City Congress

City Congress makes, amends, and repeals the city’s laws. Every elected officeholder in New Philadelphia serves in it as a legislator.¹

What Congress does for you

• Writes laws that give every citizen life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.²
• Changes a law when it causes problems for citizens, and repeals one only when it interferes with citizens’ rights or no longer serves its purpose.³
• May not restrict immigration, except during a declared emergency.⁴
• Decides whether the city goes to war.⁵

Conventions

• Congress meets in conventions at the New Philadelphia Legislature. Private citizens may not be inside during a convention.⁶
• A convention lasts no more than three hours, and conventions are at least 24 hours apart.⁶
• Decisions pass by a vote of the legislators present, unless the Charter requires more. The President of Congress announces them once the convention ends.⁷
• Legislators are paid $40 for each convention they attend.⁸

Visit the Legislature

Outside conventions, the Legislature is open to the public. Its library holds a copy of every statute in the Charter.⁹

Checks on Congress

• The Interim City Council may veto a decision. Congress can then renegotiate it or take it to the Supreme Court.¹⁰
• The Supreme Court can cancel a decision that breaches citizens’ rights.¹¹
• If you believe a decision was unjust, tell the Supreme Court or the Interim City Council. Either may begin to overrule it.¹²
• If 70 percent of citizens support overruling a decision, it is suspended at once, and citizens are invited to a convention to deliberate.¹²

To vote or run for office, see Congress and elections.