National Officeholder Conduct and Accountability Policy Act 2025

National Officeholder Conduct and Accountability Policy Act

Passed by the Senate, vetoed by the President, and veto overridden on 11 August 2025.

Author: Senator Lucas

Preamble

Whereas the state has made some questionable financial decisions that make no sense

Whereas there is a need for more accountability in general.

The following is enacted into law by the Senate of SimDemocracy.

Article 1: Definitions

<ref name="jan26" />§1. Conflict of Interest: A situation in which a public official’s personal, financial or relational interests could reasonably be expected to improperly influence the impartial performance of their official duties or responsibilities.

Repealed<ref name="jan26">NO CAP Amendments 2026 passed and signed 17 January 2026.</ref>

§1. Conflict of Interest: A situation in which a public official’s personal or financial interests could reasonably be expected to improperly influence the impartial performance of their official duties or responsibilities.

§1.1. A conflict exists only where a decision creates a foreseeable and substantial benefit to the official’s private interests beyond the impact experienced by the general public or a broad class of similarly situated individuals.

§2. Public Official: An individual who works in or heads a publicly funded organisation.

§2.1. Private Organisations that simply do business with the government shall not be considered publicly funded organisations.

§3. Prominent Role: A position of significant authority, influence, or public visibility.

§4. Public Office: Any position in a publicly funded organisation.

§4.1. The President, Vice President, Judges, Justices and Senators of SimDemocracy may not be removed from their positions.

Article 2: Prohibitions

§1. Public Officials must not make, participate in, or influence decisions in which they have a conflict of interest.

§2. Public Officials must not use their position to improperly<ref name="jan26" /> benefit:

a. Themself.

b. A business they own or work for.

c. Any organization or foreign government where they hold a prominent role.

<ref name="jan26" />d. Friends or any other persons they have a close relationship with.

§3. Public Officials must not accept gifts, services, or favors worth more than 50 tau from individuals or entities that:

a. Do business with the government.

b. Are regulated by the official’s office.

c. Have interests pending before the official.

§4. The legislative conduct, including proposing, debating and voting on bills, of Senators shall be exempt but conduct that could not reasonably be considered legislative conduct shall not be exempt.

<ref name="jan26" />§5. Benefit or Influence shall only be deemed Improper if it is proven more likely than not, the result of the advancement of interests laid out in Article 2 §2 or is likely to result in the advancement of interests laid out in Article 2 §2, as opposed to the interests of the State of SimDemocracy and its people on a balance of probabilities.

Article 3: Conflict of Interest Procedure

§1. A public official must recuse themselves from any decision-making process where a conflict of interest exists.

§2. Such a decision to recuse oneself must be promptly communicated to all direct superiors and to the next person in command, if applicable.

§3. Any decisions made in a conflict of interest shall remain in effect unless altered by another authority.

Article 4: Amendments to Criminal Code

§1. The Criminal Code 2020 shall be amended to add an article, named “Breach of Public Accountability,” as Article 30b which shall read :

 Ҥ1. A violation of any provision of Article 2 of the National Officeholder Conduct and Accountability Policy Act shall constitute the crime of Breach of Public Accountability.
 §2. Any citizen of SimDemocracy may prosecute a charge of Breach of Public Accountability regardless of any other laws regarding criminal prosecution.
 §3. Any case of Breach of Public Accountability may be dismissed in Pre-Trial if the conflict of interest is extremely minor and inconsequential.
 §4. Any person convicted of Breach of Public Accountability shall be fined up to 5000 tau.
 §5. Any person convicted of Breach of Public Accountability shall also :
   a. Be Removed from any Public Office(s), used in the commission of the crime, as defined in National Officeholder Conduct and Accountability Policy Act.
   b. Be Prohibited from holding any new Public Officers as defined in National Officeholder Conduct and Accountability Policy Act for a period of up to 4 weeks.
   §5.1. The Judge may ignore this last provision if the offense is deemed to be minor.

Citations

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