Module 1 Discussion Board: Bill Selection
By Wednesday at 11:59 pm
1. Introduction: Provide a brief introduction to your classmates: a). your name, b). your specialty and c). where you live.
2. Bill Selection :
For this course select, one topic of your choice must be a piece of Active Legislation related to a Health Policy issue.
This bill selection will be used for all future assignments and you
will become an expert on the piece of legislation. A great place to
start is to think of a bill you are interested in, then conduct some
research on your bill. After you have made your selection, refer to https://legiscan.com/ to ensure that your bill has both Proponents & Opponents (a must-have to be successful in this course.). Must provide State, Party, and District. National Professional Organizations will not be accepted.
You may use national professional
organizations such as ANA or AMA to help you identify supporters or
opposers who are in legislation if they provide applicable publications
within the 5-year timeline with a clear stance or opposition relative to
your chosen active law. (This assignment only requires the names of 2 Legislators for supporters and 2 Legislators for opposers and the Districts in which they represent).
Post the bill number and title.
Provide
2 talking points as reasons for your selection of this topic. 1 of your
talking point can be related to your opinion or experience, but 1 must
be evidence research-based and cited correctly within your post.
By Friday at 11:59 pm
Debate/Discussion Board Information
You
can post to anyone in the course, in order to help others learn, ask
questions, and provide their points of view on your topic.
You
must post your initial response to the question along with a minimum of
two peer replies for a total of three discussion board posts per week.
Due Dates:
Day 3/Wednesday – Initial response by 1159pm.
Day 5/Friday –Post a minimum of two peer replies by 1159pm. DB’s closes on Fridays, late entries are not accepted.
Proponents and Opponents of a Legislative Bill
A legislative
bill is a proposal for a new law or a change to an existing law that is
presented for debate and approval in a legislative body such as a
parliament or congress. The process of passing a bill involves various
stages including drafting, committee review, debate, voting, and
presidential or royal assent.
Proponents of a Legislative Bill
Proponents
of a legislative bill are those who support the bill. They believe that
the proposed law will bring about positive change or address a
particular issue effectively. Proponents can include:
Legislators:
These are the lawmakers who introduce the bill. They are often the most
vocal proponents and work to convince their colleagues to support the
bill.
Interest Groups: These are organizations that support the bill because they believe it will benefit their members or the causes they champion.
Citizens: These are individuals who support the bill because they believe it will benefit them or their community.
Opponents of a Legislative Bill
Opponents
of a legislative bill are those who are against the bill. They believe
that the proposed law is unnecessary, ineffective, or harmful. Opponents
can include:
Legislators: These are
lawmakers who are against the bill. They may argue against the bill
during debates and try to convince their colleagues to vote against it.
Interest Groups: These are organizations that oppose the bill because they believe it will harm their members or the causes they champion.
Citizens: These are individuals who oppose the bill because they believe it will harm them or their community.
In
conclusion, the proponents and opponents of a legislative bill play a
crucial role in the legislative process. They influence the debate
around the bill and its eventual fate. It’s important to note that the
same individual or group can be a proponent of one bill and an opponent
of another, depending on the specifics of each bill.
https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2020/04/teaching-the-legislative-process-with-primary-sources-using-congress-gov/
https://ask.loc.gov/law/faq/300657
Ask a Librarian
Frequently Asked Questions: Law Library of Congress
Browse some of the most frequently asked questions answered by our subject specialists.
Where can I find the text of a federal congressional bill or resolution?
Congress.gov/https://www.congress.gov/help/find-bills-by-subject
Find Bills by Subject and Policy Area
Legislative analysts from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) closely examine the content of each bill and resolution to assign Policy Area Terms and Legislative Subject Terms. The Legislative Indexing Vocabulary (LIV) is
an older CRS thesaurus that was discontinued in 2008. Terms from all
three subject vocabularies can be used to search Congress.gov. Terms
assigned to a bill can be seen from the View subjects link to the right of each bill’s overview. Terms are assigned to bills and resolutions but not to amendments.
