There seems to be some confusion around Hugo's special powers. I believe that Hugo has had some special powers (laws by decree) for over a year. I think that they did not include mining, or weren't as extensive as Hugo wanted, so he is due to get more this month. Hence the confusion over dates. Maybe someone has more specific info. Frankly, the idea of Hugo getting the right to pass laws around mining, by decree alone, scares me. He might read one of GW's posts about fat VZ gov't officials eating cream cheese bagels and go ballistic on us.