Questions tagged [legislation]
For general questions about laws passed or proposed. For a specific law, use [specific-legislation]. For questions about making laws, use [legislative-process]. Use with a country tag.
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Have there been any meaningful federal laws passed in the USA recently?
I don't live in the US, but I am drowned in news from the US, even more than those from my country.
I understand that the US is a very polarized society, where one of the main stated goals of both of ...
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How often do US Presidents sign laws while abroad?
From CNN, the Ukraine support package bill recently passed by congress will be flown to South Korea so that President Biden can sign it immediately Senate votes to pass $40 billion Ukraine aid package....
CDJB♦
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What is the Wyden Amendment?
Recently I came across an article which appears to be discussing the Wyden Amendment to H. R. 6172 . The article makes it sound like this will allow enforcement agencies access to browsing data ...
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On what basis could the US federal government codify Roe v. Wade?
There are proposals to pass a federal law allowing abortion in all states, in case Roe v. Wade is overturned. Ignoring the political feasibility of passing such a law, on what constitutional basis can ...
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Are there countries where the legislative body is not allowed to propose laws that touch upon unrelated subjects?
As a recent example, the recent $2.3 trillion stimulus bill contained not just provisions related to supporting the American people, but also a requirement to produce a report on UFOs:
Federal ...
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How many pieces of US legislation passed with a supermajority in both houses of Congress without being vetoed
To override a U.S. presidential veto requires a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress. According to this Wikipedia page, this has happened 111 times. What I'm having trouble finding is: ...
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Are "Don't talk about X in classrooms" state laws a relatively recent phenomenon in the US?
Two examples of recent Don't talk about X in classrooms" state laws/legislation:
Florida: Wikipedia's LGBT rights in Florida; HB 1557/Parental Rights in Education/"Don't Say Gay" bill (...
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Is US Senator Chris Murphy's bill to "subject Supreme Court Justices to... ethical code" just saber rattling? (Amy Klobuchar: "Get your act together")
In the 2022-03-27 ABC News video Ginni Thomas texts to Meadows is a 'textbook' case for recusal: Sen. Klobuchar | ABC News after 03:24 ABC's Jonathan Karl quotes two text messages from Ginni Thomas, ...
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Why doesn't daylight saving time garner more attention in Congress?
I hardly hear this being brought up at all. Are people not annoyed enough about it to contact their representatives? Only two states (Arizona and Hawaii) don't observe daylight saving time. It ...
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Why Democratic party in the US push for Voting Rights Bill while most of the Democrat's voters live in urban areas and are from middle class?
These days Voting Rights Bill is a political hot topic and Democrats are pushing to get it passed in the Senate.
It seems most of the Democrats' voters reside in urban areas and are from middle social ...
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Is there political activity in the US for regulation or banning of potentially biologically active samples from space to Earth? Who is doing so?
These comments (1, 2) under @SpaceLawyer's answer to If Elon Musk wanted to bring back some Martian soil, would US permission be required? in Space Exploration SE say:
Let's not feel quickly relieved ...
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UK Climate and Ecology Bill 2020
What can the proposed UK CEE Bill do that cannot already be achieved by the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee?
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How could people access the database of new laws and upcoming bills before the government started posting them on the internet?
Currently, the government posts upcoming bills and newly passed laws to their online database, but before that, how did people find out that new laws were passed or might be passed? Some people would ...
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Can the Senate vote again on the bill to fund "The Wall" after the new members of Senate are sworn in?
Currently the House has approved and signed a bill funding "the wall."
Senate has not approved. New members are sworn in January. Can the bill then be approved and submitted to be signed ...
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When was the least bipartisan debt ceiling increase or suspension, in the past 30 years?
Pelosi said in an interview aired a couple of days ago (on Hill TV at least) that raising the debt ceiling has "always been bipartisan". Later, in the same video segment McConnell says ...
CDJB♦
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How was the ACT party's 2005 proposal to repeal the nuclear propulsion ban in New Zealand defeated?
I was able to find a proposal from 2005 of the ACT party that would have repealed the nuclear propulsion ban in New Zealand's waters. I'm fairly sure this proposal/repeal was defeated, but how did ...
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Computer readable info with bills being tagged
Are there websites out there that have Bills, Resolutions etc., tagged with computer readable subject specific tagging information like:
If we are talking about this -> H.R. 3547: "Space ...
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Presidency and Congress being different political parties
Between 1955-57, the president was Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican. But, at the same time, both the Senate and House were controlled by Democrats.
How difficult was it for the president to sign a bill ...
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What are the common features of pro-union and anti-union laws?
I often hear people talk about pro-union and anti-union laws being formulated in legislatures, but I don't really understand their differences.
What sort of provisions usually appear in these laws? ...
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Besides hospital prices, what data-transparency bills have been passed in the last two adminstrations?
I remember the Trump-era law that required hospitals to publish their prices.
In the Trump or Biden administration, were there any other similar bills that required other agencies or businesses to ...
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Why don't politicians decide to pass laws that make themselves really rich?
Why don't US politicians in the Senate, House of Representatives, and Supreme Court decide to give themselves, say, 100 million dollars each? I understand that the politicians doing so wouldn't get ...
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Can the federal government withhold money from states that refuse to institute vaccine mandates?
Could Congress pass a law that revoked some of a states funding until they mandate vaccines, or can the federal government not withhold funding to get states to pass laws?
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How transparent is the process of packaging spending bills into an omnibus bill?
Packaging all or a number of appropriation bills together creates what
are called omnibus or minibus measures. These bills appropriate money
to operate the federal government and make national policy ...
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Can a parliament pass laws that constrain the scope of future legislation? [closed]
For example, can a parliament pass a law that says: "Any future budget bill must contain a section that explains the estimated carbon emission this spending may lead to in the next 10 years."...
