National Service Revitalization Act, 1745

National Service Revitalization Act, 1745

11th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to establish national service placements for unemployed persons of working age, to make the continued payment of unemployment benefit conditional on the acceptance of a placement; among other purposes.
Bill Number	FA-1745-0095
Introduced by	Deputy Manuel Rivas (FHP)
Session of Cortes Federales	11th Cortes Federales
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Bill Status	Lapsed
Date introduced	20.II.1745 AN
Last updated	1749 AN
Result	Lapsed without a final vote at the end of the 11th Cortes Federales
Failure date	1749 AN
Reason	Lapsed at the end of the 11th Cortes Federales without a final vote
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	National Service Act, 1726 Reserve Forces Readiness Act, 1745

The National Service Revitalization Act, 1745 (Alexandrian: Loi de revitalisation du service national de 1745; Martino: Ley de Revitalización del Servicio Nacional de 1745; Wechua: Suyu Llamk'ay Kawsarichiy Kamachiy, 1745) was proposed legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie that would have offered a national service placement to every unemployed claimant of working age and made continued unemployment benefit conditional on accepting it.

Deputy Manuel Rivas, the Secretary of Labor, introduced the bill on 20.II.1745 AN. It lapsed without a final vote when the 11th Cortes Federales ended at the 1749 AN general election.

Background

Deputy Manuel Rivas became Secretary of Labor in a cabinet reshuffle announced on 1.I.1745 AN, succeeding Étienne Laurent. Premier Juan Pablo Jimenez opened the 11th Cortes on 8.I.1745 AN with a Throne Speech that recommitted his government to the "A Better Deal" agenda, with a new emphasis on workforce reintegration. Addressing a joint session, he pledged "a full revamp of national service programs" and said that "the unemployed will be put to useful work: building, maintaining, restoring." He added, "No one will be idle in this Great Society." The same agenda planned a 20 percent reduction in social welfare expenditures alongside a 40 percent increase in claimants returning to work. NBC News reported that national service would be restructured to include broader civilian and military training programs for unemployed citizens, especially youth.

An earlier compulsory scheme, the National Service Act, 1726, would have required two years of service between the ages of 18 and 40. The Federal Assembly defeated it on 3.VI.1729 AN by 356 votes to 332.

Key provisions

The bill would have applied only to people claiming unemployment benefit. Every claimant between the ages of 18 and 65 would have been offered a national service placement within eight weeks of the start of a claim, so far as placements were available, with claimants aged 18 to 25 placed first. Placements would have run for up to six months at a time and could have been renewed for as long as the claimant remained out of work. Exemptions would have covered claimants with a disability that prevented the service offered, full-time caregivers, pregnant claimants, people in full-time education, and claimants in paid work for 16 hours or more a week. A new National Service Placement Office within the Federal Job Centre of the Department of Labor would have run the scheme.

A placement could have been in public works, community and civil service, or emergency service. Claimants within the enlistment ages of the Federal Forces could also have chosen military training, but no one could have been assigned to it without consent. Service would have been capped at 30 hours a week, with at least eight further hours left free for job search and training. Unemployment benefit would have continued during a placement, and claimants would also have received a service supplement.

Unlike the 1726 AN bill, which would have made evasion of service a crime, the measure would have created no criminal offense. Refusing or leaving a placement without good cause would have cost a claimant four weeks of unemployment benefit for a first refusal and 13 weeks for each later refusal during the same claim. The suspension would have covered payments under the Social Solidarity program and the federal subsidy paid to a trade union's unemployment fund for that claimant. A claimant could have asked for a review within 30 days, and a suspension would have had no effect from the request until the review was decided. The claimant could then have appealed the review decision to a federal court.

