Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754

Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754

13th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to establish an independent Federal Anti-Corruption Commission; to regulate campaign spending, political donations, and the public financing of political parties; to require the publication of coalition agreements; among other purposes.
Introduced by	Tomás Iñiguez (CGA)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Bill Status	Defeated in the Federal Assembly
Date introduced	18.I.1755 AN
Last updated	11.VI.1755 AN
Result	Rejected by the Federal Assembly: 260 in favor, 438 against, 51 abstentions
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	Clean Government Act, 1750 Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721 Anti-Corruption Agency (Mandate and Resources) Act, 1756 Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760

The Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754 was a bill of Nouvelle Alexandrie that would have created an independent Federal Anti-Corruption Commission with prosecutorial authority and set new rules on party finance and coalition agreements. The Civic Governance Alliance (CGA) finalized it in XV.1754 AN from the terms it had agreed with the Federal Humanist Party in the failed coalition talks of that autumn, expanding its own Clean Government Act, 1750, which had lapsed at the dissolution of the 12th Cortes Federales. The CGA's floor leader, Tomás Iñiguez, introduced it in the Federal Assembly on 18.I.1755 AN, and the Assembly rejected it on 11.VI.1755 AN by 260 votes to 438, with 51 abstentions, after the government argued that the commission would duplicate the work of the Anti-Corruption Agency.

The CGA brought the bill's party-finance provisions back in 1756 AN as amendments to the government's Anti-Corruption Agency (Mandate and Resources) Act, 1756, and the Assembly voted them down again. Party-finance reform was enacted, without a new commission, in the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, which Iñiguez sponsored as Secretary of the Treasury in the Federal Accord government.

Background

The CGA's founding bill, the Clean Government Act, 1750, never reached a vote during the 12th Cortes, in which the party governed in coalition with the Federal Humanists. In the first leaders' debate of the 1754 AN campaign, the CGA coordinator, Elena Svensson, summed up its history as "Four years, two Cortes sessions, zero floor votes". After the 1754 general election the CGA opened talks with the Federal Humanists on 21.IX.1754 AN and made its condition for renewing the coalition a floor vote on a clean government bill within 120 days of the opening of the new Cortes. The bill was to be expanded into an anti-corruption omnibus.

A preliminary framework was signed with the CGA on 29.IX.1754 AN by a Federal Humanist team that included Fred Strong and the Chief Whip, Daniela Ferrer, but Premier José Manuel Montero did not countersign it. Federal Humanist objections centered on the spending caps, on a requirement to publish the identities of the party's Alexandrium sector donors within 48 hours, and on the retroactive publication of coalition agreements. On 22.X.1754 AN Montero told Svensson in a four-minute telephone call that the government would not proceed. The CGA said the Federal Humanists had "chosen patronage over principle", and Svensson said the CGA would reintroduce the bill as a private member's measure. Three days later the Federal Humanists signed a confidence and supply agreement with twelve Aldurian independent deputies, which Svensson called "a transaction disguised as governance".

Key provisions

The bill as tabled on 18.I.1755 AN was unchanged in substance from the version finalized in XV.1754 AN. Its core was the independent Federal Anti-Corruption Commission that the CGA had first proposed in the Clean Government Act, 1750: a body outside the control of the Council of State, with power to investigate corruption by public officials and to prosecute the offenses it investigated. The bill carried over the earlier bill's rules on merit-based public appointments and conflicts of interest, and required each Region to adopt equivalent measures within a year.

To that core the CGA added the political reform provisions it had negotiated with the Federal Humanists in 1754 AN. The bill would have capped each party's campaign spending at NAX€2.5 billion in an electoral cycle, required donations of more than NAX€10,000 to be disclosed within 48 hours, and banned contributions from holders of federal contracts. It would have introduced annual public financing of NAX€3.50 for each vote cast for a qualifying party and required coalition agreements to be published within 72 hours of signature, or, for agreements already in force, within 72 hours of the Act's commencement. Breaches of the party-finance and disclosure rules would have carried the penalties for corruption offenses under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721.

