Censor (Urcea): Difference between revisions

The Censors have multiple powers related to the enforcement of public virtue. Specifically, Censorial authority is broken down into two categories, "statutory", their authority to disrupt legislation or regulations they view to be harmful to public morality, and "regulatory", their authority to disrupt content in print and broadcast media which they view to be harmful to public morality. With respect to their statutory powers, each Censor has the ability to issue formal objections to legislation before the [[Concilium Daoni]] or, more rarely, by a province or other subdivision of Urcea. A formal objection does not on its own halt the progress of legislation, however it does raise public and legislative awareness regarding moral problems related to legislation. Both Censors in concurrence are able to issue a suspensive veto, which prohibits any bill or regulatory measure from being considered for the remainder of a calendar year. Both objections and suspensive vetos can be accompanied by official requests for amendments to legislation, and suspensive vetos can be withdrawn by at least one Censor following being issued. A suspensive Censorial veto can be overridden by an 80% vote of the [[Concilium Daoni]] and cannot be overridden by a local government by any means. Both Censors may also issue objections to bills which have already passed the Concilium Daoni. Situations like these allow the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] to veto legislation, although the [[Procurator]] will typically veto a bill objected to by one or more Censors in order to ensure what is known as "democratic chain of custody", i.e. that only elected officials are making decisions on legislation. The Censors also have "regulatory" authority, which describes their ability to oversee content produced for [[Culture of Urcea|cultural]] and commercial consumption in [[Urcea]]. Censors only have jurisdiction over materials which are released for public consumption, either for commercial or artistic purposes, and does not include materials which have already received an ''{{wp|Imprimatur#Catholic_Church|imprimatur}}'' from an official of the [[Catholic Church]]. Rather than receiving permission to print, publish, or otherwise distribute from the Censor, Censors typically monitor materials already in circulation before making a decision to censor or otherwise request modifications to materials.  

The specific criteria in which the Censors regulate both legislation and public content depends greatly on the individual Censor as well as any particular mandates received by the [[Urcean Conference of Catholic Bishops]] both during their service as well as during the vetting process. The Conference has typically taken a "hands-off" approach to specific mandates or policy positions of individual Censors, with those issues being subject to the political elections in which Censors take office.

The Office of the Censor is the administrative division of the [[Government of Urcea]] responsible for administrative oversight of the Censor's duties as well as providing assistance to the Censors in legal, legislative, regulatory, and other duties. The Office of the Censor is overseen by a single Secretary to the Censors, who has hiring and firing authority and typically manages the Office's normal operations. The Secretary to the Censors is appointed by joint concurrent agreement of both Censors at the beginning of each term. While both Censors nominally work from the premises of the [[Julian Palace]], they typically conduct business from office buildings in [[Urceopolis_(City)#the_Flats_and_Aricia|the Flats]]. The Office is divided into four primary departments, representing the office of Censor's four main branches of responsibility; legislative and regulatory control, public content oversight, census administration, and administration of ecclesiastical holding facilities. The two "control" departments both flag content for both Censors to make final determinations on.