandemic through early July, at least 476 unaccompanied children have been sent back to Honduras, about half flown from the United States and the rest largely returned from Mexico, the Honduran federal agency overseeing children reported.

Guatemala reported about 380 such children returned from the United States in roughly that same period, according to a government spokesperson. El Salvador said more than 70 unaccompanied minors had been returned, and Mexico's government reported some 1,050 of its own children were returned between April and June, the latest data available.

The total for unaccompanied children governments said had been returned to those four countries — about 1,700 — is far less than the last official figure the U.S. government released. In early June, it said it had expelled at least 2,175 “single minors" under the health declaration. Then, citing litigation, the administration stopped providing that data.

“The number of kids who have been received doesn't match up with the number of kids who have been expelled," said Frydman of KIND.

She and other advocates suspect children from other countries are informally expelled to Mexico. Many in the last few months have reported that U.S. authorities returned them there — sometimes alone in the middle of the night and without being processed by Mexican immigration officials.

KIND found at least three unaccompanied minors from Central America in Mexico.

Two were siblings who said they arrived on their own at the port of entry in El Paso. CBP officers told them “the border is closed," the children later told attorneys, who declined to reveal the siblings' ages or other details for their safety.

Federal officials sent the siblings to Ciudad Juarez, where they were homeless until they went to a shelter, which contacted Mexico's child welfare agency.

Dyman, the CBP spokesperson, did not respond to questions about the siblings. But he said non-Mexican children can be expelled there only if they are with adult relatives. They are not supposed to be sent there alone.

“When minors are encountered without adult family members, CBP works closely with their home countries to transfer them to the custody of government officials and reunite them with their families," Dyman wrote in an email.

He said agents may exempt migrants from expulsion under certain circumstances, such as when they cannot be returned to their countries or if officers suspect they were victims of human trafficking. But he declined to elaborate on how CBP officials make those exceptions and conduct screenings, saying that information is “law enforcement sensitive."

Statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute show that more than 200 children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been expelled to Mexico under the health declaration as of June. That number includes unaccompanied children and those with adults. An official at Mexico's Secretary of Interior wrote that it does not have a formal agreement with the U.S. on how to return unaccompanied children from other countries, so it does not keep cumulative statistics.

“Shadow Operation"

Usually children coming to the U.S. alone from nations other than Mexico must be flown home — an operation delayed by logistics during a global pandemic. By law, they cannot be held for more than 72 hours in temporary CBP processing facilities before they are sent to shelters run by ORR.

That agency is currently detaining about 850 children, although it has 14,000 taxpayer-funded beds available. Before the administration's health order, ORR in late March was holding about 3,600 unaccompanied minors.

Instead of placing children in these federally regulated and state-licensed shelters, where they would have access to counsel and social workers, the U.S. moved hundreds of minors to a clandestine network of hotels — under the custody of a contractor not licensed to care for children.

The administration provided that data to attorneys litigating a court-ordered settlement that sets specific rules on how the government is allowed to hold migrant children. That 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores Settlement, requires migrant children in detention have certain rights, including that they be released quickly and held in licensed child care facilities.

In April, May and June, the government confined at least 240 children awaiting expulsion — including more than a dozen younger than 6 — in hotel rooms, according to legal filings submitted to the court overseeing compliance with the Flores Settlement.

In April, ICE, via its contractor MVM Inc., held at least 29 unaccompanied migrant children for as long as 10 days in the three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Texas and Arizona before expelling them.

In May, the contractor detained 80 children for days in those three hotels. In June, 120 were held there before being expelled, according to the government reports.

A 5-year-old was kept in a hotel room for 19 days in June before she was expelled.

An 8-month-old was held in a Hampton Inn for 12 days that month before being turned back with a 9-year-old sibling.

As of June 30, according to the administration's most recent reports submitted under the Flores Settlement, a 2-month-old had been detained in a Hampton hotel for four days while awaiting expulsion along with 19 other children.

Neha Desai, an attorney with the National Center for Youth Law, an organization that litigates to ensure the government abides by that consent decree, called the prolonged detention of migrant children in hotels a “blatant breach" of that settlement.

“This is a shadow operation," she said.

The U.S. has always briefly held a small number of children in hotel rooms after an immigration judge ordered them removed if there was a delay with their deportation flights.

But such widespread detention for up to three weeks involving children whose protection claims have never been adjudicated “flies in the face of the law," said Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former senior ICE official who left the agency last year. He said Congress and the courts have repeatedly held that children should not be kept in hotel rooms for more than one night — and even then, only in limited circumstances.

“The government is playing cowboy with regards to children's safety," he said.

Bob Carey, who headed ORR under President Barack Obama, called the practice “horrific … you have vulnerable children in the care of a private contractor with little, if any, transparency or adherence to state law, federal guidelines, legislation and a court settlement."

Not much is known about MVM, the private security contractor from Virginia that detains the children in hotel rooms. A spokesperson wrote in an email that its multimillion-dollar agreement with ICE to transport unaccompanied minors prevents it from disclosing information. It referred questions to ICE, which declined to comment and refused to release the contract.

In 2018, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting found that MVM had held children for longer than a day in vacant office buildings in Phoenix. An ICE spokesperson said the agency did not permit the company to detain children for more than 24 hours in those offices, which she said were intended as “waiting areas" for same-day transport between CBP and ORR shelters. An MVM spokesperson termed it a “regrettable exception" to the company's policy of finding a hotel when there are delays in transporting children.

Details about the company's current contract came to light in a July court filing from Andrea Sheridan Ordin, a former U.S. attorney appointed to monitor the Flores Settlement in 2018. The federal judge overseeing that consent decree determined that was necessary because the government was not complying with it.

Ordin recommended ICE cease detaining unaccompanied minors in hotels, citing a “lack of formal oversight." She wrote MVM's “transportation specialists" are required to have only an associate's degree or high school diploma and one year of relevant work experience. They separated migrant children in hotel rooms by age and gender and allowed “little to no access to recreation." Children must be “within the line of sight" of contractors at all times.

Ordin said detention for weeks in hotel rooms can have a “harmful" impact on children, adding that MVM did not appear to have consistent requirements “regarding the special needs of young children, including hygiene, nutrition, or emotional well-being."

Ordin wrote that what was initially a “stop-gap measure" for the government to fly back children outside of normal proceedings has transformed under its expulsion policies into an “integral component of the immigration detention system" for children.

The administration argued she had overreached her authority. Children expelled under the health order, it contended, were not subject to protections under the Flores Settlement because they had never formally entered “immigration" custody.

Lawyers representing children under that settlement requested a judge's ruling, writing that the government has a “penchant for unilaterally disregarding" the consent decree.

A Sense of Deja Vu

Thirty-five years ago, a 15-year-old Salvadoran girl fleeing a civil war in her homeland was also imprisoned in an American hotel under the care of unlicensed private security guards. Jenny Flores' case forced the most significant overhaul yet of how U.S. authorities can detain migrant children. In fact, the 1997 federal settlement is named for her.

Carlos Holguín, who began litigating that case in 1985, said there is now a sense of “deja vu … but the degree of lawlessness is even beyond what was going on then."

Since taking office, the Trump administration has tried to end the Flores Settlement, arguing that it and a 2008 trafficking law work as “loopholes" encouraging families to send children here alone. The government has attempted to undo the settlement through regulations and requested Congress curtail the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which requires certain safeguards for children arriving alone at the border.

So far, both efforts have failed.

The administration tried separating parents and children at the border, but a federal judge largely ruled against the practice in 2018, allowing it only in narrow circumstances such as if the adult poses a danger.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who is in charge of the Flores Settlement, has determined the administration must quickly release children locked up with their parents in immigrant detention centers, most recently citing the risk of coronavirus spreading.

“The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures," she wrote in a June 26 order.

The government is now arguing it can force detained parents to choose between freeing their children or staying indefinitely imprisoned with them.

But none of the administration's attempts to undo either the settlement or the law have been as effective as the expulsion order, which is “eviscerating every single protection mechanism outlined by Congress and the courts with one sweeping gesture," said Podkul of KIND.

Late last month, the ACLU sued to allow its lawyers access to children detained in the McAllen Hampton Inn after a video went viral showing a Texas Civil Rights Project lawyer forcibly pushed away.

“The children are in imminent danger of unlawful removal," the attorneys wrote.

Facing a public relations scandal, Hilton quickly announced that all three hotels had canceled reservations with MVM.

“We expect all Hilton properties to reject business that would use a hotel in this way," a Hilton spokesperson said.

Government attorneys agreed to pause the expulsion of the migrants who they said remained in the McAllen hotel on the date of the lawsuit — once again, ACLU attorneys said, mooting litigation on the broader policy. A separate suit involving a 13-year-old Salvadoran girl who was expelled this summer is still pending in a Washington, D.C., federal court.

By the time the administration stopped the removal of the migrants detained at the Hampton Inn, most who had been held there had already been expelled or transferred elsewhere — some, advocates said, just before the ACLU filed its lawsuit. Only 17 family members, including one unaccompanied child, remained in that hotel.

What happened to the rest? No one would say.

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#ICE #separated children #separated families #ICE Expels Children

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didanawisgi · 4 years

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Thousands of cops, veterans, supporters pledge to join militia in Virginia to combat unconstitutional laws

Things are getting really bad in Virginia. But this group isn’t going down without a fight.

Virginia – Monday morning, Law Enforcement Today reported on how Tazewell County, Virginia is crafting a militia to defend the Constitution in the state. And within hours, we were flooded with thousands of emails from people across the state – police officers, veterans, and patriotic Americans – who said they are joining.

And it’s a movement that’s gaining traction across the state.

Wrote one man:

“I am Vietnam vet, ex-police, retired and am behind your ideas 100% , anything I can do I would like to help.

I live in Franklin County, which voted down being a sanctuary city being the council is Democratic, a moonshine county giving up their guns is dumb.

The South gave up their flag, their statues and now they want their guns, sounds like Hitler’s Germany.”

Wrote another:

“There had already been rumblings locally about a militia being formed last month. We started carefully and quietly assembling patriotic Americans who are prepared to defend freedom at all costs.

In the past day those numbers have swelled. We have a very strong military presence here – more veterans and both active and retired LE than you can count.

As of this evening, we’re talking about thousands of people that have expressed an interest in being a part of this movement.”

Here’s the deal. Last week, we reported on how lawmakers over in Virginia were threatening to use the National Guard if members of local law enforcement refused to enforce laws passed in the state that they felt violated the second amendment.

That’s what sparked things in Tazewell County, which said it isn’t going down without a fight.

On top of calling themselves a second amendment sanctuary county, they’re also crafting a militia as well. The Virginia county has taken the movement that has swept across the state and added an element that is sure to trigger pro gun-grabbing politicians in the state.

Just this past Tuesday, on December 10th, the Board of Supervisors from Tazewell County passed two different resolutions in light of controversy circling those who are pro-gun.

The first resolution declared the county to be a second amendment sanctuary.

This is not at all surprising to see, as 76 out of 95 counties, 9 out of 38 independent cities, and 13 towns have adopted second amendment sanctuary resolutions. The second item on the agenda was the proposition of establishing a militia in the county.

When both of the resolutions passed, the crowd cheered loudly in support of the decisions.

Also, the resolutions didn’t exactly pass by a small margin; the votes were unanimous, with more than 200 citizens standing by in support. The motion of the creation of the militia had already succeeded in an unofficial way based on the results of a survey conducted earlier in the month by county officials.

But Board Chairman Travis Hackworth said people have persisted to press for the district to declare itself a second amendment sanctuary.

Hackworth went on to state that there were three attorneys on the Board of Supervisors. Many of the other declarations made from other counties in Virginia were closely checked by the three attorneys to ensure nothing important would be glossed over or left out.

Two of the biggest factors in resolutions such as these can be boiled down to funding and prosecution.

The resolutions in Tazewell County would remove funding for any law enforcement department that would infringe residents’ right to keep and bear arms.

Yet, if the state wanted to combat the resolutions, they could deny the county funding in areas other than law enforcement, or perhaps attempt to evict public officials from their held offices. Those are rather valid fears, considering this week’s warnings from Northam and Congressman McEachin.

County Administrator Eric Young reportedly considered that element, and that’s why they opted for the militia aspect: “Our position is that Article I, Section 13, of the Constitution of Virginia reserves the right to ‘order’ militia to the localities. Therefore, counties, not the state, determine what types of arms may be carried in their territory and by whom. So, we are ‘ordering’ the militia by making sure everyone can own a weapon.”

Thus, if anyone from the state tries to remove the Sheriff from their elected office because they refuse to enforce unjust laws, those state officials will be faced with a lawful militia composed of citizens within the state.

The county is taking their militia element very seriously as the new ordinance calls for concealed weapons training for any resident of the county that can lawfully own a gun.

Another couple sent in this message late Monday to LET:

“…my husband and I are die hard 2nd Amendment defenders, and if they want our guns they will have to kill us to get them, but I guarantee that they will not come out of that battle unscathed!!!

We are both disabled but we would be ready and more than willing to fight side by side with all of our like minded brothers and sisters.

We are from West “by God” Virginia and we tell everyone who cares to ask what we think about guns and the 2nd Amendment, that we were born with a gun in our hand and will probably die the same way! Guns don’t kill people, at least not without a trigger person, it is usually by a deranged person or a gang member or a person in the act of robbery or drug running, kidnapping etc .

And usually committed with an illegally purchased or non registered weapon, the leftist, dictator, communistic socialist ‘ idiots need to realize that if they take away legal gun owners weapons , who have been trained to properly handle a weapon, they might as well open the doors and announce to the criminals to come get what they want because the criminals will be the ONLY ones to have a gun which was obtained from the black market.”

The county has also called for schools to adopt firearms safety training programs. Considering the blue wave that hit the state, along with Bloomberg pouring in millions toward the election, this is a massive win that shows gun owners aren’t going to lie down.

And as they’re pushing to ramp up safety and training – officials within the state are trying to get rid of personal defense. And if it’s not bad enough that they’re going after firearms, they’re going after self-defense measures as well.

An amendment to a current law in Virginia has some martial arts companies, as well as some citizens concerned. Known as SB64, the bill, according to Self Defense Company, would “instantly transform all martial arts instructors into criminal felons.”

They also claim that it would criminalize all firearms training classes, including concealed carry classes.

According to SDC, the law would “even criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle.”

The law, which was initially passed in 1987 relates the following: A person is guilty of unlawful paramilitary activity, punishable as a Class 5 felony if he:

Teaches, demonstrates to any other person the use, application or making of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, knowing or having reason to know or intending that such training will be employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder;

Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, intending to employ such training for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder;

SB 64 adds the following language:

Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof.

According to the article in Natural News, the language of the bill as written is too wide open to interpretation, especially in a state that appears to be going hard left like Virginia. We recently published a couple of stories on new confiscatory gun laws that are being proposed in the Virginia legislature.

In fact, numerous counties in Virginia and elsewhere have vowed to become so-called “Second Amendment Sanctuaries” (thank you California and other immigration law sanctuaries for the idea) where any laws that counter the Second Amendment would not be enforced.

The fact that this law is being amended, at the same time when new confiscatory gun laws are going to be put forth, gives gun owners reason to be concerned. As always, laws like this will likely be adjudicated in court. As we are painfully aware, that can be a crapshoot.

It is inevitable that this new law will somehow be tested via a court case. One can understand how people might be concerned. For example, the firearms addendum is somewhat vague.

Virginia is going after guns. But these citizens aren’t going down without a fight.

If a person has a license to carry and happens to be with one or two people and they are involved in a counter protest to something like an Antifa or BLM rally, based on this law, the Antifa thugs or BLM participants could say that someone exercising their Second Amendment rights “intimidated” them and that would result in them getting arrested.

The statute is ripe for abuse. Are some being paranoid? Perhaps. But in 2019, anything goes.

All it takes is a social justice warrior wearing a robe and you could easily see why some people are concerned.

Last Thursday, lawmakers in Virginia threatened to deploy the National Guard to enforce the strict gun legislation they’re pushing for if law enforcement officials refuse to do it themselves.

They said, “the law is the law.”

But apparently that’s a double standard in Virginia. Instead of focusing on what is and what isn’t against the law, it seems as though these lawmakers are only pushing to enforce rules that they believe are right. Is Virginia the place where the battle for our rights will begin? Tell us your thoughts!

#tazewell county #virginia #Virginia Citizens Defense League #militia #second amendment #bill of rights #gun control #gun confiscation #gun control historically helps criminals and groups like the KKK #second american civil war #Cold War #citizen soldier

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vladiiibasarab · 5 years

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Answering a question about what would happen if Vlad came back in this era. What about America?

Scenario 1:

He was a diehard patriot… to his own country, Wallachia. He wouldn't care about America.

Scenario 2:

He decides to take power but because he is a straight, white, Christian, male, he is everything the leftwing despises and since they seem to be a majority here in America, he would not get the popular vote. However, if the leftwing is successful with their move to get rid of or at least severely restrict gun ownership, the people's right to bear arms is impeded and they cannot form militias. If he turns our military to his side, and I have no doubt he could (I'll explain after this), the people's only hope is to form a militia and fight back. But if we can't, we are easy pickings.

So...could Vlad gain military support to overthrow the government? Yes, I believe he could. First. He was a fairly skilled crowd motivator. Second, the military is starting to get quite fed up with the political games and corruption. Feeling like the country they've sacrificed so much for doesn't care about or even appreciate them would make them easier to persuade. Especially if they forget that they aren't only defending the citizens but also the flag and what it stands for, freedom. My own personal side note, I suggest we show a little respect and appreciation for our soldiers.

Anyway, he was a very clever and resourceful man. He would plan out an attack and I have no doubt it would be devastating. With the military's help, he would overthrow out current government and take power forcefully. He would probably execute most of them to make an example. He detested lying and disloyalty.

After that, he'd go after internal threats, crime, differing religions, the jobless and poor. Vlad's idea of a welfare plan probably would consist of being fed your last meal, locked in a room, and being burned alive. He had no qualms about killing women and children. My guess is, if anyone was caught badmouthing him or his rules they'd me made a public example like the liars, thieves, murderers… any crime really… he might impale them, he might not. I doesn't really matter, there would be some sort of public demonstration though. It would be on every TV, every phone, every Newspaper.

Next he would go after religious groups and alternative culture. Though I believe he would seek to eradicate everything but orthodox Christianity, I have a feeling it would mostly be the Muslims and LGBT community he would go after the hardest. Let me explain. First of all, he became a member of The Order of the Dragon, at the age of 5. This group was founded to defend Christianity and uphold Christianity, especially against Islam. Of course he would go after the Muslims, not only because they were the religious group he swore to fight against, but also because the Ottomans were Muslim and tried to convert him. When he didn't convert or cooperate he was physically and sexually abused. He hated them with a burning passion. I think the LGBT community would be his next biggest target because he was raped and because according to the Bible, homosexuality is a sin. It was a sin that was forced on him by his captors so of course he would try to eradicate it in an effort to right that wrong that was done to him. Not only that, but his little brother was pretty much turned into the Sultan's sex slave and even converted to Islam (the latter is debatable but it seems as though this was the case). He had a personal vendetta against both groups.

After he took care of these, he would set about making his new land just like his homeland. He would enforce strict law and order, enforce gender roles, bring back slavery (but it would be the law offenders that he didn't have killed), and declare orthodox Christianity to be the only religion. In his own mind he would be creating the perfect Christian country even though he clearly forgot that God wants people to choose him because they want to… not because a dictator is threatening to murder or enslave them if they don't. But he also impaled liars and murderers alike sooo… he had a very skewed view of things.

After that, he would set about securing the land. He would build the military and secure borders. He might build a wall but I have q feeling it would be more along the lines of impaled or piled bodies of those that tried to enter illegally. But I doubt illegal immigration would be such a problem after a little while since, under his rein, America would no longer be the appealing country it is today. If anyone did want in, he would probably only accept those that he thought would help further the country. The doctors, engineers… people like that… not an unskilled laborer.

He isn't at all the leader America needs. We are a country that strives for freedom or speech and religion and political views. If we allow anything other than that, we are not America.

On the upside, American would be the most lawful country in the world!

Scenario 3:

He decides to take control of America but only succeeds in winning over part of the military. What's left of the military joins forces with the civilians who own firearms and they are able to put up a good fight. Vlad and his loyal mercenaries lose but America won at a heavy cost. The current internal dissension only drives us further apart. Instead of both political sides listening and working together like they should in a time like that, they fight amongst themselves and the people suffer. The country, on the verge of another civil war, inevitably falls.

Not to be all doom and gloom but if someone were to try and take over, whether they were a dictator or some sort of socialist or communist leader, I think it would be the end of America. Neither side is working together. In our so called effort for "equality" we are really trying for equity. As nice as that would be, that can never work. People who work harder to better themselves should have more, they worked for it. If someone is a deadbeat and doesn't do anything for themselves or isn't actively trying to better themselves, they don't deserve to be a millionaire. It's that simple. Forget politics, forget race and gender or whatever people want to make a big deal about and open your eyes to the truth. We are all human beings. Some have more than others, it's true, but we all need to work hard and seek to be the best we can be. Stop blaming others for why you can't and do what it takes (lawfully) so that you can.

I'm just going to use one of my personal heros... do you think Dr. Ben Carson got where he was because people handed him things? No, he worked his butt off! He came from nothing. His family was poor and his mother had no education but she told him that he was not a victim, that he could be anything he wanted if he would just work for it! AND HE DID! He did it! He accomplished his dreams and beat all the odds. All those people that told him he couldn't because... he told them "I will", and he did.

