This is an article related to Nouvelle Alexandrie. Click here for more information.

Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757

From MicrasWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757

13th Cortes Federales
Long title An Act to authorize and provide for the reconstruction of the city of Cajamarca and the affected districts of the Wechua Nation following the 1757 Cajamarca Micrasquake; to establish a six-year reconstruction program funded from the Federal Contingency Reserve and by the issue of reconstruction bonds; to provide for its release in tranches and its oversight; and for connected purposes; among other purposes.
Introduced by The Council of State
Extent Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Royal Assent 11.VI.1757 AN
Commencement 11.VI.1757 AN
Other legislation
Amendments None
Related legislation

The Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757 (Alexandrian: Loi sur la reconstruction de Cajamarca, 1757; Martino: Ley de Reconstrucción de Cajamarca, 1757; Wechua: Kashamarka allichay kamachiy, 1757) is legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie that authorized a NAX€100 billion program over six years to rebuild the city of Cajamarca and the affected highland districts of the Wechua Nation following the 1757 Cajamarca micrasquake.

The Act was introduced by the Council of State on 2.VI.1757 AN, at the opening of the emergency session the Cortes Federales had been recalled to hold, and received Royal Assent on 11.VI.1757 AN. Unlike the emergency relief appropriation passed in V, which funded the immediate response and passed almost without dissent, the reconstruction program was contested, and the government accepted substantial changes to secure its passage. The funding was split between the Federal Contingency Reserve and a new reconstruction bond rather than drawn wholly from reserves; the program was made a ceiling released in tranches, each subsequent tranche requiring a separate vote of the Cortes; and the rebuilding of homes was bound to proceed in step with the restoration of the rail line rather than behind it. The Act passed the Federal Assembly by 605 votes to 65, with 79 abstentions.

Background

The 1757 Cajamarca micrasquake, a magnitude 6.8 event, struck Cajamarca on 16.V.1757 AN, killing about 290 people, injuring around 2,400, and displacing some 38,000. The dead were concentrated in the old town's adobe and masonry housing and in the outlying highland villages, much of it uninsured and built before the Wechua Nation's updated seismic codes; the modern, code-built districts largely held. The Cajamarca Tunnel was severed, cutting the Keltian line and leaving the highland rail link out of service.

The Cajamarca Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, 1757 of 20.V funded the immediate relief from the Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund but expressly reserved reconstruction for separate legislation. The Cortes was recalled to an emergency session opening 2.VI to take up that legislation. The reconstruction the Act addressed had two distinct objects: the rebuilding of the uninsured old town and villages to the new seismic code, and the restoration of the Cajamarca Tunnel and the Keltian line.

Key provisions

The Act authorized a reconstruction program for Cajamarca and the affected districts of the Wechua Nation with a ceiling of NAX€100 billion over six years, through 1763 AN. The NAX€100 billion figure was a ceiling rather than a committed appropriation, and the program was to be released in tranches.

The program was funded from two sources. NAX€55 billion was to be drawn from the Federal Contingency Reserve, the federal reserve held against emergencies and distinct from the Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund from which the V relief had been drawn. The remaining NAX€45 billion was to be raised through the issue of a reconstruction bond by the Department of Treasury. The split, fixed at 55 to 45, was adopted in place of the government's preference for a second draw on federal reserves.

Only the first tranche was authorized by the Act itself. That tranche, of NAX€20 billion, funded transitional housing for the displaced and the engineering survey of the Cajamarca Tunnel. Every subsequent tranche required a separate vote of the Cortes, with its allocation and costs presented for authorization, so that the program could not be spent at the government's discretion once begun.

The Act directed the program to two objects and bound them together. The first was the rebuilding of the uninsured old town and the outlying highland villages to the updated seismic code, administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and delivered in part through grants to the Wechua Nation's regional government. The second was the restoration of the Cajamarca Tunnel and the Keltian line, administered through the Department of Civil Works and Transportation. To prevent the rebuilding of homes from falling behind the rail works, the Act required that funding for the homes-to-code rebuilding be authorized in step with funding for the line, and that no tranche allocate to the line restoration without a commensurate allocation to the homes-to-code rebuilding.

The Act created no new body, administering the program through existing departments and the regional government. It required the Department of Treasury to report to the Budget and Finances Committee on the program at intervals of no more than thirty days, and provided for the Federal Audit Office to audit its expenditure.

