The Bill Project
For this project, you are going to write your own bill as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate.
This should be a bill that you would want to become a law.
Follow the steps below to guide you through this process:
1. THE IDEA
Your first step is to decide what to try and write a bill about. Every bill begins with an idea. Is there a problem that you would like to see addressed by the government? Or perhaps there is an issue you feel the government should not be involved in that they currently are. Whatever you choose, remember that your bill must be constitutional. This means that...
2. WRITING THE BILL
Once you've found an interesting and relevant topic on which to write your bill and have done the necessary research, the next step is actually getting your bill ready for discussion in committee. A bill should have three parts:
3. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT
Once you have written the bill itself, you will want to determine which House of Representatives committee your bill should be redirected to. Below is a brief list, while a link is provided for a more detailed list of committees and sub-committees.
When you are finished organizing your bill, type up your bill, give it a title, make sure your name is listed as Sponsor of the Bill, etc., then print or email it to Mrs. Daley.
Timeline
November 8th - Project introduced
November 8-15th - Research and write bill.
November 13 - Outline of Bill due - with detailed evidence/reasons
November 16 - Bill due and shared with class.
November 16 Homework - Read class bills and come up with 3 questions for each bill for Committee discussions.
November 17 - Committee Debates and Votes (Be prepared to defend your bill)
November 20 - Committee Debates and Votes
Grading for the Bill
The Bill, assessment = 20 points
Homework, Bill Questions Period 5 = 15 Period 6 = 12 (3 questions per bill)
Outline = 15 points (Assessment)
Participation = 20 points (The ability to defend you bill, communicate effectively, support rebuttals with evidence)
For this project, you are going to write your own bill as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate.
This should be a bill that you would want to become a law.
Follow the steps below to guide you through this process:
1. THE IDEA
Your first step is to decide what to try and write a bill about. Every bill begins with an idea. Is there a problem that you would like to see addressed by the government? Or perhaps there is an issue you feel the government should not be involved in that they currently are. Whatever you choose, remember that your bill must be constitutional. This means that...
- Your bill must fall within, or relate to the POWERS OF CONGRESS.
- Your bill must not violate any LIMITS ON GOVERNMENT POWER, including the Bill of Rights.
2. WRITING THE BILL
Once you've found an interesting and relevant topic on which to write your bill and have done the necessary research, the next step is actually getting your bill ready for discussion in committee. A bill should have three parts:
- Preamble: This section should provide your reasons for the necessity of your bill. Why is your topic something that should be addressed by the government? This section's clauses should always begin with a "Whereas..."
- Body: This section should be separated into sections and subsections. Each proposed idea for the implementation of the bill should be a section. Subsections should be used to provide further detail and clarification (definitions, etc.) for their appropriate bill sections.
- Enactment Clause: This is the final section of the bill (and can be labeled as a section as normal). EACH BILL MUST HAVE AN ENACTMENT CLAUSE!! The enactment clause tells your fellow congressmen when your bill will take effect if passed. It may specify a future date (September 30, 2018) or a certain number of days following the passage of the bill (60 days after passage). Enactment dates within 30 days of passage are used for EMERGENCY legislation only. Enactment dates more than 90 days after passage is used for most legislation and is the enactment period for normal legislation.
3. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT
Once you have written the bill itself, you will want to determine which House of Representatives committee your bill should be redirected to. Below is a brief list, while a link is provided for a more detailed list of committees and sub-committees.
- Agriculture
- Appropriations (Decides where tax dollars go)
- Armed Services
- Budget (Oversees the distribution of tax dollars)
- Education and the Workforce
- Energy and Commerce
- Ethics (Oversees lobbying behavior, campaign finance, etc.)
- Financial Services (Banking, Finance, Loans, etc.)
- Homeland Security
- House Administration (Oversees federal elections, etc.)
- Judiciary (Oversees federal courts, impeachments, etc.)
- Natural Resources
- Oversight and Government Reform
- Rules (Determines how the House functions, debates, etc.)
- Science, Space, and Technology
- Small Business
- Transportation and Infrastructure
- Veterans’ Affairs
- Ways and Means (House-only, writes and oversees taxes)
- Intelligence
When you are finished organizing your bill, type up your bill, give it a title, make sure your name is listed as Sponsor of the Bill, etc., then print or email it to Mrs. Daley.
Timeline
November 8th - Project introduced
November 8-15th - Research and write bill.
November 13 - Outline of Bill due - with detailed evidence/reasons
November 16 - Bill due and shared with class.
November 16 Homework - Read class bills and come up with 3 questions for each bill for Committee discussions.
November 17 - Committee Debates and Votes (Be prepared to defend your bill)
November 20 - Committee Debates and Votes
Grading for the Bill
The Bill, assessment = 20 points
Homework, Bill Questions Period 5 = 15 Period 6 = 12 (3 questions per bill)
Outline = 15 points (Assessment)
Participation = 20 points (The ability to defend you bill, communicate effectively, support rebuttals with evidence)
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