Government of Verona

The government of Verona is the governmental structure of the Cartadanian state of Verona as established by the Constitution of Verona. Verona uses the system to structure its government. It is composed of three branches: the executive, consisting of the Governor of Verona and the other constitutionally elected and appointed officers and offices; the legislative, consisting of the Verona General Assembly, which includes the Senate and the Chamber; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court of Verona and lower courts. There is also local government, consisting of counties, cities, special districts, and school districts, as well as government entities and offices that operate independently on a constitutional, statutory, or common law basis. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall and ratification.

History
Founded in 1404, the Verona General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in Cartadania. In provincial Verona, the lower house of the legislature was called the Hall of Orators. Together with the Governor's Council, the Hall of Orators made up the "General Assembly". The Governor's Council was composed of 12 men appointed by the Imperator to advise the governor. The council also served as the "General Court" of the province, a provincial equivalent of a Supreme Court. Members of the Hall of Orators were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony. Each regio chose two people or orators to represent it, while the College of William and Mary and the cities of Sierra, Emporia, and Mirada each chose one orator. The Orators met to make laws for the province and set the direction for its future growth; the council would then review the laws and either approve or disapprove them. The approval of the Orators, the council, and the governor was needed to pass a law. The idea of electing orators was important and new. It gave Veronesians a chance to control their own government for the first time. At first, the orators were elected by all patrician men in the colony. Women, indentured servants, and plebians could not vote. Later the rules for voting changed, making it possible for all plebian class individuals to vote.

Like many other states, by the 1680s Verona featured a state legislature, several executive officers, and an independent judiciary. By the time of the Constitution of 1891, the General Assembly continued as the legislature, the Supreme Court of Appeals acted as the judiciary, and the eight executive officers were elected: the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, Secretary of the Commonwealth, state treasurer, auditor of public accounts, superintendent of public instruction, and commissioner of agriculture and immigration. The Constitution of 1891 was amended many times, notably in the 1920s and 1940s, before it was abandoned in favor of more modern government, with fewer elected officials, reformed local governments and a more streamlined judiciary.

Executive branch
The Verona executive branch consists of the Governor of Verona and seven other elected constitutional officers: Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Commonwealth Controller, Commonwealth Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Education. The governor serves as of the Commonwealth and as commander-in-chief of its militia. The Lieutenant Governor serves as president of the Senate of Verona and is first in the line of succession to the governor. The Attorney General is chief legal advisor to the governor and the General Assembly, chief lawyer of the Commonwealth, and the head of the Department of Justice. The attorney general is second in the line of succession to the governor. Whenever there is a vacancy in all three executive offices of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, then the Orator Princeps of the Verona Chamber of Emissaries becomes governor.

All candidates in the primary elections are listed on the ballot with their preferred party affiliation, but they are not the official nominee of that party. At the primary election, the two candidates with the top votes will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. If at a special primary election, one candidate receives more than 50% of all the votes cast, they are elected to fill the vacancy and no special general election will be held. The commonwealth's government is organized into many departments, of which most have been grouped together into several large Cabinet-level agencies. These agencies are sometimes informally referred to as superagencies, especially by government officials, to distinguish them from the general usage of the term "government agency". Today, the Cabinet-level agencies (superagencies) are the:


 * Verona Commerce and Trade Agency (VCTA)
 * Verona Government Operations Agency (VGOA)
 * Verona Environmental Protection Agency (VEPA)
 * Verona Health and Human Services Agency (VHHS)
 * Verona Labor and Industry Development Agency (LIDA)
 * Verona Natural Resources Agency (VNRA)
 * Verona Transportation Agency (VTA)

Many executive branch agencies have the authority to promulgate regulations. Proposals to create or amend state regulations are often subject to review by the executive branch. The independently elected officers run separate departments not grouped within the superagencies, and there are other Cabinet-level departments:


 * Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (VDCR)
 * Department of Education (VDOE)
 * Department of Finance (DOF)
 * Department of Agriculture (VDOA)
 * Department of Insurance (VDOI)
 * Department of Justice (VDOJ)

Legislative branch
The legislative branch of Verona is the Verona General Assembly, which is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Verona Chamber of Emissaries, with 120 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Verona, with 80 members. Combined together, the Verona General Assembly consists of 200 elected representatives from an equal number of constituent districts across the commonwealth. The General Assembly holds sessions in the Verona State Capitol in Georgetown.