But we need to set aside our differences and pull together as a nation or we will surely fall.

#vlad answers questions #the impaler answers questions #dracula answers questions

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newstfionline · 6 years

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A World of Free Movement Would Be $78 Trillion Richer

The Economist, June 23, 2018

A hundred-dollar bill is lying on the ground. An economist walks past it. A friend asks the economist: “Didn’t you see the money there?” The economist replies: “I thought I saw something, but I must have imagined it. If there had been $100 on the ground, someone would have picked it up.”

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is not actually true. But occasionally it is. Michael Clemens, an economist at the Centre for Global Development, an anti-poverty think-tank in Washington, DC, argues that there are “trillion-dollar bills on the sidewalk”. One seemingly simple policy could make the world twice as rich as it is: open borders.

Workers become far more productive when they move from a poor country to a rich one. Suddenly, they can join a labour market with ample capital, efficient firms and a predictable legal system. Those who used to scrape a living from the soil with a wooden hoe start driving tractors. Those who once made mud bricks by hand start working with cranes and mechanical diggers. Those who cut hair find richer clients who tip better.

“Labour is the world’s most valuable commodity--yet thanks to strict immigration regulation, most of it goes to waste,” argue Bryan Caplan and Vipul Naik in “A radical case for open borders”. Mexican labourers who migrate to the United States can expect to earn 150% more. Unskilled Nigerians make 1,000% more.

“Making Nigerians stay in Nigeria is as economically senseless as making farmers plant in Antarctica,” argue Mr Caplan and Mr Naik. And the non-economic benefits are hardly trivial, either. A Nigerian in the United States cannot be enslaved by the Islamists of Boko Haram.

The potential gains from open borders dwarf those of, say, completely free trade, let alone foreign aid. Yet the idea is everywhere treated as a fantasy. In most countries fewer than 10% of people favour it. In the era of Brexit and Donald Trump, it is a political non-starter. Nonetheless, it is worth asking what might happen if borders were, indeed, open.

To clarify, “open borders” means that people are free to move to find work. It does not mean “no borders” or “the abolition of the nation-state”. On the contrary, the reason why migration is so attractive is that some countries are well-run and others, abysmally so.

Workers in rich countries earn more than those in poor countries partly because they are better educated but mostly because they live in societies that have, over many years, developed institutions that foster prosperity and peace. It is very hard to transfer Canadian institutions to Cambodia, but quite straightforward for a Cambodian family to fly to Canada. The quickest way to eliminate absolute poverty would be to allow people to leave the places where it persists. Their poverty would thus become more visible to citizens of the rich world--who would see many more Liberians and Bangladeshis waiting tables and stacking shelves--but much less severe.

If borders were open, how many people would up sticks? Gallup, a pollster, estimated in 2013 that 630m people--about 13% of the world’s population--would migrate permanently if they could, and even more would move temporarily. Some 138m would settle in the United States, 42m in Britain and 29m in Saudi Arabia.

Gallup’s numbers could be an overestimate. People do not always do what they say they will. Leaving one’s homeland requires courage and resilience. Migrants must wave goodbye to familiar people, familiar customs and grandma’s cooking. Many people would rather not make that sacrifice, even for the prospect of large material rewards.

Wages are twice as high in Germany as in Greece, and under European Union rules Greeks are free to move to Germany, but only 150,000 have done so since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2010, out of a population of 11m. The weather is awful in Frankfurt, and hardly anyone speaks Greek. Even very large disparities combined with open borders do not necessarily lead to a mass exodus. Since 1986 the citizens of Micronesia have been allowed to live and work without a visa in the United States, where income per person is roughly 20 times higher. Yet two-thirds remain in Micronesia.

Despite these caveats, it is a fair bet that open borders would lead to very large flows of people. The gap between rich and poor countries globally is much wider than the gap between the richest and less-rich countries within Europe, and most poor countries are not Pacific-island paradises. Many are violent as well as poor, or have oppressive governments.

Also, migration is, in the jargon, “path-dependent”. It starts with a trickle: the first person to move from country A to country B typically arrives in a place where no one speaks his language or knows the right way to cook noodles. But the second migrant--who may be his brother or cousin--has someone to show him around. As word spreads on the diaspora grapevine that country B is a good place to live, more people set off from country A. When the 1,000th migrant arrives, he finds a whole neighbourhood of his compatriots.

So the Gallup numbers could just as well be too low. Today there are 1.4bn people in rich countries and 6bn in not-so-rich ones. It is hardly far-fetched to imagine that, over a few decades, a billion or more of those people might emigrate if there were no legal obstacle to doing so. Clearly, this would transform rich countries in unpredictable ways.

Voters in destination states typically do not mind a bit of immigration, but fret that truly open borders would lead to them being “swamped” by foreigners. This, they fear, would make life worse, and perhaps threaten the political system that made their country worth moving to in the first place. Mass migration, they worry, would bring more crime and terrorism, lower wages for locals, an impossible strain on welfare states, horrific overcrowding and traumatic cultural disruption.

If lots of people migrated from war-torn Syria, gangster-plagued Guatemala or chaotic Congo, would they bring mayhem with them? It is an understandable fear (and one that anti-immigrant politicians play on), but there is little besides conjecture and anecdotal evidence to support it. Granted, some immigrants commit crimes, or even headline-grabbing acts of terrorism. But in America the foreign-born are only a fifth as likely to be incarcerated as the native-born. In some European countries, such as Sweden, migrants are more likely to get into trouble than locals, but this is mostly because they are more likely to be young and male. A study of migration flows among 145 countries between 1970 and 2000 by researchers at the University of Warwick found that migration was more likely to reduce terrorism than increase it, largely because migration fosters economic growth.

Would large-scale immigration make locals worse off economically? So far, it has not. Immigrants are more likely than the native-born to bring new ideas and start their own businesses, many of which hire locals. Overall, migrants are less likely than the native-born to be a drain on public finances, unless local laws make it impossible for them to work, as is the case for asylum-seekers in Britain. A large influx of foreign workers may slightly depress the wages of locals with similar skills. But most immigrants have different skills. Foreign doctors and engineers ease skills shortages. Unskilled migrants care for babies or the elderly, thus freeing the native-born to do more lucrative work.

Would open borders cause overcrowding? Perhaps, in popular cities like London. But most Western cities could build much higher than they do, creating more space. And mass migration would make the world as a whole less crowded, since fertility among migrants quickly plunges until it is much closer to the norm of their host country than their country of origin.

Would mass immigration change the culture and politics of rich countries? Undoubtedly. Look at the way America has changed, mostly for the better, as its population soared from 5m mainly white folks in 1800 to 320m many-hued ones today. Still, that does not prove that future waves of immigration will be benign. Newcomers from illiberal lands might bring unwelcome customs, such as political corruption or intolerance for gay people. If enough of them came, they might vote for an Islamist government, or one that raises taxes on the native-born to pamper the newcomers.

There are certainly risks if borders are opened suddenly and without the right policies to help absorb the inflow. But nearly all these risks could be mitigated, and many of the most common objections overcome, with a bit of creative thinking.

If the worry is that immigrants will outvote the locals and impose an uncongenial government on them, one solution would be not to let immigrants vote--for five years, ten years or even a lifetime. This may seem harsh, but it is far kinder than not letting them in. If the worry is that future migrants might not pay their way, why not charge them more for visas, or make them pay extra taxes, or restrict their access to welfare benefits? Such levies could also be used to regulate the flow of migrants, thus avoiding big, sudden surges.

This sounds horribly discriminatory, and it is. But it is better for the migrants than the status quo, in which they are excluded from rich-world labour markets unless they pay tens of thousands of dollars to people-smugglers--and even then they must work in the shadows and are subject to sudden deportation. Today, millions of migrants work in the Gulf, where they have no political rights at all. Despite this, they keep coming. No one is forcing them to.

“Open borders would make foreigners trillions of dollars richer,” observes Mr Caplan. A thoughtful voter, even if he does not care about the welfare of foreigners, “should not say...’So what?’ Instead, he should say, ‘Trillions of dollars of wealth are on the table. How can my countrymen get a hefty piece of the action?’ Modern governments routinely use taxes and transfers to redistribute from young to old and rich to poor. Why not use the same policy tools to redistribute from foreign to native?” If a world of free movement would be $78trn richer, should not liberals be prepared to make big political compromises to bring it about?

#immigration #open borders #free movement

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vowel-in-thug · 7 years

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therealautobotgirl replied to your post “This DACA decision makes me sick to my stomach. I was undocumented for…”

Someone please explain to me why we don’t just improve the process of gaining US citizenship??? Honestly curious

I certainly can! Sorry it's a bit of a history lesson.

So the important thing to realize is that, in the past as it is in the present, immigration policy was dictated heavily by popular opinion. Or popular opinion was swayed heavily by what the Government was saying. It's a feedback loop and always has been.

so before, back in the 19th century, there was little to know immigration policy. there was an industrial revolution! this country needed all the workers they could get. Many of these workers were Chinese men, looking to make some money to send back home. But once the railroads were finished and the gold mines in California had dried up, these men stayed in the U.S. and were willing to work labor jobs for less money than ""Americans"" were willing to work. This is also when the notion of immigrants "not assimiliating" to American culture. Which I'm sure sounds very familiar to what people say with today's immigrants. There was huge anti-Chinese sentiment sweeping the country.

In 1882, the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the only non-wartime federal law which discriminates against an entire nationality. It banned any immigration from China, unless the person had a permit to work (remember this). So many of the families of men already in the U.S. were kept out, and whole families were torn apart for years.

But besides from China, immigrants from other nations were still pretty unregulated. At Ellis Island, they were much more concerned with making sure incoming immigrants didn't carry disease, and they had enough cash on them to not be a drain on tax dollars. They also had to have a family member or anyone able to pick them up from the island, again to prove they aren't going to be a drain on society (remember this too). SIDE NOTE: anyone who says their family's name was changed at Ellis Island has been grossly misinformed. Maybe their ancestors changed it themselves later, or it got changed before they even left their home country. But the agents at Ellis Island were only there to check the manifests of each ship and were VERY concerned about the names matching the person's documents. That was kind of the whole point. They didn't have the ability to change anyone's name, nor would they want to, as that would likely go against all their strict checking rules. But anyway.

Then came the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. This instituted a national quota on immigrants, greatly reducing the number allowed from, well, everywhere. This was shortly after World War I ended, and again, greeaat concern about those pesky immigrants "stealing our jobs." But this was also a time when eugenics was becoming a popular theory. You can't say "all immigrants are stealing our jobs" but allow larger numbers of the "good" immigrants from Northern and Western Europe in, while not allowing the "bad" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. I mean, you can, and they did, but their reasoning was pretty clear. It was all about racism, and white supremacy.

so for the next few decades, there was little to no immigration to the U.S. This would be the period in which Donald and his base refer to, when they say "Make America Great Again." Before Civil Rights, before the Hart-Celler Act. When it was all-whitey, all the time, at least in terms of who benefited from society.

So then, we have the Hart-Celler Act of 1965. This lifted the national quotas in place from the Johnson-Reed Act. Remember what I said before about public opinion? This law was passed right after the Civil Rights Act was passed. It's almost like the politicians in this country realized, "Hey.....maybe........people care about.............brown people?? as well as white????" and blew their fuckin minds!

Once that gate had been opened, there were new waves of immigration (especially from Asia), which of course brought back the sentiments of "They're stealing our jobs!!" but other than a few laws passed in the 80s and 90s affecting the immigrants already here, not much changed in the way of entry into the country.

And then 9/11 happened, and fucked this up for a whole lot of people

Because suddenly, people weren't just afraid of immigrants stealing their jobs. Now, all anyone could think about was TERRORISM, and immigration became heavily tied to national security. Things became much stricter, new ID laws were passed, an additional 850 mile fence was added to the U.S.-Mexico border (YEAH there's already a wall there, people don't just fuckin prance through), "suspected terrorists" were being detained and deported with "special evidence" neither they nor their lawyers were allowed to see. It's all shit.

But that's where public opinion comes in. The government works so hard to keep that rhetoric going, where we have to be TERRIFIED of anyone who looks different than us. so the public WANTS to keep people out, and then they can pass the racist laws that allow that.

right now, here is how people can get "on line" to come into this country. Well, first. It requires a lot of money to do it. That should go without saying. Second, they have to meet one of these three qualifications: they have to have an employer lined up willing to sponsor them, they have family already here, or they're in need of humanitarian protection. All three of these are very difficult to achieve.

I've never moved from another country for a job, but I have moved to another state and I've needed to secure a job, and that shit is tough!! A whole other country, where you have to get someone to hire you (without actually be allowed to go??) where the employer has to sponsor you? That's putting a whole lot of faith into someone you don't know from an entirely different country. The family thing? Is limited to only close family - spouses, parents, siblings, and children. You got a grandma or grandchild or uncle or cousin willing to sponsor you? Tough shit. That's not "family" enough for the USCIS. And the number of refugees allowed in this country is severely limited, and unfortunately humanitarian crises don't happen one at a time. Armed forces and natural disasters can affect whole countries, not just individuals, and they're all clamoring for escape. Not to mention poverty and economic crises don't count as a humanitarian problem.

So it's very difficult now to get here legally. And you're totally right, we do need it to change!! You'll see the phrase "permanent path to citizenship" tossed around. DACA and other are temporary fixes. The problem is, now, unlike in 1965, we have a government that is actively working against the popular opinion. The racist base of donald are not the majority, and recent polls have said that even many of them did not agree with ending DACA. But even before donald, you had a Congress unwilling to pass the DREAM Act or any other solutions President Obama put forth, and you know why they worked so hard against him at every little turn? (psst the answer again is racism)

so until we have a government actually working for the common interest of all, things are never going to get better. Which is why it's really, really, really, REALLY important that y'all vote in the mid-term elections and get a Congress that actually listens to the people they represent.

#therealautobotgirl #sorry for the history lesson it's okay if you don't read it all #to my followers i promise i'll get back on my bullshit now #immigrant rights #is one of my passions obvs #DACA

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iambabydollrp · 6 years

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About the mun!

//Hello peoples! A while back I was getting tagged in quite a lot of those ‘get to know the mun’ memes (which I loved^^) But sometimes I felt like the questions didnt really reveal a lot about me. So I’m putting together a little list of facts about me (if you’re interested) which I think really tell you something about me. So here we go.

1. I live in the UK, there are a lot of things I appreciate about the place I live, I understand how incredibly lucky I am in many ways. But I am not at all patriotic. I dislike nationalism. I’ve probably felt truly patriotic once in my life; nearly four years ago my dad got cancer, and on the day he was discharged from intensive care I wanted to hug every nurse and doctor I could get my hands on - they had saved my father with months of complex, expensive treatment and not so much as a penny ever changed hands at the point of care.

2. I am a cisgender, bisexual, biromantic female. I am a supporter of LBGTQ rights all over the world, and I firmly believe that if you cant cope with other people’s sexuality to the point you have to put them down or try and deny them basic rights then you are an asshat.

3. I believe that women should have access to birth control and abortion when needed, without being scrutinised. If you cant deal with this, please see above.

4. I am an atheist, insofar as I do not believe in any monotheistic God. I have mixed feelings about religion as a whole. There are times I find it hard to believe it is a force for good when I look at what’s happening in the world. That being said, I would fight for anyone’s right to worship whatever God they choose, like any other basic human right. Overall I think personal spirituality is probably more healthy and helpful than the ideals of organised religion.

5. I’m Caucasian, and I’m well aware how simply being white makes many aspects of my life easier than that of those who arent. I abhor racism, I dont understand it. I challenge it whenever I come across it.

6. I have a mental illness, and a personality disorder, and I take medication for the aforementioned. I’ve suffered with OCD, panic attacks and a mild form of psychosis for most of my life, and throughout my life I’ve dealt with it anywhere from fantastically to catastrophically. I’m currently more toward the ‘good’ end of the scale though. Luckily I’ve only ever spent one night in a psychiatric hospital. I believe that even now mental illness isnt recognised enough, and not enough money or resources go into treating it.

7. I dont believe in the death penalty. As a humanist, this goes without saying. Killing a human being who has killed somebody else and calling it justice is an insane logic - to my mind anyway. ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’.

8. I dont get why people want guns. I’m so glad I live somewhere with strict gun laws and largely unarmed police. When I look at the statistics for the US I just feel so sad that so many people die pointlessly - many at the hands of law enforcement officials. I get the whole right to bear arms thing but...in a choice between the two I’d pick ‘right to not be summarily shot’ by police or someone a bit unhinged every time.

9. I’m essentially a pacifist and I hate violence. That might raise a few eyebrows if you’ve read some of my threads, but in the end I dont think you can solve anything with war, even with the best intentions. We have a charity here in the UK called Help For Heroes which makes me really angry - its almost like if we call everybody who dies or gets horribly injured in our wars ‘heroes’ then we make what happened to them ok. Its not ok. Once a month I go to our local cemetery and place a stone on each of the two, white military headstones - both teenage boys, just so their mothers knew somebody was there. These people are undeniably brave, but they were also victims.

10. Immigration is not the problem. In the current climate in the UK, immigrants are being increasingly scapegoated. Many of these people are refugees. They are human beings and deserve a full, safe life the same as everybody else.

11. I believe in the legalisation of most drugs (some I would think twice about). This would make them a lot safer, and would be better for the economy. I feel a similar way about prostitution - if it was legalised and regulated it would be safer for the women who do it.

12. I Dont believe in ghosts BUT, I do believe that people really do experience strange phenomena, and see things. I think this is more due to psychological or cultural facts and the given stimulus of a place/room which causes similar perceptions in different people.

Anyway, I hope that makes me a bit more real ^^ if there’s anything else you wanna know just ask!

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go-redgirl · 5 years

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Liberals Go Ballistic As Senate Advances 17 Federal Judges ^ | 6/24/19

Liberals are going nuts. They’re furious. All because President Donald Trump is doing exactly what he said he’d do during his campaign and is reshaping the judiciary in the United States.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nominations of 17 of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, including a Ninth Circuit pick who faced questions about his ties to California.

Daniel Bress received approval from the committee with a 12-10 vote, over the objections of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both California Democrats, who said Bress does not have close enough ties to California to occupy one of the state’s seats on the Ninth Circuit. [Harris didn’t even bother to question him.]

“It’s not a debate about whether his views are within the legal mainstream or what his opinions are on various issues,” Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Thursday. “This is a factual discussion about whether he is a California attorney and the facts are clear he is not.”

Specific seats on the federal appeals courts are generally reserved for specific states within the circuit, but the practice is a tradition and not a legal requirement.

(Excerpt) Read more at nworeport.me ...

TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: Michigan; US: Minnesota; US: New York; US: Vermont KEYWORDS: 116th; 9thcircuit; bernie sanders; california; dianne feinstein; elections; ilhanomar; kamala harris; michigan; minnesota; new york; ninth circuit; ocasiocortez; rashida tlaib; richard cblum; sanfrancisco; trump judiciary; vermont; winning

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INDIVIDUALS/COMMENT/POSTS:

To: cotton1706 More winning! An upcoming generation shift in the court system.

3 posted on 6/25/2019, 6:30:14 AM by yuleeyahoo (The nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one. Hamilton) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: cotton1706

“over the objections of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both California Democrats, who said Bress does not have close enough ties to California to occupy one of the state’s seats on the Ninth Circuit.”

I guess I read a different version of the Constitution. Might you have a copy of the version that says all 9th Circuit Judges have to be from California, or at least have close ties to California? I can’t seem to find it anywhere on the Internet.

4 posted on 6/25/2019, 6:37:51 AM by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: cotton1706

Yeah. If and when our courts are more pro constitution, look for a Dem controlled congress to start impeaching. Something the feckless Rebublicans refuse to do.

The party we are trying to wrest away from the deep state is always playing defense.

5 posted on 6/25/2019, 6:38:40 AM by mindburglar (Stupid is supposed to hurt. - Lurkers Granddad.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: cotton1706

California should not receive any favors at all. It should be cut out entirely from everything to the greatest extent possible, until the state stops waging war on the rest of us.

6 posted on 6/25/2019, 6:56:39 AM by thoughtomator (The Clinton Coup attempt was a worse attack on the USA than was 9/11) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: BobL

The funny thing is Bress is a native Californian, born and raised, who has also worked for a California law firm. The carpet-bagger slander arises from the fact that he went to school in Virginia and presently works in the beltway. So what? In smaller states, this is a nothing.

7 posted on 6/25/2019, 6:57:30 AM by dangus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: cotton1706

Can’t he just claim “sanctuary”?

8 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:08:13 AM by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: cotton1706

Feinstein: “This is a factual discussion about whether he is a California attorney and the facts are clear he is not.” <

There is, of course, nothing in the Constitution says that a judgee must be from a particular state.

But I am willing to give DiFi a break here. She is probably busy hiring Chines spies, and doesn’t have time to read the Constitution.

https://www.weeklystandard.com/ethan-epstein/the-spy-who-drove-her-dianne-feinstein-and-chinese-espionage

9 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:35:36 AM by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: cotton1706

Doesn’t the 9th Circuit cover more than just California?

10 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:38:04 AM by taxcontrol ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: cotton1706

Wow. “Judge” and not “judgee” in my post #9. I don’t even know what

I am trying to cut down on my morning coffee. And the lack of focus is starting to show.

11 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:39:25 AM by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: cotton1706

Excellent! I’m always happy to see more strict constructionist judges on the District Courts but it’s the Circuit Courts that really matter. Getting one more Strict Constructionist on the Ninth Circuit nudges it just a little closer to sanity.

