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Ratification Procedure (Proposed)

This document outlines the proposed formal ratification procedure for the Pharmacy Fiduciary Commons Constitution.

Important

PROPOSED PROCEDURE: This procedure is not currently implemented in smart contract code or active governance. It represents the planned roadmap for moving the Commons from a testnet prototype to a fully ratified community-governed public utility.

1. Frozen Draft Phase

Before any vote occurs, the constitution and voter eligibility list must be frozen:

  • Constitutional Freeze: The draft of the Constitution must be frozen, assigning a specific version identifier, a git commit hash of the repository, and a cryptographic hash (SHA-256) of the constitutional text.
  • Diff Transparency: Any changes from previous drafts must be published as a clear markdown diff.
  • Public Comment & Challenge Period: A mandatory 30-day challenge window must be observed, allowing participants to submit comments or dispute exclusions before voting begins.

2. Plural Admission & Bounded Veto (Voter Eligibility)

To prevent circularity where the Council holds absolute control over who gets to vote, voter eligibility is governed by a Plural Admission, Bounded Veto model:

  • Council Admission: The Council can admit participants based on verified operational history.
  • Trusted Issuer Admission: Pre-authorized credential issuers can cryptographically attest to voter eligibility (e.g., verifying a pharmacy's active state license).
  • Cooperative Nomination: Local pharmacy cooperatives or patient advocacy groups can nominate voters.
  • Appeal Path: Any participant excluded from the eligibility list has a defined, documented path to appeal to the governance forum.
  • Bounded Veto: The Council or a specialized Guardian may veto a voter admission only by publishing an emergency veto containing a reason and an evidenceHash (which expires and must be reviewed within 14 days).

Credential Revocation Appeals

Credential revocation is not currently appeal-enforced by contract. Before ratification, the Commons must define a revocation appeal procedure that covers:

  • Issuer capture or coercion: a participant may challenge revocation if the credential issuer is suspected of PBM, payer, or council pressure.
  • Evidence packet: every contested revocation must publish a reason code, evidenceHash, issuer identity, and expiration or review deadline.
  • Temporary continuity: pharmacies or patient advocates under active appeal should have a documented temporary-status path so issuer capture cannot silently remove claim, vote, or dispute standing.
  • Independent review: appeal review must involve a role or constituency not controlled solely by the revoking issuer.

This procedure is proposed only; current credential policy tooling checks revocation state but does not adjudicate revocation legitimacy.

3. Multi-Class Constituency Thresholds

Ratification cannot be achieved by a simple flat majority of total voters. Instead, voting is divided into distinct constituency classes, each requiring a separate threshold to pass:

  1. Independent Pharmacy Class: Requires a $> 60%$ approval rate from registered pharmacy addresses.
  2. Patient & Community Advocate Class: Requires a $> 50%$ approval rate from community representatives.
  3. Technical Stewards & Operators Class: Requires a $> 50%$ approval rate from developers and protocol maintainers.

4. Post-Vote Objection & Publication

  • Objection Window: A 14-day post-vote objection window is established before final ratification is declared.
  • Mandatory Disclosure: The following data must be publicly published:
    • Electorate eligibility-list hash.
    • Count of excluded or challenged voters.
    • Count of unresolved appeals.
    • Vote totals broken down by constituency class.

5. Ratification & Exit Package

Once ratified, a permanent Ratification Artifact is compiled, binding together:

  • The constitution text hash.
  • The electorate eligibility criteria hash.
  • The detailed vote results.
  • A summary of any unresolved objections.

Fork & Exit Procedure

If a constituency group decides to fork the project due to governance capture or unresolved disputes, they can export a clean Fork/Exit Package containing:

  1. The frozen constitution hash.
  2. The current code repository commit hash.
  3. The cryptographic credential policy.
  4. The portability export bundle (generated via scripts/export-portability.js).
  5. The complete cryptographic vote records.