Section 5.3. Legislative bills may be proposed by the Scottish Government, by any individual Member of Parliament, or by means of a public petition signed by at least five per cent of the Nation’s registered voters; provided, that bills relating to matters of public revenues and finance, may only be proposed by the responsible Minister.
Please scrutinise all the proposed amendments and replies before commenting or voting. Short comments are most often read and must not exceed 100 words. You can propose an Amendment at the bottom of this page - please read the guidelines .
Note that the original wording appears again first below and sustains the same comment & voting regime as all other amendment proposals.
Section 5.3. Section 5.3. Legislative bills may be proposed by the Scottish Government, by any individual Member of Parliament, or by means of a public petition signed by at least five per cent of the Nation’s registered voters; provided, that bills relating to matters of public revenues and finance, may only be proposed by the responsible Minister.
Section 5.3. Switzerland's constitutional basis is the same as Scotland's - Popular Sovereignty. The Swiss threshold for public petitions is 2% (100,000 signatures, the Scottish equivalent being 80,000). Since 1848 there have been some 500 such petitions (6 per year) of which 229 (3 p.y.) were actually voted on and 25 finally accepted (5% success rate). In a Direct Democracy (DD) country like Switzerland the People ultimately control everything - including finances. Revenues and finance concerning NATIONAL matters are therefore subject to popular scrutiny. REGIONAL revenues and finance are managed by Councils, the mechanics of approval being set by the regional constitution.
Section 5.3. Legislative bills may be proposed by the Scottish Government, by any individual Member of Parliament, or by means of a public petition signed by at least 100,000 (approx. 2½%) of the Nation’s registered voters.
Section 5.3. I consider this an achievable threshold without inviting disruption. I have also dropped the reference to finance bills as these should take no special preference over moral and social issues.
Proposed Amendments to Section
Please scrutinise all the proposed amendments and replies before commenting or voting. Short comments are most often read and must not exceed 100 words.
You can propose an Amendment at the bottom of this page - please read the guidelines .
Note that the original wording appears again first below and sustains the same comment & voting regime as all other amendment proposals.
Original Version
Section 5.3. Section 5.3. Legislative bills may be proposed by the Scottish Government, by any individual Member of Parliament, or by means of a public petition signed by at least five per cent of the Nation’s registered voters; provided, that bills relating to matters of public revenues and finance, may only be proposed by the responsible Minister.
Section 5.3. Affected by my comments made earlier in this constitution exercise.
Section 5.3. Switzerland's constitutional basis is the same as Scotland's - Popular Sovereignty. The Swiss threshold for public petitions is 2% (100,000 signatures, the Scottish equivalent being 80,000). Since 1848 there have been some 500 such petitions (6 per year) of which 229 (3 p.y.) were actually voted on and 25 finally accepted (5% success rate). In a Direct Democracy (DD) country like Switzerland the People ultimately control everything - including finances. Revenues and finance concerning NATIONAL matters are therefore subject to popular scrutiny. REGIONAL revenues and finance are managed by Councils, the mechanics of approval being set by the regional constitution.
Proposed Amendment to Section 5.3.
To encourage wider public engagement
Section 5.3. Legislative bills may be proposed by the Scottish Government, by any individual Member of Parliament, or by means of a public petition signed by at least 100,000 (approx. 2½%) of the Nation’s registered voters.
Section 5.3. I consider this an achievable threshold without inviting disruption. I have also dropped the reference to finance bills as these should take no special preference over moral and social issues.