12 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:44:49 AM by FLT-bird ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: yuleeyahoo I wouldn’t say generation shift. I’d say so far Trump’s appointees go a significant way toward countering all the damage Obama did to the courts. We haven’t yet repaired all the damage but the sudden violent leftward shift has been reversed. Thank goodness because if Hilary had gotten to make those appointments, the courts would have been completely wrecked and the constitution rendered meaningless.

13 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:48:19 AM by FLT-bird ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: FLT-bird

“...because if Hilary had gotten to make those appointments, the courts would have been completely wrecked and the constitution rendered meaningless.” If for no other reason than this, EVERY conservative/Patriot should strongly support Trump. The econmy, immigration, energy, trade, a strong defense, the lack of overseas adventurism and smacking the media around for it’s bias and outright falsehoods are a (rather large) bonus.

14 posted on 6/25/2019, 7:59:51 AM by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: Leaning Right

I don’t even know what a judgee is. A judgee us also sometimes referred to as a defendant. :-)

15 posted on 6/25/2019, 8:04:10 AM by KevinB ("Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: BobL

““over the objections of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both California Democrats, who said Bress does not have close enough ties to California to occupy one of the state’s seats on the Ninth Circuit.”” Anyone these two disapprove of has my approval.

16 posted on 6/25/2019, 8:10:12 AM by snoringbear (,W,E.oGovernment is the Pimp,) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: KevinB

Ha! You're right. I looked it up. "Judgee" really is a word. A slang word, but a word. It sounds like something Sammy Davis Jr. might have said. If you're old enough to remember Laugh-In:

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anthonybialy · 7 years

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Not My Jersey

Let somebody else get upset. The present is defined by an unwillingness to sign one's name. So, the disturbing trend may as well be used to the advantage of those clinging to hoary notions of personal responsibility. Besides, others wanted to be in charge, so let them take the grief they earned.

The best approach to present maniacal politics is to adopt the detached amusement of watching the Super Bowl at a party with partisans. Elation every time someone wearing the correct shirt catches a ball or fury if he's a stupid jerk who lets it hit the ground is for those with emotional investments. Meanwhile, we're cheering dip instead of either team.

Just following the action is the best option if your side didn't make it that far, which is the care for anyone backing Team Liberty. The difference is football is fun even without a rooting interest. Politics is the halftime show, and I'm worried I won't mute fast enough.

Watching without the emotional attachment applies to current events for playoff outcasts. Our fans just wanted a government that's strong militarily and weak otherwise, but we ended up tanking for a draft pick. Worst of all, there's only a small chance we'll get to go first overall. So, just lounge and hope sense prevails.

The rancor will continue between the two questionable factions no matter what, so it's preferable to relax instead of enduring exhaustion caused by continually contracted muscles. The only problem is the nation is affected. But at least you can tell the officer you weren't driving the car presently hugging a tree.

Many of us neutral parties would be willing to align with a side if we could tell them apart. Each has a spirited take on involving themselves in our lives. One thinks other countries have much to teach us while the other is really into paintings of bald eagles, so that's how to distinguish them.

The pretense of America being the best or being inadequate doesn't change their respective takes that much. The low stakes are what make them so important. Neither is justified in bossing us. We should have a minimum of one party who thinks our fate is inexorably linked to the free market's preservation.

Focus on commonality, like how government will act like helicopter parents without the chance of relief at age 18 no matter who prevailed. At least youngsters are free to negotiate allowance and curfew, unlike what strict federal nannies impose. Since life without supervision is unfeasible due to the new patriotic fervor mode, it's best to detach. Lay back. Others will join you when firings follow trade wars, although not by choice.

Let the arguers punch out each other. For one, the immigration debate that should scare any foreigner from wanting to settle here. If that's the strategy all along, then I applaud the ingeniousness. Otherwise, I'm too exhausted to lift my hands and smack them together. Both sides are dumb in one of today's semi-bipartisan moments.

As the alcoholic cheered, at least there is no more moderation. Cling to one side no matter how absurdly steep the canyon is. Sure, you're out of luck if you feel anyone who goes through our procedures to get here is awesome. The same goes for knowing that sneaking in is for scoundrels who've already disrespected us by breaking our laws. But who wants to be a wishy-washy person with a reasonable stance? For those caught in between shouting that we should let in everybody or nobody, getting extreme is for the nation's sake.

Or maybe sit out an election cycle. Those who can't believe the two sides Fox News considers fair and balanced are not responsible for the regrettable outcomes. The problem is same outcomes are still regrettable. Those who just want to go a day forgetting Washington exists don't feel like affiliating with any current prominent bloc. Argue with everyone or no one, as there is still an outcome vaguely connected to free will remaining.

You're not required to take either of these two particular regrettable stances. Ignore anyone who notes every word the president says happens to confirm wildest dreams along with the preposterous criticism of those who wouldn't demean Hitler by comparing him to Trump. The freedom from aligning with catastrophe on either side is liberating. It's the only form of liberty presently available. It's just that the ensuing chaos feels like watching a particularly campy disaster movie. We're in the crowd scene as the sharknado approaches. I wish real life were as campy.

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sonofhistory · 7 years

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Oh my god, I have been waiting for someone to ask me this question for so long, for so long!

We must think of this from the past perspective first. Americas first political party of the Federalist party, then the Anti-federalist party. The anti-federalist party became the Democratic Republican party, or Republican party for short. The Federalist party was led by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic Republican party was led by Thomas Jefferson- of course this led to bitter rivalry.

After the election of 1800, there was the Federalist parties last string of hope for getting a candidate to the presidency. The election of 1800 loss for the Federalists and the Democratic Republican’s win marked the turning point in which the Federalist party would never again have more power than the Republican party. When James Madison became president and then the War of 1812 ensued- the end of the war of 1812 marked the end of the Federalist party. Fifth president James Monroe was the last president we ever had who ran unopposed and won without question for the presidency- possibly due to the fact that the Democratic Republican Monroe had no member of the Federalist party running against him since the Federalist party seemingly died out.

Before death, party leaders of the Democratic Republican party, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were founders to the Democratic party- the one we have today. The Democratic Republican party soon became the Democratic party. While the Federalist party burrowed under ground for quite some time and became roots and laying foundations of ideals for the Republican party which sprang up in 1854 (and little while before that time).

If you think of it from this perspective- I am unable to conclude Benjamin Franklin with a political party, for he was a independent politician; George Washington, John Adams, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton would be apart of the Republican party of today- while Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe would be members of the Democratic party.

But it does not stop here- that is just a generalization and placing parties of today with the parties that they were made out of- we need to think back to their views as well.

Lets think about the differences in contrasting views between the Democratic Republican party and the Federalist party.

The Federalist party believed in a strong system of governance and promotion of a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. They supported Federalism Nationalism (patriotic acts) and Industrialization (factories). The Federalist Party was formed in 1791 by Alexander Hamilton to support his fiscal policies as Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington. Members of the party were generally committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government and promoted the system of checks and balances laid out in the US Constitution for the three branches of government. Support came from the established elites of old wealth in the commercial cities and in the less rapidly developing rural regions. Federalists believed that the Constitution should be loosely interpreted to build up federal power, and called for a national bank, tariffs, and good relations with Britain. Accordingly, Hamilton proposed tax increases and the establishment of a national bank while he was Secretary, and was the chief architect of the Jay Treaty with Britain in 1794. The Federalists also tried to silence their domestic critics with the anti-immigration Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), a series of repressive laws that cost the party much of its support and sparked the creation of the opposition Democratic-Republican Party under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The Democratic Republican Party was founded in 1791 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as a party opposed to the policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist Party. Members of the party generally believed that a strong federal government would weaken the rights of the states and the people and insisted on a strict construction of the Constitution. Fundamentally, they viewed the United States more as a confederation of sovereign entities woven together by a common interest. The Democratic Republican Party and Federalist Party differed most in their views on foreign policy and the economy. The Federalists believed that American foreign policy should favor British interests and strongly supported the Jay Treaty with Britain, while the Democratic Republicans wanted to strengthen ties with the French, who they saw as more democratic after its recent revolution. On economic matters, the Democratic Republicans believed in protecting the interests of the working classes through the promotion of an agrarian economy and saw the establishment of a national Bank of the United States (which Hamilton strongly favored) as a means of usurping power that belonged to individual states. The Federalists saw industry and manufacturing as the best means of domestic growth and economic self-sufficiency and favored the existence of protective tariffs both as a means of protecting domestic production and as a source of revenue. The Federalist party appealed to the rich, wealthy- saying only they should have a place in government while the Democratic Republican party promoted the ideals from the French Revolution and Enlightenment that if someone is a good leader and smart- it does not matter if they are wealthy are not because they should get to participate in government. The Federalists loose base of the constitution also placed too much power into one rulers hands (almost monarchy) and less on the three branches of government evening out the system- but strongly agreed with a system of checks and balances. Taking a step back in the Enlightenment, the Federalists believed that all men were born evil and were going to be selfish and evil while the Democratic Republican party believed that all men were born good and it was society and their own choices that turned them rotten. As you are can, the Federalist borrowed their views on Humanity from Thomas Hobbs of the Enlightenment, while the Democratic Republican party constructed their views from Enlightenment idealist John Locke. Also contributing to the fact that Federalists thought only rich and wealthy should be in government while Democratic Republicans thought anyone who was a hard worker had the opportunity to be a change in government (ideals that took part in the French Revolution.

The Federalist party also took place in demolishing rights. Under John Adams presidency the alien and sedition acts occurred, it was basically a, “if you make fun of the president you get thrown in jail” type of thing. Democratic Republicans were appalled, hence they strongly supported the bill of rights. Under John Adams, many were placed in jail and many newspapers were shut down.

Quick review, Federalists wanted strong government ruled by one individual- Democratic Republicans thought more of individual rights and states rights. Federalists liked British, and Democratic Republicans liked France. Democratic Republicans enjoyed France and supported France because they were in a democracy while Britain had once ruled tyrannically and still enforced a monarchy.

Now back to the primary question, which political parties would the founding fathers be in today? Just because they were apart of the political party that composed one of the political parties that we have today does not mean they would be a part of it.

But I feel a lot of the founding fathers would closely align with libertarian, Benjamin Franklin would be an independent or would not affiliate with any founding fathers. No doubt that James Madison, Thomas Jefferson would be a part of the democratic party since they were the founders of the party. But because the Democratic party was the Democratic Republican party of the 1700s and 1800s and the Federalist party laid down foundations for Republican party- I am inclined to believe that Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay and George Washington would be Republicans or Libertarians while Jefferson’s faction of Madison, Monroe and himself would be a part of the Democratic party of today.

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maxwellyjordan · 4 years

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Relist Watch

John Elwood briefly reviews Monday’s relists.

There are so many interesting relists to discuss this week that I’m not even going to try. Who has time to discuss 19 new relists? After all, I’m busy preparing for other pressing commitments, so it’s time once again for the affordable luxury of Relist Watch SelectTM.

As some internet rando put it, “[t]his week’s relists involve the most comically high-profile group of issues I think I’ve ever seen. If they actually granted in all those cases, everyone’s heads would explode.” Allowing for some forgivable hyperbole when you consider the source, the guy has a point: This week’s relists raise some crazy-interesting issues.

For starters, the court has relisted a case sufficiently famous that it can be widely identified by just the petitioner’s name, Arlene’s Flowers. The case is a follow-on to the similarly famous Masterpiece Cakeshop, involving a state’s ability to compel people with religious objections to same-sex marriage to use their artistic talents for such ceremonies. And that’s just the beginning of the high-profile free exercise cases. The court has relisted two cases asking whether it should revisit its holding in Employment Division v. Smith that the free exercise clause does not require religious exemptions from laws that are neutral and generally applicable. If you don’t like either of those, there’s a slew of other free exercise cases. And if the First Amendment’s religion clauses don’t float your boat, there are cases about compelled disclosure of donors that involve associational claims. Some even involve religious organizations.

Then there are the administrative law cases. Interested in overruling Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council? Check. How about overruling National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services? We have you covered. Add in a couple of personal-jurisdiction cases brought by America’s third-oldest car company. If anyone thought all those were too dull, we have a couple of cases involving the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. And a couple of cases involving so-called “faithless electors” who vote in the Electoral College contrary to the popular vote in their state. Then there’s a grand jury secrecy case. And a case involving foreign official immunity that requires a [Disclosure: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is counsel to the petitioners in this case.] And a double jeopardy case. And an immigration case filed by the Trump administration. Oh sure, in all the commotion, we’ve probably forgotten a case or three. But there are so many interesting relists this week, it will be impossible to prove.

That’s all for this week. Next week’s list may be even more summary, since I’ll be on the road.

New Relists

Patterson v. Walgreen Co., 18-349 Issues: (1) Whether an accommodation that merely lessens or has the potential to eliminate the conflict between work and religious practice is “reasonable” per se, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 4th and 11th Circuits hold; does it instead create a jury question, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 8th and 10th Circuits hold; or must an accommodation fully eliminate the conflict in order to be “reasonable” as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 7th and 9th Circuits hold; (2) whether speculation about possible future burdens is sufficient to meet the employer’s burden in establishing “undue hardship,” as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 5th, 6th and 11th Circuits hold, or must the employer demonstrate an actual burden, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 8th, 9th and 10th Circuits hold; and (3) whether the portion of TWA v. Hardison opining that “undue hardship” simply means something more than a “de minimis cost” should be disavowed or overruled. CVSG: 12/9/2019. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico v. Feliciano, 18-921 Issue: Whether the First Amendment empowers courts to override the chosen legal structure of a religious organization and declare all of its constituent parts a single legal entity subject to joint and several liability. CVSG: 12/6/2019. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Ricks v. Idaho Contractors Board, 19-66 Issue: Whether the Supreme Court should revisit its holding in Employment Division v. Smith that the free exercise clause generally requires no religious exemptions from laws that are neutral and generally applicable. (rescheduled before the December 6, 2019, and December 13, 2019, conferences; relisted after the January 10 conference)

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 19-123 Issue: Whether free exercise plaintiffs can only succeed by proving a particular type of discrimination claim — namely that the government would allow the same conduct by someone who held different religious views — as two circuits have held, or whether courts must consider other evidence that a law is not neutral and generally applicable, as six circuits have held; (2) whether Employment Division v. Smith should be revisited; and (3) whether the government violates the First Amendment by conditioning a religious agency’s ability to participate in the foster-care system on taking actions and making statements that directly contradict the agency’s religious beliefs. (rescheduled before the December 6, 2019, and December 13, 2019, conferences; relisted after the January 10 conference)

Mutond v. Lewis, 19-185 [Disclosure: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is counsel to the petitioners in this case.] Issues: (1) Whether a plaintiff can preclude conduct-based immunity for foreign government officials merely by suing them in their personal capacities; and (2) whether the Torture Victim Protection Act abrogates all common-law conduct-based immunity for foreign officials, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held below, or leaves immunity intact, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd and 9th Circuits have held. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra, 19-251 Issue: Whether the exacting scrutiny the Supreme Court has long required of laws that abridge the freedoms of speech and association outside the election context – as called for by NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson and its progeny – can be satisfied absent any showing that a blanket governmental demand for the individual identities and addresses of major donors to private nonprofit organizations is narrowly tailored to an asserted law-enforcement interest. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra, 19-255 Issues: (1) Whether exacting scrutiny or strict scrutiny applies to disclosure requirements that burden nonelectoral, expressive association rights; and (2) whether California’s disclosure requirement violates charities’ and their donors’ freedom of association and speech facially or as applied to the Thomas More Law Center. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 19-296 Issues: (1) Whether deference under Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, rather than the rule of lenity, takes precedence in the interpretation of statutory language defining an element of various crimes when such language also has administrative applications; (2) whether, if Chevron deference applies and takes priority over the rule of lenity, such deference can be waived in the course of litigation and on appeal; and (3) whether, if Chevron deference applies and cannot be waived, Chevron should be overruled. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

McKeever v. Barr, 19-307 Issue: Whether district courts have inherent authority to release grand jury materials in extraordinary circumstances, such as when the case is historically significant and the public interest strongly favors disclosure. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Cannon v. Seay, 19-311 Issues: (1) Whether, in review of a state decision under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, when a federal appellate court must determine if double-jeopardy protection bars retrial after a mistrial is granted over a defendant’s objection based upon the absence of a critical prosecution witness, the required strict scrutiny applied to the legal determination of manifest necessity constrains in equal or greater measure the deference universally accorded a trial court’s fact-finding; and (2) whether, in granting relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit egregiously failed to apply clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. Washington and accord deference to the state court’s ruling finding manifest necessity for mistrial when it resolved that omission of a reference to consideration of alternatives in the court’s oral ruling made the ruling fatally insufficient, even though the record shows the state court did not act rashly in granting a mistrial, but pursued a cautious approach that included suspending the trial to allow a search for the missing witness prior to considering and granting the state’s mistrial motion. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Arlene’s Flowers, Inc. v. Washington, 19-333 Issues: (1) Whether the creation and sale of custom floral arrangements to celebrate a wedding ceremony is artistic expression, and, if so, whether compelling their creation violates the free speech clause; and (2) whether the compelled creation and sale of custom floral arrangements to celebrate a wedding and attendance of that wedding against one’s religious beliefs violates the free exercise clause. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court, 19-368 Issue: Whether the “arise out of or relate to” requirement for a state court to exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant under Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz is met when none of the defendant’s forum contacts caused the plaintiff’s claims, such that the plaintiff’s claims would be the same even if the defendant had no forum contacts. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Ford Motor Company v. Bandemer, 19-369 Issue: Whether the “arise out of or relate to” requirement of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause is met when none of the defendant’s forum contacts caused the plaintiff’s claims, such that the plaintiff’s claims would be the same even if the defendant had no forum contacts. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Baldwin v. United States, 19-402 Issues: (1) Whether National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services should be overruled; and (2) whether a federal agency’s statutory construction should receive any deference when it contradicts a court’s precedent and disregards traditional tools of statutory interpretation, such as the common-law presumption canon. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, 19-431 Issues: (1) Whether a litigant who is directly protected by an administrative rule and has been allowed to intervene to defend it lacks standing to appeal a decision invalidating the rule if the litigant is also protected by an injunction from a different court; and (2) whether the federal government lawfully exempted religious objectors from the regulatory requirement to provide health plans that include contraceptive coverage. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Trump v. Pennsylvania, 19-454 Issues: (1) Whether the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury had statutory authority under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to expand the conscience exemption to the contraceptive-coverage mandate; (2) whether the agencies’ decision to forgo notice and opportunity for public comment before issuing the interim final rules rendered the final rules – which were issued after notice and comment – invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act; and (3) whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit erred in affirming a nationwide preliminary injunction barring implementation of the final rules. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Chiafalo v. Washington, 19-465 Issue: Whether enforcement of a Washington state law that threatens a fine for presidential electors who vote contrary to how the law directs is unconstitutional because a state has no power to legally enforce how a presidential elector casts his or her ballot and a state’s penalizing an elector for exercising his or her constitutional discretion to vote violates the First Amendment. (rescheduled before the December 13, 2019, conference; relisted after the January 10 conference)

Colorado Department of State v. Baca, 19-518 Issues: (1) Whether a presidential elector who is prevented by their appointing state from casting an electoral-college ballot that violates state law lacks standing to sue their appointing state because they hold no constitutionally protected right to exercise discretion; and (2) whether Article II or the 12th Amendment forbids a state from requiring its presidential electors to follow the state’s popular vote when casting their electoral-college ballots. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

United States v. California, 19-532 Issue: Whether provisions of California law that, with certain limited exceptions, prohibit state law-enforcement officials from providing federal immigration authorities with release dates and other information about individuals subject to federal immigration enforcement, and restrict the transfer of aliens in state custody to federal immigration custody, are preempted by federal law or barred by intergovernmental immunity. (relisted after the January 10 conference)

Returning Relists

Andrus v. Texas, 18-9674 Issue: Whether the standard for assessing ineffective assistance of counsel claims, announced in Strickland v. Washington, fails to protect the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and the 14th Amendment right to due process when, in death-penalty cases involving flagrantly deficient performance, courts can deny relief following a truncated “no prejudice” analysis that does not account for the evidence amassed in a habeas proceeding and relies on a trial record shaped by trial counsel’s ineffective representation. (rescheduled before the November 1, 2019, and November 8, 2019, conferences; relisted after the November 15, 2019, November 22, 2019, December 6, 2019, December 13, 2019, and January 10 conferences)

Reed v. Texas, 19-411 Issues: (1) How a court should consider under the Brady materiality standard the impact of a key trial witness’s assertion of the privilege against self-incrimination and refusal to testify when confronted with the suppressed exculpatory evidence; (2) when expert testimony relied on by the state in a criminal trial is later shown to be scientifically invalid, what is the appropriate standard to assess whether the state’s use of the testimony violated due process; and (3) whether the conviction or execution of a person who is actually innocent of a crime violates the U. S. Constitution. (relisted after the November 22, 2019, December 6, 2019, December 13, 2019, and January 10 conferences)

The post Relist Watch appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

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yourrainycollectorhologram-blog · 6 years

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USA - healthcare for the uninsured?

Is it true that if you get sick in the US and don't have insurance the staff @ the hospitals are not obliged to treat you? What if you got run-over for example? Or rescued from a housefire and were covered in burns?

Does my husband need car insurance?

