Touch Grass Act

Touch Grass Act 2025

<ref name="two" /> Passed by the Senate and signed by the President on 20 June 2025.

An Act to create provisions for the physical interaction of citizens with greenery, and with specific regard to meadows, and such plants which may be found on them, and for other purposes.

Author: hmquestionable

Preamble

Whereas

The Touch Grass Act has been widely used;

Whereas

Some of its provisions are unclear;

Whereas

SimAddiction is real;

Whereas

The Senate finds it necessary to do something about it;

THE SENATE OF SIMDEMOCRACY PROCLAIMS:

Article 1: Right to Leave

§1. Any employed person has the right to unpaid leave from their work.

§1.1. A person who takes unpaid leave shall not be fired, unless the taking of the unpaid leave in the preceding 3 months by the person has been excessive.

Article 2: Self Exclusion Order

Repealed<ref name="right">Right to Touch Grass Amendment</ref>

§1. A person may apply to the SDBI for a Self-Exclusion order, which shall cause them to be banned or muted from the chats from the SimDem discord server for a period of time not exceeding four (4) months.

§1.1. The person must designate a contact, or be provided with a contact by the SDBI, who must be friended to the person on Discord, or be added to a group chat with the user.

§1.1.1. This provision does not apply when the Self Exclusion Order lasts for a period not exceeding 7 days.

§1.2. The person may apply, through their contact, or through contacting any officer of the SDBI, to vary or discontinue the order after they have completed at least half of the order, or a minimum of one (1) day, and the contact, if the application is received through them, must forward the application to the SDBI.

§1.3. The contact must agree before they may be designated as a contact, and may at any time transfer their duties onto another person, with notification to the SDBI, the person on Self-Exclusion Order, and with the agreement of the new person to be designated as a contact.

<ref name="right" /> §1. A person may apply to the SDBI for a Self-Exclusion Order (SEO), which shall cause them to be banned or muted from SimDemocracy for a period of time above 30 minutes as specified in the order, or indefinitely.<ref name="aseom">Amended by ASEOM, passed on the 7th April 2026 and signed the same day</ref>

§1.1. The application may specify a time, no shorter than one (1) day and no longer than six (6) months, as irrevocable, meaning that the person may not return before the specified time has passed since the execution of order, regardless of other factors.

§1.1.1. If a time has been specified as irrevocable, the SDBI must expressly inform the person what this entails and get their consent as to such.

§1.2. The person must designate a contact, or be provided with a contact by the SDBI, who must be friends with the person on Discord, or be added to a group chat with the user, unless the Self-Exclusion Order is shorter than seven (7) days.

§1.3. The contact must consent before being designated as such, and may transfer their duties to another person with their consent, of which the SDBI and the person on the Self-Exclusion Order shall be given notice.

§1.4. The person may apply, through contacting any officer of the SDBI, or through their contact who shall then contact the SDBI on their behalf, to alter or void their Self-Exclusion Order, after which the changes shall be carried out. The person may not alter or void time which has been specified as irrevocable.

§1.5. In the execution of a Self Exclusion Order, the SDBI must also execute this order on any alternate accounts which the applicant possesses on SimDemocracy.<ref name="seoalts">Minor Criminal Code, CPA and other law fixes and repeals amendments passed and signed 12 April 2026.</ref>

§1.5.1. For the purposes of this section, the SDBI shall identify alternate accounts possessed by the applicant based on entries in the Registry of Alternate Accounts.

§1.5.2. SDBI official executing the order not banning alternate accounts possessed by the applicant shall be considered to engage in dereliction of duty.

§2. The SDBI shall be provided with relevant permissions to enforce the order.

§3. The SDBI shall record such orders in a public channel, unless the order is shorter than 3 days.

§4. In this section:

(a) A legal proceeding which requires the live testimony or other participation from a person is said to “involve” that person.

(b) A legal proceeding which

(i) Names a person as a defendant or respondent;

(ii) Subpoenas a person;

(iii) Requires a person to perform some duty or obligation by order of any court; or,

(iv) Would negatively affect a person’s rights or abilities to bring any legal defense or action against any suit or proceeding in the future, is said to be brought “against” that person.

§4.1. When a proceeding involves, but is not brought against a person undergoing a Self-Exclusion Order, and if it appears to the Judge of any proceeding that it is possible and not against the interests of justice to do so, the Judge shall be empowered to make such changes to any procedural burden as may be necessary for the speedy disposition of a case without the involvement of the person under the Self-Exclusion Order.

    Illustration
    The testimony of Toast, a person on a Self-Exclusion Order, is required in a case. Toast has previously left testimony in relation to the case in Direct Messages with someone else. The Judge may, if satisfied that it is possible and not against the interests of justice to do so, order the Direct Messages to serve as testimony in a case without needing to contact Toast.

§4.1.1. When a proceeding involves a person on a Self-Exclusion Order acting as an attorney for another party, the Judge may allow the case to proceed if the person has other attorneys assigned, or if not, the Judge may require that the Self-Exclusion Order be cancelled for the person to participate in the trial, if it is absolutely necessary to do so.

§4.2. When a proceeding is brought against a person undergoing a Self-Exclusion Order, the Judge shall immediately discontinue the proceedings or allow them to be modified such that they are no longer brought against that person.

    Illustration
    A suit or proceeding names Prolific, a person on a Self-Exclusion Order, as a defendant. The Judge must immediately discontinue the proceedings.

§4.3. If a proceeding is criminal in nature and certified by the Attorney-General to be required by reason of public safety, the proceeding may commence despite this Section.

§4.4. If a proceeding brought against a person begins prior to a person obtaining a Self-Exclusion Order, the proceeding may continue regardless, but the Judge may choose to adjourn the proceedings for the duration of the Self-Exclusion Order, despite anything in the Courtroom Procedures Act or Speedy Courts Act.