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To what legislation is Sen. Hagerty referring "that threatens liability for ... companies that do not ... censor ... speech."?
In Americans, Not Government, Are the Arbiters of Truth, July, 29, 2021, by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) for National Review, Hagerty complains that
When the White House doesn’t like what Americans are ...
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How does German law define "human dignity" in concrete terms?
The German Basic Law (i.e. de facto Constitution) begins with the bold statement in Article 1, (1):
Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be
the duty of all state ...
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Name for a popular measure added to a bill for the purpose of later attacking those who vote against that bill?
I personally always call this a kittens-are-cute bill. The basic idea is that Party A wants to pass a certain bill, but they know it's wholly unacceptable to Party B. So what they do is add some (...
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Why does the Executive make (promulgate) laws? The laws should be made by the legislative
The Executive, as its name suggests, should be working for the execution and in the Polity, I think, it would be executing the laws. The laws are made (or consented, if you like) by the legislative (...
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Has any recent Republican legislation been blocked solely by the filibuster?
The primary argument against reforming or abolishing the Filibuster seems to be that if (realistically, when) Republicans take control of the government again, there would be nothing keeping them from ...
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What is the distinction between constitutional power and statutory power?
I know it sounds easy on the surface. Constitutional powers are conferred through constitutional text, whereas statutory powers are conferred through legislation.
But consider the following scenario (...
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What is the largest political entity that lacks legislative power?
Lets define some examples to clarify what I'm talking about.
United States: has a legislature in the form of the US Congress
New York: has a state legislature
New York City: can issue its own ...
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Why is Canada's bill C-16 believed to be legislating pronoun use?
The Canadian bill C-16 ("An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code") has been the subject of heated debate and controversy. I admit I hadn't followed it very closely, but I'...
CDJB♦
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The House has passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act [closed]
What happens now? When will the Senate vote on it? And if the Senate passes, what happens then?
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Where can I find details of conference report that restricted construction of new public housing units, and was added to H.R.4194?
The published law for H.R.4194 includes the restriction of building public housing units
[[Page 112 STAT. 2556]]
``(3) Limitation on new construction.--
``(A) In general.--...
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What do whips do, exactly?
Whips are senior legislators who enforce what is called "party discipline", but how do they do it, exactly? What is their job? To verbally shame those who don't adhere to the "party ...
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When precisely do federal laws take effect in the United States?
If a bill that was passed by the U.S. Congress is signed by the President, and the bill named an effective date, at what instant does the law take effect? For example, if a provision is set to take ...
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Can a bill be recalled before it's signed into law?
Let's say the House of Representatives and the Senate pass a bill and it sits on the President's desk. Before the President signs the bill, can it be recalled (by the Senate or the House)?
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Why does regulation and legislation on technology take so long to pass?
The presidential campaign of Andrew Yang shined a light on many of what it considered issues on modern practices of technology, data and the internet in today's society. Regarding 'Big Tech', data ...
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Is the COVID relief package the same legislation as the omnibus bill?
There is a lot of news about the $900 billion COVID relief package passed by Congress on 12/21/2020. There is less news about the $1.4 trillion spending bill that was passed. However, a lot of people ...
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Did Congress pass a 5,593 page bill without chance to amend or even read?
US Representative Justin Amash tweeted:
For half a year, congressional leaders refused to put any legislation on the floor to be considered AND scrutinized AND amended. Now, they release a 5,593-page ...
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Is it common for Commonwealth legislation to share the same name? [closed]
I'm nonplussed that two Acts of UK Parliament share same name! I think this was deliberate? Parliamentary draftsmen or Counsel or Law Commissioner, UK Parliament couldn't have all overlooked the same ...
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Why can't gun control legislation get passed?
I'm specifically referring to things like closing the gun show loophole and limiting access of those with mental illness to guns.
It seems absurd that those representing guns, a consumer product, ...
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Is there a meaningful metric for how quickly different countries advance their legal systems?
Countries make laws. Then times change, or the group in power changes, or previous laws have unintended consequences, so they make new laws to change the previous laws. On and on and on, indefinitely. ...
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What is the political reason for the U.S. House to adopt a resolution that essentially reaffirms the Constitution?
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution, H.Res.1155, committing to the peaceful transfer of power after the election. The Resolution text is fairly short:
Resolved, That the ...
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How do I find the full text of a bill from an early 1900s US Congress
Summary
I'm researching a US House Representative by reading the bills he voted on, which are from the early 1900s. Where can I find the full text of those bills?
Details
The Representative I'm ...
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Does statutory recognition of the Sewel Convention warn against codifying conventions?
As amended by the Scotland Act 2016, section 28(8) of the Scotland Act 1998 states:
But it is recognised that the Parliament of the United Kingdom will not normally legislate with regard to devolved ...
CDJB♦
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Why doesn’t the Republican majority in the United States Senate reintroduce their heathcare legislation?
Republicans have been touting to "repeal and replace Obamacare" ever since Obamacare was first passed under the Obama administration. In 2017 the republicans put out their healthcare bill on ...
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Why is "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation" necessary?
In the US constitutional amendments, it is frequently stated that
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Why are these clauses necessary? Are there, for ...
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Can Romanian politicians, army, police, etc be held accountable for decisions taken while in a "state of emergency"?
Romania has declared a state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has a few effects. Two of which I consider relevant for this questions are:
they limit some of people's rights (like ...
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Can voters ever exercise power to remove failing legislators? [closed]
It is known that elected representatives step down when gross/complete failure of their responsibility occurs. Like owning up responsibility in accidents caused by negligence.That is in proper spirit.
...
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