When I signed up for car insurance my broker told me that when my husband receives his driver's license he has to be put on the insurance. My husband got his license now, but he never drives. I drive, and have insurance. He rides his bike or the bus when he needs to get around. He tells me there's no need to have insurance for him since he doesn't drive anyway. My question is: by law, do we have to purchase car insurance for my husband even if he doesn't own a car and doesn't drive mine? Or was the broker just saying that for business purposes? I just want to be informed and do the right thing, whatever it may be. Thanks in advance.""

Is car insurance cheaper in the 78212 zip code than it is in the 92692 zip code?

How much is the car insurance for a 18 year old boy with a dodge viper ACR 09 model?

ow much would i be paying a year with full coverage. Its a dodge viper ACR 09 model. Im an 18 year old male. Its a $112,000 car.""

Why do we need car insurance anyway?

i know we need it by law, but why is it needed, and i need some estimates on insurance for my first car, honda 2002, pre owned.""

""Live in NJ, bringing car to school in FL, question about car insurance?""

I am looking to bring my car from NJ (where i'm a resident) to school with me in Florida, and I need some help: My father is freaking out because he thinks the car insurance will go WAY UP. Does anyone know how this works? Am i allowed to ship my car down there and not tell me insurance at all? Just like bringing it on a mini vacation lol. Remember, I'm not a resident of Florida. Any answers?!""

How much (about) would insurance cost for a Lamborghini Gallardo (at 16 yrs old)?

Need help for car insurance. lied about points?

i recently took a car insurance policy but i didn't tell my insurance company that i have 6 points and have told them my wrong address. but today i have called them, that i will be changing my address this weekend. so this will be sorted as my i have to pay 300pounds more. I want to tell them about my points too, but i am scared, will they cancel my policy I took the policy 12 days ago. i want to tell them about my points. please can anyone tell me who actually worked for or still working in a car insurance company, that if i tell them now before my cooling off period over will they cancel my policy or just amend the details which will be little increase in my premium? I am a second driver on this car.""

Car insurance for a japanese import?

I am looking for car insurance for a japanese import car and I am trying to find companies which will deal with imports and are cheap. I am only 18 so I know that the insurance will be pretty expensive but if anyone has had any experience with imports at this age and can tell me some companies to try that would be great. The car I am looking at is a Mazda mx-3 1.5i . If anyone knows how to get cheap insurance for this I would like to hear from you. It would be cheaper if I was a named driver and could earn no claims discount but I don't know if any of the companies who do that accept imports. Any help or advice anyone could give me would be very much appreciated. Thanks

How much would auto insurance cost me?

Im 16. The car im going to get is a chevy comaro 40k.? Dont tell me to go to my local car dealer thing to ask.

What auto insurance company or small company is cheap for drivers under 25 in arizona?

I am going to get a car soon and i want to look for an insurance company that is cheap and won't really burn a hole in my wallet. Maybe someone cheaper than 120-150 per month? Please give me name and estimate price for which car.

Car insurance in Florida....?

Ok i will be 18 in like 10 days. I am a male and have had my license for about 4 months. I am currently paying about 270 a month for my insurance. This is on my parents policy. Does Anyone know any cheaper insurance (me on my own policy)? Please help. I do not need full coverage. I have a 96 mazda already paid off. I just want basic. Please help.

Car accident. how much will my deductable go up?

i might need a new bumper. i was stopped in a parking lot going into first gear when this lady backed into my bumper. she claimed fault for it and i have a signed statement from her. i am 16 years old and i live in the state of Ohio. perfect record and no pasted accidents. will this make my insurance go up? and if so by how much?

Can I get secondary insurance if i have primary insurance in my moms name?

I have primary insurance and the policy is in my moms name. I have cronic epilepsy and i cannot have a gap in my insurance because of all of the medications I'm on and all the dr. aptments i have with my neurologist. I am getting married in May of 2013. I need to get secondary insurance for right now and then when i get married drop off my moms insurance and make my secondary insurance my primary insurance and put my (at that point my husband) on. My mom basically trying to make it extremely difficult for my fiance and I to get married because she tries to keep me under my thumb. Im 25 years old and Im trying to get myself more independent and be able to get married and get my bachelors in business. Please someone help me.

Elizabethtown Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62931

Non owners insurance in california?

i am considering non-owners insurance for a car. however, if i drive my friend's car, their insurance policy will cover me. 1) what is the point of getting non-owners insurance, if non-owners insurance already assumes that i don't have frequent access to a car, and my friend's policy will cover me, also assuming i don't have frequent access to his car? also, i know, in the case of an at-fault accident with my friend's car, and assuming i have non-owners insurance, my friend's insurance will kick in first, then my non-owners insurance will cover what's missing. 2) what's the point of non-owner's, if my friend's limits are high enough already? 3) won't my friend's insurance increase since his insurance company had to pay? 4) if my friend's insurance increases, then what does the non-owner's insurance cover/protect??""

Isn't $300/mo TOO much for car insurance?

So my BF is planning on purchasing his first car, a 2012 Honda Civic EX Coupe, and he's trying to get a plan with USAA, but the quote says he'll be paying 300 monthly for insurance which is basically another car payment. What's the deal?""

15; might be pregnant without insurance?

Okay yeah i know i asked this already but i didnt get enough answers. please if yu reading this answer me and NO HATEFUL COMMENTS. how much would it cost for a blodd test in florida? and would the teen clinic help me?

Can I own a car and have someone else insure it?

Ok I'm 19 and currently own my own car and the pink slip is under my name but I know if I get insurance right now it will be high so I was wondering if my dad can insure it while I drive it under my name. I live in California and my dad has State Farm. Thank you.

Does the Affordable Care Act force employers to PAY for or just PROVIDE insurance?

I've heard so much about how an employer with 50+ employees will be required to [provide] insurance to their full-time employees. Nowhere, I mean nowhere have I read clarification as to whether this actually means they have to PAY for their employee's insurance or simply PROVIDE it, which is a huge difference. My employer (a hospital) has always PROVIDED insurance but they don't PAY for it. They simply PROVIDE employees with the option to purchase their expensive insurance, which is like $250/month for part time employees. It would literally be 50% of my paycheck to purchase the insurance my employer PROVIDES. Can someone clarify the difference?""

what is the full coverage insurance for motorcycle include? ?

for California and for finance company requirement

Car insurance help please!?

I'm 18 and i just finished high school. I dont have a job yet, but i'll be getting one sometime very soon and i really really need to find car insurance. im mostly looking for something that i can pay quarterly. something somewhat cheap too. errr. please help. i only have one car and its a 99 mazda protege.""

What's the best dental insurance for me to get?

I have pre-existing damage (deep cavities, exposed enamel). I live in garland, Tx 75040. Pretty much im looking for dental insurance that covers pre-existing damage""

How do Car Insurance Deposits Work?

I am new to the whole car insurance thing, and so I would greatly appreciate it if someone who knew what they were talking about would give me some help on how deposits work. I don't want to ask this help from the insurers cos they'll try to persuade me to pay for their insurance before I'm ready. Basically, my cheapest and most covered insurance is quoted as 3,889.98. I will be initially paying a deposit of 780.05 and then monthly payments of 314.66 for the next 11 months. What I want to know is an explanation of how deposits work in terms of Car insurance, and what I also want to know is does this deposit have to be paid more than once in your entire time with the company? Thank you in advance guys :) Micky.""

Is ATV insurance more expensive than motorcycle insurance in Ontario Canada?

How much more or less would a new honda trx500 ATV run me dollar-wise to insure for a year.

""What is your opinion of this article: how some people who can't afford insurance, can afford things like?""

Excerpts: The following items were commonly seen on patients or carried by their dependent children, who were also covered by subsidized programs: * Cell phones and ...show more""

""Tornado and insurance problems in enterprise, alabama?

USAA Property Insurance will not pay enough for me to rebuild my home that was destroyed on 1 March 07 from the tornado!

Will my insurance go up?

will my insurance go up if i got a ticket for carless operation? the officer said there wont be any points on my licence but if will my insurance go up? and will i get points on my insurance?

How high will insurance go if i caused a small crash?

I was backing up and hit the guy behind me. I dented my bumper and broke my light (still works) his car doesnt have anything the matter with it. He told me he wants to see if it's broke and look at it in the morning and if thier isnt anything real bad he will let it go. He took my info. I'm paying $112 a month now the cars in my dads name. How much should i expect it to go up if he reports it? (no cops where involved) I'm also 16 i think age does matter not sure tho.

What car insurance do you guys have...?

I live in Northern ca. checking rates...wow each and EVERYONE has a complaint(s) against them...how do/did you find which one you wanted to use? Ever have a problem with your insurance? If I do decide to go with one, what questions should I ask?""

What health insurance company is the best value?

I want to sign up for health insurance but I'm not sure which company to go through as there are so many. I'm a 21 year old male with little income (about $1200 a month) with no dependents or job benefits. I went through the healthcare marketplace from the federal government which just said I need to get medicaid. I'm in the process of applying for medicaid as well. But if the medicaid doesn't work out or isn't very effective what is anyone's opinion on the best insurance company for me. I'm looking to spend only around $100 for a monthly premium. Any feedback will help me narrow it down and know what to consider. Thanks for the help.

Car insurance in NJ...?

I am 19, just got license. Its still some restriction for 1 year but other than that its a regular one , I can drive by myself. What could I do to get a car under my name and not to be killed by insurance rates. Price of the car is not my primary concern and I would gladly lease one ( would have a cosigner too if necessary) since I work close enough but I am afraid that it is the most expensive option...""

With new Social Programs and Affordable Insurance for Everyone.....?

I can see that I will have a lot more money to go spending on eating out, going on long vacations and not having to work those long hours to make it anymore. Cant wait till November, its going to be Change time. How long before these goodies are implemented by the Democrats and the bad costly programs rid of?""

Help Choosing First Car?

Soo I'm looking at two cars, the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GS and the 2002 Ford Mustang. Both are convertible, the Mitsu is a V4 while the Ford is a V6. The Ford has about 90k miles and the Mitsu has about 120k miles. I was wondering which would be the smarter pick and why? Which would be more reliable, efficient, cheaper insurance, cheaper maintainance, ect. Please help me and give any info on both cars.""

""The older the car, the cheaper the insurance?""

Ordinary cars not the high end luxury ones. I'm thinking about a 240sx S13. Basically from 1989-1994 hatchback. Anyone who owns a 240sx/180sx please give me advice? All I know is I want an RB25 swap (the RB26 is hard and it's expensive so I'm sticking with RB25. Plus it's cheaper than the SR20) and wide kit, and Silvia front (Sileighty). Thanks!!""

What is the most affordable personal medical insurance carrier you have found?

I know that no medical insurance is cheap, especially when you have to buy a personal policy not given thru your work. But, I have to get coverage for me and my husband. We just need basic insurance I guess....Like for medical and dentist visits. Have you found a more affordable insurance carrier? Or have any advice on what to look for in a new one? Thanks!""

What is the Benefit of an insurance company selling a new for old Policy?

And... Why is it important to them to have the correct reserve... I already know a few reasons, but I'm revising and my mind has gone blank! Please can someone help? I'm normally very much on the ball.. but its just left me! Thank you""

I am looking for Gerbers Babies Life insurance?

Gerbers Baby foods sell life insurance for infants

Do your insurance rates go up when you file for bankruptcy?

Do I buy car insurance before buying a car from a private party?

I'm buying a car this weekend from a private seller (we are just waiting for the duplicate title to come in the mail; she lost the original). Money won't be exchanged until ...show more

Elizabethtown Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62931

How much does your car insurance increase when you have two traffic violations in a year?

I was pulled over again for turning right on a no turn on red . The first time the insurance company said they wouldn't increase the premium. How much would it increase? $200 for the year? more?

How much can i sue and get from car insurance for pain and suffering for $6000 worth of medicals?

Does anyone know any affordable cheap family plan health insurance company ?

What are Insurance groups all about?

And... 1. Is a 1.4 engine car okay for a 17 year old? Or does it HAVE to be 1.2 2. Honda Civic or Volkswagen Polo? 3. A rough idea on the insurance cost per year for third party fire and theft?

What is the cost of general liability insurance for a small business?

My history class is doing a business plan project, and I'm wondering what the cost of liability insurance for a softball training center would be?""

Health insurance for my to be step son...?

my boyfriend wants to get his son health insurance but not himself. I think he should insure both his son and himself but he doesnt want to. He wants to wait until we get married and ...show more

Do you need motorcycle insurance or a motorcycle license to purchase a sports bike ?

Do you need either of these things to buy a sports motorcycle ? I'm 19 and live in Florida. Any idea ?

How much would car insurance be for a 19 year old?

I just got my license and I know that car insurance can be really expensive for younger people. I was wondering if there is any cheap insurance company? I would love to pay no more than $100, is this possible? Any inside from personal experiences?""

Most affordable insurance company is?

Looking for cheap health insurance, I have never had health insurance before. What is the least amount of money a company will want from me to have full coverage of a surgery or hospital bill?""

Who provides no-inspection home owners insurance?

My house is basically a shell, but we've been conditionally approved for a line of credit to fix the house. We need to have home insurance, but if we go with any of the local insurers we'll be turned down because of the condition of our house. It was built in 1897. Are there reputable online providers of insurance that don't do inspections prior to approval? If so, recommend some.""

Am I being cheated by the car insurance company?

I was on a bike and I accidentally hit someone's car and broke the back windshield. Nothing else on the car is damaged except windshield. Later the car owner's car insurance company (state farm) send me a payment of $1700, and they have a subrogation service (Afni) to collect payment. First of all, I believe it DOES NOT cost $1700 to replace a back windshield, like I mentioned, nothing else was damage except the windshield on the back. How is this amount calculated? The subrogation service has been pressuring me to pay the amount. I will pay for the damage but I don't believe I have to pay this much. Could this be the owner of the car falsify the claim? What should I do? I don't have car insurance, I was on my bike. It was a total accident.""

How much will my car insurance cost?

So I'm 16 now, and I'm looking at cars I could get. I can afford a used, BMW 3 series saloon. I'm a male, and live in Surrey. (obviously I'd be 17). How much do you think my car insurance would cost, because it is in insurance group 20. (which may or may not be too much). Thanks""

How much will her insurance likely go up?

my grandma pays about 65/month for her car insurance, she is 59 today she didnt see my car and backed into the passenger side leaving a dent. I have full coverage for my car. she has liability on hers. I dont just not want to do anything. i want it fixed. but i dont know if i want to call my insurance company. cuz if i say it was her fault, which is was, idk how much her insurance will go up. if its ten dollars a month its no big deal i wouldnt think. but i dont want it to be a lot. if i say it is my fault, then i have a 500 dollar deductable and my insurance goes up. and i cant afford that. im 17. she also said she would try to pay for it to be fixed. but idk if it is cheaper for her to pay for it or for her insurance to go up.""

What is voluntary access on car insurance?

i saw it on the go compare web site but i dont know what it is as im a 1st time driver

Car insurance for young drivers?

I was wondering what insurers provide the most favourable quotes for an 18old male like myself? The cheapest car insurance quote I could get was 2262, on an independant insurance website. The comparison websites are useless, I just get results of 3000 or more. I am asking if I can get cheaper than this figure? or should I just selttle for 2262?""

Health insurance? For a 20 year old?

Hi I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting cheap health insurance. How are people paying for this, I was quoted at $140 a month! I have Never had any serious problem No broken bones and I've only had 3 prescriptions in my life! I only make $1,100 a month and with rent bills food and gas $140 extra is A LOT for me! Could you give me a good company? I really don't want to be fined in January, this is crazy! Also I was denied by Covered California because they said my household makes to much, I live on my moms property but is still pay rent/internet/electricity. How could I get around this for covered California? Please help me understand this better and if you have a link to a good cheap insurance company please let me know, Thank You""

I pay over $950 for car insurance each year. Should I look for another company?

I am a 22 year old female, and I have a squeaky clean record. I own a 2010 Impala. Am I paying too much for car insurance? I pay the most in my household, but I have the best record. I know I am young and people expect those my age to make driving mistakes, but I'd like to know if about $1000 a year is the going rate for insurance. That's a lot of money, and I'd rather use it to save toward a master's degree...""

What is the cheapest car for car insurance?

I'm looking at buying a car, but I want one with really cheap insurance. I'm 17 so I know it will be pricey, but what is the best car that will keep my insurance low?""

What is the best insurance in FLorida for a small child that is not hugely expensive?

I am trying to find a good plan to switch my daughter to in Florida. We are waiting to hopefully get Kidcare but if it falls thru does anyone have a plan they love that doesnt cost hundreds a month?

Can a cop ticket you for no insurance if the car is not yours?

My dad lend me his car....but im not in his insurance because i dont live with him. If a cop stops me can he give me a ticket for no insurance? I live in Texas by the way.

Insurance for car accident?

I had a car accident where my mirror and signal were broken as well as my front door got skewed. The insurance company said that they either fix it at their garage or they estimate damage and give me money in return. Which is better?

""How much would it be if got allstate insurance for a new 2009 nissan altima. im 20yrs old, live with my parets?

my parents have allstate. this is my first car under my name.

Why is motorcycle insurance so expensive?

I figure that if I finance a new motorcycle, I will have to get collision. So I go and get a quote from Progressive on an Aprilia SL 750. Just liability = ~70$ a month. Liability Comprehensive Collision = ~$650 a month. $650 a month = the cost of the bike in one year. 18 year old male with one prior minor moving violation""

Periodontal Insurance in Iowa?

I have major gum resession and I need a transplant, which means I need to visit a peridontist. Problem is, I can't find one in Iowa that takes my insurance. (Hawk-i) I really need the surgery and I've been searching for months and haven't had any luck. Please, someone help me out, please.""

Life insurance for seniors over 75yrs?

Whats the slim chance that their is a company out there that provides life insurance for a Senior over 75 and has had and removed cancer in the past 12 months? None i bet huh?

Elizabethtown Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62931

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jeeps-high-insurance-jayden-tucker/"

0 notes

newssplashy · 6 years

Text

World: Gop moves to end Trump's family separation policy, but can't agree how

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans moved on Tuesday to defuse an escalating political crisis over immigration, but failed to agree on how to end President Donald Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from parents who cross illegally into the United States.

The Senate had one plan, and the House another. Trump remained defiant, refusing to act on his own.

In a fiery address to a group of small-business executives, Trump falsely blamed Democrats for the separation crisis and demanded a broad overhaul of the United States’ immigration laws, a process that would take months. At the same time, he belittled one of the central ideas behind the effort by Senate Republicans to immediately stop separating families on the Mexican border.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said “all of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together,” endorsing quick passage of a narrow bill to provide legal authority to detain parents and children together while the courts consider their status.

In the House, Republicans vowed to press ahead with votes this week on a pair of more sweeping immigration bills — one drafted by conservatives and the other a compromise measure between conservatives and moderates — that address the family separation issue to different degrees, while also strengthening border security and making other changes to the country’s immigration system.

In an hourlong meeting on Capitol Hill with House Republicans, Trump declined to explicitly back either one, saying he would sign both bills. Republican leaders are trying to rally support for the compromise bill.

“The president was very firm in explaining why it’s so important that he gets this bill to his desk so that we can solve some problems and secure our border,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican whip. He added, “We want to secure our border; we want to reunite kids. Our bill does just that.”

McConnell said he planned to reach out to Democrats to support his conference’s effort, hoping to stanch the political damage from the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that has led to heartbreaking stories of children separated from their mothers.

But Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, immediately shot down the Republican approach, saying Trump could — and should — use his executive authority, not legislation, to quickly end the family separations.

“Anyone who believes this Republican Congress is capable of addressing this issue is kidding themselves,” Schumer said in a statement. “The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now.”

Trump has the power on his own to change that zero-tolerance policy at the border, which would once again allow border agents and prosecutors the discretion to allow families to remain together after crossing illegally into the United States. But it would also allow those families to be released while their court proceedings go forward, something Trump opposes.

In his afternoon speech, Trump dismissed as “crazy” a proposal by Senate Republicans to expedite processing of immigrant families by hiring hundreds of new immigration judges.

Rejecting a proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to increase personnel in immigration courts with the hiring of 375 new judges, Trump suggested that many of the immigration judges could be corrupt, and he said that some lawyers who appear in their courtrooms are “bad people.”

“They said, ‘Sir, we’d like to hire about five or six thousand more judges,'” Trump said in a long and rambling speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. “Five or six thousand? Now, can you imagine the graft that must take place? You’re all small-business owners, so I know you can’t imagine a thing like that would happen.”

Trump has for weeks been urging lawmakers to pass broad legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, including hard-line changes that would crack down on asylum-seekers, reduce visas and spend $25 billion to build a wall on the southwestern border. Doing so, he said, would have ended the need for a zero-tolerance policy by allowing families to be quickly deported.

Broad immigration legislation was supposed to be the subject of the meeting with Republican House members on Tuesday evening. But in his speech, the president also vowed to rewrite Republican immigration legislation to his liking.

“We have a House that’s getting ready to finalize an immigration package that they are going to brief me on later, and I’m going to make changes,” Trump said. Lawmakers later said that the president gave no indication that he wanted to change anything about their legislation.

Aides to Trump said he later told the House Republicans: “I’m with you 100 percent.”

During the meeting with the lawmakers, Trump took no questions and veered from immigration to trade to North Korea — and he took a swipe at Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who lost his primary race after Trump opposed him. The president called him “nasty.”

Sanford was not present to defend himself — his flight was delayed in Charleston — but in a telephone interview Tuesday night, he said that the attack was “a sign of the times in terms of the way this president operates.”

Noting the gravity of the issues that were the ostensible reason for the gathering, Sanford said with a note of incredulity: “You’re going to use that meeting to shoot at somebody you already killed?”

