Article 13 - Decisional Branch

This Constitution defines the Decisional Branch as the institutional expression of the collective authority of citizens to deliberate, propose, and enact the laws, rules, and regulations by which society is governed. Within this branch, the people determine the scope and perimeter of the Fundamental Needs society is obligated to provide, define the rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen, and establish both the obligations and limits applicable to all, as well as the means and protections necessary for citizens to thrive. Through participatory and transparent processes, the Decisional Branch translates the collective will of citizens into binding laws and regulations. The implementation and application of these laws and regulations shall be the exclusive responsibility of the Operational Branch.

Part I - Structure and Composition

The Decisional Branch functions through a structured, two-tiered legislative process designed to ensure informed deliberation and broad citizen participation.

The first tier of this legislative process consists of specialized deliberative entities called legislative panels. Legislative panels are created whenever society identifies the need for new legislation, significant modifications to existing laws, or to address specific societal concerns, developments, or issues requiring legislative attention. The creation of a legislative panel can be initiated by citizen request, recommendations from the Operational or Arbitral Branches, or as mandated by previously enacted laws reaching their scheduled renewal period. The Decisional Branch may establish as many legislative panels as deemed reasonable and necessary, provided the total number remains manageable, efficient, and conducive to meaningful deliberation. The reasonableness of panel creation and their operational capacity shall be regularly evaluated and overseen by the Arbitral Branch.

Each legislative panel is composed of approximately forty-seven percent trained citizens, thirty-one percent experts and accredited individuals, nineteen percent public officers, and three percent randomly selected citizens involved in prior legislative efforts.

The second tier of the legislative process is open to all citizens, who have the opportunity to review, debate, contribute feedback, and suggest amendments to legislative proposals. The second tier provides accessible and transparent platforms through which citizens can engage directly and substantively with the proposals and related legislative dossiers produced by the first-tier panels. This stage is specifically designed to enable informed, broad, and inclusive public deliberation prior to any law’s final adoption.

Part II - Roles, Powers, and Responsibilities

Legislative panels deliberate upon, draft, and refine legislative proposals. Every legislative panel is obligated to produce a comprehensive legislative dossier, which includes the complete legislative proposal, an evaluation of the impact threshold of the number of citizens impacted, a documented analysis of associated risks, consequences, and benefits, a synthesis of the positions and opinions expressed during deliberations (including areas of consensus and contention), estimates of implementation costs, identification of responsible entities, the law’s proposed renewal period (not exceeding seven years), a stipulation indicating whether subsequent renewals require only citizen voting or must involve the formation of a new legislative panel, and, if applicable, alternative proposals considered but not retained, along with their justification.

When preparing this legislative dossier, the panel explicitly categorizes each proposed law according to its anticipated impact on citizens. A law with minimal or localized impact, affecting fewer than fifteen percent of citizens, requires participation of at least one-seventh of all citizens. A moderate impact law, affecting between fifteen and thirty percent of citizens, requires participation of two-sevenths. Laws of significant impact, affecting between thirty-one and sixty percent, require three-sevenths participation, while laws impacting more than sixty percent of citizens require four-sevenths participation. These evaluations and their justifications must be explicitly documented within the legislative dossier.

Part III - Procedures and Functioning

For a law to be enacted, it must first meet the minimum voter participation threshold documented in its legislative dossier. Once this threshold is reached, the proposal shall only be enacted if approved by more than fifty-three percent of voting citizens. All enacted laws must include a mandatory renewal and review period not exceeding seven years. Upon reaching this renewal period, each law must be reaffirmed, amended, or repealed, either by direct citizen vote or through renewed deliberation by a new legislative panel. If, at the renewal stage, a law fails to reach its defined minimum voter participation threshold, it shall automatically become null, and a new legislative panel must promptly convene to reconsider and deliberate upon the subject.

Part IV - Institutions and Supporting Entities

To support the Decisional Branch in fulfilling its duties, this Constitution establishes two dedicated institutions: the Office of Decision Panels and the Decision Forum.

The Office of Decision Panels independently organizes, facilitates, and supports legislative panels. It coordinates citizen selection in collaboration with the Arbitral Branch, manages panel composition according to constitutional standards, maintains and regularly updates a mandatory training program for panel participants, structures internal workflows, and ensures transparent access to information, expert input, and procedural tools without influencing deliberations. It publishes records of panel activities while safeguarding confidentiality of internal debates when necessary. Its internal procedures are defined by law and subject to continuous review and audit by the Arbitral Branch.

The Decision Forum facilitates citizen participation within the second tier of the legislative process. It ensures clear and comprehensive access to legislative proposals, amendments, and public debates through open, transparent, accessible digital and physical platforms. The Decision Forum educates citizens on their participatory rights, provides neutral tools and media resources to assist informed decision-making, and actively promotes civic education and engagement. It operates independently from the Operational and Arbitral branches, exercises no influence over legislative outcomes, and its internal procedures are subject to permanent review by the Arbitral Branch.

Part Six: Limits and Obligations of Service

No individual shall serve within the Decisional Branch for more than seven consecutive years, nor hold the same public office within this branch more than three times or exceed eleven total years. Officials within the Decisional Branch remain accountable to the citizens, bound by duty to uphold decisions made directly by citizens. Their activities and decisions must be regularly reported and made available for public review. Citizens retain the right to question, challenge, and seek redress if actions within the Decisional Branch deviate from societal expectations or constitutional mandates.

Part Seven: Oversight, Compliance, and Sanctions

The Arbitral Branch permanently oversees all processes within the Decisional Branch, ensuring integrity, legality, and conformity to constitutional principles. Should it identify irregularities or constitutional risks, the Arbitral Branch issues mandatory corrections, which must be implemented within nine months. Failure to comply with these corrections triggers immediate dissolution of the Decisional Branch, including the Office of Decision Panels and the Decision Forum. The Arbitral Branch specifies elements requiring reconstitution, instructing the Operational Branch accordingly, which must fully reconstitute these entities without continuity of personnel or processes. Valid laws enacted prior to dissolution remain unaffected during reconstitution.

Any citizen representing the Office of Decision Panels or the Decision Forum who attempts to influence, manipulate, or distort legislative panel deliberations or public participation shall be immediately removed and permanently disqualified from serving in any Decisional Branch capacity, except as an ordinary participant in public deliberations.