Bill Writing by Member of Congress

Scenario:

You are a newly elected Member of Congress. It is up to you as to whether you are a Senator or a Representative from your State.  You made several important promises during your campaign and now that you have taken your seat, you need to show the constituents you represent that you are going to fulfill at least one of these promises with a bill you write and introduce into your chamber.

Directions:

1. Choose a topic for your bill:
   1. Envision the constituents that elected you
   2. Imagine that you have interacted with your constituents
   3. What’s making news?
   4. Look to other states
   5. Look to your own experience
   6. Look at current logs and regulations
   7. Use the internet
2. Research your bill topic:
   1. Look at existing law
   2. Explore various solutions to the issue
   3. Support your position with facts and figures
   4. Determine your support and opposition
3. When writing your bill:
   1. Ensure clarity, organization and accuracy
   2. Ensure you are creating law
   3. Anticipate questions and concerns
   4. Proofread and check grammar
4. Bill structure (see attached)
5. Bill writing checklist (see attached)

Some links that may help you understand how to write a bill:

• Congressional Bills Web site http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html
• USA.gov is the front door to every government website.  http://www.usa.gov.
• Congressional Bills Search Tips Web Site  http://www.gpo.gov/help/index.html#simple_search.htm
• Thomas (Library of Congress) http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html

Review the Bill Writing Checklist. Using the Bill Structure document fill in all sections to write your bill.

To complete this assignment, you must submit the completed Bill Structure Document that clearly illustrates all components of a professionally written bill and address all required elements of the assignment listed in the grading criteria below.

ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER!!! Bill Writing by Member of Congress

The assignment must be submitted as a Word document. Include APA formatted title and reference page. Be sure to cite any references used in APA format..

By Saturday, June 21, 2014, deliver your assignment to the M5 Assignment 1 Dropbox.

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Bill Topic: Provide a clear discussion and evaluation of the topic of the bill and include relevance and constituency affected.	40
Bill Topic Research: Examine existing law; Explore various solutions to the issue; Support your position with facts and figures; Evaluate support and opposition to the bill.	40
Bill Content: Ensure clarity, organization and accuracy; Verify that law is being created; Anticipate questions and concerns.	52
Bill Structure (see attached for details) Each Bill must include the following: Title Name of sponsor Purpose Section on short title Section on definitions Section on how your bill will work Section on function Section on regulations Section on penalties Section on effective date	52
Bill Writing (see attached) Review the Bill Writing Checklist to ensure that you have included everything in your bill. Clarity Bill’s purpose Definitions Clear identification of terms Appropriate terminology Conditions placed on bill Purpose section is clear and consistent throughout the bill What the bill is to do comes at the beginning Enactment clause Sections are consistent with no contradiction Actions are clearly stated Research/Preparation Solution proposed is appropriate to the problem Solution is thorough and clear Definitions are clear	50
Written Components: Organization (16 points) Usage and mechanics (16 points) Style (14 points) APA elements (20 points)	66
Total:	300

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.