In his speech to the National Federation of Independent Business, Trump was greeted by enthusiastic applause.

Two other leading business groups — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable — condemned the practice of separating children from their parents. The Business Roundtable called it “cruel and contrary to American values.” The chamber’s top official said that “this is not who we are, and it must end now.”

Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, announced Tuesday on Twitter that he would withdraw four members of the Maryland National Guard, and their helicopter, from the southwestern border until “this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded.”

But the broadest Republican opposition to the Trump administration’s policy was in the Senate. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and 12 other senators sent a letter to the Justice Department asking the administration to stop the separation of families until Congress can pass legislation. Hatch told reporters Monday that the separation policy was “not American.”

“As I have said for the last several weeks,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement, “I oppose the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents. This is counter to our values.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was working on legislation that would keep families together while increasing the number of federal immigration judges so court hearings could be expedited.

“We’re overwhelming the system,” Johnson said. “We don’t have enough detention units for family units.” He added, “We would probably need to build more, identify more detention facilities, certify them so we can keep the families together.”

In the House, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, introduced a measure his office said “more easily allows for family units to stay together,” while also limiting the number of asylum claims.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Trump continued to falsely blame Democrats for forcing the separations and calling for Congress to enact hard-line changes to immigration laws that he says would make the zero-tolerance policy at the border unnecessary.

“Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13,” Trump tweeted. “They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!”

Later in the morning, Trump administration officials defended their treatment of children who had been separated from their parents at the border, describing a network of shelters in 17 states that provided education, counseling, health care services and playtime until children were reunited with their parents.

Officials from the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services insisted to reporters that the children in their custody were treated humanely. The officials said 2,342 were children who crossed the border illegally from May 5 to June 9 and were taken from a parent to allow the adult to be charged and detained.

Once the parents were taken to detention, those children were reclassified by the government as “unaccompanied children,” and quickly sent to the Health and Human Services shelters.

But the officials disputed charges of mistreatment of those children, saying that the agencies were subject to strict rules about how children were cared for.

The facilities are “staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs, particularly of younger children,” said Steven Wagner, the acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families. Wagner said that “the children in our care are receiving a full range of services.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/06/world-gop-moves-to-end-trumps-family_20.html

#News

0 notes

jimbrown1940 · 7 years

Text

WAY TOO MANY ELECTIONS IN LOUISIANA!

Thursday, October 19th, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WAY TOO MANY ELECTIONS IN LOUISIANA!

It’s like they threw a party but nobody came. That’s how election officials must have felt when they counted the ballots for last week’s statewide election. The turnout was a paltry 13.5%. Now remember that some 50% of adults over eighteen who could register have not done so. That means the less than 7% of Louisianans over eighteen bothered to show up at the polls to vote.

The New Orleans Times Picayune headlined that “We should be ashamed of the abysmal voter turnout.” But maybe that’s not the right message. Perhaps it’s the legislature that ought to be ashamed for having the election to begin with. There are five scheduled elections this year alone. Is it really that necessary to hold five different elections in one year? Of course not. And for that matter, there is really no necessity to hold any elections in Louisiana this year at all.

There is a statewide federally mandated congressional election less than one year away. Every item on the current ballot could have been held at that time without any disturbance to the daily operations of state government. The current election cost taxpayers over $6 million. There are a lot of tax dollars to be saved by consolidating election dates.

And what was so important that just had to be placed on the ballot now? A vacancy for state treasurer? The treasurer has limited duties to collect and invest tax dollars, but there are strict legislature requirements as to how the money is to be collected and spent. There is as good argument to make that the job should not be elected at all. Many states appoint the treasurer.

How about those three constitution amendments? Well, we have gotten along just fine without each of them since our last constitution was adopted back in 1973. And quite frankly, none of the three were really all that necessary and should have been handled by the legislature in its normal course of passing laws. Does anyone reading this column remember what you voted for?

But New Orleans held an election, right? Yes, but the city should tie its election date to one of the regular statewide elections beginning in 2018. That’s what most cities do all over the country. Did you read or hear of any other city or state holding an election in October? Of course not. Most elections are held at the same time as federal elections. Why should voters all over the state pay for New Orleans to have their special election date?

And how about letting Hard-Working Undocumented Immigrants Vote? Just kidding. I wanted to see if you're still paying attention.

Why can’t our legislators make voting easier? The world has changed in so many ways. You can buy, sell, conduct business, pay your bills and taxes, and interrelate in just about any possible way over the Internet with the exception of how you vote. Why does one have to get in their car, drive to a polling location, wait in line, all just to vote? Isn’t it possible to design a system to allow voting electronically wherever you happen to be?

Oh, the naysayers will holler wide spread election fraud. I disagree. A voter could enter their social security number on a smart phone and cast their ballot. Yes, it would be possible to use a family member’s number to illegally vote. But someone who would attempt such a scheme is messing with your right to pick those who run the country and keep us safe. So stick them criminally if any attempt is made to defraud the system. How about a minimum of ten years in jail for such perpetrators?

Poll after poll indicates that Louisiana citizens have little confidence in how their state is being run. But the present system offers little incentive and too many roadblocks to make voting easier. Maybe a little creative thinking by legislators in Baton Rouge could help in getting voters out of their current doldrums. There is really not much at stake. Well, except for the future of our kids and our quality of life.

*******

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” -- George Jean Nathan

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

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gossipnetwork-blog · 7 years

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How a 12-Year-Old Girl Could Help End Weed Prohibition

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/how-a-12-year-old-girl-could-help-end-weed-prohibition/

How a 12-Year-Old Girl Could Help End Weed Prohibition

Twelve-year-old Alexis Bortell uses a cannabis oil called Haleigh’s Hope to prevent life-threatening epileptic seizures. She takes the oil orally by syringe twice a day, and always keeps a THC spray on hand in case she experiences an aura, or pre-seizure event. The auras happen maybe once every three to four weeks – far less often now that she moved to Colorado than when she lived in Texas. When doctors in Texas were left with no other option than to suggest an experimental lobotomy, her parents moved to Colorado. Cannabis had to be better than removing a portion of Bortell’s brain.

“I’m now over two years seizure-free because of my cannabis medicine. In Texas, our goal was three days, [and] that’s the max I ever got,” says Bortell, who’s now in the sixth grade. “It’s helped me succeed in school more, since I don’t have to go to the nurse every day because of auras and seizures. There was no medicine in Texas that would stop my seizures, and not only that, but they had horrendous side effects that would be worse than the actual seizure.”

Wise and articulate beyond her years, Bortell received an invitation from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to lobby her representatives in Washington D.C. this past September. But she couldn’t go, and instead could only Skype: Since Bortell can’t go anywhere without her cannabis medicine, she couldn’t travel without committing a federal felony by transporting a Schedule I narcotic across state lines. What’s more, even if she could travel to D.C. – where marijuana is medically and recreationally legal – she can’t bring her medicine onto federal land, including the Capitol, national parks, monuments and military bases. (Her father, Dean Bortell, is military vet.)

Now Bortell is one of five plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the federal government, and her attorneys argue that the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which classifies cannabis as illegal, infringes upon various constitutional rights.

“This is not just a case about the CSA. This is a civil rights case that focuses on the rights of individuals using life-saving medication to preserve their lives and health,” says Bortell’s attorney, Michael Hiller, founder of Hiller PC and former professor of constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s not just about cannabis, it’s about people’s ability to exercise their rights to free speech, to petition the government for a redress of grievances under the First Amendment, the right to travel, the fundamental right to be left alone and the right against Congressional overreach.”

The federal cannabis lawsuit team – co-counsel Michael Hiller, Lauren Rudick, Joseph Bondy, and David Holland – filed a complaint in September to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawyers – who are all members of the New York Cannabis Bar Association – are working on the case pro bono in hopes of winning a watershed decision descheduling marijuana under federal law.

Alexis Bortell and her father, Dean. David Zalubowski/AP

As the federal government is wont to do, the defendants — Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice, Chuck Rosenberg, acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA itself and finally, the United States of America – will file a motion to dismiss on October 13th. If the judge grants the motion, the plaintiffs will file an appeal to the Second Circuit.

The case could have ramifications throughout the country. “If the court were to grant our relief, requesting a declaration that the CSA is unconstitutional as applied and enjoining the federal government from enforcing it, the case really has the potential to impact tens of millions of people,” says Hiller.

As a plaintiff, Bortell represents the thousands of children with epilepsy who stand to benefit from descheduling cannabis. But even broader applications and interests are at stake. Co-plaintiffs include six-year-old Jagger Cotte, a Georgia-based medical marijuana patient who suffers from Leigh’s Disease, which disables and kills 95 percent of its victims; Jose Belen, a disabled veteran of two tours in Iraq now living with PTSD in Florida; Marvin Washington, former pro football player, who’s now launched a line of CBD products; and the Cannabis Cultural Association, a nonprofit helping people of color enter in the cannabis industry.

The attorneys argue not only that the CSA infringes on the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, but that the foundation of marijuana’s place under CSA itself is bunk. “The whole explanation for why it’s a Schedule I substance is predicated on lies and racism,” says Holland, executive and legal director of Empire State NORML and former counsel to High Times Magazine.

In their complaint, the attorneys allude to the past 10,000 years of history, highlighting the various ways in which mankind has used cannabis medicinally and functionally. Fast forward to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, the founding fathers wrote the Constitution on hemp paper, while pharmacists sold marijuana tinctures over the counter. (Marijuana and hemp, both different kinds of cannabis, are distinguished by their THC value.) By the 1920s and 1930s, cannabis became more closely associated with Mexican immigrants and African American jazz musicians. In 1937, Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger drafted the Marihuana Tax Act, imposing criminal penalties on the possession, production, and sale of cannabis, and commencing the modern day War on Drugs.

By the 1960s and 70s, cannabis became the common denominator between Vietnam war protestors and radical groups like the Black Panthers. Nixon’s own right-hand man John Ehrlichman came out decades later explaining that criminalizing marijuana was a means of criminalizing blacks and hippies: “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

When the CSA was enacted in 1971, marijuana was placed in Schedule I only “temporarily,” even though by definition it didn’t fit the category. Today, blacks and Latinos are still disproportionately victimized by prohibition. Even in places like Colorado, more minority kids are arrested for weed than anyone else, while in California, police arrest blacks for weed three and a half times more than whites. “We’ve always had the federal government policing our bodies,” says Jacob Plowden, co-founder and creative director of the Cannabis Cultural Association. And even legalization hasn’t always worked, he adds. This case is the only way to turn the system on its head.

“What is deeply troubling about all of this is that the CSA makes absolutely no sense,” says Hiller. “We know for a fact that the U.S. government knows that cannabis cannot be legally classified as a Schedule I drug, the requirements for which are a high potential for abuse, no medical efficacy whatsoever, and a substance so dangerous that it can’t be tested even under strict medical supervision. And we know cannabis doesn’t meet those requirements.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who has threatened to crack down on state-legal medical marijuana – is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Andrew Harnik/AP

As Hiller points out, there is a disconnect between what the government claims legally, and how they actually operate. The government has a patent on cannabis for the treatment of diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, HIV-induced dementia and autoimmune disorders. And under U.S. patent law, you can’t apply for a patent unless you can demonstrate some form of the utility of whatever you’re seeking a patent for. “The government has obtained a patent for cannabis based on the fact that it works,” says Hiller. Moreover, since 1978, the federal government has been sending joints to medical patients as part of an IND (Investigational New Drug) program, only to find that cannabis alleviated symptoms for these 15 participants without serious side effects.

Then in 2014, the Department of Treasury issued a FinCEN guidance to banks, advising them on how to work with cannabis businesses. Meanwhile, 29 states and three territories all allow some form of cannabis to be used medicinally or recreationally – meaning more than 60 percent of the population has access to this plant. “It just makes no sense for the government to classify cannabis as a drug that’s so dangerous that it can’t even be safely tested, while at the same time encouraging companies to do business with cannabis businesses,” says Hiller. “It makes no sense for the Federal Government to have a medical patent and to distribute cannabis to patients for nearly 40 years through the IND Program, while at the same time claiming that it has no medical efficacy and can cause brain damage. Ask the federal government, ‘Do you really believe it?’ and the fact of the matter is, they don’t.”

As with same-sex marriage, Hiller says, if the federal government had to defend cannabis prohibition on facts, they’d lose.

“This lawsuit represents the truth,” says Bondy, a criminal defense attorney who is an expert in federal cannabis law. “Marijuana has a recognized medical purpose. For the government to persist in the position that it doesn’t is foolish.”

No matter who wins the case, it’s a sure bet that the losing party will appeal, according to Bondy. “These issues are so important to the public interest, so important to constitutional safeguards that a full evidentiary record has to be made. We welcome this as an opportunity to demonstrate fully and fairly that we are right.”

Meanwhile, Alexis Bortell still must choose between breaking the law and preserving her own life. “Every time I look around my classroom, I think about what my classmates will be when we grow up. But there’s nothing I can be because the government thinks I’m bad,” she says. “I know they’re wrong. I do hope we can win this case. If that happens, maybe I can be a doctor, or if I need to, run for legislature.”

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studyingrealestatesucks · 7 years

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CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK

