From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Simple Resolution Resolution / Simple Resolution: Sentiment of one chamber on an issue, or a measure to carry out the administrative or procedural business of the chamber. Does not become law. Designated as H. Res. or S. Res. A simple resolution deals with the internal … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Original Bill A bill drafted by a committee and introduced by its chair when the committee reports the measure back to its chamber. It is not referred back to the committee after introduction. The Senate allows all committees to report original bills; the House generally … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Marking Up A Bill / Markup Going through the contents of a piece of legislation in committee or subcommittee to consider its provisions and proposed revisions to the language, and insert new sections and phraseology. If the bill is extensively amended, the committee’s version may … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Statutes at Large (Stat.) photo credit: specialklikethecereal A chronological arrangement of the laws enacted in each session of Congress. Though indexed, the laws are not arranged by subject matter, and there is no indication of how they changed previously enacted laws. The United States Statutes … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Engrossed Bill / Engrossed Measure photo credit: alancleaver_2000 The final official copy of a bill as passed by one chamber, with the text as amended by floor action and certified by the clerk of the House or the secretary of the Senate. After a measure … Read more
When an enrolled bill becomes law, it is then sent to the Archives of the United States. If the bill becomes law by legislative override of an executive veto, Congress sends the bill to the Archives. If the bill becomes law through any other method, such as a pocket approval or signature approval, the White … Read more
Whenever hearings are completed a committee may meet to mark up a measure. The language of the original measure will be analyzed line by line or section by section and then marked up or changed and amended. photo credit: withassociates The easiest way to conduct a markup is to use an introduced measure. In this … Read more
Drafting a provision that repeals a law is not difficult. Any type of plain instruction will be sufficient; such as “The ABC Act is Repealed.” It is important to ensure that the provision being repealed is clearly identified, including a full citation. There are some important rules that should be observed regarding repeals. First, repealing … Read more
When drafting federal legislation, it is important to ensure you are using the correct style. Style refers to the look and feel of a measure. While it might be assumed that style refers to the words that are used, style actually refers to the way in which words are placed on the page, a combination … Read more
After a policy has been thought through, the next step is to begin crafting the words that will be used. The goal at this stage is not identifying the focus, but expressing it as effectively as possible. There is no special language that is used for writing legislation. Effective drafting requires clear writing. There must … Read more