References
This page provides an overview of all relevant references to the Proposal process that were shared prior to the establishment of the first Council — in reverse chronological order.
PIP Review
To gauge initial community sentiment during the drafting process, ideas and early drafts of PIPs should be previewed in the Governance channel of the Star Atlas Discord. Feedback from the community should be taken into account during the drafting process.
Submitting a PIP
The author of a PIP may submit the PIP for review by the Star Atlas Foundation (or a delegated administrator, such as the Star Atlas Council) through the procedures set forth on the Star Atlas DAO’s governance website. The Star Atlas Council’s role in guiding the PIP review process will be established by a future PIP.
The Star Atlas Foundation, or a delegated administrator, will then review the PIP for compliance with applicable requirements and then exercise discretion whether to: (1) advance the PIP to voting, (2) request revisions to the PIP, or (3) reject the PIP entirely. If the administrator determines that the PIP should be revised or rejected, it shall publicly provide its reasoning.
Potential reasons for an administrator to reject or require revision may include:
Outside of the Star Atlas DAO’s scope
Lack of feasibility
Excessive cost relative to the Star Atlas DAO’s available resources
Potential conflicts of interest
Legal or tax considerations
Failure to incorporate necessary details or otherwise adhere to drafting guidelines
Other potential risks or harm to the Star Atlas ecosystem
PIP Voting
If all drafting requirements are met and no further revisions are required, the Star Atlas Foundation or its delegated administrator will advance the PIP to a Pending state. In the Pending state, the PIP is visible to all participants in the Star Atlas DAO. PIPs shall remain in a Pending state at the discretion of the Star Atlas Foundation, depending on the nature of the proposal and the level of community review and feedback required before voting should be initiated.
The Star Atlas Foundation may then advance a PIP from Pending into a Voting state. PIPs shall remain in a Voting state for 14 days (unless otherwise adjusted by the Star Atlas Foundation), during which time participants in the Star Atlas DAO who control locked POLIS may vote on the proposal, with voting weight based on the amount of POLIS they control and the duration of the lock (“PVP”).
At the conclusion of the Voting state, the PIP is deemed successful and is advanced to a Success state if (1) the PVP in favor of the PIP exceeds the PVP against (or, in the case of a ranked-choice vote, a sufficient plurality is achieved) and (2) a sufficient quorum of PVP participation is met. PIPs that fail to meet the threshold and/or quorum requirements enter a Failed state and are considered rejected by the Star Atlas DAO.
Implementation
Successful PIPs are referred to the Star Atlas Foundation for implementation as specified in the PIP.
If the Star Atlas Foundation determines that the PIP is not capable of safe or proper implementation — for example, if new conditions or information arise that render implementation unsafe — then it may refuse to implement the PIP, provide its reasoning to the Star Atlas community, and require further review by the Star Atlas DAO.
Summary of the Legislative Process For the Star Atlas DAO:
A DAO member submits an idea for a PIP to #pip-ideas in the Star Atlas Discord and discusses it.
The PIP idea gets feedback and support from the community.
A DAO member fills out the form linked from the governance channels on Discord.
PIP goes up on the #pip-drafts channel.
Bot assigns the draft to a Star Atlas Council Member.
PIP is discussed and approved/rejected by the Council.
An approved draft is sent to the Star Atlas Foundation.
The Star Atlas Foundation approves or rejects the PIP.
If approved by the Star Atlas Foundation, the PIP goes up for voting on govern.staratlas.com.
PIP is posted in #pip-discussion to allow for public debate while voting is open.
PIP is either approved or rejected by the Star Atlas DAO members.
If approved, the PIP is sent back to the Star Atlas Foundation for implementation.
The Star Atlas Forum — How The Political Process is Going to Work
The Star Atlas DAO legislative process is guided by the journey of the community POLIS Improvement Proposals.
In essence, the legislative process allows community members to propose, debate, and vote on PIPs. Initially, PIPs are screened by both the community and the Star Atlas Foundation (or its delegates, including Star Atlas Council members) for basic feasibility requisites both in the blockchain and legal realms. If deemed feasible, it is put to an on-chain vote by PVP holders and, if consensus is achieved, is enforced into reality.