Legislative history

Legislative history of the National Service Revitalization Act, 1745

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	20.II.1745 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Introduced by Deputy Manuel Rivas (FHP), Secretary of Labor
2	1749 AN	Federal Assembly	Lapsed	-	Bill lapsed at the end of the 11th Cortes Federales without a final vote

When Rivas introduced the bill, the Federal Humanist Party held 381 of the 749 seats in the Federal Assembly. The government listed the reform among its priorities for the session. Responding to the Throne Speech, the opposition leader, Morissa Baumann of the Federal Consensus Party, pledged to scrutinize the cost, fairness, and scope of the government's new initiatives. Opposition parties and civil society groups criticized the agenda's expansion of national service requirements and its reduction of social welfare programs. Operation Lightning Dawn, an Oportian assault on New Alexandrian, Constancian, and Zeedic territory in Eura, was launched in III.1745 AN. Wartime production and military recruitment during the Fourth Euran War then tightened the labor market, and on 23.VIII.1745 AN NBC News reported unemployment at 2.3 percent, the lowest rate in the Federation's history. The bill lapsed without a final vote when the session ended at the 1749 AN election, in which the Federal Humanist Party lost its majority, falling to 360 seats.

Bill as submitted to the "Hopper" of the Federal Assembly, 1745 AN

NATIONAL SERVICE REVITALIZATION ACT, 1745

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
ESTABLISH NATIONAL SERVICE PLACEMENTS FOR UNEMPLOYED PERSONS OF WORKING AGE, TO MAKE THE CONTINUED PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT CONDITIONAL ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF A PLACEMENT; among other purposes.

NATIONAL SERVICE REVITALIZATION ACT, 1745

Presented by Deputy Manuel Rivas, Secretary of Labor, FHP
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 20.II.1745 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 "National Service Revitalization Act, 1745".

Article 2: Definitions.

1. For the purposes of this Act:
   1. "claimant" means a person who has claimed unemployment benefit and whose claim has not ended, including a person whose unemployment benefit is suspended under Article 10;
   2. "Department" means the Department of Labor;
   3. "good cause" includes:
      1. a medical emergency affecting the claimant or a member of the claimant's household;
      2. the unavailability of transport to the place of service; and
      3. a placement that does not meet the requirements of Article 7;
   4. "placement" means a national service placement offered under Article 5;
   5. "Placement Office" means the National Service Placement Office established under Article 12;
   6. "Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor;
   7. "service supplement" means the payment made under Article 8;
   8. "unemployment benefit" includes:
      1. a payment made under the Social Solidarity program to a person because that person is unemployed; and
      2. a payment made to a person from a trade union unemployment fund that receives a federal subsidy;
   9. "working age" means the age of 18 years or more and less than 66 years.

Article 3: Purpose.

1. The purposes of this Act are:
   1. to provide work in public works, community service, and emergency service for unemployed persons;
   2. to provide civilian and military training for unemployed persons; and
   3. to return claimants to employment.

PART II
NATIONAL SERVICE PLACEMENTS

Article 4: Liability.

1. Every claimant of working age is liable to national service under this Act.
2. A claimant is not liable to national service while an exemption under Article 9 applies to that claimant.

Article 5: Offer of a placement.

1. So far as placements are available, the Placement Office must offer a placement to each claimant liable to national service before the end of the period of eight weeks beginning with the day on which the claim for unemployment benefit began.
2. The Placement Office must offer placements to claimants aged 18 to 25 before other claimants if placements are not available for every claimant liable to national service.
3. An offer of a placement must be made in writing and must state:
   1. the kind of placement;
   2. the place of service;
   3. the weekly hours of service; and
   4. the date on which the placement begins.

Article 6: Kinds of placement.

1. A placement must be one of the following:
   1. a public works placement, in the building, maintenance, or restoration of public infrastructure;
   2. a community or civil service placement, in a federal agency, in a Regional, State, or Municipal Government, or in a registered charity;
   3. an emergency service placement, with the Federal Emergency and Disaster Management Administration or with a Regional or local Emergency and Disaster Management Committee established under the Disaster Management Act, 1715; or
   4. a training placement, in civilian vocational training or in military training with the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
2. A claimant may be placed in military training only with the written consent of that claimant and only if the claimant is within the ages at which a person may enlist in the Federal Forces under the law in force.
3. A claimant may withdraw consent to military training at any time, and the Placement Office must then offer that claimant another kind of placement.

Article 7: Duration and hours.

1. A placement lasts for a period of no more than six months.
2. The Placement Office may offer a further placement at the end of a placement if the claimant remains a claimant.
3. A placement must not require more than 30 hours of service in any week.
4. The Placement Office must leave each claimant at least eight hours in each week, outside the hours of service, for job search and training.
5. A placement ends on the day on which the claimant ceases to be a claimant.

