PSA

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 This article is a B-class article. It is written to a good standard. This article is part of Altverse II.
K.S. PSA
Also known as:
Province(s), state(s), and/or area(s)
PSAT/PSALT (Province, state, area, [locality], or territory)
Map of the Kingdom of Sierra with all of the PSAs and the non-PSA territories of West Colorado and West New Mexico
Category Federated state (Bajarían, Hawaiian, and Sierran PSAs), Area (Deseretan PSA), insular area (Sierran territories)
Location Flag of Sierra.svg Kingdom of Sierra
Found in Constituent countries of the Kingdom (Bajaría, the Deseret, Hawaii, and Sierra)
Created by Constitution of 1858
Charter of 1950
Created November 28, 1858 (Provinces)
Jun 23, 1950 (PSA)
Number 45 PSAs
55 PSATs (as of 1950)
Possible types State in Bajaría
Area in the Deseret
State in Hawaii
Province in Sierra
Populations 0 (East Leewards/Kamehameha/West Leewards) – 11,383,987 (Gold Coast)
Areas 11.7 square miles (Kamehameha) – 40,446 square miles (Clark)
Government Provincial or state government (Sierra or Hawaii)
Areal government (Deseret)
Territorial government (Sierran territories)
Subdivisions Counties (Hawaii and Sierra PSA)
Stakes (Deseretan PSA)
Parishes (Channel Islands)
Municipalities (Bajarían PSA)
Administrative divisions of the
Kingdom of Sierra
First level
Country
Second level

Province, state, and area
(Provinces / States / Reservation states / Areas)

Special District
Territory (Crown dependencies)

Sierran Amerindian reservation (List)
Third level

County / Parish / District / Stakes

Consolidated city-county
Fourth level

Cities, towns, and villages (Municipalities)

Civil township

Consolidated city-township
Fifth level
Wards
Other areas

Protected areas (Conservation district / National Monument / National parks)

Parliamentary district

Homeowner association

Associated state

Military installations

Unincorporated area

Ghost town
This article is part of a series on the
Politics of the Kingdom of Sierra
Coat of arms of Sierra.svg

A PSA (expanded as Province, State, or Area) is the official term used by the K.S. federal government, particularly by the Sierra Royal Bureau of Census, to refer to any subdivision entity at the Kingdom-level that is legally entitled to three seats in the Senate and at least one seat in the House of Commons. All PSAs are either a province in Sierra, a state of either Bajaría or Hawaii, or an area in the Deseret. As of 2021, there are a total of 45 subnational entities which fit this categorization, and includes: Sierra's 24 provinces; Hawaii's 8 states; the Deseret's 8 areas; and Bajaría's 5 states.

Sierrans are citizens of the Kingdom and of the country and PSA or territory in which they reside. As citizens of the Kingdom, which in turn is a member state of the Conference of American States, Sierran citizens are by extension, citizens of the CAS. In Sierra, Hawaii, and Bajaría, PSA governments enjoy the privileges of dual federalism where the responsibilities and powers of government is divided and shared between the respective national and PSA governments. In the unitary state of the Deseret, historically, the PSA-class areas serve no purpose beyond having its constituents represented by three senators and one MP, and geographically dividing regions of the country. Since 2005, administrative reforms have expanded the powers and rights of areas to align more closely with those of other PSAs. Local governments that function similarly to that of counties in the PSAs of Sierra and Hawaii are one of the Deseret's 50 political stakes, local administrative areas that correspond to stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the official state church of the Deseret.

Within the Kingdom, the freedom of movement between PSAs as well as territories is assured to all citizens, making residency and citizenship transfers relatively easy and seamless. This freedom of movement is extended as well to other sovereign states in the Lincoln Area who have abolished passport checks and border controls at mutual borders although the process for citizenship or permanent residency in other member states varies.

PSAs range in population from 0 (in East Leewards/Kamehameha/West Leewards, which have no permanent residential population, but do each have a body of citizens of about 100,000 living throughout the Kingdom) to over 11.38 million (Gold Coast), and in area, from 11.7 square miles (Kamehameha) to 40,446 square miles (Clark). In Sierra and Hawaii, PSAs are further divided into counties or county-equivalents, while in the Deseret, PSAs are divided into stakes which are themselves further divided into districts, with some functioning similarly to counties. In Bajaría, PSAs are divided into municipalities, similar to those in much of Latin America.

