Legislative Officials Research Articles

THE LIMIT OF TERM PERIODIZATION ON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OFFICIALS: A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY PERSPECTIVE

Regulations regarding the periodization of legislative candidate requirements who has re-election for being to be legislative officials are not regulated in detail. However, this issue can refer to Article 182 of Law No.7/2017. Therefore, the term of Legislative Assembly officials in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic Indonesia in Article 19-22B concerning the House of Representatives does not at all discuss about it. In addition, Law No. 7/2017 concerning General Elections does not also regulate about how many times a legislative candidate can serve in a legislative institution. Unfortunately, there have been four changes to Law No. 27/2009 on MD3, Law No.17/2014 on MD3, Law No. 18/2018 regarding the second amendment to Law No.17/2014 concerning MD3, and the last one to Law No.13/2019 concerning MD3, none of these regulations discusses the number of term periodization on Legislative Assembly Officials. This research used descriptive qualitative methods normatively with statute approach and conceptual approach. In addition, the type of this research is juridical-normative. The data collection in this research is the data obtained will be processed and described in the form of a logical and systematic description to describe the principle of balance in a law agreement and the principle of balance contained in the Partnership Agreement itself. After the amendment of 1945 Constitution, the limitation of the term periodization only focused on the term of executive or presidential. Long-term periodization caused a polemic in authority. Absolute authority will open up opportunities for arbitrariness and corruption. Therefore, it requires to limit the term periodization on legislative institution.

Условия и практика антикоррупционной политики в Парагвае. Прощание со стресснеризмом?

The paper treats the A.Stroessner’s era political heritage elements. The author notes that the political system modernization was successful. That is primarily reflected in the electoral procedures stability. At the same time, corruption, which has been essentially institutionalized un-der an authoritarian regime, remains an important factor in public life. Despite the political system modernization, the facts of privileged ac-cess to resources and influence trading are still a routine practice. They rather caused irritation than result in specific anti-corruption actions un-til the current electoral cycle when anti-corruption activities have be-come an instrument of political struggle. The pressure of civil society actions helped to start the corruption investigation by the relevant au-thorities. The legislative and executive officials both on the national and regional level are under scrutiny. The article examines the condi-tions that led to the implementation of the anti-corruption request.

Oaths of Office in American States: Problems and Prospects

Upon assuming office, executive, legislative, and judicial officials swear an oath as evidence of dedication, commitment, and duty to the Constitution. As such, they play a quintessential role in upholding democratic values. Yet contrasted to codes of ethics, oaths get little recognition in the study of public administration. What attention they do receive focuses primarily on the presidential oath of office. This article examines a little-researched topic: governmental oaths in American states. The inquiry is useful because oaths can help safeguard the integrity of civic institutions. As a distinguishing feature of public service, oath-taking nonetheless may be seen as a routine formality without consequence. The article discusses this rite of passage, explores its past and current functions, reviews the literature, and analyzes state oaths. The work concludes with observations on the prospects of these testimonials in troubled times, times that require the restoration of honor, dignity, and virtue in government.

Political Budget Cycles in the European Union: New Evidence of Fragmentation*

This paper deals with the possible existence of political budget cycles (PBCs) within the European Union (EU). I use panel data for 28 EU countries from 1995 to 2016 and provide estimates based on dynamic panel regressions. I employ a system-GMM estimator complemented by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to limit the number of instruments. The specifications include structural budget balances related to the potential GDP, thereby limiting the initial endogeneity. These measures capture the true motivation behind fiscal policies. The results suggest that the EU member states exhibit PBCs: (i) the intervention occurs in the year before elections and (ii) the structural budget balance to the potential GDP ratio is lower by −0.41 percentage points a year before elections. In addition, I have investigated the EU fragmentation in terms of the PBCs and selected 8 countries’ characteristics correlating to the existence of these cycles. These include lower GDP per capita, post-communist background, low tax burden, high perceived corruption, low levels of media freedom and internet usage, lower number of directly voted-in legislative officials, and a low parliamentary voter turnout.