Legislative history

Legislative history of the Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	18.I.1755 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Tabled by Deputy Tomás Iñiguez (CGA) as a private member's bill
2	18.I.1755 AN	Federal Assembly	Committee referral	-	Referred without objection to the Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs
3	28.II.1755 AN	Federal Assembly	Committee hearing	-	Testimony of the Ombudsman, Carlos Eduardo Mendoza
4	V.1755 AN	Federal Assembly	Committee report	-	Reported to the chamber without recommendation
5	11.VI.1755 AN	Federal Assembly	Final reading	260-438-51	Rejected

Iñiguez had promised in the confidence debate of 15.I.1755 AN that the CGA would bring the bill back within thirty days and expected a floor vote within six months. Tabling it three days later, he said: "There is no longer a coalition. There is no longer a price. The bill is back." Svensson, speaking from the steps of the Legislative Palace, called the reintroduction "the end of excuses and the beginning of accountability". Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, the leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, said his party had supported the omnibus in 1754 AN and supported the bill as reintroduced. The Federal Consensus Party leader, Francisco Gabaza, said his party would examine it on its merits in committee, and the Aldurian independents' coordinator, Émile Bouchard, said his members would vote according to their consciences.

The bill was referred to the Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs, chaired by the Federal Humanist deputy Béatrice Lemoine. On 28.II.1755 AN the Ombudsman, Carlos Eduardo Mendoza, testified before the committee for about six hours. He did not oppose the bill and acknowledged that its party-finance and electoral-integrity provisions addressed a gap exposed by the Pact of Shadows scandal, but argued that the proposed commission would duplicate the investigative and prosecutorial authority the Anti-Corruption Agency had held under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, and asked the committee to consider expanding the agency's mandate instead. Iñiguez replied that a purpose-built commission with a dedicated electoral mandate was necessary. The committee reported the bill to the chamber without recommendation in V.1755 AN, after the CGA refused amendments that would have removed the commission's prosecutorial powers.

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1755 AN

Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
establish an independent Federal Anti-Corruption Commission; to regulate campaign spending, political donations, and the public financing of political parties; to require the publication of coalition agreements; among other purposes.

Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754

Presented by Deputy Tomás Iñiguez (CGA)
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 18.I.1755 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 "Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754".

Article 2: Definitions.

1. For the purposes of this Act:
   1. "coalition agreement" means a written agreement between two or more political parties, or between a political party and one or more Deputies, on the formation of a government or on support for a government in a vote of confidence or of supply;
   2. "the Commission" means the Federal Anti-Corruption Commission established under Article 4;
   3. "Commissioner" means a member of the Commission appointed under Article 5;
   4. "donation" means a gift of money, property, or services to a political party or to a candidate for election to the Federal Assembly, other than a payment under Article 14;
   5. "electoral cycle" means the period that begins on the day after a general election and ends on the day of the next general election;
   6. "federal contract holder" means a person who holds a contract with the Federation for the supply of goods, works, or services;
   7. "political party" means a party registered with the Federal Elections Commission;
   8. "public official" means a Deputy, a member of the Chamber of Peers, a member of the Council of State, or a person who holds an office or employment under the Federation;
   9. "qualifying party" means a political party that meets the threshold for public financing that the Federal Elections Commission prescribes;
   10. "qualifying vote" means a valid vote cast for the list of a qualifying party at the most recent general election.

Article 3: Purpose.

1. The purposes of this Act are:
   1. to establish an independent body to investigate and prosecute corruption by public officials;
   2. to require that public appointments be made on merit and that public officials avoid conflicts of interest;
   3. to limit and disclose the money spent and received by political parties; and
   4. to make public the agreements on which governments are formed and sustained.

PART II
THE FEDERAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

Article 4: Establishment and independence.

1. There is established a Federal Anti-Corruption Commission.
2. The Commission is independent of the Council of State.
3. The Commission and each Commissioner must not seek or take instructions from any member of the Council of State in the exercise of a function under this Act.

Article 5: Commissioners.