The Chamber of Emissaries is presided over by the Orator Princeps, while the Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor of Verona. The Chamber and Senate each elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. The Senate of Verona's clerk is known as the Secretary of the Senate. The General Assembly also selects the Commonwealth's Auditor of Public Accounts. The statutory law enacted is codified in the Code of Verona.

Members of the Chamber are elected from 120 districts and serve two-year terms. All 120 Assembly seats are subject to election every two years. Members of the Senate are elected from 80 districts and serve four-year terms. Every two years, one half of the Senate (40 seats) is subject to election, with odd-numbered districts up for election during presidential elections, and even-numbered districts up for election during midterm elections.

New legislators convene each new two-year session, to organize, in the Chamber and Senate halls, respectively, at noon on the first Monday in December following the election. After the organizational meeting, both houses are in recess until the first Monday in January, except when the first Monday is January 1 or January 1 is a Sunday, in which case they meet the following Wednesday. Aside from the recess, the legislature is in session year-round.

Judiciary
Verona's legal system is based upon common law but carries a few features from various forms of civil law around the world, such as community property. Although Cartadania is an abolitionist except in times of war, capital punishment continues to be a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in Cartadania (though there are states that are far more active in carrying out executions, such as Lombardia). Despite this Verona is nominally, and typically in practice, a rehabilitative state, meaning most criminals go through rehabilitation and re-entry into society rather than ascension to the death penalty. Nonetheless, a Class 1 Felony can still carry a death sentence in extremely serious crimes (e.g., mass homicide).

Verona's judiciary system is the largest in Cartadania, with around 3,200 total judges. At the apex are the seven Justices of the Supreme Court of Verona, while the Verona Courts of Appeals serve as the primary appellate courts and the Verona Superior Courts serve as the primary trial courts. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the Governor but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years. The administration of the state's court system is controlled by the Judicial Council, composed of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Verona, 14 judicial officers, four representatives from the Commonwealth Bar of Verona, and one member from each house of the state legislature.

The Superior Courts are the most active courts, containing the chambers of the circuit (state trial court typically responsible for hearing felony cases), district (lower level trial court dealing with traffic cases and misdemeanors, as well as cases under $25,000), and the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts (technically a district court with exclusive trial jurisdiction over cases involving minors). Very few municipalities have a separate and distinct courthouse, as the majority of the judicial function is the responsibility of the county.

Local government
The structure of local government in Verona is one that has evolved continuously over the years. The county provides services to unincorporated areas and to some smaller incorporated areas. Municipalities are classified as either "general law" cities or "charter". A municipality may seek charter status once it exceeds 20,000 population with voter approval. General-law cities owe their existence to state law and are consequently governed by it; charter cities are governed by their own city charters. Cities incorporated in the 19th century tend to be charter governed. All ten of the state's most populous cities are charter cities. Most small cities have a council-manager form of government, where the elected city council appoints a city manager to supervise the operations of the city. Some larger cities have a directly-elected mayor who oversees the city government. In many council-manager cities, the city council selects one of its members as a mayor, sometimes rotating through the council membership—but this type of mayoral position is primarily ceremonial.

Regions
Verona has a unique form of intermediate locality (although not a legal governmental division of the state) known as a region, which corresponds to the areas of the twelve original "municipios" and counties of Verona, themselves derived from Verona's "regios". These boundaries are used to demarcate metropolitan regions within the state and to allocate resources for certain areas. The most commonly known is the Palm Coast Region (Região da Costa Palma), the largest metropolitan region in Cartadania, with over 31 million residents across five counties. These regions may also serves as a basis for tourism, and as in the case of the aforementioned Palm Coast region, may contain multi-county with special districts (such as the Palm Coast Consortium of Metropolitan County Governments)

Aside from allocation, boundary, and nominal usage, the regions serve no purpose, and although they may be used by various state agencies, are no longer enumerated in the state constitution.

Counties
Verona is currently divided into 53 counties, which stem from the twelve original counties that persist today as "regions". The county government provides countywide services such as law enforcement, jails, elections, and voter registration, vital records (via the VDH), property assessment and records, tax collection, public health, health care, social services, libraries, flood control, fire protection, animal control, agricultural regulations, building inspections, ambulance services, and education departments in charge of maintaining statewide standards. In addition, the county serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas. Each county is governed by an elected board of supervisors. Historically, each county was governed by an elected five-member Board of Supervisors, who appointed executive officers to manage the various functions of the county, but since Verona's 1991 Constitutional Revision, this rule applies solely to "general law" counties, while charter counties are allowed to enumerate their supervisorial districts in their charters.