Beginning with the infrastructure, the legislative process will take place in two complementary realms: the voting system in our Governance Application and the specific Star Atlas DAO Discord Channels for deliberation.
[...] our typical PIP journey starts in the #pip-ideas sub-channel. In that place, any member of the DAO can create a thread to discuss any topic that they feel is relevant to the DAO, gathering their fellow community member’s thoughts on a given subject, proposing models about how a PIP on the topic could look, and debating the topic.
If you feel that the topic is mature enough to be elevated, you can start the first actual step of the legislative process by filling out the PIP draft submission form.
PIP-1 establishes the form a PIP should take — as discussed in greater detail below. Also, keep in mind that although you don’t necessarily have to discuss your PIP idea on the ideas sub-channel before submitting a PIP draft, it is always a good idea to gather feedback and make the best draft possible before submitting it for the DAO elevation, as it will surely improve the odds of the PIP passing.
After the form is filled out and submitted, the PIP will receive a PIP draft number, which will be announced to the community on the #pip-drafts channel. Alongside its number, the PIP draft will be assigned to a Star Atlas DAO Council Member, a very important figure in the Star Atlas legislative process, who will be responsible for your PIP draft analysis.
[...] once someone submits a PIP draft form, it will be announced to the community on the #pip-drafts channel alongside a number and the Council Member responsible for the analysis of the PIP draft.
This measure ensures that everyone knows the PIPs that the Council is currently analyzing and how long each Council Member is taking to analyze them, ensuring both accountability and celerity in the elevation of community PIPs.
This process will be automated through a bot created specifically for this procedure to ensure that all Council Members receive an even share of work and that the drafts are randomly distributed.
The Council Member assigned to your PIP draft will then bring your draft for elevation during one of the council meetings. They will state the reasons why the PIP must move forward to the Star Atlas Foundation, whether it should be outright rejected, or whether it needs to be redone in a specific part.
The criteria for the Council screening are both technical, since PIP-1 establishes base criteria for the approval or dismissal of PIPs, and political, since there is always room for interpretation of the different criteria established by rules dispositions.
In that sense, it is clear the importance of being conscious about who is being elected to the Council, as they will be representing the people’s will in very important decisions.
The next step of the legislative process is the Star Atlas Foundation’s evaluation of the PIP.
The Star Atlas Foundation is the legal entity that provides the necessary support for the operations of the Star Atlas DAO, and is responsible for implementing measures voted by the Star Atlas DAO in the real world, including taking steps that require off-chain actions such as signing real-world contracts necessary to execute the DAO’s will.
The Foundation further is tasked with analyzing PIPs recommended to it by the Council, with a focus on identifying potential sources of liability or risk for the ecosystem. PIPs that pass Foundation approval are then submitted for on-chain voting.
Voting and Enforcement — The Last Steps of The Democratic Process
At this stage, the PIP goes up for voting on the DAO website, and the Star Atlas DAO community will be able to debate its propositions on its specific #pip-discussion thread channel on Discord.
A voting window based on the complexity of the topic will be announced for the specific PIP, and the DAO members will be able to discuss the proposal’s content until this period is over and the votes are cast.
PIPs that require an up-or-down vote, unless explicitly determined otherwise, will be decided by the simple majority of the votes. If the majority votes for approval, the PIP will be sent back to the Star Atlas Foundation, where it will be enforced (unless the Foundation identifies a further issue with the PIP’s implementation, in which case the PIP will receive further review).
PIPs may also implement a ranked-choice voting system, in which case the PIP will succeed as long as sufficient votes are cast in favor of the choices presented by the PIP.
The PIP Deliberation Process
POLIS Improvement Proposals including PIP-1 are going to be accessible at govern.staratlas.com, where the community can explore proposal details, make public comments and respond to others.
The publication of a PIP is the first of four distinct phases (4D) on the road to ratification. Each phase has a specific name and purpose:
Declaration: A PIP is published and submitted to the Star Atlas DAO
Deliberation: The Star Atlas DAO members submit Comments and conducts non-binding Public Interest Voting, with at least one live debate session scheduled
Decision: PIP goes to the official, on-chain vote
Democratic Convergence: PIP is ratified, opening the door for additional PIPs, including community ideation
Willing participants may join the process for PIPs on the Star Atlas DAO Governance website.
