Legislative tracing

As I embark on a legislative tracing project for GPEA, all I can really say about the sources on how a bill becomes a law and the pathfinders/resources for tracing legislative history is that I cannot believe how cumbersome the process looks from the outset. I hope it turns out not to be so complicated, but previous experience using Federal sources leads me to believe otherwise. I like the optimistically simple explanation of legislative history from the Syracuse pathfinder: the collection of documents created by the legislative process that cumulatively reveals the history and intent of a statute or law.

I will say this, as simplistic as the Schoolhouse Rock video is, it is surely easier for the average American to understand than the diatribe on THOMAS. I don’t imagine that the majority of Americans are overly familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, or care to become familiar with them. Even those of us who have some knowledge of these rules (ahem, me) could easily find the THOMAS discussion of how a bill becomes a law too detailed and complicated. From Chuck’s description of the process, though, it almost seems like the description on THOMAS, written by Charles W. Johnson, Parliamentarian, United States House of Representatives, is less complicated than the actual process. One wonders how any bill ever becomes law, sheesh.

References

Federal legislative history pathfinders and guides. (n.d.). Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Law Library. Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.law.syr.edu/Pdfs/0Fed%20Legis.pdf

From a Bill to a Law. (n.d.). THOMAS [Electronic resource]. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http://thomas.loc.gov/home/laws_made.html

Warburton, T. (1973). I’m just a bill [Video media]. Schoolhouse Rock. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