1. The Commission consists of a Chief Commissioner and four other Commissioners.
2. The King must appoint each Commissioner on a resolution of the Federal Assembly.
3. A Commissioner holds office for six years and is not eligible for reappointment.
4. An officer of a political party or a public official must not be appointed as a Commissioner.
5. A Commissioner may be removed from office only on a resolution of the Federal Assembly.

Article 6: Functions.

1. The Commission must:
   1. investigate any allegation that a public official has committed an offense under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721;
   2. investigate any allegation that a person has committed an offense under Part VI;
   3. oversee the rules of ethics and of conflicts of interest that apply to public officials;
   4. monitor the transparency of the operations of the federal government; and
   5. review appointments to public office for compliance with Article 9.

Article 7: Prosecutorial authority.

1. The Commission may institute and conduct proceedings for any offense that it has investigated under Article 6.

Article 8: Powers of investigation.

1. The Commission may require any person to produce a document or to attend and give evidence for the purposes of an investigation under Article 6.
2. A person must not obstruct the Commission in the exercise of a power under this Article.

Article 9: Public appointments and conflicts of interest.

1. A person who appoints another person to an office or employment under the Federation must make the appointment on merit.
2. A public official must declare to the Commission any personal financial interest that relates to a decision in which the official takes part.
3. A public official must not take part in a decision in which the official has a personal financial interest.

Article 10: Reports.

1. The Commission must report to the Cortes Federales each year on the exercise of its functions.
2. The Commission must publish each report.

PART III
CAMPAIGN SPENDING AND POLITICAL DONATIONS

Article 11: Limit on campaign spending.

1. A political party must not spend more than NAX€2,500,000,000 on election campaigns in an electoral cycle.

Article 12: Disclosure of donations.

1. A political party that receives a donation of more than NAX€10,000 must disclose the donation to the Commission within forty-eight (48) hours of receiving it.
2. A disclosure under this Article must state the amount of the donation and the name and address of the donor.
3. The Commission must publish each disclosure made under this Article.

Article 13: Contributions from federal contract holders.

1. A federal contract holder must not make a donation.
2. A political party must not accept a donation from a federal contract holder.

PART IV
PUBLIC FINANCING

Article 14: Public financing of political parties.

1. The Treasury must pay to each qualifying party each year NAX€3.50 for each qualifying vote cast for its list.

PART V
COALITION AGREEMENTS

Article 15: Publication of coalition agreements.

1. The signatories to a coalition agreement must publish the agreement in the Federal Gazette within seventy-two (72) hours of its signature.
2. The signatories to a coalition agreement in force on the day this Act comes into force must publish the agreement in the Federal Gazette within seventy-two (72) hours of that day.

PART VI
OFFENSES

Article 16: Offenses.

1. A person who contravenes Article 8(2), Article 9, Article 11, Article 12, Article 13, or Article 15 commits an offense.
2. A person who commits an offense under this Article is liable on conviction to the penalties that the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721 prescribes for an offense of corruption.
3. A court that sentences a public official for an offense under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721 must treat the official's office as an aggravating factor.

PART VII
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 17: Relationship to other Acts.

1. Nothing in this Act limits the functions of the Anti-Corruption Agency or of the Ombudsman.

Article 18: Regional measures.

1. Each Region must adopt measures equivalent to Part II within one year of the enactment of this Act.

Article 19: Commencement and application.

1. This Act applies to all of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
2. This Act does not become law unless it has been given Royal Assent by H.M. King Sinchi Roca II.
3. This Act must be published in the Federal Gazette and made publicly available within seven (7) days of Royal Assent.
4. This Act comes into force on the first day of the month after the month in which it receives Royal Assent.
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, is inoperative.

Amendments

No amendments were adopted. The CGA refused amendments in committee that would have removed the commission's prosecutorial authority.

