The significant changes are...
Section 15: A Cultural Protocol can now be affirmed through a simple "Motion of Cultural Protocol Affirmation" rather than going through the process of a Cultural Protocol update. See the section for more details on the conditions.
Section 17: Creating a new Cultural Protocol in a Culturally Open nation now requires the support of a "a 2/3rds majority of all players with seats (not just those with seats who vote), and at least 3 players with seats must support the motion, all of whom must have been currently continuously active in the nation (ie. no inactivations) for at least 1 month". Previously, you needed a 2/3rds and at least 3 players with seats, at least one of whom must have been continuously active for a month.
There is also now a 4 day (96 hour) waiting period before a newly-created Cultural Protocol will be accepted, in order to allow more opportunity for discussion. Previously the waiting period was 2 days (48 hours), the same as for regular Cultural Protocol updates.
Section 22.1.2: The position on constitutional RP laws has been amended to:
22.1. Constitutional RP laws require a 2/3rds majority, just like game mechanic constitutional laws.
22.1.2 Any RP law granting extraordinary "emergency powers" or dictator-like powers to a government must be passed by at least a 2/3rds majority, but may always be overturned by a simple majority vote of the legislature.
Section 22.10: An extra provision on RP laws:
22.10 Moderation reserves the discretion to declare RP laws invalid if the players supporting them are doing so in an excessively confrontational way.
Section 22.4.5.1: It is now explicitly permitted for a nation to adopt an executive presidency model:
22.4.5.1 It is permitted to use a RP law to assign full executive authority to the Head of Government and to either entirely disregard the list of Cabinet Ministers on the Cabinet page or regard those Cabinet Ministers as entirely subordinate to the Head of Government.
Section 23.2: It is now explicitly permitted to use the RP events procedure to handle referendums:
23.2 It is permitted to use a RP event bill to institute a referendum. The RP event bill should specify:
- the result of the referendum or a full description of how the result will be determined. The bill could arrange for the result to be simulated by applying a simple formula to the outcome of an upcoming election. For example, the RP event bill might list what percentage of voters for each party will vote "Yes" and "No". Alternatively, as an example, the bill might delegate authority for determining the result to a designated player.
- the RP event bill should specify the in-game date at which the referendum will be held. For example, it might be held simultaneously with the election, or it might be held a year after the election.
- whether the bill is recommendative (ie. the legislature and/or government considers the referendum result and then takes a decison on what to do next) or enactive (ie. the referendum could potentially immediately enact a piece of legislation). However, bear in mind that it is not possible for RP laws to over-ride game mechanic laws, so no referendum RP will be legal under the rules if it conflicts with this principle.
Thanks to everybody who has taken the time to read this. Please do not hesitate to come forward if you have any questions or suggestions.