Policing’s Information Problem

We spend over $100 billion each year on policing in the United States, yet have very little idea of what keeps us safe. From adoption of new technologies like facial recognition to militarization to stop-and-frisk tactics, and much else, law enforcement in the United States pursue public safety strategies without understanding the full range of costs, or benefits. There is a particularly troubling tendency to ignore the social costs (the impact policing practices have on individuals) — and the distributional costs (how policing regularly falls most heaving on racial and marginalized communities). As a result, we don’t know what keeps us safe, and there is a real risk we are doing more harm than good. This Article asks why we as a society know so little about how to assure safety, and what we can do to change this state of affairs. The Article’s thesis is that a variety of dysfunctions around the politics of policing leads to legislative stasis and executive inertia: governing officials simply defer to the police. Blind trust in the police, fear of a powerful police lobby, and a law enforcement culture of secrecy and insulation results in a serious information failure. Legislative and executive officials (and the police themselves) simply lack the information needed to address whether police are doing a good job of keeping the public safe, and so they do little or nothing to assure public safety. The Article proposes a set of solutions to encourage the development of information about policing, including sentinel event review, information-forcing legislation, the establishment of regulatory intermediaries, and the creation of a policing college. Its main proposal is to encourage broad use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) about policing. CBA, though prominently used in other areas of government, is almost non-existent in the field of policing. Adoption of some combination of some of these tools is essential to ensure just, effective public safety.

Budgeting and monitoring functions of the Tanzanian Parliament

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of budgeting in the monitoring functions of the Tanzanian Parliament, specifically the monitoring functions of the Parliamentary Budget Committee (PBC).Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses Burchellet al.’s (1980) accounting “machines” framework and its development as a theoretical lens to interpret the research findings. Interviews, document analysis and observation were used for data collection.FindingsThe findings reveal that budget documents were used as learning and answering machines, as they served as the basis for questioning, for checking variances, for reviewing and for conducting monitoring visits. Budgeting procedures were utilized as ammunition machines, as they were used as the basis for expressing legislative officials’ positions and understanding the logic of executive officials’ actions.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper investigates the role of budgeting in a parliamentary setting. However, comparative analysis is missing. Nevertheless, the results provide a foundation for future studies and the opportunity to investigate the role of budgeting in the monitoring functions of other parliaments, especially in emerging economies.Practical implicationsThe study has practical implications directed toward governments, especially in emerging economies. This study suggests that budgeting documents and procedures can be used to overcome the complexities of the PBC monitoring functions. Budgeting is, therefore, essential in the monitoring functions of the PBC, especially in emerging economies.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the understanding of the role of budgeting in monitoring functions in a parliamentary setting in emerging economies, where such research is lacking. The study also contributes by introducing an “ammunition” role to the theoretical literature on budget use (Simons, 1990, 1991; Abernethy and Brownell, 1999), which is argued to be relevant to politicians and organizations of a political nature, including parliaments.

ANALISIS PENGGUNAAN (DIKSI) PILIHAN KATA OLEH PEJABAT LEGISLATIF DAN TOKOH PARTAI TINGKAT PROVINSI DALAM MEDIA SOSIAL FACEBOOK

The purpose of this study was to describe the forms of errors in use (diction) of the choice of words by provincial legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra on social media. This study used descriptive qualitative method. The data source in this study is utterances written by legislative officials and party leaders on Facebook. The results showed 199 data / utterances were careful, in the use of word choice in terms of inaccuracy, inaccuracy, and discrepancies, found 13 speeches that did not follow the use of word choice in terms of discrepancies, 3 utterances that did not follow the use of word choice in terms of inaccuracies, and 2 utterances that do not follow the use of word choices in terms of non-conformityKeyword: word choice, legislative officers, facebook

PERFORMA PENGGUNAAN PRINSIP KERJA SAMA PEJABAT LEGISLATIF DAN TOKOH PARTAI TINGKAT KOTA DI SUMATRA BARAT

This study aimed to describe the performance of communication effectiveness in terms of the use of the principle of cooperation in verbal communication by legislative officials and city level party leaders in West Sumatra. This type of research is qualitative research with descriptive methods. The data of this study are utterances used by legislative officials and city level party leaders in West Sumatra. Data is collected in the following way, (1) downloading video recordings in the form of speeches or interviews from legislative officials and city-level party leaders in West Sumatra from Youtube social media, (2) transcribing video recordings of city-level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra, (3) observing and analyzing all utterances which are included in language performance and communication politeness, (4) giving code to data which is included in language performance and communication politeness. After all the data is collected, the data is then analyzed by the following steps, (1) identifying data in the form of videos containing interviews and speeches, (2) data then entered into the performance format using the principle of cooperation, (3) data grouped and inserted into part of the principle of cooperation, (4) matching data and giving opinions on data on the principle of cooperation, (5) concluding data included in the principle of cooperation. Based on the results of the research and discussion, it can be concluded that Indonesian Language Performance in Terms of Use of the Principles of Cooperation in Oral Communication by Legislative Officials and Party Leaders The City level in West Sumatra is dominated by the conformity of the cooperative principle of 73%.Keywords: communication, politeness, legislative officials, Youtube

