Parliament of the Artanian Community (PAC)

[Rogue]

Jane Gooddal, Chairman of the Parliament of the Artanian Community

The proposal for the election of the first Artanian Executive or ACEC has been adopted with a majority. 578 voted in favour, 57 abstained. This means the new ACEC has been installed consisting of:

President of the Artanian Community
Tristan Schulman (Social Democrat)
Controlled by Rogue

Secretary of Artanian Education
Alex Herbert (Green Progressive)
Controlled by hungpallax

Secretary of Artanian Culture
Jacob Cox (Social Democrat)
Controlled by Rogue

Secretary of Artanian Cooperation
Arnold Wagenstein (Centrist)
Controlled by Rogue

Secretary of Artanian Economic Affairs
Dadabhvai Dheer (Green Progressive)
Controlled by hungpallax

[Rogue]

Tristan Schulman, President of ACON

I come before you honourable representatives today to propose the first ever piece of legislation from ACEC for you to debate, pass, ammend or reject. Once put on the floor we hand it over to the chairman of parliament.

Bill 1.1 "Growth and Innovation Subsidy" (GIS)

Article 1 "Fund"
-A fund will be created named the Artanian Fund for Entrepeneurship and Innovation (AFEI)
-The fund will grand bussinesses within ACON the right to apply for a grant if the following conditions are met

Article 2 "conditions"
-A company must invest at least 30% of its revenue in innovating its product or service
-A company must clearly strive to innovate in his field of expertise and must drive innovation on a large scale
-A company must invest in the wellbeing of its employees and have a favourable working environment in place

Article 3 "size"
-The AFEI will consist out of a total of 10 billion annually, being refilled at the end of the year to a maximum of 10 billion even if the budget has (partially) not been spend
-The ACEC can suspend AFEI subsidies to any company that violated the afformentioned conditions in Article 2

[Rogue]

Jane Gooddal, Chairman of the Parliament of the Artanian Community

The following bill has entered its debate phase after a proposal by ACEC:

Bill 1.1 "Growth and Innovation Subsidy" (GIS)

Article 1 "Fund"
-A fund will be created named the Artanian Fund for Entrepeneurship and Innovation (AFEI)
-The fund will grant bussinesses within ACON member states the right to apply for a grant if the following conditions are met

Article 2 "conditions"
-A company must invest at least 30% of its revenue in innovating its product or service
-A company must clearly strive to innovate in his field of expertise and must drive innovation on a large scale
-A company must invest in the wellbeing of its employees and have a favourable working environment in place

Article 3 "size"
-The AFEI will consist out of a total of 10 billion annually, being refilled at the end of the year to a maximum of 10 billion even if the budget has (partially) not been spend
-The ACEC can suspend AFEI subsidies to any company that violated the afformentioned conditions in Article 2

Parties may now debate this bill, if enough time has past it shall move to voting.

[hungpallax]

Madam Aarts, member of GDAP and GN:

How will this fund be financed, does every memeber state put in an even amount of money, or does it require funds from the nations invested? And is this money a subsidy or a loan without rent/due date, or does this fund get shares?

[Rogue]

Tristan Schulman, President of ACON

The fund shall be funded with the membership fee that every nation pays. Which is 0.2% of their GDP. Currently our organizations revenue is around 20 billion a year. Therefor this would cost half our organizations budget, but would not cost anything for the individual member states, apart from their current contributions. On the second question. It will be a grant, which means no loan. It will be given to the company in question in terms, with ACEC being given the authority to suspend the grant if a company is violating its terms during the process.

[hungpallax]

Madam Aarts, Member of Gdap an NG

We support this plan, but is there a possibility to make it into a loan (without rent and due date) or a purchase of stocks, to get something in return.

[Rogue]

Tristan Schulman, President of ACON

Unfortunately making it a loan would deter all the economic benefits for these companies and would thus make the bill innefective. By making it a grant we allow the companies to grow and in turn create positive effects for our economies. This will, in its current form, be a major incentive for our private sectors.

[Rogue]

Alex Vleugel, Leader of the SDAC

We are supportive of this proposal. While we agree that the project is costly we think it could indeed help with driving economic growth and opportunity. We would however call on the ACEC to enforce Article 3 authority as strictly as it can. As to ensure companies remain dedicated to the principles layed out in Article 2

[jellybean]

Bayram Seyidov, Chairman of the ACU

The ACU supports this initiative, but we echo the GDAP member's concern that this fund should give something in return to our member states. We suggest including a stock ownership option or a requirement of discounted good and services. We also suggest that the fund's investments should be split between ACON members so as to avoid the domination of more developed economies. Finally, we believe that requiring companies to invest 30% of their revenue into innovation creates an unreasonable barrier for companies in low-margin industries, and suggest that companies be required only to make a "reasonable investment."

Amendment 1:
Introduce the following item under Article 1 "Fund":

-Fund managers will endeavor to split fund awards evenly among ACON member states.

Amendment 2:
Change Article 2, Section 1 to read:

-A company must invest a reasonably significant portion of its revenue in innovation and demonstrate a commitment to research and development.

[Rogue]

Jane Gooddal, Chairman of the Parliament of the Artanian Community

As ammendments have been proposed we shall vote on these ammendments before proceeding with a debate on the overall bill, with or without ammendments.

AMENDMENT VOTE

Amendment 1:
Introduce the following item under Article 1 "Fund":
-Fund managers will endeavor to split fund awards evenly among ACON member states.


Amendment 2:
Change Article 2, Section 1 to read:
-A company must invest a reasonably significant portion of its revenue in innovation and demonstrate a commitment to research and development.

Parties may now vote on these ammendments