Legislative history

Legislative history of the Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757
Stage Date Chamber Action Votes (Y-N-A) Details
1 2.VI.1757 AN Federal Assembly Introduction - Introduced by the Council of State at the opening of the emergency session
2 2-10.VI.1757 AN Federal Assembly Committee Review - Reshaped in the Budget and Finances Committee under Timothé Plessis: the 55-45 financing split, the tranche structure, and the homes-in-step requirement
3 11.VI.1757 AN Federal Assembly Final Reading 605-65-79 Passed on the opposition's structural terms
4 11.VI.1757 AN Chamber of Peers Passage - Passed without division
5 11.VI.1757 AN - Royal Assent - Signed into law by King Sinchi Roca II

Bill as submitted to the "Hopper" of the Federal Assembly, 1757 AN

Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
authorize and provide for the reconstruction of the city of Cajamarca and the affected districts of the Wechua Nation following the 1757 Cajamarca Micrasquake; to establish a six-year reconstruction program funded from the Federal Contingency Reserve and by the issue of reconstruction bonds; to provide for its release in tranches and its oversight; and for connected purposes; among other purposes.

Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757

Presented by the Council of State
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 2.VI.1757 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-


PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

  1. This Act may be cited as the "Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757".

Article 2: Definitions.

  1. For the purposes of this Act:
    1. "the Micrasquake" means the magnitude 6.8 Micrasquake that struck Cajamarca on 16.V.1757 AN, and its aftershocks;
    2. "the affected area" means the city of Cajamarca and the surrounding districts of the Wechua Nation affected by the Micrasquake, as determined by the Council of State;
    3. "the Program" means the reconstruction program established by this Act;
    4. "the Reserve" means the Federal Contingency Reserve;
    5. "the homes-to-code rebuilding" means the rebuilding of housing in the affected area to the seismic building standards of the Wechua Nation;
    6. "the line restoration" means the restoration of the Cajamarca Tunnel and the Keltian line.

Article 3: Purpose.

  1. The purposes of this Act are to authorize and provide for the reconstruction of the affected area, to fund and govern that reconstruction, and to ensure that the rebuilding of homes proceeds in step with the restoration of the rail line.

PART II
THE PROGRAM

Article 4: Establishment and ceiling.

  1. There is established a reconstruction program for the affected area, to run for six years from the commencement of this Act, through 1763 AN.
  2. The total expenditure under the Program shall not exceed NAX€100,000,000,000. This sum is a ceiling and not an appropriation.

Article 5: Objects.

  1. The Program shall fund two objects:
    1. the homes-to-code rebuilding, administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and delivered in part through grants to the regional government of the Wechua Nation;
    2. the line restoration, administered through the Department of Civil Works and Transportation.

PART III
FINANCING

Article 6: Sources.

  1. The Program shall be financed as follows:
    1. NAX€55,000,000,000 from the Reserve;
    2. NAX€45,000,000,000 by the issue of a reconstruction bond by the Department of Treasury.
  2. No further sum shall be drawn from the Reserve for the Program beyond the amount in subsection (1)(a).

PART IV
TRANCHES AND AUTHORIZATION

Article 7: First tranche.

  1. There is authorized a first tranche of NAX€20,000,000,000, allocated to transitional housing for displaced persons and to the engineering survey of the Cajamarca Tunnel.

Article 8: Subsequent tranches.

  1. No tranche of the Program beyond the first shall be released except as authorized by a separate vote of the Cortes Federales.
  2. Each request for a tranche shall set out its allocation between the two objects and its costs.

Article 9: Homes in step with the line.

  1. Funding for the homes-to-code rebuilding shall be authorized in step with funding for the line restoration.
  2. No tranche shall allocate any sum to the line restoration without a commensurate allocation to the homes-to-code rebuilding.

PART V
ADMINISTRATION AND OVERSIGHT

Article 10: No new body.

  1. The Program shall be administered through the departments named in Article 5 and the regional government of the Wechua Nation. No new body is established by this Act.

Article 11: Reporting.

  1. The Department of Treasury shall report to the Budget and Finances Committee on the Program at intervals of no more than thirty (30) days.

Article 12: Audit.

  1. The expenditure of the Program shall be subject to audit by the Federal Audit Office.
PART VI
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 13: Commencement and application.

