Guidelines, Submitting and Drafting a Bill

LEGISLATION THAT MAY BE SUBMITTED

Remember that our program deals only with Maine issues and Maine law, changes in federal statutes and rules can’t be submitted. Also, bills must be in accordance with the Maine Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. 

BILL: 

May do any of the following; create a new law, amend an existing law, or repeal an existing law.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: 

A change to the Maine Constitution, this requires a two-thirds majority of both Houses to pass. The title of the bill would need to read: “A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: An act to the qualified electors of Maine an Amendment to Article _____ of the Maine Constitution to...................

REFERENDA: 

This would put to the voters of the State of Maine the passage or rejection of your proposition. The correct title would read: “A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: An act to _________(describe the content of the act), providing that the proposed act be submitted to the qualified electorate of the State of Maine.

JOINT RESOLUTION:

Used to express a desire, an opinion, sympathy, a request of the legislature, to express the will of the legislature to the United States Congress, to amend the rules of the House and Senate, or to ratify a proposed Constitutional Amendment. The title should read A Joint Resolution of the Maine State Senate and the Maine House of Representative of the YMCA Camp of Maine Youth in Government program...............

BILL DRAFTING

Draft your bill using this format (What your bill will look like after submitted)

BILL FORMAT--DO NOT SUBMIT BILL IN THIS FORM

After drafting your bill on this format you can cut and paste your bill in submission form.

HEADER FORM GUIDELINES FOR BILLS

Sponsor:  The name of the prime sponsor of the bill

Co-Sponsor:  Up to 3 other names of those assisting with the drafting of this bill

School / Club / YMCA:  What is the name of your delegation?

Endorsed By:  Name of Advisor, Bills will be emailed to them to confirm they have approved the bill.

Bill Title:  A short descriptive title with the opening, AN ACT RELATING TO:

Don’t use cutesy titles.  If the bills revise or amends existing law the Maine Revised Statute Annotated (MRSA) title number must appear.

GUIDELINES FOR THE BODY OF BILLS

NUMBERED LINES:

Do not number the lines in your bill, that will be done when bills are place in final format

SECTIONS AND SUBSECTIONS:

Each idea in the body of your bill should be designated as a new Section. Designation of each section should be CAPS, BOLD, UNDERLINED, with an ARABIC NUMBER

Should look like this  SECTION 1:

DEFINITIONS:

Any terms unfamiliar to the general public should be defined, or any term that a meaning unfamiliar to the general public should be defined.

Use the following format:

All definitions must be: CAPS, BOLD, ITALICS with a dash after with the definition after the dash

Should look like this: DEFINITION of CLIENT----a person using the service of this agency.

SECTIONS THAT MUST BE INCLUDED IN EACH BILL

BODY OF THE BILL

The body of your bill should include the following items

• PROPOSITION: How do you propose that the outcome of the bill is to be accomplished?
• PROCEDURAL or ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS: Who will enforce or see that the proposition is accomplished. ?
• SANCTIONS and PENALTIES: What will happen to those in violations of the proposition?
• REPEALING or SAVING CLAUSES: If any existing laws are to be repealed, or if any existing laws are to be saved because of the proposition they should be correctly noted.
• ENACTMENT CLAUSES: When will this bill take effect, immediately upon passage, 90 days after passage, or another time set by the authors

STATEMENT OF FACT:

This is where you place facts that support your bill, this is not a place to put a written argument, only facts are to be a part of this section.  Facts must be verifiable, and statistical.

JUSTIFICATION:

This is the place where the author can give their reasons for writing the bill and giving their opinions and arguments for this bill.

FISCAL CONSIDERATION:

How much will this bill cost to implement, and where will any needed money to fund the proposition come from?  This must be a realistic number, not simply a guess you need to research an estimated cost. 

REFERENCES: 

List any research materials used in drafting your bill, this will allow others to check out your sources. They should be listed in bibliography style including magazines, newspaper, Internet, reference books articles, or interviews with local officials.

BILL SUMMARY:

The final section of the bill should be a 2- or 3-line summation of the purpose of the bill.  What do you want to happen because of this bill?

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR BILL