Article 8: Service supplement.

1. Unless the claimant's unemployment benefit is suspended under Article 10, a claimant who is serving in a placement continues to receive unemployment benefit.
2. The Department must pay a service supplement to each claimant for each week in which that claimant serves in a placement.
3. The Secretary must specify the amount of the service supplement by order, published in the Federal Gazette.

Article 9: Exemptions.

1. A claimant is exempt from national service if the claimant:
   1. has a disability or illness, certified by a licensed physician, that prevents the claimant from performing the service offered;
   2. is the full-time caregiver of a child under the age of five years or of a dependent adult;
   3. is pregnant;
   4. is enrolled in full-time education or full-time vocational training; or
   5. is in paid work for 16 hours or more in each week.
2. A claimant must notify the Placement Office of a change in circumstances that begins or ends an exemption under Paragraph 1 before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the day of the change.

PART III
COMPLIANCE

Article 10: Suspension of unemployment benefit.

1. The Department must direct the Department of Social Security and National Solidarity to suspend the unemployment benefit of a claimant who refuses an offer of a placement without good cause:
   1. for four weeks, for a first refusal; and
   2. for 13 weeks, for each later refusal within the same claim.
2. If a claimant leaves a placement without good cause, Paragraph 1 applies as though the claimant had refused an offer of a placement.
3. Where unemployment benefit is paid from a trade union unemployment fund, a suspension under this Article applies to the federal subsidy paid to that fund for that claimant.
4. Refusal of a placement is not an offense.

Article 11: Review and appeal.

1. A claimant may ask the Department to review a decision to suspend unemployment benefit before the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the day of that decision.
2. The Department must decide a review before the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the day on which the claimant asked for it.
3. A claimant may appeal a decision on review to a federal court.
4. If a claimant asks for a review, the suspension has no effect from the day of the request until the Department decides the review.

PART IV
ADMINISTRATION

Article 12: National Service Placement Office.

1. The National Service Placement Office is established within the Federal Job Centre of the Department.
2. The Placement Office is headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary.
3. The Placement Office must:
   1. keep a record of every claimant liable to national service and of every placement offered, accepted, refused, and completed;
   2. maintain a register of the placements available in each Region; and
   3. make offers of placements under Article 5.

Article 13: Duties of agencies.

1. The Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie, the Federal Emergency and Disaster Management Administration, and the Federal Civil Service System must each make placements available to the Placement Office.
2. A Regional, State, or Municipal Government, and a Regional or local Emergency and Disaster Management Committee, may make placements available to the Placement Office.
3. The Department of Social Security and National Solidarity must give the Placement Office the information it requires to identify each claimant.

Article 14: Reports.

1. The Secretary must submit an annual report on the operation of this Act to the Council of State and the Cortes Federales.
2. The annual report must state, for each Region:
   1. the number of claimants liable to national service;
   2. the number of placements offered, accepted, refused, and completed;
   3. the number of suspensions of unemployment benefit; and
   4. the number of claimants who entered employment during or within six months after a placement.

Article 15: Funding.

1. The costs of the Placement Office and of the service supplement must be included in the annual appropriations of the federal government.

PART V
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 16: 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 1.I.1746 AN.
5. If any provision or part of this Act is found to be invalid or unenforceable, only that provision or part, and not the entire Act, is inoperative.

Voting record

The Federal Assembly never divided on the bill, so no vote was recorded before it lapsed at the end of the 11th Cortes Federales.

Legacy

Like the National Service Act, 1726, the bill would have made people liable to national service by law and created a new office to administer it. Where the 1726 AN bill would have applied to every national by age, this bill would have tied service to the receipt of unemployment benefit. A separate proposal, for one year of national service between the ages of 18 and 25, was put to the national service referendum of 1761 AN and rejected by 78.0 percent to 22.0 percent.

See also

• 11th Cortes Federales
• National Service Act, 1726
• National service in Nouvelle Alexandrie
• New Alexandrian national service referendum, 1761
• Reserve Forces Readiness Act, 1745