FRIENDSHIP CITy - BILL OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

As a joint agreement between Mexico and the United States, the following initial Rights have been approved by the five Citizen Councils on 05/14/2057 and must each be approved by sixty percent of the citizens-at-large within eighteen months. Any not approved will be eliminated. Keeping any subsection requires the same sixty percent majority approval by citizens eligible to vote. The vote of eligible citizens not participating will be cast against all listed rights, main and subsection.

01) IMMIGRATION:

1. Immigration into Friendship City, initially restricted from either Mexico or the United States, is to be by sponsorship of a current citizen. This sponsoring citizen must have been a citizen of Friendship City for two years or of either of its component jurisdictions for the same period of time. Exceptions to this restriction must be approved by two-thirds of the current citizens. This sponsoring citizen must be free of convictions for any misdemeanor or more serious violation of Friendship City law.
   
   
2. Immigration applies to immediate family only. Immediate family is hereby defined as consisting of the primary sponsored individual, male or female, who may include the following: spouse, parents and grandparents of self and of spouse, children and grandchildren of self and of spouse. Immigration does not include anyone outside this specific group, eg. siblings, cousins, aunts, or uncles.
   
   
3. Immigration of the infirm within an immediate family is allowed and encouraged as long as, at application, other family members commit to provide sufficient care and support to the infirm individual so as to not burden the Friendship City Health Care system. Later, should family conditions change and sufficient care cannot be provided, care will be provided by the city health system unless the family choses to return the infirm individual to their home country. If repatriation is chosen, proof of sufficient home-country care must be provided before that individual will be allowed to leave the city.
   
   
4. All Immigrants below age 60 are expected to learn the basics of the other primary Friendship City founding language. When immigration is extended to other countries, those below age 60 are to learn basics of one founding language.

02) SAFETY:

1. It is the responsibility of Friendship City to provide for the safety of its citizens as well as any visitors. This safety will be provided by: a department of police, a fire department, hospitals (currently six), and funded mental health providers.
   
   

03) TAXES:

1. The amount of all monies collected through taxes or imposed fees must be fully transparent. This transparency will cover the various taxation levels.
   
   
2. The amount of collected funds applied to any and all city obligations will be fully transparent.
   
   

04) EDUCATION:

1. Any family member between the ages of fifteen to thirty without an education equivalent of graduation from high school must pursue one of Friendship City’s free learning curriculums provided at age appropriate levels. The associated classes will be tailored to fit in with an individual’s free time and will involve a minimum classroom time of six hours per week which can be broken up into one-hour increments
   
   
2. Children at or below the age of fourteen who have not completed primary education appropriate to their age will be enrolled into Friendship City’s public or private schools, both free. As school choice is the cornerstone throughout Friendship City, parents who determine their children will receive a better education in a different school can request reallocation to another school. The city, having wide-ranging services, will assume all transportation costs
   
   
3. All primary schools must have students achieve proficiency in reading and math comparable to the average of those schools in Mexico and the United States. Any city school failing to achieve a seventy percent student proficiency ratio for a two year period will be subject for review and probable replacement of the principal, administrators, and, if needed, individual teachers.
   
   
4. The costs of college-level education will be the responsibility of the family. As Friendship City will not be providing financial backup to any loans for education, nor for any other use to keep costs under control, all college fees as well as post-graduation job employment statistics will be made public.
   
   

05) ELECTED OFFICIALS:

1. Elected officials will receive a city-provided salary no greater than twice the salary of the average Friendship City working citizen.
   
   
2. No elected official may serve more than three terms in any one office. Should an elected official run for and be elected to a different office, the total number of terms spent across any and all elected offices is hereby limited to five.
   
   
3. Elected officials are the only individuals who can propose any law which must be voted upon by the citizens.
   
   
4. Elected officials cannot propose or enact changes to their salary.
   
   

06) LOBBY ACTIVITY:

1. No lobby activity is allowed. If any city employee is found to accept lobby inducements, that employee, elected or not, will be terminated and any pension revoked.
   
   

07) OFFICIAL RESIDENCE:

1. No elected official can reside inside a gated community. Such isolation impairs their perspective and understanding of citizen issues . An individual who retains a home inside a gated community can be elected to office if that individual commits to live outside that gated community with rental expenses paid by the city.
   
   

08) POLICY MEASUREMENT:

1. All policies put in place by elected officials must be measured going forward. Also measured in parallel timeframes will be the economic movements of Mexico and the United States. Friendship City growth or decline will be measured against those two countries as a base
   
   
2. Should city financial growth decline by 5% or less for a year, the elected officials should be alerted. Should the 5% decline persist for a year, a new policy proposal is suggested. If no policy modification is made or new policy proposed after 2 years, the previous policy will be restored.
   
   
3. Should city financial growth decline be greater than 10% for a year, all salaries of elected officials who sponsored the policy will be reduced by
   twice the decline.
   
   
4. Should city financial growth be negative by 10% for two successive years, all elected officials who sponsored the policy will be ineligible for reelection which must be held within two months.
   
   

09) BUREAUCRACY:

1. No city employee, elected or appointed, can add restrictions or interpretations to any law passed by the citizens.
   
   

10) RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION:

1. All religions and their respective beliefs and practices will be accepted and protected by the city as long as they violate no specific criminal law. Criminal law of the city currently defer to those referenced in the separate document: FRIENDSHIP CITY CRIMINAL LAWS AS SELECTED AND ENUMERATED FROM THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF MEXICO.
   
   
2. Lack of belief in any religion will also be accepted and protected by the city as long as no criminal laws as referenced in section 10) -.1 are violated.