PART 1: – IDENTIFY LEGAL PRINCIPLES AND LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS AFFECTING REAL ESTATE OPERATIONS 1. Introduction Managing or selling real estate on behalf of landlords and sellers (owners) is a large responsibility; considering it is most likely the largest asset your owner has. Most owners do not just choose anyone to manage or sell their home; in fact most owners will conduct extensive research before employing a property manager or sales agent. Owners want a property manager who will protect their asset and increase its capital growth while home-sellers will want to achieve the maximum price from the sale of their home and want an agent that will provide them with an honest opinion of their property worth and how long it will take to sell. Therefore it is imperative that real estate agents and their representatives have a sound knowledge of the market and industry that they work in. 1.1. Market Knowledge Market Knowledge are the factors that affect real estate prices/rents, which real estate agents have no influence over, Market knowledge includes:  Political, economic, social, environmental  Supply and demand  Vacancy rates  Prices/rents achievable  Political, economic, social, environmental When members of the public have faith in their politicians and believe that government’s policies are creating economic growth such as jobs, overseas trade etc it is usual that the real estate industry is achieving good rents and sales prices for their owners. However if there is no faith in a government then the opposite can be said and real estate prices are usually adversely affected.  Supply and demand When supply of homes is low but demand is high is when owners benefit from good rents and good sales prices; what drives supply and demand? Faith in the government of the day and their policies to create economic growth and job creation. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 7 of 76 March 2017 If good political policies attract investment then more jobs become available and people will move to those locations where there is work. This means that they need housing to live in (rent/buy), more infrastructure to support the community, schools, shops etc, hence a growing real estate market.  Vacancy rates Usually, where there is good economic growth vacancy rates are low and rents are at a premium. Usually when vacancy rates are low the sales market is also usually at a premium. On the other hand where there is no or little economic growth in an area vacancy rates will increase, rents will drop and sales will also suffer.  Prices/rents achievable Real estate markets are never static and prices for rents and sales can change overnight property managers and real estate sales agents must keep their nose to the grindstone so that they can effectively advise landlords and sellers of rents and prices achievable. 1.1.1 Industry Knowledge • Procedural processes • Systems and processes,  Legislative requirements • Common law requirements  Procedural processes (tribunals, dispute resolution) Property managers must have sound industry knowledge to deal with procedural matters when handling disputes, breaches and representing their landlords at tribunals. Property managers must have processes and procedures for repairs, maintenance, managing the tenancy, handling disputes and representing landlords at tribunals as this is an important aspect of property management. Landlords, will appreciate and have confidence in property managers who provide good service... Sales people must have a sound knowledge of the procedural issues like dealing with caveats and understanding of the transfer and settlement procedures required to manage a property to settlement CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 8 of 76 March 2017  Systems and processes Property managers must have processes, procedures and systems for all day to day management activities of a tenanted property i.e. process for:  recording rental monies and bonds  issuing procedures accounts statements  repairs and maintenance  reducing/minimising risk to clients and the agency Sales people must have strict processes will enable them to:  receipt deposit monies  market property for sale  maintain agency - client communication strategies  manage the property from contract to settlement  Legislative requirements and common law requirements Both property managers and sales people have strict legislative and ethical requirements imposed on them and although all agreements (property managements, tenancy agreements, sales agency agreements and contracts may have legislative requirements they also all have common law requirements. For the above reasons it is central to the role of all licensed agents and their representative to be able to Identify and understand the legal principles and legislative requirements affecting real estate operations Law is the system of rules by which society operates. Law governs human activities and relations through the force of a politically organised society which is backed by force. In Australia there are two levels of government, they are Commonwealth/Federal and State all of the states and territories of Australia that are self-governing are separate jurisdictions, and have their own system of courts and parliaments. The systems of laws in each state are influential on each other, but not binding. Laws passed by the Parliament of Australia apply to the whole of Australia and territories that are not self-governing. 1.2 Legal framework in which real estate agencies operate The organized system of law and government now in force in Australia is derived from on a series of British statutes, notably the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (The Constitution) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 9 of 76 March 2017 1.2.1 The Constitution The Constitution provides for the Parliament of Australia to govern itself under two levels of statute law; Commonwealth/Federal and State. Once a state has been formed it has the power to create its own legislation to govern itself. However, the Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth) retains the power, under the constitution, to retain or make statutes over numerous laws that states cannot over-ride and where a state has the same law as the Commonwealth, then the Commonwealth law will prevail. The Constitution also gives the Commonwealth the power to create Territories, but when Territories are formed they come under Commonwealth statutes. However the Commonwealth may grant a Territory the power to govern itself, which it did in 1976 for the NT through the Northern Territory Self Government Act. However, while the States have plenary power, basically the power to govern itself without interference from the Commonwealth, Territories do not. This means that if the Commonwealth or even a Member of Federal Parliament disagrees with a statute made by a Territory it is not a difficult process to overturn that territories legislation. Whilst Australia remains a member of the Commonwealth Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen as its head of state. 1.2.2 Constitutional Monarchy As the head of state all laws made by the Commonwealth, States or Territories must be approved (Legal term - assented to) by the Queen. However, the Queen is just a figurehead basically the ceremonial head of state and her powers to assented to legislation is delegated to her representatives at Commonwealth, State and Territory level.:  At federal level - to the Governor General  At state level - to the Governor Within the NT - to the Administrator All of the states and territories of Australia that are self-governing are separate jurisdictions, and have their own system of courts and parliaments. The systems of laws in each state are influential on each other, but not binding. Laws passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealth apply to the whole of Australia. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 10 of 76 March 2017 1.2.3 Fundamental Sources of Law Law may be derived from many sources but in Australia there are two fundamental sources of law:  Statute Law – Law made by man (parliament)  Common Law/Case Law – Law based on precedence 1.3 Statute Law (Man- made law) Statute law is legislation that has been passed through Parliament, who when making laws are known as the legislature. Parliament is all the elected members of Parliament, regardless of what political party they belong. The terms 'statute' and 'legislation' may be used interchangeably. Statute law and Legislation are made up of all the individual Acts of Parliament (Acts) that have passed the legislature and have been assented to by the Queens representative at either t Federal, State or Territory level. The Commonwealth/Federal, State Parliament, and those Territories which are self-governing. Federal Parliament has the power to pass laws within their jurisdiction (area of influence). Each State looks after aspects of government such as roads, transport, hospitals and education, which is why laws for these areas differ from State to State. For example: The rules to obtain a driver's licence, such as the age a driver can obtain the licence and the length of the provisional licence period vary in different States.. Statutes passed by Federal Parliament apply to all of Australia. Federal Parliament deals with issues such as defence, national health (Medicare), immigration and trade. 1.4 Common Law Sometimes referred to as case law, common law has evolved over hundreds of years from decisions made by judges while hearing actual cases that have come before a court. Common law is harder to define. The term comes from England, where it originally meant law common to the whole realm, rather than local, customary law. Australia inherited the English common-law tradition, but it is not written down as a particular body of law, however all judges decisions are recorded and used to determine precedence. That is, a judges past decisions may be used as the precedence in a current case. Therefore, common law is law based on precedence and the role of a judge is to interpret and apply the law not make it. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 11 of 76 March 2017 Common law (law based on precedence involves): • Criminal Law • Civil Law • Family Law • Contract Law Quite often common law agreements; which property management agreements, tenancy agreements, sales agency agreements and contract all belong, will contain remedies an aggrieved party may impose if the other party breaches the agreement or the contract. These issues are not dealt with under Statute law (unless the statute law prescribes the nature or format of an agreement). Courts, usually only get involved in contractual or agreement disputes when one party fails to remedy a breach or disputes the fact that they are in default. In these cases a judge has to interpret the meaning of the contract/agreement and give a ruling which will, in most likelihood, involve a precedent (ruling from a previous similar case). If there are no previous rulings from a similar case then the judge has to make a ruling, thus creating precedence. 1.5 Components of Statute Law There are two component s of Statute law:  Primary Legislation  Secondary legislation: 1.5.1 Primary legislation  Acts as made  Start out as Bills  Can only be made and amended by Parliament  Read 3 times before assented to  Assented to by the Queens representative 1.5.2 Secondly Legislation  Includes Regulations, Orders, By laws, proclamations  Made by the executive authority under powers given by the Act  Always subordinate to Primary Legislation  Cannot contradict Primary legislation CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 12 of 76 March 2017 You may wonder what gives the right for parliament to make laws that affect doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, plumbers, electricians and so on; when they do not have the technical knowledge of the area in which they make these laws. Primary laws/ Acts do not impose rules on how a profession, trade or an industry is to apply their technical skills of their vocation. In general terms an Act will impose rules on such things as educational requirements, licensing requirements, consumer protection and related matters. In layman’s terms an Act will provide guidance on what you can or cannot do, but not necessarily on how to do it. On the other hand Secondary legislation often referred to as subordinate legislation, which cannot contradict the Act. Provides further information or explanation of how the Act is to work. For example: whenever an Act sates something is to be done in the prescribed form or format, it is most likely that the prescribed form or format is contained within the secondary legislation, in most cases the Regulations to the Act, or if it is not contained within a secondary piece of legislation it will at least be further explanation of how to comply with an Act. An Act will appoint an executive authority to administer the Act, which includes creating secondary legislation to allow the Act to function. The executive authority is usually a senior public servant responsible to the minister for the preparation of secondary legislation. Be mindful though that the executive authority is not an elected member of Parliament and although they may be authorised to Administer the Act, any secondary legislation they create cannot contradict the Act 1.6. Sourcing Legislation and Regulations Real estate and consumer legislation are the central and critical parts of the system of rules that governs the real estate industry. Laws, that are easier to understand and easier to find, help to improve industry access to justice. As issues that impact upon and influence the industry have become more complex, the legislation governing the industry also has increased in complexity. While legislation addresses complex issues, there is no reason why legislation should be incomprehensible or inaccessible. Legislation must be readily available and readily understood if industry awareness and understanding of the law is to increase. Better access to legislation is crucial for improved access to justice. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 13 of 76 March 2017 Both Commonwealth and State/Territory Governments have introduced a number of measures to improve the way in which legislation is developed, and the accessibility of legislation once it is passed by Parliament. There is a plethora of legislation at both Territory and Federal level that affects the operations of a real estate agency and it would be daunting to mention them all. Furthermore, it can be difficult to identify the jurisdiction (The Commonwealth or State/Territory) that may have precedence over a particular law. A guide that may assist is that if a law affects all Australians then that law is likely to have been made at Commonwealth level. For example: Consumer law affects all consumers; hence the Act that deals with consumer legislation is a commonwealth law (The Competition and Consumer Act) Privacy laws affect all Australians hence the Act that deals with privacy would be a Commonwealth Act (The Privacy Act) Property law, tenancy law, licensing laws, auctioneering etc are specific to each individual jurisdiction and the State/Territory would preside over these laws. So when looking for legislative references you must first decide what jurisdiction would take precedence over the subject? What follows is the significant legislation at both Territory and Commonwealth Federal level that affect the day to day activities of a real estate agency 1.6.1 Significant Legislation (NT)  Law of Property Act (Deals with land transfer and contract)  Land Titles Act (Deals with interests in the land, (ownership, zoning, encumbrances etc)  Agents Licensing Act (Deals with behaviour of agents and their employees and related agency operations)  Residential Tenancies Act (Regulates relationships between landlords and tenants)  Unit Titles Schemes act (Deals with unit Titles from 1 July 2009)  Unit Titles Act (Deals with unit Titles up to 1 July 2009)  Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act (Deals with the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants under commercial leases)  Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Act (Deals with application of Australian Consumer law) in the NT) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 14 of 76 March 2017 1.6.2 Less Significant (not less important)  Auctioneers Act  Swimming Pool Safety Act  Anti-Discrimination Act  Crown Lands Act  Cullen Bay Marina Act  Fences Act  Interpretation Act  Workplace Health and Safety Act 1.6.3 Significant Commonwealth Legislation • Competition and Consumer Act (Australian Consumer Law) • Privacy Act (Australian Privacy Principles) • Do Not Call Register Act (Industry Standards)  Foreign Acquisition and Takeover Act (foreign ownership of land) 1.6.4 Accessing Legislation There are 3 databases that are frequently used to source and access Acts and regulations they are:  NT http://legislation.nt.gov.au  Commonwealth http://www.comlaw.gov.au  All Jurisdiction’s http://www.austlii.edu.au Everybody uses computers differently and will access these sites using the methods that they are comfortable with. To access legislation, for now it is suggested you use a search engine such as google (the only search engine we use at the REINT) for example to access the legislative database, when you become comfortable you can access legislation the way you feel more comfortable, in fact I suggest you save the databases into your favourites on your computer. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 15 of 76 March 2017  To Access the NT legislation website Google legislation.nt.gov.au Select Acts (Regulations will be found in Subordinate Legislation) Choose legislation alphabetically You should now have a screen with the alphabet, whatever Act or Regulation you may wish to view simply click on the corresponding letter to the letter that the Act or regulation starts with: for example, if you wanted to view the Agents Licencing Act you would click on the A.  To access commonwealth legislation Google www.comlaw.gov.au From the menu available choose Acts in Force You should now have the above view Let us say that you want to view the Competition and Consumer Act Select Co all Acts starting with Co will appear simply move through the menu until you find the Competition and Consumer Act and select Important – If you wish to use the edit function (and you most likely will) after locating the Act you MUST download the Act CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 16 of 76 March 2017 You will note that there are three volumes in different formats. For this Act the Volume that we are most interested in is Vol 3 as this contains Schedule 2 Australian Consumer Law which governs and affects all businesses whether they are a company or sole trader. It is suggested that you open up the document as a PDF or Docx  To access all jurisdictions Google austlii From the menu options select Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) From the menu on the left select the jurisdiction you wish to research, in this case select Northern Territory, you should now have a range of legislative and legal references that you can research. To research an Act select Northern Territory Consolidated Acts. Near the top of the page a horizontal menu will appear, simply choose the letter that the Act begins with. This works the same for all jurisdictions CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 17 of 76 March 2017 1.7 Learning Activity 1 Question 1 The organized system of law and government now in force in Australia is derived from on a series of British statutes, notably which Act? Question 2 What jurisdictions have the power to create their own statute law under the Act referred to at Question 1? a. b. Question 3 If both jurisdictions have a law covering the same law which jurisdiction shall prevail? Question 4 If the Commonwealth create a Territory what statute laws does the Territory come under? Question 5 Who is the Queen’s representative in the NT? Question 6 In Australia, what are the two fundamental sources of law? a. b. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 18 of 76 March 2017 Question 7 Explain the two fundamental sources of law in Australia? a. (source of law) Explanation b. (source of law) Explanation Question 8 What are the two components of Statute Law? a. b. Question 9 a. How does an Act start out? b. How many times must it be read before approval? CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 19 of 76 March 2017 Question 10 Provide three examples of Secondary/Subordinate legislation Question 11 Who has the power to create subordinate legislation? Question 12 List 5 significant NT Acts that affects the real estate industry Question 13 List 3 significant Commonwealth Acts affecting the real estate industry CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 20 of 76 March 2017 Practical Activities Practice accessing the significant Acts previously mentioned until you are confident that you can do so. Be aware that the Austlii database is difficult to master and it is not the intention nor is it a requirement of this of this learning guide to teach students how to master these databases, only to provide you sufficient information on their basic use. Students must take the time to practice using these databases and investigate their full use... CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 21 of 76 March 2017 PART 2:– INTERPRET LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENT AFFECTING REAL ESTATE OPERTAION 2. Introduction Reading, understanding and then applying a legislative reference can be quite daunting, often two or more people can read the same piece of legislation and yet interpret it differently even those who have legal training. This learning guide attempts to provide information that will ensure you are able to read legislation and apply its intention, provide you with information of the structure of legislation and its intended purposes that will enable you to make judgements about interpreting a piece of legislation. However, there is no silver bullet that will allow a person to immediately be an expert in the interpretation of legislation. This will only come with practice and experience. 2.1 Structure of legislation. Although the intention of the structure of legislation is to be consistent it is not always the case and this will become apparent as we investigate legislative references. However legislation does follow the following pattern: Legislation is made up of:  Parts  Divisions  Sections  Subsections  Paragraphs  Subparagraphs 2.1.1 Parts and Divisions Each part will generally contain information on the same subject i.e. The Agents Licencing Act (ALA) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 22 of 76 March 2017 Part III Licence to carry on business as agent All the information in this part deals with licencing of real estate agents, however the information is complex and hence it is divided into three divisions  General information  Qualification for Licence as an agent  Applications, objections and determination of applications for licences Generally speaking if you wanted to know about licensing issues affecting real estate then you would research Part 3 in its entirety 2.1.2 Sections As a matter of convenience, Acts are divided into numbered sections which are consistent throughout an Act. For example you will note the ALA has no section 10, this may be originally a misprint, however, it has not been replaced as it will affects the content of the numerical sequence of the Act i.e. Section 10 would become section 11 and so on. You will also notice that there is a section 22 and a section 22A (and other similar sections). Section 22A may have been added to the Act sometime after the original Act was assented to. Rather than again changed the numerical sequence the legislature the legislature added 22A which does not change the content of the subsequent sections. A Section will contain one idea. Example of a section 1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Agents Licensing Act. 2.1.3 Sub-sections A section may contain more than one idea to make the provisions of the Act easier to refer to; the sections themselves may be divided into smaller segments which are known as subsections. A subsection is denoted as a number within brackets. The following example is taken from the Agents Licensing Act. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 23 of 76 March 2017 Example: Section with sub sections 6 The Board (1) For the purposes of this Act, there shall be a Board, to be known as the Agents Licensing Board of the Northern Territory. (2) The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and shall be capable of suing and being sued in its corporate name. (3) All courts, judges and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the common seal of the Board affixed to a document and shall presume that it was duly affixed. 2.1.4. Paragraphs The subsections may themselves contain more than one idea and may be divided into smaller segments which are known as paragraphs. A paragraph is denoted by a letter of the alphabet within brackets. Example of a section divided into subsections one of which is divided into two paragraphs (3)(a)(b). 15 Member not to act where interested (1) A member who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter being considered or about to be considered by the Board, otherwise than as a member of, and in common with the other members of, a company consisting of not less than 25 persons and of which the member is not a director, shall, as soon as possible after the relevant facts have come to the member's knowledge, disclose the nature of the member's interest at a meeting of the Board. (2) A disclosure under subsection (1) shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board. (3) Where: (a) a member has an interest of a description referred to in subsection (1); or CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 24 of 76 March 2017 (b) an application by a member for the grant of a licence or for registration as an agent's representative is being considered or about to be considered by the Board, that member shall not take part in any deliberation or decision of the Board in relation to the matter which is the subject of the member's interest or in relation to the application, as the case may be, and shall be disregarded for the purpose of constituting a quorum of the Board in relation to that matter or application. 2.1.5 Sub-Paragraphs The paragraph may then be divided into smaller segments which are known as subparagraphs. A subparagraph is denoted by a roman numeral within brackets. Example of a section divided into subsections, divided into paragraphs of which one paragraphs (2)(a) is further divided in to sub-paragraphs 55 Accounting records (1) A licensed agent shall keep such accounting records as disclose particulars of – (a) all trust moneys received from day to day by the agent on behalf of each principal for whom he or she acts; and (b) all payments made by the agent from day to day out of the trust moneys so received. (2) A licensed agent shall – (a) keep the accounting records referred to in subsection (1) – (i) in written or printed form in the English language; or (ii) so as to enable them to be readily accessible and readily convertible into written or printed form in the English language; (b) cause those records to be kept in such a manner that they can be conveniently and properly audited; and (c) retain those records for a period of not less than 6 years after the date on which the last entry in those records was made. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 25 of 76 March 2017 The fact that an Act is set out in sections, subsections and paragraphs is a matter of convenience; but its only legal effect arises if there is a conflict between two sections in the same Act 2.1.6 Overall Layout of the Structure of Legislation Furthermore it must be remembered that there are two components of statute law, primary and secondary. Although the secondary legislation is not located within the Primary legislation it still forms part of the Act and as such a breach of a regulation or other secondary legislation is still deemed a breach of the Act. To further understand the structure of legislation you must also understand its layout. Note: do not forget that it was mentioned previously that Acts are not always consistent in their layout or their terms. But in general terms an Act does attempt to retain its consistency. Using the NT legislative database open the Agents licensing Act. Your page will look like the figure below Before discussing the remainder of the layout of an Act it is important to know the date the Act came into effect in this case 28 May 2012 CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 26 of 76 March 2017 2.1.6.1 Parts of an Act  Part 1 (using the ALA as a guide) This part always introduces you to the Act; and will usually include:  The short title – How you may refer to the Act  Commencement - date in which the Act commenced and/or where information on commencement may be sought  Repeal - The Act that was replaced by this Act  Application - Who the Act applies to  Interpretation - Interprets the meaning of word or phrases for the purpose of this Act  Exemptions - Who the board may exempt from parts of this Act  Other information - Any other information the administrator of the Act may want a reader to know before applying sections of the Act  Part 2 Part 2 usually introduces the reader to the person/s or agency responsible for the administering of the Act, how they are appointed, and length of appointment, their basic duties and responsibilities.  Subsequent parts of the Act  Subsequent parts of the Act then deal with subjects affecting the person/s who come under the Act, how they are to apply the Act and its provisions and subjects regarding the administrator’s responsibilities.  