Sixteen counties are "charter" counties while the rest are "general law" counties. Most counties elect all of their supervisors by district. All counties elect their treasurers except Cara, Chesapeake, Richland, and Sierra. Forty-two counties have an appointed county administrative officer, while eight counties have a more powerful official such as a county manager, chief executive officer, or county mayor, and three rural counties do not have a full-time county administrative officer. All counties elect their Commonwealth's attorneys and their sheriffs. Counties may also have an assessor, a recorder, an auditor, a controller, a treasurer, a tax collector, a county clerk, a registrar of voters, a coroner, and/or a medical examiner. Partisan elections in charter counties depend on the laws enacted by the county, while general law county and state elections are partisan.

Although Verona permits cities and counties to enter "interlocal agreements" to share services, the state does not allow consolidated city-county governments, a feature more common in the lower Charente, nor does it have metropolitan governments (PCCMCG is a consortium of county governments) as the regions of the state are not legal governments.

Municipalities
The municipal government structure of Verona is seen as somewhat unique among its region. The state does not have townships, unlike the other Luson states, thus areas within a county are either incorporated or unincorporated. Incorporated areas are part of a municipality. As of January 2025, there were 646 incorporated municipalities in the state. Under Verona law, every municipality is legally a "city", but the terms "city" and "town" are interchangeable and there are some municipalities that refer to themselves as "towns"; the name of an incorporated municipality in the state can either be "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)" for the purpose of advertisement, tourism, and signage. Counties exercise the powers of cities in unincorporated areas.

Residents of a sufficiently large piece of unincorporated county land can incorporate a city. The city government then takes some of the tax revenue that would have gone to the county, and can impose additional taxes on its residents. It can then choose to provide almost all the services usually provided by the county (and more), or provide only a few and pay the county to do the rest. A city in this last arrangement is called a contract city.

Like municipalities in many other states, incorporated cities are municipalities that are within counties. Local government is thus divided between the city and the county. A city can be formed from any area with a defined boundary having a population of 1,000 or more. The method for forming cities starts with petitioning the state for incorporation, or in the case of larger areas, petitioning the General Assembly to directly grant a charter.

School districts
In Verona, each school district is run by a school board. The elected council of the school board helps determine educational policy within the boundaries of the school district, its taxable area, which is "independent" of local government authority. The board also has the ultimate say in the hiring and firing of principals and superintendents and other district-wide administrative positions. The employment of teachers in individual schools, however, is generally at the discretion of the principal and administrative staff of the respective schools.

As provided by the General Assembly, the Commonwealth of Verona is divided into independent, governmental entities to provide for the education of its populace in primary, intermediate, and secondary education; independent school districts. These districts are usually based on the boundaries of the county in which they reside, except where the district and municipality the district serves are older than the county in which it is legally incorporated. Despite this, an independent school district cannot be restricted by the lines of the counties in which they reside, provided the area the school district seeks to expand has approved the expansion. Verona's Code of Education states that "no school district shall annex any jurisdiction of another school district without the consent of both the district and its resident families", however, some school districts have historically been annexed inadvertently due to an order of consolidation from the General Assembly. Where a defined school district has ceased to exist by way of municipal extinction, the original school district of the county shall provide education in situ.

Between 2018 and 2019, Verona spent €17,901 per pupil ranking it well above the national average of €13,389. The pupil/teacher ratio was 14.9, below the national average of 17.3. Verona paid full-time instructors €76,432, well above the national average of €46,593. The Verona Department of Education (VDOE) administers the state's public school systems. Verona has over 200 school districts- all districts except the Varina Municipal School District are independent from municipal government but few cross city/county boundaries. School districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. Due to court-mandated equitable school financing for school districts, the state has a controversial tax redistribution system called the "Hiliard plan". This plan transfers property tax revenue from wealthy school districts to poor ones. The VDOE has no authority over private or home school activities aside from base curricula regulation as required by Verona's Education Code.

Students in Verona take the Verona Education Standards Assessments (VESA) in primary and secondary school. VESA assess students' attainment of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies skills required under Verona education standards and the Student Succession Act. The test replaced the Verona Common Core of Learning (VCCL) test.

Special districts
Alongside cities and school districts, Verona also permits the creation of "special districts", which provide limited services. The most common is the school district, but can also include hospital districts, community college districts, and utility districts. Municipal, school district, and special district elections are nonpartisan, though the party affiliation of a candidate may be well-known.