In Bajaría, Hawaii, and Sierra, PSAs enjoy extensive amounts of power and discretion as provided for by the countries' respective constitutions. Generally speaking, matters on education, local transportation, public health, law enforcement, criminal justice, family and marriage laws, and tourism are considered the responsibilities of the PSAs. PSAs are permitted to form their own governments, constitutions, legislatures, courts, and laws, as well as elect their own officials and levy taxes in conjunction with the national and Kingdom-level governments. PSAs are also responsible for carrying out policies laid down by Parliament which may or may not provide funding and assistance, depending on the nature of the policy. In addition, it is PSAs in Bajaría, Hawaii, and Sierra which ultimately must comply to any binding policy implemented by the American Parliament from the Conference of American States, although the Sierran Parliament generally must provide the funding. In the Deseret, PSAs originally existed solely to having its constituents represented by 3 senators and 1 MP. Each of the 8 areas contain stakes, stakes of which function more similarly to counties rather than provinces or states. Consequently, nearly all matters were handled at the national government with limited devolution to certain counties and independent townships, although recently, the national legislature has moved towards federalization, and converting areas into PSAs similar to those in Sierra and Hawaii.

Citizens in all of the PSAs are represented by 2 senators and at least 1 MP, with additional commoners determined based on the official population last calculated by the decennial census, and distributed accordingly by proportion. The governors from each province and state from Sierra, Hawaii, and Bajaría, and the area commissioners from each area from the Deseret are integral members of the Executive Council of the Kingdom fo Sierra who, alongside the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sierra, work to implement federal law and policies, and enforce the decisions made by the Cabinet and laws by the Parliament.

Both the Sierran Constitution and the Charter grants Parliament the power to admit new provinces, states, and areas into the Kingdom, and since 1858, the number has expanded from 22 PSAs to 45. In addition, a legal pathway for constitutional secession is provided, again involving Parliament in the decision, as well as the people and legislatures involved in the seceding PSAs, and the Queen. There has been a successful attempt at legal secession however, and unilateral secession is not permitted.

PSAs of the Kingdom

The 45 PSAs of the Kingdom of Sierra (in alphabetical order), along with their respective flags:

Legend: Purple – Sierran province; Green – Hawaiian state; Orange – Desertan area; Red – Bajarian state

Governments

Further information: Provincial governments of Sierra and State governments of Hawaii

In Bajaría, Hawaii, and Sierra, PSAs are treated as plenary sovereign entities, which allows each PSA to exercise supreme jurisdiction and authority over all matters and issues within their own jurisdiction except where limited by the Charter and the national constitutions. All PSAs are empowered to organize and form their own governments, provided that it is consistent with the model of the Kingdom, and allowed to create their own constitutions, legislatures, courts, laws, and elected officials. All PSAs are linked with the Monarchy with an appointed viceregal representative known as a Lord Superintendent (Lady Superintendent in cases of female officials) who serves as the PSA's head of state.

Every PSA in Bajaría, Hawaii, and Sierra in practice has adopted a semi-republican system of government with three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial (modeled after the standard federal model). In addition, the head of government in all of the PSAs are led by a governor, in all cases, a popularly elected official whose powers generally range from setting executive policy to signing or vetoing bills to appointing senators to the national Parliament. With regards to the lattermost power, in the Styxie, all of its PSAs has rescinded this constitutional privilege which permits governors to appoint one of the three senators to the Parliament. In these PSAs, the third senator who would have otherwise been appointed is elected in office by the general electorate as the other two. In the Deseret, there are no formal executive bodies at the PSA-level although there is a provost appointed by the Queen and area commissioner elected by the area's electorate, who both exercise some authority in maintaining public order and safety, enforcing decisions passed down by the national and Kingdom governments to all of the area's stakes.

Legislatively, most PSAs feature bicameral bodies although have unicameral legislatures. In less-populated PSAs, legislators work on part time while the most populated PSAs work full time. All legislators to PSAs are required to be elected in a form that allows each citizen equal representation within the PSA under the one person, one vote principle. Like Parliament, each of the legislatures of PSAs may create their own internal rules and manner of organization, including controlling the salaries of all members, although this may be restricted to the PSA's respective constitution or an equally binding statute. In the Deseret, PSAs have no legislatures with such bodies handled locally in the stakes.

