Sunshine — a council cannot vote on what the public never got to discuss

sunshine.cell

// ============================================================================
// SUNSHINE — a council cannot vote on what the public never got to discuss
// ============================================================================
// California's Brown Act and its fifty state cousins exist because councils
// kept adopting ordinances at 11pm on items never noticed on any agenda —
// courts void such votes, but only years later, after the garage is built.
// Here the sunshine sequence IS the state machine: `adopted` is reachable
// only through public notice and an open comment hearing, and soma verify
// proves it. Each councilmember votes at most once (memory wall), adoption
// requires a majority of the five-member body, and an adopted ordinance is
// terminal — no midnight amendment un-adopts it off the record.
// ============================================================================

cell Ordinance {
    face {
        signal post_notice() -> Map
        signal open_hearing() -> Map
        signal public_comment(resident: String) -> Map
        signal close_hearing() -> Map
        signal council_vote(member: String, yes: Bool) -> Map
        signal adopt() -> Map
        signal yes_votes() -> Int
        signal phase() -> String
    }

    memory {
        // member -> ballots on this ordinance. A second vote is unrepresentable.
        voted: Map<String, Int> [persistent, consistent]
        invariant voted >= 0 && voted <= 1

        ayes: Map<String, Int> [persistent, consistent]
        invariant ayes >= 0 && ayes <= 1

        comments: Map<String, Int> [persistent, consistent]
        invariant comments >= 0
    }

    // The only path to adopted runs through the public.
    state ordinance {
        initial: introduced
        introduced -> noticed
        noticed -> hearing_open
        hearing_open -> hearing_closed
        hearing_closed -> adopted
        hearing_closed -> tabled
        tabled -> noticed
    }

    on phase() { return get_status("ordinance") }

    on post_notice() {
        let r = try { transition("ordinance", "noticed") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true)
    }

    on open_hearing() {
        let r = try { transition("ordinance", "hearing_open") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true)
    }

    on public_comment(resident: String) {
        if phase() != "hearing_open" {
            return map("ok", false, "reason", "hearing is {phase()}")
        }
        let n = comments.get(resident) ?? 0
        comments.set(resident, n + 1)
        return map("ok", true, "resident", resident)
    }

    on close_hearing() {
        let r = try { transition("ordinance", "hearing_closed") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true)
    }

    on council_vote(member: String, yes: Bool) {
        if phase() != "hearing_closed" {
            return map("ok", false, "reason", "no vote while {phase()}")
        }
        let prior = voted.get(member) ?? 0
        let w = try { voted.set(member, prior + 1) }
        if w.error != () {
            return map("ok", false, "reason", "{member} already voted")
        }
        if yes { ayes.set(member, 1) }
        return map("ok", true, "member", member)
    }

    on adopt() {
        if yes_votes() < 3 {
            return map("ok", false, "reason", "majority needed: {yes_votes()} of 5")
        }
        let r = try { transition("ordinance", "adopted") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true, "ayes", yes_votes())
    }

    on yes_votes() {
        let names = ayes.keys()
        let n = 0
        for m in names { n = n + (ayes.get(m) ?? 0) }
        return n
    }
}

cell test SunshineTests {
    rules {
        // the midnight shortcut does not exist: introduced -> adopted has no edge
        assert_fails transition("ordinance", "adopted")
        assert_fails transition("ordinance", "hearing_closed")
        assert council_vote("cm1", true).ok == false      // no vote before hearing

        assert post_notice().ok == true
        assert open_hearing().ok == true
        assert public_comment("resident-9").ok == true
        assert council_vote("cm1", true).ok == false      // hearing still open
        assert close_hearing().ok == true
        assert public_comment("late").ok == false         // comment window closed

        assert council_vote("cm1", true).ok == true
        assert council_vote("cm1", true).ok == false      // one vote per member
        assert_fails voted.set("cm1", 2)                  // unrepresentable
        assert council_vote("cm2", true).ok == true
        assert adopt().ok == false                        // 2 ayes is no majority
        assert council_vote("cm3", false).ok == true
        assert council_vote("cm4", true).ok == true
        assert adopt().ok == true                         // 3 of 5
        assert phase() == "adopted"
        assert_fails transition("ordinance", "tabled")    // adopted is forever
        assert_fails transition("ordinance", "noticed")
    }
}