Transparency in Legislation Act

[AaronO (Aaron Oberste)]

The Transparency in Legislation Act

Section 1: Mandate for Reading Bills Aloud

• Every proposed bill must be read aloud in its entirety on the floor of both the House of Representatives and the Senate before any vote can occur.

Section 2: Purpose of the Act

• To promote transparency in the legislative process by ensuring all members of Congress and the public are aware of the content of each bill.
• To encourage concise and focused legislation by deterring the inclusion of extraneous provisions, thus reducing legislative bloat.

Section 3: Implementation

• This requirement applies to all bills, amendments, and resolutions.
• Sessions where bills are read aloud must be open to the public and media to ensure maximum transparency.

[AaronO (Aaron Oberste)]

Anyone who votes should always know what they are voting for. This is common sense. Also if they are spending our money, we have a right to know what our representatives are voting for. Most times they don’t even know what they are voting for.

[Txdakini (Mary anne fields)]

I would additionally require a short summary of the bill as part of the bill. And the entire bill be posted on a public government website at least 5 days before a vote. We should end bills being signed into law when many in Congress have not even read the bill. Additionally any bill meant to keep the Federal Government going must be a single issue bill, meant only to keep the government running. Also, bills should be significantly simplified to either a single issue or a small number of related topics.

[Skippy]

I don’t think it is realistic to require that all bills be read in its entirety. However, I do believe that enough time must be allocated for congressional staffs to review the bill before voting on it.

[Lgstone1960 (Lisa Stone)]

Agree. No adding unrelated pork to the policies, laws & bills. Also anything that would need funding should be voted on by the citizens. The people voted in do not take care of the citizens anymore.

[SueK (Susan)]

This may also apply, showing the latest attempts at hiding legislation within bills, as well as proposed suggestions for additional transparency. Link supplied…

Stand alone bills a must

I absolutely agree. The last nightmare occurred yesterday with a 1500 page continuing resolution that Chuck Schlumer and McConnell spent 3 months on in secret, crafting their Christmas List of little goodies — many of which trampled the rights of Americans while protecting themselves from a future Trump administration by making their emails off limits to future investigations – can you believe the audacity of these traitorous educated idiots? They make these bills monstrous on purpose – you can …

More here on transparency suggestions (adapting and using existing version control software in a multi-user environment)…

Stand alone bills a must

Better yet, perhaps every keystroke, every addition, every deletion and modification of text, every “checked out by” info, and every “checked in” bill version be made transparent to the American People in REAL TIME…finally locked into place after a period of time, where the American People can openly discuss the legislation for perhaps a month or more, contacting their congressperson if necessary, before the bill goes to a transparent floor vote? This process is already being used in today’s m…