PERFORMA PEMILIHAN KOSAKATA BAKU DALAM KOMUNIKASI LISAN OLEH PEJABAT LEGISLATIF DAN TOKOH PARTAI TINGKAT PROVINSI SUMATERA BARAT

This study aims to explain the choice of vocabulary in language performance and politeness of oral communication by legislative officials and party leaders at level of West Sumatra Province. This type of research is quantitative research with descriptive methods. The research data collecting technique uses documentation and technical notes. The research data analysis technique are data classification, data analysis, data interprestation and conclusion. Based on this study, concluded that the choice of vocabulary by legislative officials and party leaders at level of West Sumatra Province is very good. The use of choice of vocabulary in standard vocabulary is 131 data with 87,3% percentage and the use of choice of vocabulary in non-standard vocabulary is 19 data with 12,7% percentage. Researcher found the non-standard vocabulary in two classification. First, non-standard vocabulary in Indonesian language. Second, non-standard vocabulary in foreign language.Keywords: language performance, politeness, legislative officials, standard vocabulary

PERFORMA BAHASA DAN KESANTUNAN KOMUNIKASI LISAN PEJABAT LEGISLATIF DAN TOKOH PARTAI TINGKAT KABUPATEN DI SUMATRA BARAT

This study aims to describe: (1) the performance of formal sentence structures in oral communication of district-level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra, (2) standard vocabulary performance in verbal communication at district level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra, (3) the principle performance of courtesy in oral communication of district-level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra; and (4) the performance of the principle of cooperation in the oral communication of district-level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra. This type of research is qualitative research with descriptive methods. The data of this study are the utterances of legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra in oral communication. The methods and data collection techniques used are the referral method, with advanced techniques, namely the note-taking technique. The technique of validating data is a detailed description technique, namely describing in detail the data to be interpreted. Data analysis methods and techniques are carried out by identifying data, transcribing, entering data into a format, classifying data, interpreting data, and concluding data. Based on the results of research and discussion, it can be concluded the following matters. (1) The performance of the use of formal sentence structures in oral communication of district legislators and party leaders in West Sumatra is quite sufficient (66%) of 150 data. West Sumatra is quite sufficient (66.7%) of 150 data. (3) The performance of the principle of manners in oral communication of legislative officials and party leaders at the district level in West Sumatra, the principle of courtesy is quite sufficient (67.3%) of 150 data. (4) The performance of the principle of cooperation in oral communication of legislative officials and district leaders in West Sumatra is classified as good (81.3%) of 150 data. Keywords: Performance, Oral Communication, Legislative Officials, Party Leaders

PELANGGARAN PRINSIP KERJA SAMA OLEH PEJABAT LEGISLATIF DAN TOKOH PARTAI TINGKAT KOTA DI SUMATRA BARAT DALAM MEDIA SOSIAL

The purpose of this study was to describe the forms of violations of the principle of cooperation by legislative officials and city level party leaders in West Sumatra on social media. This study used a qualitative-descriptive method. The data source in this study is in the form of speech in the Facebook status of officials and party leaders. The object of this research is the speech on Facebook of legislative and party leaders. Data collection was carried out by (1) printing screenings on Facebook of city-level legislative and party leaders in West Sumatra; (2) transcribing writings on facebook city level legislative and party figure officials in West Sumatra; (3) pay close attention to the writings on Facebook of city-level legislative and party figure officials in West Sumatra which are included in the section on language performance and politeness of communication; and (4) determine data included in the language performance section and politeness of written communication. Analyzing data is done with the aim of grouping data, analyzing data, and determining conclusions.Keywords: performance, facebook, linguistic, communication

