Ex Post Facto Laws, Effective Dates, and Legislative Time Travel
by Richard Sweetman and Rebecca Hausmann You want your bill to take effect on January 1, 2015, but your bill drafter says it’s not possible. Why not? Because the General […]
Bill Drafting
Keeping a Bill Title Constitutional and Informative
By Julie Pelegrin We’re halfway through the session. Some bills have passed, some have not, and most are still winding their way through the process. As the session picks up […]
How Would You Like Your Bill? Questions a Bill Sponsor Must Decide
by Kristen Forrestal and Julie Pelegrin When a legislator crafts a bill, most of the drafting choices center on the substantive policies that the legislator is proposing. However, there are […]
Shall we? We must!
by Jery Payne Imagine you are judging a court case. The Wildlife Commission held a hearing to award a grant for an endangered species. Both the Whooping Crane Association and […]
How a Bill Becomes a…Bill! An Inside View of Drafting
by Kate Meyer Bill drafting is the most visible function that the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) performs, yet the actual process of getting a bill from idea to […]