Three readings — an ordinance cannot be law the night it is introduced

three_readings.cell

// ============================================================================
// THREE READINGS — an ordinance cannot be law the night it is introduced
// ============================================================================
//
// Most municipal charters require an ordinance to be read at three
// separate council meetings before adoption. The rule is anti-ambush:
// the public gets two full meeting cycles to notice, organize, and
// object before anything binds them. The standard evasion is the
// "emergency clause" — Ohio councils became notorious for passing
// garden-variety zoning as an "emergency" to skip readings and, not
// coincidentally, to dodge the citizen referendum that attaches to
// normal ordinances.
//
// In this machine the readings are not a custom the clerk remembers —
// they are the only path. `adopted` is reachable solely through three
// reading states, soma verify proves no shortcut edge exists, and each
// reading can be logged at most once per ordinance stage: stuffing all
// three readings into one wild night is a write the journal refuses.
// ============================================================================

cell CouncilJournal {
    face {
        signal introduce(ord: String) -> Map
        signal read_aloud(ord: String, meeting_no: Int) -> Map
        signal adopt_ordinance(ord: String) -> Map
        signal withdraw(ord: String) -> Map
        signal readings_of(ord: String) -> Int
    }

    memory {
        // ord:reading_number -> the meeting it happened at. Each of the
        // three readings is logged once; a duplicate log entry for the
        // same reading is unrepresentable.
        journal: Map<String, Int> [persistent, consistent]
        invariant journal >= 1

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

    // introduced -> r1 -> r2 -> r3 -> adopted (TERMINAL).
    // withdrawn is the other terminal exit. NO edge skips a reading.
    state ordinance {
        initial: introduced
        introduced -> first_reading
        first_reading -> second_reading
        second_reading -> third_reading
        third_reading -> adopted
        introduced -> withdrawn
    }

    on introduce(ord: String) {
        return map("ok", true, "ord", ord, "state", get_status(ord))
    }

    on read_aloud(ord: String, meeting_no: Int) {
        let s = get_status(ord)
        let target = ""
        let n = 0
        if s == "introduced" {
            target = "first_reading"
            n = 1
        }
        if s == "first_reading" {
            target = "second_reading"
            n = 2
        }
        if s == "second_reading" {
            target = "third_reading"
            n = 3
        }
        if target == "" {
            return map("ok", false, "reason", "no reading due from state {s}")
        }
        // same meeting cannot host two readings of the same ordinance:
        // the previous reading's meeting number must differ
        if n > 1 {
            let prev = journal.get("{ord}:r{n - 1}")
            if prev == meeting_no {
                return map("ok", false, "reason",
                    "reading {n} must happen at a SEPARATE meeting (got {meeting_no} again)")
            }
        }
        let w = try { logged.set("{ord}:r{n}", (logged.get("{ord}:r{n}") ?? 0) + 1) }
        if w.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "reading {n} already logged") }
        journal.set("{ord}:r{n}", meeting_no)
        transition(ord, target)
        return map("ok", true, "reading", n, "meeting", meeting_no)
    }

    on adopt_ordinance(ord: String) {
        let r = try { transition(ord, "adopted") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true, "state", "adopted", "readings", readings_of(ord))
    }

    on withdraw(ord: String) {
        let r = try { transition(ord, "withdrawn") }
        if r.error != () { return map("ok", false, "reason", "{r.error}") }
        return map("ok", true, "state", "withdrawn")
    }

    on readings_of(ord: String) {
        let n = 0
        for k in logged.keys() {
            if starts_with(k, "{ord}:") { n = n + (logged.get(k) ?? 0) }
        }
        return n
    }
}

cell test ReadingsTests {
    rules {
        // THE EMERGENCY-CLAUSE MOVE: introduced tonight, law tonight. No edge.
        assert introduce("zoning-44").ok == true
        assert adopt_ordinance("zoning-44").ok == false
        assert_fails transition("zoning-44", "adopted")
        assert_fails transition("zoning-44", "second_reading")

        // reading one, meeting 101
        assert read_aloud("zoning-44", 101).reading == 1
        // the same night cannot host reading two
        assert read_aloud("zoning-44", 101).ok == false
        assert adopt_ordinance("zoning-44").ok == false

        // two more meeting cycles; the public has had its window
        assert read_aloud("zoning-44", 102).reading == 2
        assert read_aloud("zoning-44", 103).reading == 3
        assert readings_of("zoning-44") == 3
        assert adopt_ordinance("zoning-44").ok == true

        // adopted is terminal; the journal cannot double-log a reading
        assert_fails transition("zoning-44", "third_reading")
        assert_fails transition("zoning-44", "introduced")
        assert_fails logged.set("zoning-44:r2", 2)
        assert read_aloud("zoning-44", 104).ok == false

        // withdrawal is terminal too — a dead ordinance stays dead
        assert introduce("tax-9").ok == true
        assert withdraw("tax-9").ok == true
        assert_fails transition("tax-9", "first_reading")
        assert read_aloud("tax-9", 105).ok == false
    }
}