The DMCA and the Cell Phone Unlocking Debate

This short essay, written for a practitioner audience, summarizes and analyzes the recent legal debate over unlocking a wireless mobile device for use on a competing wireless provider's network. The origin of the recent controversy lay with a regulation promulgated in late 2012 by the Librarian of Congress in the exercise of its statutory authority to create exemptions from liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). The Librarian's 2012 regulation declared that users of cell phones (and other wireless devices) purchased beginning in 2013 would face possible DMCA liability for unlocking their devices. This pronouncement by the Librarian reversed DMCA exemptions the Librarian had promulgated in two previous rulemaking proceedings, which had shielded users from such liability. The Librarian cited changes in the market availability of authorized unlocked devices and the business needs of wireless providers as justifications for the change.In response to the Librarian's 2012 rulemaking, Federal executive and legislative officials have taken steps to restore consumers' rights to unlock their wireless devices without fear of possible liability under the DMCA. The specific proposals vary widely, from a new voluntary commitment among wireless providers, made at the behest of the Federal Communications Commission, to permit such unlocking in a wider range of circumstances; to a proposed legislative revision that would dramatically limit the reach of the DMCA. The essay briefly summarizes the administrative and legislative responses that have been offered to address the Librarian's 2012 regulation and argues that the responses thus far would do little to prevent similar controversies over the DMCA's liability provisions from arising outside the specific context of unlocking wireless devices.

Criminal responsibility of presidents in parliamentary, presidential and communist systems

In presidential system, the executive and legislative officials are elected by people vote. Sometimes, there are some problems in the trend of affairs between officials of executive and legislation powers due to some conflicts which are rare in parliamentary system. But in parliamentary system, president is elected by parliament and has a ceremonial function and interferes only in case of unwanted crisis or acute problems. There is another system to govern the state called communist system. It is totally differs from parliamentary and presidential systems and is common like two systems. The present study analyzed each of these systems as well as president`s criminal responsibility in each of them. Some examples of the countries governed by these systems have also been provided. It has been concluded that political trustees due to their specific place and duties cannot be reprimanded in any time and any system. So, there should be some clear rules for their punishment based on their position while it has been ignored by many countries.

Corpocracy: The Tyranny of Neoliberalism and Detroit's Financial Crisis

The city of Detroit in 2013 is confronted with a financial crisis so severe that municipal bankruptcy may be the only viable solution. Racial mistrust unfortunately structures the political communication between political leaders in Detroit, the suburbs, and the state. Amid this contentious political climate of racial mistrust, allegations of mismanagement, incompetence, and corruption have been directed at the city of Detroit as causes of the crisis. The aura of racial mistrust makes it extremely difficult for city, county, and state officials to implement an equitable solution to the financial crisis. The most damaging aspect of racial mistrust is the obfuscation of the fundamental cause of the crisis. Building on the arguments of Wendy Brown (2003, 2006), Henry A. Giroux (2004,2005), and Michael C. Dawson (2012), we argue that the fundamental cause of Detroit’s financial crisis is the implementation of neoliberal fiscal and social welfare policies targeting the poor by chief executives and legislative elected officials in Washington D.C. and state capitals across the nation. This paper focuses on the Detroit’s financial crisis, and offers as an example, the policy solutions offered to address the thirty-five year federal government oversight of Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department, to illustrate both the perils and challenges facing citizens and political leaders whom are opposed to the anti-republican nature of neoliberalism. The Detroit financial crisis is not merely an isolated local issue; it is a referendum on the duties and obligations of government toward its citizens. Will federal and state governmental officials become more responsive to the concerns of its citizens of color, or will elected officials continue to implement policies that elevate the political desires of the free market above those of the citizenry and transform American governance from an inclusive representative democracy into a corpocracy.

A Multi-Institutional Medical Educational Collaborative

Educational collaboratives offer a promising approach to disseminate educational resources and provide faculty development to advance residents' training, especially in areas of novel curricular content; however, their impact has not been clearly described. Advocacy training is a recently mandated requirement of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education that many programs struggle to meet.The authors describe the formation (in 2007) and impact (from 2008 to 2010) of 13 California pediatric residency programs working in an educational collaboration ("the Collaborative") to improve advocacy training. The Collaborative defined an overarching mission, assessed the needs of the programs, and mapped their strengths. The infrastructure required to build the collaboration among programs included a social networking site, frequent conference calls, and face-to-face semiannual meetings. An evaluation of the Collaborative's activities showed that programs demonstrated increased uptake of curricular components and an increase in advocacy activities. The themes extracted from semistructured interviews of lead faculty at each program revealed that the Collaborative (1) reduced faculty isolation, increased motivation, and strengthened faculty academic development, (2) enhanced identification of curricular areas of weakness and provided curricular development from new resources, (3) helped to address barriers of limited resident time and program resources, and (4) sustained the Collaborative's impact even after formal funding of the program had ceased through curricular enhancement, the need for further resources, and a shared desire to expand the collaborative network.