Judicially, PSAs may feature any judicial system so long as the federally mandated and constitutionally protected right of due process is preserved. Nearly all legal systems in Sierran and Hawaiian PSAs follow Sierran common law, and all are headed by a Supreme Court with the number of justices or magistrates ranging between 5 to 11. In addition, most include a trial court (known either as a district or superior court) and a PSA-level court of appeals. In the Deseret, PSAs do not wield any judicial powers or feature a system, with these matters handled individually by the stakes.

Relationships

Among PSAs

All PSAs under the Kingdom are treated with equal footing in full respect to the Charter and thus, newly admitted PSAs also benefit from this doctrine. PSAs are forbidden from discriminating citizens from other PSAs in regards to their constitutional and basic rights, and must extradite any individuals in their jurisdiction who have active charges against them in another PSA. In addition, freedom of movement and residency is guaranteed in all PSAs, and thus, there are no border checks between PSA lines (although in some provinces, there may be agriculture inspection points posted at borders which are permitted). PSAs may engage in interstate compacts provided they receive the consent of the Parliament, and may create joint organizational bodies such as a port authority or a water management agency. PSAs are required to give full faith and credit to the acts of other PSA legislatures and courts, thus honoring any rights, privileges, or benefits a citizen enjoys in another PSA (such as a driver's license or a marriage license).

With the national governments

See also: Devolution in the Kingdom of Sierra and Federalism in the Kingdom of Sierra

Each of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of Sierra (Bajaría, the Deseret, Hawaii, and Sierra) are responsible for organizing and developing PSAs. In Bajaría, Hawaii, and Sierra, a federal system is in place with both governments guaranteeing certain rights, powers, and privileges to PSAs as expressed in both countries' respective constitutions. Among these include allowing PSA governments to handle any matters or issues not expressly given to the federal government or prohibited by the national constitution or Charter, giving PSAs in these countries a great degree of autonomy and authority. In the Deseret, PSAs exist solely to satisfy the legal requirement of representation in Parliament with at least 3 senators in the Senate and 1 commoner in the House of Commons. Beyond this, there are no constitutional provisions explicitly allowing the creation of a formal government. Any powers given to PSAs would have to be devolved down by the Council of Fifty through statutes rather than the Deseret Constitution.

In Sierra, PSAs are directly overseen and protected by the National Parliament, with no intermediary legislature or "government" pertaining to Sierran affairs alone, in contrast to Hawaii which has the National Congress between the PSAs and Parliament. Consequently, all funding, aid oversight, and taxation derives directly from the Parliament which includes officials elected from the other two countries. In Hawaii, PSAs deal with Congress more frequently when receiving financial assistance or aid. All PSAs in the Kingdom are subject to Parliament with regards to interstate commerce, under the Commerce Clause, which is a constitutionally expressed power allowing the Kingdom to regulate trade across intra-national lines. This same clause has been used to justify increasing federal encroachment of PSA rights and powers, with federal bureaucracy overlapping issues and policies once reserved to PSAs exclusively.

With the Kingdom government

PSAs are political entities under the Kingdom which are legally entitled to representation in Parliament with 3 senators and at least 1 commoner. As part of the Kingdom, PSAs are subject to all laws passed by Parliament and also enjoy all the rights, privileges, and benefits of the Kingdom as specified by the Charter. In addition, PSAs are subject to any laws under the Conference of American States by association with the Kingdom, which is a full member state in the Conference. PSAs are guaranteed full protection and defense against all threats both internal and external by the Kingdom. Under the Supremacy Clause, if federal law and PSA law conflict, the federal law always prevails although in practice, if federal law is not enforced in regards to this conflict, PSA law prevails by de facto. For instance, although the Kingdom bans the recreational use of peyote, in the province of Apache, peyote usage is legalized and there has been no federal prosecutions or cases against peyote use since 1997, in effect, allowing Apache law to prevail in this situation.