In the case of the ALA there are 13 Parts with the last part being  Part 13 Miscellaneous (which is the same for most Acts CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 27 of 76 March 2017 2.1.6.2 The Long Title The long title of the Act appears at the end of the Provisions of the Act (index) and before Part 1 of the Act. The long title tells the reader what the Act provides for. NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA ____________________ This reprint shows the Act as in force at 28 May 2012. Any amendments that commence after that date are not included. ____________________ AGENTS LICENSING ACT An Act to provide for the licensing of certain agents, the registration of representatives of those licensed agents and for related purposes Part I Preliminary 1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Agents Licensing Act. The short title is usually the first words at the top of the Act ie Agents Licensing Act The Term short title refers to the short name given to a Bill or Act, usually by its first clause or section, consisting of a name and the year of enactment, E.g. section 1 Agents Licensing Act states: “This Act may be cited as the Agents Licensing Act” CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 28 of 76 March 2017 2.1.6.3 Schedules Some Acts but not all Acts; after the last Part may have a schedule or schedules. Schedules provide further information about the administration of the Act or a part of the act. Schedules are often further defined in the Regulations of an Act or other secondary legislation 2.1.6.4 Endnotes This heading indicates that you are now reading a law’s end matter. It will normally include a Table of Acts, Table of Instruments, Amendment history/table of amendments, in the Agents licensing Act it includes • Key to abbreviations • List of legislation whose changes have affected the working of the Act • List of Amendments to the Act Looks like this ENDNOTES 1 KEY Key to abbreviations amd = amended od = order app = appendix om = omitted bl = by-law pt = Part ch = Chapter r = regulation/rule cl = clause rem = remainder div = Division renum = renumbered exp = expires/expired rep = repealed f = forms s = section Gaz = Gazette sch = Schedule hdg = heading sdiv = Subdivision ins = inserted SL = Subordinate Legislation lt = long title sub = substituted nc = not commenced CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 29 of 76 March 2017 2 LIST OF LEGISLATION Land and Business Agents Act 1979 (Act No. 57, 1979) Assent date 18 May 1979 Commenced 9 November 1979 (Gaz G45, 9 November 1979, p 2) Business Names (National Uniform Legislation) Implementation Act 2012 (Act No. 8, 2012) Assent date 27 April 2012 Commenced pts 3 and 4: 28 May 2012 (Cth proclamation F2012L00891: 19 April 2012) ; rem: 27 April 2012 (s 2) No 2 The List of Legislation is important as it will later help find the nature of the amendments that have affected this Act 3 SAVINGS AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS s 16 Land and Business Agents Amendment Act 1985 (Act No. 66, 1985) s 5(3) Land and Business Agents Amendment Act 1989 (Act No. 74, 1989) s 23 Land and Business Agents Amendment Act 1992 (Act No. 33, 1992) s 5(5) Statute Law Revision Act (No. 2) 1999 (Act No. 48, 1999) s 37 Agents Licensing Amendment Act 2002 (Act No. 69, 2002) Part XI ceased to operate on 1 March 1990, Gaz G8, 28 February 1990, p 6 4 LIST OF AMENDMENTS s 1 sub No. 79, 1991, s 4 s 4 amd No. 95, 1981, s 4; No. 23, 1997, s 6; No. 37, 1998, s 2; No. 69, 2002, s 36; No. 29, 2010, s 7 s 5 amd No. 34, 1980, s 3; No. 66, 1985, s 4; No. 2, 1986, s 3; No. 64, 1986, s 2; No. 59, 1987, s 2; No. 74, 1989, s 4; No. 44, 1990, s 4; No. 59, 1990, s 4; No. 31, 1991, s 14; No. 79, 1991, s 5; No. 23, 1992, s 4; 2.2 Using the NT Legislative Database EXERCISE 1: Let us say I was opening my own real estate agency and I required information about opening Trust Accounts. First of all I would need to know which Act is appropriate, and when you consider the Long Title of the CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 30 of 76 March 2017 ALA it is reasonable to assume that Trust accounts are related purposes to licensing, hence I would open and search the ALA. Go ahead and open the ALA and it will open at this page  If you look at the Top Left Corner you will see the words File, Edit, view etc  left click on edit and a drop box will appear at the bottom of the box is the word find  left click on find and a search box will appear (usually) at the bottom of the screen  in the search box type one word that describes what it is you want to find in this case the word trust  then left click on the next or if using different version of Microsoft everywhere the word trust appears it will be highlighted in the document If the words File, edit, view etc are not present on your screen set up your toolbar so they are, if you cannot do this simply hold down the control button and key the letter F and the search box will appear Continue to left click next or Notice however that the word trust does not come before or after the word opening, you must be alert to this and should notice that at CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 31 of 76 March 2017 PART V just under the heading are the words opening of account. Obviously Part 5 is about trust account; hence section 50 MUST deal with the opening of trust accounts.  Now go to the right hand side of the page and collect the scroll bar and move down until you come to section 50 which provides information of opening trust accounts. The reason we only choose one word is that because if the words you choose do not appear in the Act in the sequence you type them this function will not work If we had chosen the word account we would have been taken to section 50 in only 3 clicks If we had used the word opening we would have been directed to s50 as we were typing the word in the search box. So as you can see it is all about trying to choose the appropriate word to begin your search. Another point to note is that when you change the word you are searching for you will need to reset the search. That is, delete the original word used from the search box, return to the top of the Act and click anywhere near the top. And insert your new search word in the box. If you do not do this and just change the word without researching the search will commence at the page you are currently at. Exercise 2 - How long must an agent keep trust account records? Choose your word; what word did you use?...... Try finding the answer to this response, if you cannot you will find comments on this exercise at Learning Activity 2 Exercise 3 – How are a husband and wife to be treated when buying property? In some cases, certainly those persons with little or no experience using legislation might not be able to identify the Act which may contain this information. One way to find this is to open the NT Legislation data base and follow the steps below. At the top of the page you will note the search button Previous Next Expand Collapse Search CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 32 of 76 March 2017 Legislation - by Alpha A B C  Left click on the search button Search for Options Sort results by Return a maximum of results Use word variants ("cat" will also find "cats") Fuzzy search  Choose a word from the question in this and type it in the search box; in this case I choses the word husband.  Left click on search The search will have found the following Acts 6 documents found STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT MARRIED PERSONS (EQUALITY OF STATUS) ACT 1989 COMPENSATION (FATAL INJURIES) ACT LAW REFORM (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT INTERPRETATION ACT LAW OF PROPERTY ACT Search for husband As we are discussing real estate the only Act in the references that deals with real estate is the Law of Property Act (LPA), which if we know the ling title is an Act dealing with the transfer of property  Left click on the LPA  Now follow the steps edit-find etc and type the word husband in the search box Notice it takes us directly to section 14 CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 33 of 76 March 2017  Now scroll down to section 14 which states: 14 Rights of husband and wife A person and the person to whom he or she is legally married are to be treated as 2 persons for the purposes of an acquisition of an interest in property.  If you kept clicking the next button it would have taken you to section 14 in just 3 clicks This also would have works if you chose the word wife If you had chosen the word buying you would not have found the reference If you had chosen the word property it would have given you a plethora of references, which you would have to work through, but with persistence you would have found the reference 2.3 Using the Comlaw Data-base The Comlaw database is not as simple to use as the NT database, however as you use this website you shall become more familiar with it. When asked a question that requires a legislative answer you need to identify whether that answer will be contained in Commonwealth or Territory legislation. As a guide anything that affects consumers will be covered in Commonwealth legislation for example: Consumers are protected by Australian Consumer Law (ACL) (contained within the Competition and Consumer Act) (CCA) Every Australian has the right to privacy in business related activities (Privacy Act, Commonwealth) Every Australian has the right not to be interrupted at home by tele-marketing calls under the Do Not Call register Act (Commonwealth legislation controlled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Therefore, when deciding where to look for your reference you will need to make a choice of Commonwealth or Territory Legislation Exercise 4 Let us say that I want to know the pecuniary (monetary fine) penalty for a body corporate engaging in false and misleading representations about the sale of land (False advertising) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 34 of 76 March 2017 The first thing you need to realise that the words body corporate is not a reference to body corporates under the Unit Title Acts but it is s reference to any company providing goods and services. The second thing to consider is that who is affected by false and misleading representations? And that would be the public. But not all the public will be interested in a particular advertisement (as they may have no interest in the product or service). But when the advertising attracts a member of the public then that person becomes a consumer who may buy the product or use the services which are the subject of the advertising. Therefore if a person responds to false or misleading representation or is affected by false and misleading representations then they are considered consumers and it is the Competition and Consumer Act that they would look to for protection and remedies. Open up the Comlaw website as previously instructed and download the CCA NOTE: You must download or you will not be able to use the find facility in word or PDF format Although Vol 1 and Vol 2 are important for business owners the volume that directly affects real estate agents and their representatives is Vol 3 as this contains Schedule 2, ACL Left click on Vol 3 (I prefer DocX) and it will ask you to open as a Microsoft word document press OK Click on the find facility (Top right corner) if not present hold down control and Key the letter F The word I have chosen is misleading; enter this word into the search box you will now find everywhere misleading is mentioned is highlighted. Then either a. Scroll down until the section dealing with False and misleading representations about sale of land is apparent. Or b. Left click next until you come to section 30 (4 clicks) If you then scroll down to section 30 it tells us what false and misleading representations are, it also tells us that a person or company found guilty is subject to pecuniary penalty but it does not tell us what the pecuniary penalty is. However if you keep clicking it will take you to section 152 and this time when you scroll to section 152 you will see that the pecuniary penalty is CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 35 of 76 March 2017 Penalty: (a) if the person is a body corporate—$1,100,000; or (b) if the person is not a body corporate—$220,000. To understand how the ACL works go back to the first page of the ACL. The ACL has 5 chapters Ch 1 Introduction Ch 2 General protections Ch 3 Specific Protections Ch 4 Offences Ch 5 Enforcement and Remedies Chapter 1 Introduces us to the Act is like preliminary in the NT Acts Chapter 2 General protections details what consumers are generally protected from without dealing in specifics for example unconscionable conduct can be demonstrated in many ways as can, unfair practices etc. Chapter 3 Specific protections details what consumers are specifically protected from Chapter 4 Specifically tells us how a person can commit an offence and what the pecuniary penalties are. Chapter 4 directly relates to chapter 3 Chapter 5 Tells us about the enforcement and remedies if a consumers general protections are breached. Ch 5 relates directly to Ch 2. Exercise 5 What is the pecuniary penalty for unconscionable conduct? Using the find facility you will find that unconscionable conduct is a breach of Part 2-2 in chapter 2, hence the pecuniary penalty must be detailed in Ch 5. Unfortunately using the word unconscionable will not lead you directly to the answer. But now you know that unconscionable conduct is a breach of 2-2, try typing 2-2 into your search box 1 a provision of Part 2-2 (a) if the person is a body corporate—$1.1 million; or (b) if the person is not a CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 36 of 76 March 2017 body corporate— $220,000. It only takes 5 clicks to find the answer Exercise 6 – What is the pecuniary penalty for an individual offering gift, rebates or prizes that you do not follow through with/ Should have found the answer in 14 clicks or two clicks and scrolled to the answer Try finding it yourself; confirm your answer at learning activity 2 Exercise 7 - Where are the clauses of the Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) set out? Which Act did you download?............................... Which word did you use to search with?.......... Comments on this Exercise is at Learning Activity 2 Exercise 8 – Which APP deals with collection of personal information 2.4 using the Austlii Database Open up the Austlii database NT legislation And find the answer for the following question? If an agent or agent’s representative purchases property from their own agency what form must be filled in and passed on to each party of the sale? First you must decide what Act to look in... as it deals with an action a licensed agent or agent’s representative must conduct it would be appropriate to search the ALA – open the ALA at the austlii website Northern Territory Consolidated Acts [Index] [Table] [Search] [Search this Act] [Notes] [Noteup] [Download] [Help] Notice it has a Search this Act Function left click on that The page will then look similar to this CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 37 of 76 March 2017 To search for legal material not on AustLII use WorldLII. Enter search query Find [Help] [Search operators] Select the AusLII Database(s) to search: All AustlII Databases Selected document .................................................... Do not concern yourself with Boolean Query this is a search formula used in databases Enter the word you have chosen for the search in the box “Enter search query” What word have you chosen?........I would have chosen purchase Type “purchase” into the search box and left click search you should now get the following screen 1. AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 108H Sale etc. by agent with interest in sale [100%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Acts; 3 KB) 2. AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 108G Restriction on agent etc. purchasing or selling property in which the agent is interested [64%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Acts; 6 KB) This Boolean Query Search Reset CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 38 of 76 March 2017 3. AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 108F Definitions [57%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Acts; 6 KB) 4. AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 84A Publication of findings and determination [42%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Acts; 2 KB) 5. AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 5 Interpretation [35%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Acts; 13 KB) From the choices given the more likely reference would be 2 as it directly relates to an agent who has an interest in purchasing property. Left click on the blue writing in the database and read section 108G make sure you read all subsections to get a full understanding. You will notice that when it gets to section 108G (6) it states: (6) This section does not apply if: (a) the land or business is purchased by a person who is a shareholder or creditor of a licensed agent that is: (i) a corporation the shares of which are listed on a prescribed financial market (as defined in section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 ); or (ii) a prescribed corporation; or (b) the interested party acted honestly and reasonably; or (c) the principal is in substantially as good a position as if the interested party had no interest whatsoever in the purchase or sale; or (d) the interested party has complied with section 108H. Two of which state: (b) the interested party acted honestly and reasonably (d) the interested party has complied with section 108H Remember that an Act basically tells what to do not necessarily how to do it. So how do you prove that you acted honestly or reasonably? Instead of worrying about section (6)(b) let’s look at (6)(d) left click on highlighted section 108H. (on the database) AGENTS LICENSING ACT - SECT 108H Sale etc. by agent with interest in sale (1) An interested party may purchase directly or indirectly, or be beneficially interested in the purchase of, land or a business from a person who is a principal for whom the interested party is acting as agent if the interested party makes a full disclosure of the interested party's intention to purchase or of the interested party's beneficial interest in the purchase. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 39 of 76 March 2017 (2) An interested party may sell directly or indirectly, or be beneficially interested in the sale of, land or a business from a person who is a principal for whom the interested party is acting as agent if the interested party makes a full disclosure of the interested party's intention to sell or of the interested party's beneficial interest in the sale. (3) A disclosure under subsection (1) or (2) is to be in the prescribed form and subject to the prescribed conditions, if any. (4) A form prescribed for the purposes of subsection (3) is to: (a) provide that full details of the intention to purchase or sell or of the beneficial interest in the purchase or sale are to be set out in or attached to the form; and (b) contain a statement to the effect that, by virtue of the interested party's relationship with the principal, the interested party may have gained information in relation to the principal's circumstances and the proposed purchase or sale that may place the interested party in a position of advantage. Notice that section 108H(3) states (3) A disclosure under subsection (1) or (2) is to be in the prescribed form and subject to the prescribed conditions, if any. Remembering again an Act basically tells you what to and whenever an Act makes reference to a prescribed form that prescribed form is usually in secondary legislation, generally the prescribed form will be detailed in the Regulations to the Act Go back to the Very beginning of the Austlii website choose Northern territory but then choose Northern Territory consolidated regulations and begin your search in the Agents Licensing regulations (ALRegs) using again the word purchase And you should find:- 1. AGENTS LICENSING REGULATIONS - REG 24 Disclosure of intention to purchase or sell, &c. [100%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations; 2 KB) 2. AGENTS LICENSING REGULATIONS - SCHEDULE 1 [30%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations; 31 KB) 3. AGENTS LICENSING REGULATIONS - SCHEDULE 4 [2%] (From Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations; 8 KB) In the database click on the first reference because that states Disclosure to purchase Almost the first thing it tells us that a disclosure is to be made on a Form 13 or 14, but it still does not lead us to that form AGENTS LICENSING REGULATIONS - REG 24 Disclosure of intention to purchase or sell, &c. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 40 of 76 March 2017 (1) A disclosure pursuant to section 108H of the Act shall be in accordance with Form 13 or 14. Go back and try the second reference scroll through and you will find that Schedule 1 contains all the forms So the answer to; Which form to use when purchasing property from your agency? Would be a Form 13 Exercise 9 Using the Austlii data base find the Act and section that deals with the form of contract that must be used when selling property Comments on this exercise at learning activity 2, but first try and locate it without reference to the comments Summary By now you should have comprehended that using legislation is not always straightforward, however, with a little thought and persistence you should be able to find legislative references. There are many search engines available to assist (The REINT prefers Google). External students are encouraged to contact the trainers at the REINT for assistance at any time Mon-FI 9am-5pm 2.5 Common Interpretation problems Legislation is written by legal minds in such a way that there should be no misrepresentation, at a legal level. This sometimes makes it difficult for lay people to easily read and understand legislation, but if we understand what causes common interpretation problems we can then use techniques and rules to assist us with interpretation. The common interpretation problems are: • Ambiguous words • Broad phrases • Implied words • Printing errors • Unforeseen developments (technology) 2.5.1 Ambiguous words CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 41 of 76 March 2017 These are words that are open to more than one interpretation, have a double meaning or are unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made. Interpretation or definitions at the beginning of an Act may define certain words or phrases this definition is to be used for consistency throughout the Act. If there are no appropriate interpretations or definitions you may use a dictionary and apply the dictionary meaning. 2.5.2 Broad phrases Broad phrases are used to try and take several circumstances into consideration using official language and in doing so often create long conflated sentences and paragraphs in which a reader gets lost and has to read the sentence or paragraph, slowly and several times before understanding creeps in. 2.5.3 Implied words These are words that we may imply due to current conventions, however, legislation is written for the day; therefore we should not imply words into what we read. It is also true that we should not leave out words, which we tend to do when we read i.e. adjoining words like and, or if etc. 2.5.4 Printing errors No one is infallible and occasionally a word may be miss-spelt or used in the wrong context. 2.5.5 Unforeseen Developments Changes in technology i.e. when agencies computerised their trust account systems the ALA did not allow for electronic banking. 2.6 Rules and Techniques for Interpreting Legislation There are certain rules that judges and lawyers will use to interpret legislation, these will be discussed later, but there are techniques that you can apply to assist in interpreting legislation they are: • Internal Techniques • External techniques 2.6.1 Internal Techniques These are the techniques available through your own knowledge and internally within the Act that you are using, they include CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 42 of 76 March 2017 • Read the act as a whole • Language conventions • Long title • Definitions • Purpose • Punctuation • End notes • Amendments 2.6.1.1 Read the Act as a Whole This does not mean that you have to read the whole Act to understand it, but what it does mean is you must read the whole section including sub-sections, paragraphs and subparagraphs and any other sections that it refers you to. This should allow understanding of the whole section.. 2.6.1.2 Language conventions This is the proper use of grammar, spelling, and language of the day and the effect of words. The English language is such that it has many words that sound the same but do not have the same meaning and whenever we read legislation we must always use the language of the day when it was written. For instance if we were reading legislation that was written in the 1930’s the word gay would have different connotations to that of legislation, using the same word, written today. Language conventions also means understanding the difference between words such as must and may, shall and should. Must and shall implies that something is imperative and is required to be carried out while may and should implies an opinion or recommendation that although may be a good idea is neither imperative nor a requirement. 2.6.1.3 Long Title The long title provides a brief explanation of what the Act is about i.e. The Law of Property Act An Act to consolidate, amend and reform the law relating to conveyancing, property and contract, and for related purposes Reading the long title will assist you in determining if an Act is the appropriate Act to use for the reference you are trying to locate 2.6.1.4 Definitions/Interpretations CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 43 of 76 March 2017 Usually found in Part 1 of all Acts Definitions or interpretations will define certain words or phrases which are then to be interpreted consistently within an Act. 2.6.1.5 Purpose/Object Like the long title the purpose or the object of the act will help you determine the relevance of an Act when trying to locate references. 2.6.1.6 Punctuation Punctuation is important when interpreting legislation; if we do not interpret punctuation correctly then we may also mis-interpret the intent of the legislation. Example “What are you doing?” is a fairly innocuous question while on the other hand: “What are you doing!” has different connotations because of the added exclamation mark. 2.6.2 External techniques External techniques, when used, take us to other references other than the Act we are using, external techniques include:  Interpretation Acts  Hansard  Judicial Interpretations  Traditional Rules 2.6.2.1 Interpretation Act In the NT we have the Interpretation Act which is an act for the interpretation of all acts and for the shortening of their language and for other purposes. This Act will define things such as business days, clear days and timings etc. In Commonwealth Legislation it is referred to as the Act Interpretation Act 2.6.2.2 Hansard Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. A Hansard is maintained for the Parliament of Australia, the Australian state parliaments, as well as the Parliament (Legislative Assembly) of the NT CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 44 of 76 March 2017 It provides an accurate, timely and efficient report of the proceedings of the Parliament and its committees in the form of the Daily Hansard. The Senate and House of Representatives Hansards are available on the Internet each morning following a sitting day. Hansards of Committee hearings are also available online. These transcripts are published shortly after the committee meets. Hansard records everything said in Parliament and assists in interpreting legislative issues because it records the reason why something may be in an act or the purpose behind a legislative issue. The electronic version of Hansard is available from 1981 onwards 2.6.2.3 Judicial Interpretations Judicial interpretation are not just the common law interpretations, they also interpret the intent or purpose of an Act when it is not clear. To help judges make judicial interpretations about a piece of legislation they refer to the traditional rules. Judicial interpretations are the rulings and interpretations as made by the courts and can be found through austlii 2.6.2.4 Traditional Rules These are the rules that may be applied by the court when interpreting legislation to the extent that the words being considered are capable of different meanings, courts endeavour to ascertain in a principled way which of them is the more probable meaning. This is the presumed meaning sometimes described as the "legal meaning". The traditional rules are • The Plain Meaning Rule • The Golden Rule • The Mischief Rule • The Purpose Approach.  Plain Meaning/Literal Rule The plain meaning rule can also be referred to as the literal rule; the ordinary rule; or the grammatical rule. It is a very simple rule. It means what it says. If the meaning of the Act is plain, it is to be given that plain meaning. The test as to whether the rule is to be applied is that the ordinary meaning is that which an ordinary person would place upon it. Generally if the words of a statute are clear and unambiguous, the courts give them their ordinary meaning. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 45 of 76 March 2017  Golden Rule If the statutory provision is ambiguous and the plain meaning rule cannot be used. An Act must be read in such as manner as to avoid a result of manifest absurdity (devoid of meaning) or injustice. The court would conclude that the Parliament did not intend injustice. If the reader uses the ordinary meaning of the word and this gives rise to absurdity or a result clearly inconsistent with the remainder of the Act, then the reader must use a meaning that will remove the absurdity; injustice or inconsistency. In the event of absurdity, ambiguity or inconsistency on the literal interpretation of the Act, the court adopts the meaning which reflects the purpose of the legislation.  Mischief Rule This rule is used to find the meaning of an Act when the meaning is obscure. To do this the reader must ask four questions, namely: • What was the state of the law before the Act was passed? • What was the mischief or defect for which the law did not provide before the Act was passed? • What remedy has Parliament provided in the Act to cure the mischief or defect? • What is the true reason for the remedy? When applying the mischief rule to an ambiguous provision (and it can only be applied to an ambiguous provision) of the Act, the court will give an interpretation to that ambiguous provision to alleviate the mischief  Purpose Approach This rule is a development of the Mischief Rule. Some Acts contain a section known as a statement of principle which sets out the purpose of that legislation. Since the statement of principle is contained in a section of the Act, it must not be treated as a preamble or a long title; but rather as a substantive part of the Act. The purpose approach is applied only when an attempt to use the plain meaning rule produced an ambiguity or an inconsistency. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 46 of 76 March 2017 7. Writing Legislative References The intention of this training package is not to teach you how to be lawyers and as such the REINT assessors will allow latitude with referencing legislation. All the assessors wish to know at the REINT, for the purpose of the training package, is that candidates can identify the appropriate sections of an act, but not necessarily to the extent that someone in the legal profession would. BE ADVISED THOUGH that if you have to represent your client or yourself at tribunals or courts and make legislative reference they will have to be succinct and direct to the point. Exercise 10 Let us say that I want the reference for: “Within how many days does the Commissioner of Police have to make an objection to the Registrar to the grant of the application for an agents licence?” It should be obvious that the answer can be located in the ALA, go ahead and find the reference- The solution can be confirmed in learning activity 2. 