Voting record

The Federal Assembly rejected the bill on 11.VI.1755 AN by 260 votes to 438, with 51 abstentions. Of the 372 Federal Humanist Party deputies, 363 voted against and 9 abstained, while the Democratic Socialist Party, the Wakara People's Party, and the CGA voted for the bill in full. Speaking for the government, Lemoine said: "We will not build a second house on a foundation that already exists. We will enlarge the one we have." Premier José Manuel Montero said after the vote that the government would bring its own legislation to enlarge the Anti-Corruption Agency's mandate under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, including the party-finance and electoral-integrity provisions: "The goal is not in dispute. The vehicle was. There will be a vehicle."

Federal Assembly final reading (11.VI.1755 AN)

Notable votes

Deputy	Region	Party	Vote	Role/Notes
José Manuel Montero	Wechua Nation	FHP		Premier
Fred Strong	North Lyrica	FHP		Vice-President of the Government and Secretary of Defense
Tomás Iñiguez	Alduria	CGA		Floor leader of the Civic Governance Alliance; introduced the bill
Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves	Santander	DSP		Leader of the Opposition; the DSP voted for the bill in full
Yuiza Bohi'o	Boriquén	WPP		Leader of the Wakara People's Party; her first major floor vote as leader

Vote summary by party

Federal Assembly final reading, 11.VI.1755 AN

Political party	Yes	No	Abstain	Total	% Support
Democratic Socialist Party	196	0	0	196	100%
Wakara People's Party	20	0	0	20	100%
Civic Governance Alliance	10	0	0	10	100%
Federal Consensus Party	22	60	37	119	18.5%
Aldurian Independent Coalition	5	6	1	12	41.7%
Independent	7	9	4	20	35.0%
Federal Humanist Party	0	363	9	372	0%
Total	260	438	51	749	34.7%

Analysis

The Federal Humanist vote alone was enough to defeat the bill. The three opposition parties that backed it in full, the Democratic Socialists, the Wakara People's Party, and the CGA, held 226 seats between them, and the bill gained only 34 votes from the other groups.

The party-finance provisions shaped the vote outside the two largest blocs. The Federal Consensus Party divided: 22 of its deputies voted for the bill, citing reforms the party had itself proposed after the Pact of Shadows, while 60 voted against and 37 abstained, most of them objecting to the caps and the ban on contributions from contract holders. Its leader, Francisco Gabaza, said the party had supported the principle but could not support the mechanism. The Aldurian Independent Coalition held a free vote and split five to six with one abstention; its coordinator, Émile Bouchard, said: "Twelve people voted twelve consciences. Five reached one answer." Iñiguez called the defeat "a choice, not an accident", and Elena Svensson, who had lost her seat in 1754 AN, told reporters on the steps of the Legislative Palace: "This does not end here. It ends at the next election, on terms the Civic Governance Alliance will set." Under the standing orders the bill could not be reintroduced in the same session without the leave of the chamber.

Aftermath

The government's bill to enlarge the Anti-Corruption Agency, introduced on 19.V.1756 AN, carried none of the party-finance provisions. After the defeat Svensson had promised to read it "line by line for the teeth it removes"; when it was tabled, she said: "The Premier promised a bill on the money in politics and delivered a bill on the size of an office." On 17.IX.1756 AN the Assembly voted down CGA amendments to restore the donation-disclosure rules, the spending caps, the ban on contributions from federal contract holders, and the public financing mechanism by 251 votes to 449, with 49 abstentions, before passing the agency bill by 712 votes to 14. The CGA abstained on the Aldurian Economic Diversification and Recovery Act, 1755, less than a month after the defeat, and Iñiguez tied the party's vote against the National Defense Authorization Act, 1755 to the defeat of the bill.

In the 1759 general election the CGA campaigned to revive the bill as the first measure of the 14th Cortes Federales. The Federal Accord government that followed enacted party-finance reform as the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, sponsored by Iñiguez and Gabaza, which received Royal Assent on 20.X.1760 AN. That Act created no new agency, and so answered the duplication objection that had defeated the bill: it moved the Federal Audit Office from the Treasury to the Cortes and established a public register of party accounts and large donations that stays open throughout the year.

See also

• Clean Government Act, 1750
• Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760
• Civic Governance Alliance
• 13th Cortes Federales