PSALT

PSALT refers to a broader spectrum of political entities than PSA which includes localities (counties, parishes, municipalities, special districts, etc.) and territories–essentially any level of government that is not a constituent country or the Kingdom itself. Generally speaking, federal land and parks, and Amerindian reservations are not considered PSALTs and are classified with varied definitions depending on the reporting government agency. PSALTs are defined as any entity in the Kingdom below the national level, which possesses some official, legal, authoritative function and has a geographically definite area that is under the jurisdiction of such entity, and is administered by a body that is either fully or partially elected by constituents. For this reason, government agencies and port authorities (which although may have authority and oversight over a specific area, do not have publicly elected officials) may not be considered PSALTs but school districts, city wards, and homeowners' associations can be (which do have official functions, have defined borders, and have elected members).

Territories

Main article: Territories of the Kingdom of Sierra

All territories in the Kingdom are PSALTs which function similarly to a Sierran province or a Hawaiian state but are not entitled for representation in Parliament. This lack of representation in Parliament (with the exception of non-voting Resident Commissioners in the House of Commons) stems from the fact that the sovereignty of territories lie within Parliament itself through a statute rather than inherently by the territories' own people. As of 2016, all territories in the Kingdom are considered part of federal Sierra. There are currently four types of territories: incorporated and organized, unincorporated and organized, unincorporated and unorganized, and crown dependencies. The Channel Islands was formerly the only incorporated, organized territory in Sierra before it became a province in 2021. All other territories, with the exception of the Pacific Crown Islands, are unincorporated and organized territories which are territories that have a formal government but are not necessarily protected by the Constitution and are not considered an integral part of Sierra proper. The Pacific Crown Islands is the only unincorporated, unorganized territory whereby no formal government exists, and is instead, treated as a mere possession owned by the Sierran government. Prior to becoming states, Yucatán and Cancún were historically classified as crown dependencies which derived their sovereignties and existence not by Parliament, but by "right of the Crown". Other than this distinction, crown dependencies functioned and operated identically as unincorporated, organized territories. There are currently no crown dependencies as of 2021.

Local entities

Main article: Local government in the Kingdom of Sierra

Local entities, or localities, are any tiers of public government which rank below a PSA or territory that include a significant degree of authority and jurisdiction over a geographically defined area, and is administered by a body that is either fully or partially elected by the area's constituents, and include counties, municipalities, parishes, special districts, and parliamentary districts. Counties are the most common tier of government found just below a PSA unit among all PSAs, as well as most territories. Parishes, in which they are known by within the Channel Islands, function virtually the same as counties. Below counties are municipalities which within PSAs, can range from cities, towns, villages, and communes. As unincorporated towns and census-designated areas generally do not have any actual form of organized government, they are typically not classified as a locality under the PSALT definition. Within counties, special districts pertaining to schools, public utilities, transportation, hospitals, and more, are also usually considered a PSALT as they have defined areas and led by boards directly elected by citizens, whereas electoral wards, homeowners' associations, and federal agency regions do not fall under this category as they may created directly by another government entity, or are privately and independently controlled by non-government individuals.

Admission into the Kingdom

Main article: List of Sierran provinces, states, and areas by date of admission to the Union

In becoming a PSA, a territory is said to be admitted into the Kingdom. Both unincorporated territories and crown dependencies are not considered constituent parts of the Kingdom, as in both categories, neither forms are areas where the constitutions of any nation (Sierra, Deseret, Hawaii, and Bajaría) in the Kingdom are applied fully, if at all, but are nonetheless, subject to the provisions of the Charter of 1950. Of the three national constitutions, only Sierra provides constitutional measures in admitting new territories into the Kingdom, and under Article VIII, Parliament is empowered to admit new provinces into Sierra. The only restrictions mentioned in the article states that no new province can be created out of an existing province, or by combining two or more provinces in their entirety, or portions of them, without the consent of the individual legislatures of each province involved, in addition to Parliament.

Secession

Main article: Secession in the Kingdom of Sierra

Secession is a right granted to the provinces through Amendment VI of the Constitution. The act and process itself however, would require that a supermajority of the seceding province's citizens to vote in favor of secession, another supermajority in the federal Parliament, and an explicitly signed proclamation from the monarch. Since the amendment's passing, no major or notable legal attempt has ever been made. Unilateral secession is not recognized and perpetrators would be considered performing high treason under Sierran federal law. With regard to Hawaiian states and Deseretian areas, there are no provisions which establishes a legal pathway for secession, although theoretically, Parliament would treat any petitions of secession by PSAs from Bajaría, the Deseret, or Hawaii as it would with Sierran provinces.

See also

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