2.8 Penalty Units NT As we have been working through legislation you will have notice reference to penalty units. In the NT we have the Penalty Units Act and the Penalty Units Regulations. A penalty unit is a reference to monetary value; in the NT we have the Penalty Units Act (PUA), the reason we have the PUA is that if the legislatures were to put the monetary value of a pecuniary penalty in the Act every time the monetary value changed then the Act would need to be changed and because it is only Parliamentarians who can change an Act this would be over burdensome and impossible to administer, hence all Acts make reference Penalty units when the monetary value of these units change regulators only have to change one piece of legislation. In the NT, the PUA allows for the executive authority (senior public servant answerable to the minister) to change the monetary value of the penalty unit through the Regulations to the Act, which he/she can do annually. Therefore when determining the monetary value of a penalty unit it is the PUARegs that must be referenced, as of 23 January 2017 the monetary value of a penalty unit in the NT is $154.00. Therefore if you see that if a penalty is a maximum of 500 points that is 500 x 154 ($77,000) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 47 of 76 March 2017 Notice that most legislation states maximum, this means that if fined it could be anywhere between .01 of a penalty unit up to the maximum. If however the word maximum does not appear in front of the penalty units then if a pecuniary penalty applies there are no ifs or buts; that is the fine. So if the a landlord charged a tenant more than four weeks rent for bond they may face a maximum fine of 20 penalty units which equates to $3,080.00 2.8.1 Penalty Units Commonwealth In Commonwealth legislation the value of a penalty unit can be found in the Crimes Act Vol1, s4AA(1) which is $180.00 2.9 Interpretation Judgements (activity) Not just the purpose of this unit of competency but throughout the full course. Exercise 11 You will be required in the learning activities and in your assessment to describe in your own words what is ............. Your answer is not to be regurgitation of the reference you have found but in your own words as this will demonstrate understanding. With that in mind use your initiative and find a reference from where you can, in your own words, describe unconscionable conduct. Comment on this is in learning activity 2 2.10 Learning Activity 2 Question 1 What is the pecuniary penalty for a. an individual who employs an unregistered representative? Penalty Units: $: CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 48 of 76 March 2017 b. What is the pecuniary penalty if a person (not a body corporate) is found guilty of bait advertising? $: Practical Activities - Provide the references for the following a. Which section of which Act deals with how the Commissioner of Police may object to the grant of an application for registration as an agent's representative? Ref: b.. Which section of which Act deals with notice to be given to a tenant to gain access to inspect the premises? Ref: c. Which section of which Act deals with times for auctions? Ref: d. Which section of which Act deals with certain retail shops that are excluded from operation of the Act 5 Ref: e. Which section of which Act details the particulars that the Registrar- General must record in the land register?7 Ref: f. Which section of which Act deals with the forms of co- ownership of land? Ref: CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 49 of 76 March 2017 g. Provide the reference for the prescribed form a Land owner would use to inform their neighbour that the fence between their properties would become the dividing barrier for their swimming pool? Ref: Question 2 In your own word explain the following terms in a matter involving real estate a. Vicarious liability b. Beneficial Interest c. Fiduciary Question 3 What are three common interpretation problems when reading legislation? CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 50 of 76 March 2017 Question 4 What are four internal techniques we can use in interpreting legislation? Question 5 What are three external techniques or sources we can use in interpreting legislation? Question 6 What are the four traditional rules for interpreting legislation? Question 7 Explain the difference between the language convention of Must and May CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 51 of 76 March 2017 Comments on Exercises Exercise 2 If you chose the word trust it would have taken you to s56 in just 6 clicks of the next button, you should have noticed that at s55 it talks about agents records this should be hint that if you read s55 you should have found the answer 6 years If you used the word account it would have taken you to s55 in just 7 clicks If you used the word records this time it will take you directly to section 555 Exercise 6 Penalty: (b) if the person is not a body corporate—$220,000 Exercise 7 If you used the word privacy you would probably have found it at the Provisions of the Act and found Section 14, scrolled there and found that they are laid out at Schedule 2. If you had used the word principle you would have found the same answer slightly quicker. Exercise 8 By going to Schedule 1 you should have found principle APP2 Exercise 9 This exercise may have caused a bit of confusion because many people would have looked at the Law of Property Act (LPA) as this deals with the transfer of property and contract, and you may have found section 62 of the LPA states: that a contract is to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged or by a person lawfully authorised by the party. However this is the wrong answer, this reference simply states that contracts are to be in writing not the form they are to take. If this is the case then re-consider the question, who would be responsible for detailing the form a contract should take? Or who is responsible for ensuring Agents and their representatives abide by the requirements of an Act in the NT? CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 52 of 76 March 2017 You should know that this would be the Agents Licensing Board who has se jurisdiction over the ALA, search the ALA. If you used the word contract you should have found that section 121A of the ALA states that contracts must be in the approved form. Approved form is not the prescribed form, therefore you will not find the approved form in Secondary legislation, but is available from the department of business website. Try googling (the only search engine used at the REINT for training) Contract of sale NT and open the dept of business NT website. Exercise 10 you should have found section 28 And the reference should be written as ALA s28 ALA being the Act s being the section, however the more succinct and correct answer that would be expected from legal professional would be ALA s28(1) because sub section 1 is the only part of the s28 which directly answers the question Exercise 11 you may have found: something like The doctrine in contract law that describes terms that are so extremely unjust, or overwhelmingly one-sided in favour of the party who has the superior bargaining power, that they are contrary to good conscience. However it should be converted into your own words which as this is the only true way for you demonstrate understanding. When a contract describes terms that unfairly advantage the person with the superior bargaining power to the detriment of the weaker party, In real estate an example of this is when an agent does not disclose their beneficial interest and takes advantage of the seller. The best definition I have found is Conduct that goes beyond the bounds of good conscience CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 53 of 76 March 2017 PART 3– IDENTIFY CHANGES TO LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS AFFECTING REAL ESTATE OPERATIONS 3. Introduction Statutes are living documents; that is they are subject to frequent change. It is imperative that real estate agencies have processes in place to track these changes, amend their processes and inform all relevant people so that: a. They do not put individuals in situations where they may be in breach of the law b. They do not put the agency in situations where the agency breaches the law c. They do not put consumers at risk because the agency or the individual from the agency puts the consumer in a position where they may be in breach of the law. 3.1 Causes of Changes to legislation The main things that cause legislative change are:  Political change  Economical change  Social change  Technological Change Easy to remember by the Acronym PEST 3.1.1 Political change Political changes generally occur when governments change. During election campaigns each party makes promises that if they win power they will do this or that. When a political party wins government, they usually have to fulfil their promises by changing legislation or creating new legislation. 3.1.2 Economical Change For quite some time now all commodities are traded on the global market governments have to make changes to their economic policies to grow the country’s wealth. This may involve things like tax breaks to induce overseas CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 54 of 76 March 2017 investment, changes to tax laws to catch tax evaders, subsidising, industries, etc to compete on the global market and many other things. 3.1.3 Social Change Social changes are changes that are made to improve the population’s social standing or social conscience, things like unemployment benefits, job assistance benefits, home buyer grants, even things such as the recent same sex marriage debate, consumer protection, privacy and several years ago the euthanasia laws which caused such a social rift the NT euthanasia laws were over-ruled by federal parliament. 3.1.4 Technological Change These are changes caused by new inventions or processes for example; the internet and the privacy issues that come with internet use, social media and how it’s used. Not so long ago computerised accounting systems changed the way we maintain our trust accounts in real estate. 3.2 Processes that lead to change The main processes that lead to legislative and regulatory change are:  Government agency approvals  Administrator approvals (in the NT) Governor (state) Govener- General (Commonwealth)  Ministerial approvals  Parliamentary approvals Acronym GAMP 3.2.1 Government Agency Approvals Each government agency is headed by a very senior bureaucrat (government employee) although these bureaucrats cannot change legislation and neither can they change regulation (without the minister’s approval) they do advise the minister on a range of issues including legislation and regulations. Often one of these senior persons will advise their minister of a different way of doing something that can be administered through a change to secondary legislation and provided that change does not contradict the workings of the primary legislation then the agency may commence the process to change the secondary legislation. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 55 of 76 March 2017 3.2.2 Administrator Approvals Although most people believe the Administrator in the NT is a figurehead and his/her role is purely ceremonial, they do in fact wield particular power when it comes to their role in maintaining the Constitution. Remember they have to assent to all new legislation and the administrator, can, although they generally don’t, request changes to legislation prior to assenting to it. 3.2.3 Ministerial approvals Depending on the level of authority given to the minister of a department by their party he/she has the power to approve amendments to secondary legislation without reference to other government members, provided of course, that it does not contradict the primary legislation. 3.2.4 Parliamentary approvals Parliament approvals take the form of Bills or Amendment Acts. These must be approved by the majority in Parliament (all elected members regardless of political party they belong to) 3.3 Source Documents for Amending Legislation There are three source documents that are used to change legislative and regulatory documents  Bills  Amendment Acts  Aments regulations 3.3.1 Bills If Parliament creates a new Statute then that statute starts out as a Bill if changes to an existing piece of legislation are complex then that too is likely to start out as a Bill Basically a bill is read there times in Parliament. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 56 of 76 March 2017  Passage of the Bill through Parliament (basic process)  First Reading  The Clerk reads the short title  The Minister tables the Bill  Clerk reads the long title and the memorandum explaining the bill  The bill and explanation is now made available to MP’s and the public via the government website  Usually immediately the minister who proposed the Bill makes the second reading speech, explains the purpose and effect of the bill  Debate on the Bill ids deferred to give MP’s time to study it and its effects before speaking and voting on it.  Second Reading  The purpose of the second reading is to consider the principles of the bill  Debate may cover reasons why the bill should be supported or opposed or alternative means of achieving the same objectives.  Further debate on the Bill may include committee stage where the debate is continued outside Parliamentary sittings but a date for the debate for the formal second reading will be set.  Debate resumes after committee stage  Opposition Member outlines the Opposition’s position on the bill.  Government and non-Government Members then usually speak in turn. This could take several sittings  At the end of the debate a vote is taken—‘that this bill be now read a second time’.  If the House has agreed to the bill being read the Bill has passed to the Third reading  If the house does not agree to the second reading then the Bill is defeated.  Consideration Stage  Before the third reading the Bill is examined in detail and necessary changes made CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 57 of 76 March 2017  Third reading  This is a formality if the bill gets this far  There may still be some debate but it is usually is about minor details  The Minister proposing the bill will, call for the Bill to be read a third time In the NT once the Clerk has read the Bill (it will then proceed to the Administrator for assent At Federal level and those states that have an upper and lower house it will proceed to the senate for their approval/disapproval 3.3.2 Amendment Acts Amendment Acts are used to make changes to existing legislation when the changes are not complex because amendment Acts are considered primary legislation they go through a similar process as a Bill, although the timeframes will be much shorter. 3.3.3 Amendment Regulations Regulations are usually amended to improve the workings of an Act and are only used when they do not contradict the primary legislative instrument. 3.4 Tracking Amendments By now you should understand that legislation can appear complex and there is much legislation that affects the real estate profession. It is vitally important that a real estate professional understands how to interpret and apply legislation in their daily work practices and to identify and legislative changes that may affect their daily work practices. It must also be understood that a registered agent is responsible to both their principals (employer and client) to conduct all their real estate activities with due care, skill and diligence. Remember that your Principal employer is responsible at law for the activities of the registered representatives working under their licence and if a registered representative breaches legislation they may be putting the principal’s licence and the principal at the mercy of the law. 3.4.1 Strategies for Tracking and Identifying Legislative Changes CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 58 of 76 March 2017 Every agency need to put in place strategies for tracking, identifying and informing agency staff of changes to legislation. There are two ways this can be achieved:  Using External Sources  Using Internal Techniques 3.4.1.1 External Sources Real estate professionals have two external sources available to them that keep them abreast of Legislative changes. The first and probably most important of these is association membership (REINT). The REINT has close relationships with ministers and their departments, this means that before introducing new legislation or making major changes to legislation affecting the real estate profession, ministers and their senior staff will consult the REINT. Being a member of the REINT means that the CEO and the Board of the REINT will consult with its membership on proposed changes before they occur which affords real estate professionals the opportunity to voice their opinions. If major changes affecting the working of legislation the REINT is informed by the government departments in turn the REINT informs it members of those changes through emails, notices on the REINT website, meetings, seminars or training sessions and will also provide information and/or training to its members as required. However, when minor changes are made that do not affect the working of legislation for example change of the word “lawyer” to “legal practitioner”, which does not affect the physical working of an Act it is unlikely that the REINT will be informed. The second external source is subscribing to government agencies newsletters and attending information sessions given by the departments responsible for administering the legislation. There are times when legislation changes and for some reason the affected profession or industry is not informed. As real estate professionals it is everybody’s individual responsibility to be aware of the legislation affecting your day to day activities. Remember this: “Ignorance of the law is not a defence in Australian courts” CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 59 of 76 March 2017 Therefore it is important for all real estate agencies and all real estate professionals to employ internal techniques for tracking and identifying legislative amendments. 3.4.1.2 Internal Techniques These are the techniques that an agency should implement to keep track of legislative amendments. It is in the Principals best interest to ensure that all staff is aware of the legislation that affects their daily work practices and inform them of any pertinent changes. Remember that it is the Principal who is deemed at law as the person who has substantive and effective control of the activities of their staff. Although the Principal is responsible for the day to day operations of a real estate agency it does not absolve the individual from also being responsible for their own activities governed by legislation Some internal techniques could be:  Appoint one person responsible for tracking legislative amendments.  Use the legislation direct from the internet databases (always up to date)  Use office emails, notice boards, meetings etc to communicate legislative changes  Appointing one person This would normally be an experienced person, some agencies would most likely appoint the office manager, and this person should:  Identify common legislation affecting real estate operations and agency practices  Maintain a register which records the name of the legislation, the date it was last checked for amendments, record the changes and inform staff of those changes (if pertinent), an example log follows Legislation Register Name of Legislation Name of person Date Checked Actions Remarks Signature Yes No Agents Licensing Act J. Bloggs 28 Aug 14 √ No Change J Blogss Residential Tenancies Act J. Bloggs 28 Aug 14 √ Minor changes J Blogss Unit tiles Act J. Bloggs 28 Aug 14 √ Informed staff J Blogss Real estate Code J. Bloggs 28 Aug 14 √ No Change J Blogss Next Review Feb 2015 CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 60 of 76 March 2017  Informing Staff Staff may be informed by several internal methods:  Meetings  Inter office memos  Inter office emails  Notice boards 3.4.1.3 Identifying Legislative Amendments Earlier in this learning guide we discussed the structure of legislation, part of that structure is the END NOTES which appear at the end of an Act and includes LIST OF LEGISLATION. This list represents the Acts that have been amended which in turn affected changes to the Act concerned. Exercise 10 Open the ALA and scroll down to the List of Legislation you will see a box similar to the figure below 2 LIST OF LEGISLATION Land and Business Agents Act 1979 (Act No. 57, 1979) Assent date 18 May 1979 Commenced 9 November 1979 (Gaz G45, 9 November 1979, p 2) Remuneration (Statutory Bodies) Act 1979 (Act No. 9, 1980) Assent date 14 January 1980 Commenced 8 February 1980 (Gaz G6, 8 February 1980, p 6) Land and Business Agents Act 1980 (Act No. 34, 1980) Assent date 19 March 1980 Commenced 19 March 1980 CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 61 of 76 March 2017 Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations (Consequential Amendments) Act 2010 (Act No. 40, 2010) Assent date 18 November 2010 Commenced 1 March 2011 (s 2, s 2 Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations Act 2010 (Act No. 39, 2010) and Gaz G7, 16 February 2011, p 4) Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Amendment (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2010 (Act No. 41, 2010) Assent date 8 December 2010 Commenced 1 January 2011 (Gaz S71, 20 December 2010) Business Names (National Uniform Legislation) Implementation Act 2012 (Act No. 8, 2012) Assent date 27 April 2012 Commenced pts 3 and 4: 28 May 2012 (Cth proclamation F2012L00891: 19 April 2012) ; rem: 27 April 2012 (s 2) You will note at the top of the box that the first recorded amendment dates back to 1979 and the last recorded (at the bottom of the box) is dated 2012. The last recorded amendment is also the latest amendment. If you were asked the question “What is the last recorded amendment in the ALA” your response should be Act No. 8, 2012 There is no requirement (for the purpose of this training) to make reference to Business Names (National Uniform Legislation) Implementation Act 2012 as Act No. 8, 2012 is a unique identifier for the amendment If however, you are asked what section of the Agents Licencing Act changed due to amendment Act No. 8, 2012. You will have to search for the change. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 62 of 76 March 2017 3.4.1.4 Searching for amendment changes Exercise 11 Open the ALA and go to the bottom of the list of legislation Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Amendment (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2010 (Act No. 41, 2010) Assent date 8 December 2010 Commenced 1 January 2011 (Gaz S71, 20 December 2010) Business Names (National Uniform Legislation) Implementation Act 2012 (Act No. 8, 2012) Assent date 27 April 2012 Commenced pts 3 and 4: 28 May 2012 (Cth proclamation F2012L00891: 19 April 2012) ; rem: 27 April 2012 (s 2) Using your mouse, copy all parts of the latest amendment that are in bold i.e. Business Names (National Uniform Legislation) Implementation Act 2012 (Act No. 8, 2012) Then paste it into your web browser (preferably google) and then press search Your web page (if you used google) should reveal the following CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 63 of 76 March 2017 Place your mouse over the first heading and left click this will take you to the actual amendment and will look similar to the figure below. Northern Territory Numbered Acts [Index] [Table] [Search] [Search this Act] [Notes] [Noteup] [Download] [Help] BUSINESS NAMES (NATIONAL UNIFORM LEGISLATION) IMPLEMENTATION ACT 2012 (NO 8 OF 2012) TABLE OF PROVISIONS Long Title PART 1--PRELIMINARY MATTERS 1. Short title 2. Commencement 3. Definitions 4. Meanings of other words Nearly all changes are recorded within the schedule to the amendment at the bottom of the page PART 4--CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENT OF LAWS 30. Laws amended SCHEDULE Left click your mouse on the word schedule and the alphabetical list of all the Legislation that changed due to this amendment will appear. Note sometimes there may be more than one schedule, simply work your way through the schedules until you find the amendment CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 64 of 76 March 2017 Being that we are looking for the amendment in the ALA and because, all amended Acts is listed alphabetically the ALA will appear early on the list. We can now see that section 50(1)(a) is the section that change ie Business Names Act was removed and replaced by Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Ct) You should now practice checking amendments of other Significant NT Legislation until you are confident. External students should not hesitate to contact the trainers at the Reint if they require assistance. 3.5 Communicating changes Regardless of who first identifies legislative changes all relevant people need to be informed, relevant people may be:  Agency principals  Sales agents  Property managers  Book-keepers  Accountants  Finance managers  Anybody who may be affected by the change  changes that CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 65 of 76 March 2017 3.5.1 Methods of Communicating Legislative Changes There are many methods of communication legislative changes to appropriate and relevant people and they may include;  Inter office email  Inter office hand written memo  Office notice boards  Verbally at meetings 3.6 Learning Activity 3 Practical Activities 1. What are the latest recorded legislative Amendment to the following Acts a. Unit Titles Schemes Act (UTSA) b. Law of Property Act (LPA) c. Lands Title Act (LTA) d. Unit Titles Act (UTA) 2. What sections changed due to the latest recorded amendments of the above Acts a. Unit Titles Schemes Act (UTSA) b. Law of Property Act (LPA) CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 66 of 76 March 2017 c. Lands Title Act (LTA) d. Unit Titles Act (UTA) Question 1 What are the main things that cause legislative change? Question 2 What are the processes/who are the appointments that create legislative change? Question 3 What source documents are used to effect legislative changes? Question 4 Name two external sources you can use to keep informed of legislative changes. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 67 of 76 March 2017 Question 5 List 5 persons/appointments in an agency that you would make aware of legislative change. Question 6 List four methods you may use to communicate legislative changes. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 68 of 76 March 2017 PART 4– COMPLY WITH RELEVANT INDUSTRY CODES AND MAINTAIN RELEVEANT RECORDS OF LEGISLATION AND INDUSTRY CODES. 4. Introduction Many industries and professions have codes of conduct. Some of these codes can be imposed on you by legislation, hence making them mandatory to follow, and open to penalties if they are breached. Other industry codes may be imposed by a profession or industry body and these codes are often volountary, and being volountary it is generally unlikely that a person could be penalised at law, however there are exceptions to this which will be discussed later in this Part. 4.1 Industry Codes of Conduct In the NT real estate agents and their representatives are subject to three codes of conduct, they are named.  The Rules of Conduct  General Rules of Conduct  The Real Estate Practitioners Code of Conduct ( The Real estate Code) 4.1.1 The Rules of Conduct The Rules of Conduct are contained in the ALA s65. These rules are mandatory and specific and they can be enforced at law if they are breached. These rules are approved by the Minister of Justice and they have been developed by the executive authority named in the Act (the Registrar) in consultation with the REINT and its membership, 4.1.2 General Rules of Conduct The General Rules of Conduct are contained in the ALRegs at sch 4 (reg25). These rules are mandatory but general in nature and they can be enforced at law if they are breached. These rules have been developed by the executive authority named in the Act (the Registrar) in consultation with the REINT and its membership and do not contradict the Rules of Conduct in the Act. Breaches of the above rules are a summary offence – This means that breaches may be dealt with by the courts. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 69 of 76 March 2017 4.1.3 The Real Estate Code of Conduct You can download the Real estate Code from the REINT website. This is a volountary industry code developed by the Real Estate Institute of Northern Territory (REINT). Although the Real Estate Code is a volountary industry code, real estate professionals in the NT should be aware that breaches of these principles can be enforced at law because s5 of Reg25 states:- 5. Subject to any other specific rules of conduct, a real estate or business agent shall have due regard to and comply with: (a) rules of real estate practice published or approved by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory; and (b) guidelines concerning fair trading practices issued by the Trade Practices Commission. “The relationship between the industries Real Estate Code and Legislation is that: “although the Real estate Code is a volountary code they may be upheld at law as referenced by ALReg 25” 4.2 Maintaining Records of Legislation and Codes If your agency has a process for tracking amendments and ensuring legislation is up to date then it can be said that then it is likely that you maintain up-to date copies of the rules of conduct as per the ALA and ALRegs. However, you should add The Real Estate Code to your processes to ensure that you have due regard to and comply with any rules of real estate practice published or approved by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. You must ensure that the key principles of these codes are reflected in your daily work practices At Part 3 of this learning guide you were given an insight into tracking amendments and how to record your actions further to that Part we suggest that best practice would be to only use legislation straight from the website. That way it ensures that when you reference Legislation you can be assured it is the most recent. CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 70 of 76 March 2017 If your agency uses hard copy it is more difficulty to ensure that all staff are referencing the latest copy and there is a risk that they could be using out of date legislative references. 4.3 Personal Ethical Behaviour Ethics can be said to be a system of moral principles dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Real estate practitioners are bound by ethical rules, legislation, common law and the Law of Equity As a real estate practitioner you have a duty to report any person for any legislative or ethical breach in their conduct. The person you should report unethical or illegal behaviour to is your Principal (employer) or the Agents Licensing Board. For a breach of the Real estate Code you may further report a person to the CEO of the REINT. Reporting breaches is not a trivial matter, before reporting a breach a person must be sure that they have evidence of the breach and are willing to publicly defend their accusation as anyone who is reported have the right to face their accuser at a hearing, tribunal or in the courts. Answers to Learning Activities Learning Activity 1 1. Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (The Constitution) 2a Federal/Commonwealth 2b State 3. Federal/Commonwealth 4. Federal/Commonwealth law 5. The NT Administrator 6a. Statute Law/Legislation 6b Case Law/Common Law 7a Statute law – This is law made by man (our elected members of Parliament) 7b Common/Case law – This is law based on precedence, decisions made by judges 8a Primary Legislation (Acts) 8b Secondary/Subordinate Legislation 9a As a Bill 9b. Three 10. May include: Regulations By-laws Orders Proclamations 11. The executive authority authorised by the Act/ the person appointed under the Act 12. May include any five of the following:  Law of Property Act  Land Titles Act  Agents Licensing Act  Residential Tenancies Act  Unit Titles Schemes act  Unit Titles  Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act  Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading 13. May include  Competition and Consumer Act  Privacy Act  Do Not Call Register Act  Foreign Acquisition and Take-over Act CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 74 of 76 March 2017 Learning Activity 2 1a 500 penalty units $76,500.00 1b $220,000 Practical Activities a. ALA 42(1) b. RTA s70 c. AA s16 d. BT(FD)A s6 e. LTA s30 d. SPSRegs Sch 1 Form 1 2a Vicarious liability is a form of second liability under a contract of agency in real estate it basically means that a landlord may be responsible for the actions of their property manager or a seller may be held responsible for the actions of the salesperson 2b Beneficial interest - In real estate your client (principal) must always come first in everything you do, however there is a conflict with this duty in circumstances where an agent may want to purchase a property from their own agency. The law recognises this conflict and in these cases before an agent can buy the property they must make a full disclosure of their beneficial interest to demonstrate that they are acting honestly and fairly. A beneficial interest also extends to all employees of an agency and their relatives 2c Fiduciary A fiduciary is the person at law who has a legal and/or ethical relationship to work to the benefit of the party they represent. In real estate the agent or agents is the fiduciary who must at all-time put their client’s interest ahead of their own or others. 3. Ambiguous words Broad phrases Implies words Printing Errors Unforeseen developments 4. Read the act as a whole Definitions/Interpretations Punctuation Language conventions Long Title Purpose/Object End notes 5. Interpretation Acts Hansard Judicial Interpretations Traditional Rules CPPDSM4009B – INTERPRET LEGISLATION TO COMPLETE AGENCY WORK Real Experience in Real Estate CPPDSM4009B Updated by MElton Ver 16B Page 75 of 76 March 2017 6. Plain Meaning/Literal rule Golden rule Mischief rule Purpose approach 7 Must implies imperative must be done or is a requirement May implies an opinion or recommendation that although may be a good idea is neither imperative nor a requirement Learning Activity 3 Practical Activities 1a Act No. 48, 2014 b Act No. 38, 2014 c Act No. 48, 2014) d Act No. 48, 2014 2a s4, s5, s9, s39, s72, s84 Part 2.2 Div 3 repealed amended 2b s48(6)(a), s 79 2c s54E, Part 4, Division 5 inserted 2d Part VIII heading amended, s94A to 97 repealed, s98 1. Technological Change Social Change Economical Change Political Change 2. Government agency Approval Ministerial Approvals Governor-General/Administrator Approvals Parliamentary Approvals 3. Bills Amendment Acts Amendment Regulations 4 Subscribe to government agencies/newsletters Maintain membership of industry associations (REINT) 5. Principal Licensee, Departmental Heads Sales staff, Property management Support Staff 6. Inter office email Notice board Inter office memo Meetings

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