Information Bill Implementation Policy

[Congress]

Bill Implementation Policy
Office of Congressional Affairs​

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Purpose
Implementing Amendment Bills into laws that they are amending is one of the core duties of the Office of Congressional Affairs. It ensures our laws are presented adequately for any interested parties to easily access.

THEREFORE, the Presiding Officers of the Congress, in consultation with the Office of Congressional Affairs, hereby do enact the following policy:

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Implementation Process​

Clerks shall implement amendments to laws following the process outlined below:



Standalone Bill:
Any bill that contains provisions of law not amended into another act.

Move the original thread to the respective Subforum of 'Acts of Congress.'


Amendment Bill:
Any bill which exists to amend another act, with no standalone provisions contained within itself.

Copy the bill and the assent message, or the bill, veto and override, to another new thread. Repeat this process for the amount of bills amended.

This is done by selecting the relevant posts for moderation, then selecting 'Copy Posts' from the dropdown and hitting 'Go.' In the popup select 'New Thread.'

Select a copy of the passed bill and the act it is amending or repealing for moderation.

Select 'Merge Threads' and hit 'Go.'

Ensure the destination thread is the act that is being amended, and ensure you only have the two relevant threads selected.

Move the original thread to the 'Amendments' subforum with the 'Acts of Congress' tag.


Repeal Bill:
Any bill which repeals another bill, with no standalone provisions contained within itself.

Treated as if an amendment bill, with the repealed bill moved to archive after a copy has been merged into it. The repealing bill moves to the 'Archive' subforum with the 'Rendundant' tag.


Hybrid Bill:
Any bill which mixes these categories.

Apply the principles of the above to protect the congressional poll by not merging the original thread with another thread. Duplicate and archive in accordance with the above as practicable.

If a bill containes standalone provisions, the original thread should always be moved to the relevant subforum of 'Acts of Congress'. Purely transitional provisions are not regarded as standalone provisions in this matter.

If a bill contains amending or repealing provisions, a copy should always be merged according to the above process.