Legislation 101
What is legislation?
Dictionary.com gives the following definition of legislation. Legislation: a matter of business for or under consideration by a legislative body. That is probably as good a summary as can be given: legislation (or bills) are the written documents that frame all of Student Senates formal discussion, debates and actions.
How to write legislation
In your Leadership Training Seminar packets you were given the following sheet. It contains a good step by step guide explaining the path legislation takes through Student Senate and how you can start your written bill on that path. If that is what you are looking for, then is I would refer you to it. This guide is takes a step back and is intended to teach people who have never written a piece of legislation for Student Senate how to do so.
Legislation is written in very formal and specific language that you are unlikely to encounter in a non-legislative setting, and so at first trying to write a piece of legislation can seem intimidating. So before we begin, let me give a quick word of encouragement and say that although bills appear to be very complicated, they actually follow a very simple and predictable pattern and, once you familiarize yourself with this pattern you will be able to produce Legislation with no problems at all.
(Set up: First download a sample bill, here. As you go through each step in the guide, edit the sample bill to say what you want your bill to say.)
1: Date, Bill #, Author, Sponsor, and Title
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2: Whereas Clauses
A bill is comprised of a series of statements (called whereas clauses) that progressively explain why Student Senate should take an action, and then a statement at the end (the therefore clause) that explicitly states what that action is. Each whereas clause should contain one reason for taking the action that is laid out in your therefore clause.
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If, for example, I were to write a bill for going to lunch, it would look something like this.
A BILL TO GO TO LUNCH
WHEREAS, I am a human being that must eat food in order to live, and
WHEREAS, I have enough money to pay for food, so that I may obtain
food legally without risking legal or ethical repercussion, and
WHEREAS, It is currently 12 o’clock, well within the time period in which it is socially acceptable to go to lunch,
As you can see, each whereas clause contains a statement that gives a reason as to why I should go get lunch. As I read the whereas clauses, I am (hopefully) convinced that going to lunch is a good and reasonable course of action.
3. Therefore be it Enacted
After giving all of the reasons for why an action should be taken in your whereas clauses, very specifically state what the action that you are proposing Student Senate take is..JPG)
4. Preamble
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Now that you understand the basic form of a bill, we are almost done. There are just a few more thing that need to be looked at. Although each bill is unique, they all start in approximately the same way.
5. You made it!
Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far, then you should have a pretty good idea of how to write bills for student groups. Of course actually writing bills may feel a little strange and unfamiliar, but if you just keep at it then over time the process will feel quite natural. If you have any question/need input, don’t hesitate to contact either some who has been in senate and can help you, or you can contact me and I would be happy to help you out (mattshaw@ku.edu).
Happy Legislating!
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