POLIS Improvement Proposals (“PIPs”) form the backbone of governance in the Star Atlas DAO. All PIPs must follow a designated process that will be ratified by the DAO, but on a general level, every PIP will contain a concise rationale and specification for a feature or change, must reflect input from the community through engaged discussions, and must undergo levels of review by the community, the Star Atlas Council, the full DAO, and the Star Atlas Foundation. If the DAO votes to approve a PIP, the proposal will be implemented by the DAO, Foundation, or others specified in the PIP.
A PIP broadly will go through 8 steps (or more, as some steps may be iterative based on feedback):
Ideation — Any member of the Star Atlas community — even a non-voter — can propose and lead discussion on an idea for a PIP, with input received from the community. A PIP may concern any potential change within the jurisdiction of the Star Atlas DAO, such as a decision to deploy some portion of the DAO’s treasury for an ecosystem development grant.
Drafting — The author drafts the proposal in accordance with a format that has been pre-approved by the Star Atlas DAO. PIPs shall provide concise technical specifications and rationale for a change to the ecosystem. The PIP author is responsible for building consensus in the community, documenting dissenting opinions, and shepherding the PIP through the entire process. PIPs may be a signaling memo to approve off-chain instructions written in the text of the PIP, or they may include on-chain Solana instructions to be executed after approval by the electorate.
Review — The Star Atlas Council leads the review process. As described above, the Council is an elected body of representatives of the community charged with ensuring that PIPs are consistent with the Constitution, which is a governing document setting forth first principles important to the Star Atlas community. If appropriate, the Council may provide formal feedback on the draft proposal to ensure the author and the community have considered the draft’s broader implications (including legal considerations, tax considerations, potential conflicts of interest, and other issues). The Council may reject a draft if it determines that a draft or the author are not capable of advancement to the next stages.
Revision — The author revises the draft proposal based on feedback from the Council and the community. Review and revision are an iterative process. Some drafts may not be capable of advancing to the next stage of initial approval.
Provisional Approval — The Council formally determines that a proposal is ready for submission to the electorate. The proposal is designated as a live PIP and given an identification number.
Advancement — The PIP is advanced to on-chain voting via activation by a governor with a requisite amount of PVP. PIPs undergo an activation delay of 48 hours, after which they can be voted on by those with a non-zero amount of PVP.
Voting — The full DAO votes on the PIP. The PIP is approved only if both quorum and threshold PVP minimums (as assigned by the DAO) are met. Voting lasts for two weeks.
Execution — 48 hours after a successful vote, the Star Atlas Foundation, an independent body charged with following the will of the DAO, executes an approved PIP and, if necessary, implements the PIP directly as a legal entity. The Foundation does not have unilateral authority over the DAO, the on-chain governance mechanism, or the treasury. That said, if a PIP is not capable of safe or proper implementation, the Foundation may exercise discretion not to execute the PIP — e.g., if the PIP poses a substantial risk to the ecosystem, is missing or contains inaccurate information (such as critical information about costs), conflicts with another PIP, conflicts with the Constitution, would require illegal actions by Foundation directors, is reasonably suspected of containing fraudulent or misleading information, or other reasons. If the Foundation exercises such discretion, the Foundation must provide a clear explanation of its reasoning, at which point the PIP may, if possible, undergo a resubmission process.
The specific rules governing the proposal, drafting, and passage process will be defined through discussions with the community and will be ratified by the Star Atlas DAO. Among other things, the rules will address situations in which conflicting PIPs are proposed, what happens when a PIP cannot be implemented, the voting thresholds required for a successful vote, and other potential issues. Additionally, at launch ATMTA holds an Emergency Override authority over the governance mechanism, to be used only in an emergency to protect the DAO and the community (such as following the discovery of an exploit or vulnerability). Once the DAO has achieved a sufficient level of maturity, sustainability, and decentralization, the Emergency Override authority will shift completely to the DAO.
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