Vocabulary Number of Terms Number of Terms per Bill Coverage Dates
Policy Area 32 1 1979-present
Legislative Subjects 1,004 varies 2009-present
Legislative Indexing Vocabulary (LIV) 5,500 varies 1973-2008
Using Policy Area Terms
1. Use the Subject – Policy Area filter to refine your legislation search results to measures with a particular policy area.
2. Browse the alphabetical list of Bills by Subject – Policy Area or consult the Policy Area Term Vocabulary for a complete list of policy area terms and their definitions.
The
policy area term vocabulary is consistently used for all bills and
resolutions introduced since 1979 (96th Congress). The term Commemorations was
used from 1997 to 2008 (105th-110th Congresses) to categorize measures
introduced to honor or memorialize. The term displays in the Subject –
Policy Area section of those measures. Examples: H.Con.Res.205 [110th]
3. From the Advanced Search Query Builder, choose Legislation and select a term from the Subject – Policy Area list. Build your search by adding additional elements.
4. Policy area terms may be used with the billPolicyArea search field from the search bar, legislation search form Words and Phrases box or command line search page. For example, this search finds all measures with the Energy policy area that also contain the word hydropower in the bill text.
Using Legislative Subject Terms
1. From the Advanced Search Query Builder, select Subject – Legislative Subject Term from the search field list and enter a term from the Legislative Subject Term vocabulary. Use the contains all connector when entering a single word term. Use the contains phrase connector when entering exact multi-word terms. Build your search by adding additional elements. For example, this search finds measures that include the subject terms Nuclear power, Canada, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
2. Browse the alphabetical lists of Legislative Subject Terms by Congress.
3. From the search bar, legislation search form Words and Phrases box or command line search page, include one or multiple legislative subject terms using the billSubjectTerm field. For example, this search finds measures with the subject term military history or Veterans’ organizations and recognition that became law.
Using the LIV
1. From the Advanced Search Query Builder, select Subject – All from
the search field list and enter a term from the Legislative Indexing
Vocabulary (LIV). Legislative Subject Terms, Policy Areas and LIV terms
are searched when you use Subject (All). For example, this search finds all measures indexed with the LIV terms citizenship and government paperwork.
2. From the search bar, legislation search form Words and Phrases box or command line search page, use the search label allBillSubjects: .
Using the Congressional Record Index
The Congressional Record Index is another useful subject index to legislation. The index is compiled by experts at the Government Publishing Office.
Bill and resolution texts published by GPO are available on Congress.gov from 1993 (103rd Congress). Bill and resolution texts from 1989 (101st Congress) to 1992 (102nd Congress) that predate authenticated digital publishing are partially available.
Law texts published by GPO are available on Congress.gov dating from 1951 (82nd Congress).
Text
versions for bills and joint resolutions dating from 1799 (6th
Congress) to 1873 (42nd Congress) are available on Congress.gov.
House-originated bill text versions are available from 1799 (6th
Congress), Senate-originated bill text versions are available from 1819
(16th Congress), and Senate-originated joint resolution text versions
are available from 1823 (18th Congress). The text versions are
undesignated and not necessarily in order of legislative procedure. In
the legislation text search results, these text versions use the file
extension UBTV (Unidentified Bill Text Version).
GovInfo.gov
GovInfo contains all published versions of bills from the 103rd (1993-1994) Congress forward.
Subscription Online Databases
Bills and resolutions have also been digitized and made part of the ProQuest Congressional and ProQuest Legislative Insight databases, which are available onsite at the Library of Congress.
Print Copies
Bills and resolutions are available in print and microform at the Law Library of Congress and are selectively available at other libraries throughout the country, including some Federal Depository Libraries.
For more information about federal bills and resolutions, visit the Law Library’s research guides:
Federal Statutes: A Beginner’s Guide — Bills and Resolutions
Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner’s Guide
Learn More
gov, About Legislation Text of the U.S. Congress
gov, About Historical Bill Text and Documents
Related Topics
Legal Research
Federal Legislative History
Beginner’s Guides
Bills & Laws – North Carolina General Assembly
North Carolina General Assembly (.gov)
https://www.ncleg.gov › Legislation
Bills & Laws. Bill Reports. Bill lookup by number Bill Inquiry Advanced, custom reports Search bill text Bills with last action by year Chaptered bills by …