Public Corruption: Limiting Criminal Immunity of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Officials in Europe

Abstract The constitutions of European states often contain too many categories of officials covered by too broadly defined immunities. At the same time, there is consensus among international organizations that immunities have to be limited to allow effective prosecution of corruption offences. This article examines how public law in European states could limit criminal immunities for officials.

The Health Care Reform Agenda

Health care reform has been on the national health policy agenda for some time but a major emphasis occurred during the Clinton administration. During this time, transformational health care reform was presented but failed. Since this strategic attempt to change our health care system, there have been numerous incremental health policy changes that have provided a foundation for transformational health care reform. An awareness has been created among the general public, our legislative officials, and stakeholders regarding the need for health care reform. The national health care policy agenda includes an awareness of the need to reduce health care cost; ensure affordable, quality health care for all Americans; provide our citizens with a choice on health care providers and health care institutions; and an emphasis on health prevention and wellness. The proposed transformational health care policy reform supports a collaborative shared relationship with shared responsibility between citizens, employers, small businesses, governmental entities, and the health care industry as a means to provide health care services and insurance coverage for all American citizens. The sustainability of a national health care plan that ensures some degree of health care services to all citizens must be a critical component of the health care reform agenda. The proposed health care initiatives have a primary care goal that will ensure that all American citizens have access to affordable, quality health care. The proposed Affordable Health Choices Act is legislation that attempts to emphasize health care choice, cost reduction, prevention, health system modernization, and the provision of long-term care and services. The current health care reform debate is continuing to shape the health policy agenda and provide a framework from which to discuss, debate, and initiate the formulation of national health care policy to transform our health care system. As men’s health care providers, it is our responsibility to remain informed and engaged in the formulation of the national health care policy reform. This presents an opportunity for men’s health care providers to critically analyze and consider the restructuring of our current health care programs and systems to embrace men’s health. This may be a window of opportunity to address a major determinant of men’s health in this country, access to care. These health care policy initiatives will require an expanded diverse health care workforce. As health care providers interested in men’s health, this is an excellent window of opportunity to promote the development of a men’s health clinical specialization with defined health care outcomes.

Conflict of Interest: Concepts, Rules and Practices Regarding Legislators in Latin America

Rules and regulations concerning conflict of interest play an important role in discussions on the institutional prerequisites for good governance. This analysis focuses on the concept of conflict of interest and possible solutions. Following a review of the concept and its treatment in recent literature, the concept is applied to the case of elected legislative officials, discussing the applicability of avoidance, disclosure, and procedure as solutions to conflicts of interest. Empirical substantiation is drawn from Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Issues include legislators’ conflicts of interest when proper or family interests appear, when third-party commitments rooted in campaign finance or lobbying are involved, or when elected officeholders legislate on behalf of their own interests, including remuneration, political finance or non-monetary benefits. Possible steps to control or mitigate conflicts of interest on these levels are also discussed.

Constitutional Amendment Procedures and the Informal Political Construction of Constitutions

Recent public law studies demonstrate that the informal political construction of constitutional meaning—particularly by executive and legislative officials—manifests as an essential feature of American constitutionalism. A leading explanation of the phenomenon depends on the effect of formal amendment procedures. Given the inevitability of constitutional change over time, difficult and burdensome amendment procedures seem to require that political actors resort to informal means to pursue change and enshrine new constitutional meaning. While this explanation has been central to a number of studies of the federal constitution, it has also led to the exclusion of state constitutional experiences from the study of this phenomenon. This is likely because state amendment procedures are notably less difficult and (apparently) do not require the resort to informal means of change. I present evidence that informal political construction does occur in the states; it is as important there as it is at the federal l...

Budgeting for State Courts: The Perceptions of Key Officials Regarding the Determinants of Budget Success

While much has been made of the financial crisis affecting state courts in the early 2000s, there has been little research on court budgeting and the politics that affect it, especially concerning factors that lead to budgetary success. In this study, we assess the determinants of budget success for state courts by examining the perceptions of key state budget actors. We argue that courts tend to behave conservatively in the budget process and may need to behave more politically. Behaving acquisitively, providing realistic requests, and justifying funding needs will enable courts to increase funding in the short-term. In the long-term, courts should act more aggressively to improve relations with legislative and executive branch officials.