  1. This Act shall apply to all of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie, with the Program directed to the affected area.
  2. This Act shall not become law unless it has been given Royal Assent by H.M. King Sinchi Roca II.
  3. This Act shall be published in the Federal Gazette and made publicly available within seven (7) days of Royal Assent.
  4. This Act shall come into force on 11.VI.1757 AN.
  5. In the event any provision or part of this Act is found to be invalid or unenforceable, only that particular provision or part so found, and not the entire Act, shall be struck.

Amendments

No amendments since enactment.

Voting record

The Cajamarca Reconstruction Act passed the Federal Assembly by 605 votes to 65, with 79 abstentions, a far narrower margin than the near-unanimous relief appropriation of V. The government's Federal Humanist Party, the opposition AJNA parties, and the CGA all voted in favor of the reshaped bill. The votes against and most of the abstentions came from the Federal Consensus Party and independent benches, and concerned the program's financing rather than the reconstruction itself.

Federal Assembly final reading (11.VI.1757)

Notable votes on the Cajamarca Reconstruction Act, 1757
Deputy Region Party Vote Signature Role/Notes
José Manuel Montero Wechua Wechua Nation FHP Yes J. M. Montero Premier; Cajamarca is his birthplace
Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves Santander Santander DSP Yes M. F. Gonçalves Leader of the Opposition; won the homes-in-step requirement as the price of support
Tuta Hualla Wechua Wechua Nation DSP Yes T. Hualla Pressed for the uninsured old town and villages
Tomás Iñiguez North Lyrica North Lyrica CGA Yes T. Iñiguez Won the tranche-by-tranche authorization structure
Yuiza Bohi'o Boriquén Boriquén WPP Yes Y. Bohi'o WPP leader
Émile Bouchard Alduria Alduria Independent Yes É. Bouchard Coordinator of the Aldurian Independent Coalition
Francisco Gabaza Santander Santander FCP Steady F. Gabaza FCP leader; secured the 55-45 financing split as the price of not opposing outright

Vote summary by party

Federal Assembly final reading, 11.VI.1757 AN
Political party Yes No Abstain Total % Support
Federal Humanist Party (FHP) 372 0 0 372 100%
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) 196 0 0 196 100%
Federal Consensus Party (FCP) 2 53 64 119 1.7%
Wakara People's Party (WPP) 20 0 0 20 100%
Civic Governance Alliance (CGA) 10 0 0 10 100%
Independent 5 12 15 32 15.6%
Total 605 65 79 749 80.8%

Chamber of Peers final reading (11.VI.1757)

The Chamber of Peers passed the bill without division on 11.VI.1757 AN, and it proceeded to Royal Assent the same day.

Analysis

The reconstruction vote was the first hard fight of the Cajamarca crisis. The relief appropriation in V had only to be spent, and passed almost without dissent; reconstruction had to be designed, and the government lost ground on three questions before it won the vote.

The first was financing. The government had wanted to draw the program from federal reserves as it had drawn the relief. The Federal Consensus Party refused to endorse a second large call on reserves so soon after the first, and the financing was split 55 to 45 between the Federal Contingency Reserve and a new reconstruction bond. Francisco Gabaza, who secured the split, abstained rather than oppose, and his benches supplied most of the votes against. The second was control. The Civic Governance Alliance, whose votes the government needed, made the NAX€100 billion a ceiling released tranche by tranche, each subsequent tranche requiring its own vote of the chamber, the structure it had first won on Cascade. The third was priority, and it cut across the parties rather than between them: the Act funds both the homes-to-code rebuilding and the line restoration, and Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves made the AJNA's support conditional on a binding requirement that the homes be funded in step with the line rather than behind it.

The government secured its reconstruction, but on a structure the chamber had written and against a budget already carrying the relief draw, the Sapphire Jubilee Bridge-Tunnel supplementary, and the first tranche of the Cascade program. The tranche-by-tranche structure meant that each future release would return to the floor as a fresh vote, and the financing split added new borrowing to the federal accounts at a time when Alexandrium export receipts were softening. The reconstruction of Cajamarca would proceed, but its later stages would be fought one tranche at a time.

See also

References

Retrieved from "https://micras.org/wiki/index.php?title=Cajamarca_Reconstruction_Act,_1757&oldid=414838"