§4.5. If, by virtue of the exceptions in this act, a proceeding against a person takes place, the contact must inform the person undergoing the Order, and the person may apply to discontinue the Order even if they have not undergone the minimum duration stated in §1.2.

§5. Any serving Senator who is subject to a Self-Exclusion Order may vote through their contact, or, if the Self-Exclusion Order specifies a mute, they may be allowed to speak in Senatorial channels and vote.

§6. Any person who has civil proceedings commenced against them in contravention of this Article shall have a cause of action in any competent court against the plaintiff of the original proceeding for any Judgement arising thereof to be struck out, for any enforcements made under said judgement to be reversed, and for the original proceeding to be restarted.

§7. If a crime is committed, or a message is sent on the server, that directly and negatively affects a person currently on a Self-Exclusion Order, that person has the right to end their leave early and return to SimDemocracy immediately.<ref name="compassion">Compassionate Return Act 2026 passed by the Senate on 9 April 2026 and not vetoed by the President within 72 hours.</ref>

§7.1. To exercise this right, the person, or their designated contact acting on their behalf, only needs to notify the SDBI that they wish to return to address the situation<ref name="compassion" />.

§7.2. This provision allows the person to return even if their order was marked as "irrevocable." The SDBI must restore their access and roles as soon as they are notified<ref name="compassion" />.

Article 3: Touching of Grass

<ref name="tga3">Struck down by In re Touch Grass Act 3 [2026] SDCR 48 on 26th April 2026.</ref>

Article 4: Repeal

§1. The Touch Grass Act is repealed.

Repealed <ref name = "two">Touch Grass Act 2.0</ref>

Preamble

Whereas SimAddiction is real;

Whereas the Senate finds it necessary to do something about it;

THE SENATE OF SIMDEMOCRACY PROCLAIMS:

Touch Grass Act

An Act to create provisions for the physical interaction of citizens with greenery, and with specific regard to meadows, and such plants which may be found on them, and for other purposes.

Article 1: Right to Leave

§1. Any employed person has the right to unpaid leave from their work.

§1.1. A person who takes unpaid leave shall not be fired, unless the taking of the unpaid leave in the preceding 3 months by the person has been excessive.

Article 2: Self Exclusion Orders

§1. A person may apply to the SDBI for a self-exclusion order, which shall cause them to be banned or muted from the chats from the SimDem discord server for a period of time not exceeding four (4) months<ref name="WA">Amended by the Weeds Act</ref>

§1.1. The person must designate a contact, or be provided with a contact by the SDBI, who must be friended to the person on Discord, or be added to a group chat with the user.

§1.2. The person may apply, through their contact, to vary or discontinue the order after they have completed at least half of the order, or a minimum of one (1) day, and the contact must forward the application to the SDBI.

§2. No person with an ongoing criminal trial may be granted a self-exclusion order.

Repealed<ref name="crackhouse">Crackhouse Act 2025</ref>

§2.1. Any person with ongoing civil proceedings may be granted a self-exclusion order for up to seven (7) days.

§3. The SDBI shall be provided with relevant permissions to enforce the order.

§4. The SDBI shall record such orders in a public channel.

<ref name="crackhouse">Crackhouse Act 2025</ref>§5. When legal proceedings are brought against any person, the Judge shall first inquire into whether an Self Exclusion Order is in effect on the person, and if so, postpone the proceedings as may be necessary under this Act.

Article 3: Postponement of proceedings, etc.

Repealed<ref name="WA" />

§1. No proceedings are to take place involving a person with a Self Exclusion Order in force unless –

(a) The proceeding is a criminal trial and the proceeding is certified by the Attorney-General to be essential to public safety;

(b) The proceeding has been previously delayed by a Self Exclusion Order; or,

(c) It is a non-government proceeding.

§1. No proceedings are to take place involving a person with a Self Exclusion Order in force unless –

(a) The proceeding is a criminal trial and is certified by the Attorney-General to be essential to public safety;

(b) The proceeding has been previously delayed by a Self Exclusion Order;

(c) The proceeding is an impeachment from public office or similar; or,

(d) It is a non-government proceeding.

§1.1. If any proceedings are ongoing and not excluded under §1, they must be paused until at least the end of the Self-Exclusion Order, or whenever the Order is revoked.

§1.2. A contact who does not perform the duties provided under this section or Art. 2 §1.2 shall be guilty of an offence and sentenced to a mute not exceeding one (1) week, unless they were unable to contact the person through Discord.

§2. If the person is shown to be still active on the SimDemocracy Reddit during their self-exclusion order, the proceedings against them may commence or continue, regardless of this Article.

§2.1. The contact shall inform the person of such a commencement occurring.

§3. The contact must be informed by a relevant person to a proceeding if any proceedings are commenced or continued against the person.

§4. Any serving Senator who is subject to a Self-Exclusion Order may vote through their contact, or, if the Self-Exclusion Order specifies a mute, they may be allowed to speak in Senatorial channels and vote without being considered active according to §2.

§4.1. The Contact shall inform the Senator of any votes or motions that have been put up.

§5. If, by virtue of the exceptions in this act, a proceeding against a person takes place, the contact must inform the person undergoing the Order, and the person may apply to discontinue the Order even if they have not undergone the minimum duration stated in Art. 2 §1.2.

Article 4: Touching of Grass, etc.

§1. All persons must come into physical contact with grass, shrubbery, or some other type of plant, from time to time.

§1.1. Any person with allergies towards grass, shrubbery, and all other types of plants shall not be subject to this Article.

Article 5: Constitutionality

§1. If any part of this Act is found by a competent court to be inconsistent with constitutional requirements, the inconsistent parts of the Act shall be void.

Citations

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